Troopers forced to feed their kids road kill
![Here's what dinner looks like for some of the folks risking their lives to serve and protect residents of, and visitors to, the once great state of Maine.](https://files.pubsecalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/maine_state_trooper_road_kill.jpg)
Here’s what dinner looks like for some of the folks risking their lives to serve and protect residents of, and visitors to, the once great state of Maine.
Maine State Troopers Jon Brown and Elgin Physic, both military veterans, said they’ve been forced to resort to drastic measures to feed their families because of a five year pay freeze. In dramatic testimony at the Maine State House, two State troopers testifying in support of a bill that would add millions to the state’s budget, told horrific stories of having to find dead animals on the roadways so their kids would not go hungry.
“I do not hesitate to collect a deer carcass from the roadway; this is necessary to provide for my family,” Trooper Jon Brown said while testifying in support of a bill (LD 1639) intended to restore $6 million over a two-year budget cycle to state funds. The troopers told the Maine State Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, which writes the budget, that the state’s wage freeze from 2009 has had devastating effects for their families.
“Due to the merit stoppage, this year, I had to sell my wife’s engagement ring, military souvenirs from the war and other personal items just to make ends,” Physic said.
Jon Brown said he has taken out more than $20,000 in loans to feed his kids and he was trying to sell his home to find a more affordable apartment. But their home, he says, has deteriorated because they had no spare time to care for it.
Physic purchases heating oil by the gallon because he can rarely afford the minimum amount for delivery, he said. His children still wake up in the middle of the night because of the cold house when they run out of oil.
“At times I have not paid my mortgage just to feed my family,” he said.
Read more of reporter Bill Nemitz’s article in the Portland Press Herald.
And check out the American Police Beat piece on the same story with more detail about the Governor of Maine’s role in this outrage.