Karma Castonia 2

[XLFD]

About three and a half years ago, the Ludington Torch reported some supplemental material added to the public record in the article called Karma Castonia.  It related how Ludington's Sixth Ward City Councilor Gary Castonia's grandson was arrested and arraigned for possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) at a traffic stop by the Michigan State Police (MSP). 

It related how earlier that year in 2012, a mere three months earlier, that former policeman Gary Castonia voted against the extremely (I would say illegally) restrictive Ludington Medical Marijuana Ordinance, which all but made Ludington off-limits to any MM dispensaries.  At the meeting, he said the Federal Government already had sufficient rules to deal with marijuana possession that was effective in dealing with the proliferation of marijuana.  There was plenty of irony in that his grandson was almost immediately caught with weed, by state law enforcers.

Coming across this morning's news is that a house that Gary Castonia passed down to his son Tim Castonia just outside the Ludington city limits has burned down.  The Mason County Press denotes that the house owned by three generations of Castonias erupted in flames early this morning, and was a total loss.  Tim Castonia escaped without injury, but his three dogs and two cats were not so lucky, perishing in the blaze.  His wife, Brooke, was not home.

The house located at 5442 West Sixth Street, an older house with a taxable valuation of $20,000, is a total loss.  Tim Castonia has stated that he was woken by an explosion just after 7:00 AM, and by the time the first fire trucks had arrived the strong winds had helped stoke the flames making the house fully engulfed. 

While the Ludington Torch commiserates with the loss of animal life and the loss of the ancestral home of the Castonia clan, and the undoubted loss of irreplaceable possessions within the house, we cannot help but point out the irony and karma involved in the situation.

The irony and karma here is that just a little over three months ago, Councilor Castonia enthusiastically passed a rental inspection ordinance in the City of Ludington, ostensibly to make fires such as the James Street fire of 1991 a thing of the past, and because he did not like the attitude of some of the landlords.  In his old home, he had no landlords present and could have had modern protections against fires put into this old house before he sold it to his son a little over ten years ago.

Provided it had those protections, the report of an explosion precedent to the main conflagration, indicates that there may be explosive materials within the house.  Whereas an explosion may have many sources, there are some recent posts on Tim's Facebook pages that show a disturbing pattern of recreational marijuana endorsements:

And:

And as a former policeman, current city councilor may tell you, marijuana is a 'gateway' drug leading to more dangerous drugs.  More dangerous drugs whose manufacture could cause an explosion in the wee hours of the morning capable of making short work of a house.

[XLFD]

 If you recall a December 2015 fatal fire in Ludington, they did have the fire marshal investigate that to find out that the oven was the likely cause of it.  They claim this time that even though the owner has no idea what the cause is, and that four treasured pets are presumed dead (a cat has shown up) that there is too much destruction to conduct an investigation.   

Well played, Chief Gaylord.  Before the building became a stack of rubble, firefighters had aggressively fought this fire.  The picture below shows roof operations for ventilation, and open walls to the right.  Any trained fire officer could probably correctly speculate where the fire originated and potential causes by looking into this structure after the roof got ventilated.  That they are not doing so in this case is interesting, to say the least, but not to Pasty.

[Willy]

Just the fact that the fire advanced so rapidly is suspicion enough to have an inspection by the Fire Marshal. I was willing to give Castonia the benefit of the doubt but calling off the dogs on this only intensifies curiosity and begs for an investigation. I hope the house is not removed before the insurance company can request their own inspection.

[AQUAMAN]

Yup yup yup yup. Different rules for special people with status and their cronies out here, nothing really new. Just sit down, shut up, and put up with it, as per the usual. Wonder if it even was insured? Maybe they'll just collect the insurance, sell the property, and move on.

[Real Talk]

So Gary's so is suppose to share the same beliefs as his father?  That is just a joke.  I am sure Police Officers kids and/or relatives have broken laws before, and like this have been in trouble.  

I do find this pretty immature and disrespectful to be calling this "Karma" towards Gary and his sons family.  I know it must be frustrating that he is a home owner and not renting an apartment.  Not only was this Mr. Castonia's sons house but it was also his wife and kids house and apparently lost everything.  What a boneheaded, jackass thing to say about someones house.  The sad thing is if your apartment was on fire tommy, LPD and LFD would be there to put it out and save you if you were trapped.  The real KARMA would be then going extra slow and maybe stopping to get a coffee before they arrived to help you, your girlfriend and kid. Now that would be karma.  The disappointing thing is that they wouldn't do that and Karma wouldn't strike you, because Karma never strikes the people it should. 

[AQUAMAN]

And, so Real Talk, you're an expert in Karma? And another expert in the Castonia family? So glad you are sooooo smart and wise, NOT! If Karma repeats itself, and you haven't been haunted by it already, it's probably your turn next, right? Or else your are Way Past DUE! I guess we know it's not your co-worker/wife answering this time, it really sounds like the Real Talk everyone knows by your hateful and hurtful posts. Another great contribution to this forum, and society in general!

[XLFD]

I think our friend Real Talk doesn't understand what karma is, just like he doesn't seem able to figure out how to convey understandable content in his writings (I'm still trying to figure out what he means in that first sentence).

Karma is defined as the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual influence the future of that individual.  Back in August, Gary Castonia gave many citizens hope on the rental inspection ordinance when he said that he was not solid either way on the RIO, but felt that an inspection list created by the landlord and tenant at their initial agreement should be good enough if they give a copy to the city.  By October he changed his mind and voted for rental inspections despite being given dozens of comments from tenants, landlords and others telling him it would be bad for everyone.  His driving force seemed to be to spite those who spoke passionately against it, if we take his words at face value.

The passed ordinance has led to rental properties being lost in Ludington, exacerbating the rental housing shortage already existing in our city limits.  People have been left homeless by the adoption of the ordinance, which Councilor Castonia said was needed to reduce the possibility of having fires like the James Street Fire, which BTW was not caused by negligence of the landlord for the rental property. 

So the unfortunate fire event that happened with his son, which we will never know the cause, is karma whether you want to blame me for pointing it out or not. 

As for your odd definition of karma being trained emergency responders going derelict in the duty that they are paid to perform just because some of them may not like my politics-- that's just warped, and shows what little regard you have for our 'hometown heroes'.  Continue on with your formal education and you may reach high school one of these days, Real Talk.

[Willy]

I saw a video of the fire dept. working on the 6th street fire. I'm no expert in fire fighting but it seems to me, from looking at the video, that this fire had spread all through the house. From the lower front corner to the upper center of the dwelling, even to the exterior and through the roof. Either the fire dept. was extremely slow to respond or this fire expanded at an abnormal rate. It may have spread because of the wind but a closed house is not very windy on the inside. How could this have spread so thoroughly and evenly to include even the outside in such a short period of time? Multiple ignition points come to mind.