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Leticia Van de Putte and Rob Eissler Know How Your Home Should Be Built

News8Austin: Smoke, carbon monoxide detectors bill proposed

Lawmakers are pushing a bill to require smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in new and resale homes.

The bill was written in honor of San Antonio Senator Frank Madla who died recently in a house fire.

Madla's home didn't have working smoke detectors.


Taste the delicious, chunky irony of a Texas state senator's use of his freedom as an individual being the inspiration for a law that reduces that freedom for others.

So the Madla household either forgot to keep their detectors in working order or simply didn't care enough to make it a priority. By my standards, they screwed up.

(excuse me, for a moment, while I check my detectors)

So, they screwed up by not taking a few simple steps to provide their home with adequate warning of fire. Hopefully their story inspired homeowners to check their systems and fix or replace nonfunctional equipment. Unfortunately, it seems to have inspired Leticia Van de Putte (Senate Bill 338) and Rob Eissler (House Bill 861) to propose another increase the state's control over private property.

Those whose lives have been saved by working detectors say they now understand their importance.

Copyright �2007TWEAN News Channel of Austin, L.P. d.b.a. News 8 Austin


I'm sure they do. But the emotional attachment one works up as a result of feeling grateful for technology that saves their lives ought not the be the reason everyone else is forced to adopt that technology. It is a shame that's just about it in terms of an argument put forth in the News8Austin article, with nary a single voice raised in opposition.

Then again, who would want to go on record as being pro-fire or anti-smoke-detector???

Posted by drizzten on February 18, 2007 10:48 PM |

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