From the Richmond County Daily Journal: The International Association of Fire Fighters Local 4207 in Rockingham, N.C., is soliciting funds from county residents over the phone, offering tickets to a charity concert featuring country-music artists Collin Raye and Pete Huttlinger. But the city wants residents to know that the fire department is not involved in fundraising activities. 

City Manager Monty Crump explained the city fire department is funded by taxpayers’ money, which are held accountable through annual audits and through the approval of elected officials during the budget-making process.

Crump called the union’s solicitatons misleading, specifically referring to a form letter signed by union treasurer Rodney Gandy. Gandy was dismissed from the fire department last year, but the text refers to his status “as a local professional firefighter.”