Thursday, January 26, 2006

Death by poverty -- it's not just for third-world countries anymore.


Here you go. Feel free to reconcile the stories of unspeakably obscene wealth in the oil industry these days with this story (emphasis added):

Unpaid Utility Bills May Have Led to Couple's Death

The Lubbock Medical Examiner said Alfredo and Adita Quiroz both died of "accidental hypothermia." The two were found dead inside their Central Lubbock home Monday night...

Mail that was still in the mailbox indicates the Quirozes may have died January 4th. Family members tell NewsChannel 11 nobody had contacted Alfredo and Adita for about a month. The couple was having financial problems. They had no power, gas or water in their house. The last time they paid an LP&L bill was May 6th. Their water was turned off August 8th and their electricity was disconnected October 4th. Atmos disconnected their gas October 4th.

Atmos officials said records indicate someone tried to obtain the couple's account information in order to help pay the bill, however without the couple's consent Atmos cannot give out account information.

Lubbock Police Public Information officer Lt. Roy Bassett said, "From what we're hearing, apparently he was a very proud man, a very proud couple and not one to go out and ask for help and unfortunately in this case, it appears that it proved to be fatal."

No power, gas or water. In oil-rich Texas.

When Stephen Harper yammers on about how much he admires the conservative philosophy, I'm hoping that's not quite what he had in mind.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It seems to me that the US aristocracy is *trying* to transform the country into a third world nation. This will give that aristocracy a low-cost domestic labour resource, and allow them to better compete in the international market.