Can You Believe This?

BAY CITY, Mich. -- Officials in central Michigan say a 93-year-old man who owned more than $1,000 in unpaid electric bills froze to death inside his home -- where the municipal power company had restricted his use of electricity.

Neighbors and friends of Marvin Schur want answers as to how this could happen.

“Now that we do know it was hypothermia, there’s a whole bunch of feelings that I’ve got going through me,” said Jim Herndon, a neighbor of Schur’s. “There’s anger, for the city and the electrical company.”

Bay City officials said changes are on the way in an attempt to not let another instance like this happen again.

An autopsy determined Schur, 93, died from hypothermia in the home he lived in for years.

Bay City Electric Light and Power sent Schur a shutoff notice through the mail a few weeks ago.

Then crews placed a shutoff notice on his front door. A few days later, Schur was found by neighbors.

Bay City Electric Light and Power, which is owned by the city, said a limiter was placed on Schur’s electrical line.

The device limits the power that reaches a home, and it blows out like a fuse if power consumption rises past a set level.

The manager of Bay City said the limiter was tripped sometime between the time of installation and the discovery of the man's body.

The city manager said city workers keep the limiter on a house for 10 days, then shut off power entirely if the homeowner hasn't paid utility bills or arranged to do so.

A medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Schur told TV5 and WNEM.com that Schur died a painful death due to the hypothermia.

Dr. Kanu Varani has done hundreds of autopsies, and he said he’d never seen a person die of hypothermia indoors.

A neighbor who lives across the street from Schur is angered that the city didn’t personally notify the elderly man about his utility situation.

Schur’s neighbor, Herndon, said Schur had a utility bill on his kitchen table with a large amount of money clipped to it, with the intention of paying that bill.

Right now the city said the situation is still under investigation. Marvin Schur was a World War II veteran.

(Copyright 2009 by WNEM.COM. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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The news brings some terrible stories to our doorstep or computer screens each and every day. Some stories seem to hit harder than others. The story above knocked me down.

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On a lighter note...

The good news is that they suspended Mike Jarvis and the bad news is that they didn't extend the suspesnion of Mike Jarvis:

See:

Jarvis returns to bench Thursday for FAU
Florida Atlantic coach Mike Jarvis will be back on the bench Thursday. The Sun Belt Conference decided not to extend Jarvis' one-game suspension, and he'll coach the struggling Owls in their home game against Arkansas-Little Rock. The school suspended Jarvis after he received three technical fouls and was ejected during a loss last Thursday against Louisiana-Monroe.