Monday, September 20, 2010

The Beauty of Law Enforcement

Here's the headline from an article on The Raw Story blog:
Building sand castles on Florida’s beaches is illegal, feds tell oil-hunting reporter
Yep... I love the workings of "blind justice" and how "even handed" the Law is applied. As Anatole France famously stated:
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
So... why would federal authorities be so eager to impose the "no digging in the sand 'law'"?

The Raw Story article might give you some insight:
Ever go to the beach and not think of slapping together a sand castle? And who doesn't enjoy the feeling of wet, warm sand between her toes?

According to federal authorities who recently intercepted an oil-hunting reporter on a Florida beach, those activities have been deemed "illegal."

The officers' legal revelation (which is not actually true) came as something of a surprise to Dan Thomas, reporter for WEAR ABC 3 in Pensacola, Florida, who was visiting the Gulf Islands National Seashore for a special report.

Shovel men at the ready, it did not take Thomas long to uncover splotches of oily crude less than a foot below the surface. Within seconds, his report had shown that BP's cleanup efforts, which have been limited to just the top six inches of sand in most cases, are not entirely effective.

That's when a representative of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service showed up, demanding he produce a permit to use shovels on a public beach.

No comments: