The incident took place Oct. 31, 2016, and affected Susie Kay’s Café at 1110 Washington St., the Republican Headquarters office at 1112 Washington St. and the five apartments at 1112 Washington St., all owned by Tittl.
Ten people from the apartments and seven from Susie Kay’s Café were taken to the hospital to be treated for carbon monoxide poisoning. Four of those people were taken to Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee to be treated with a hyperbaric chamber. Another one was in serious condition and had to be flown to Milwaukee by helicopter.
Susie Kay’s Café was reopened and the families returned to their apartments after Nov. 8, 2016.
During the police investigation into the incident, a detailed examination of the boiler servicing the apartments and the café was performed. According to the police report, a couple pipes coming from the boiler had been blocked with various materials, including insulation, which could have affected the combustion in the boiler. Another possible cause for the carbon monoxide buildup was a cracked heat exchanger or having no water in the boiler tank.
When the boiler was checked for carbon monoxide after everyone had been evacuated from the buildings, it was giving off 700-800 ppm (parts per million) when it should have been giving off zero ppm.
The boiler was later confiscated by Manitowoc police as evidence.
Not reported is that at least one person suffered severe brain damage and is still in a nursing home.
To make the story even worse, Tittle barely got a slap on the wrist for endangering all these lives, having to face three minor citations.
One would think that the biggest newspaper in the state, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, would have covered the story.
One would be sorely mistaken. At the time of this writing, the paper has not even mentioned it once.
It would have undoubtedly been a different matter if Tittl had been a Democrat, African-American and/or a woman. If they had done what Tittl was done, they would have hounded the person until they resigned or were charged.
For example, let's look at what the paper breathlessly covered, getting the story out before they got all the facts straight.
Democratic State Representative Christine Sinicki got into a financial bind when she had to help her in-laws get and stay in an assisted living center, something that many people, including myself, can relate to from personal experience. I'm sorry, but I just don't see any shame in getting into a hole in taking care of one's family because the state wasn't willing to help. The reporter, Dan Bice, tried to make it seem that way.
Bice went after Sinicki another time because she got mileage reimbursement for driving from Milwaukee to Madison and back while her license was suspended. She didn't even know her license was suspended until it was brought to her attention and she paid her fine immediately and got the licensed reinstated.
The kicker to this attack was that Bice's source was Media Trackers, a right wing propagandist group with a horrible track record for hyping false narratives and getting their facts wrong. But that never slowed Bice down for a minute.
And the Journal Sentinel wonders why their circulation has dropped to a mere fraction of what it used to be.
Remind me again, how is the corporate media liberal? By only slamming Democrats, women and African Americans while letting Republicans get away with almost killing people?
