Here is some food for thought!
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EMS background checks approved
By Nicholas Charalambous
Anderson Independent-Mail
8/21/2002

Background checks for Anderson County ambulance services finally became law Tuesday night after more than a year of debate and discussion.

The Anderson County Council passed the final reading of an ordinance requiring the checks following the last of a series of amendments.

“I’m extremely relieved that we finally got it passed,” said freshman council member Bill Dees, who pushed the legislation.

The new ordinance creates a lifetime working ban for ambulance workers who have been convicted of serious felonies involving sex, drugs and violence, and graduated bans lasting from one to 15 years for lesser felonies and misdemeanors.

Ambulance services that fail to enforce the requirement face a $50,000 fine.

However, it will be impossible to determine how many existing workers fall afoul of the new law.

One of the amendments will allow each of the county’s eight ambulance services to have a six-month grace period before having to register their existing employees with the county, allowing those with checkered pasts to be fired first.