Tanstaafl once bubbled...
A couple of my dive buddies were spearfishing in a local lake. A boat approached and tied up next to theirs. A diver was seen comming down and one of the guys was thinking "Hey, dad got here after all". As it turns out the diver was the local game and fish enforcement officer. He signaled them to end their dive and return to the surface. At the surface, he checked their license and catch. The game warden ran over their dive flag as he left the area. ;-0
The abuse of power that has been given to them is what I find really infuriating. Moreso than all of the other stupid stuff here! To have the local game warden interfere, or in my case the Department of Natural Resources... Is just pointless. To have them actually endanger someone's life (like they did in my case and in yours when he ran over the dive flag) is just unforgivable. How do you deal with the idiot who is given power? It's not bad enough that we get rocks thrown at us and such... We've then got to run for our lives when the safety zealots try to enforce... Safety. Does the government not see the irony in this?
I found out the other day from one of my dive buddies (Divewolf here on the board) that our run-in with the Department of Natural Resources did, in fact, result in a reprimand of the officer who drove his boat over us "to enforce safety." Apparently he was chastized and removed from boat duty for a while and placed on a much more boring assignment until he grew a brain cell. To be perfectly honest, I'm pleased with that result, and if DNR enforces their own rules, laws, and regulations on their own officers (as they should... Arguably MORE harshly, since they're supposed to be examples)... Well, then I must say that I have a tremendous amount of respect for the agency. Much moreso than I felt that day leaving the scene of the incident with DNR.
To whoever made that situtation right: Thank you. With all due respect for the law, I feel much more apt to abide by it myself if it's fair and just and not enforced in a hypocritical light. Of course I would have abided by the law regardless, but now I can do it with a genuine concern for safety and justice instead of out of spite, rage, and hypocracy. Thank you for making the situation right. What an enormous difference in the way I feel about DNR now... What an enormous difference good public relations and support of the general populous can make for you... All because justice was served. Thank you.
Hmmm,
there has been at least one Jet Skier dragged down about 15 feet or so, or so I hear.
That solution never occurred to me. Very interesting! I'll bet they know what the flag means now!
As I've always said about justice: People will do whatever they feel until you give them consequences to their actions. I can't say that I'd support scaring someone to death like that, but admittedly, revenge would be sweet. Unfortunately, I don't think it would do anything but inflame the relations between jetskiiers and divers.
Fun thought, though.
...But the general concept of "consequences to their actions" is a topic that I'm very much in support of. And the idea of scaring someone half to death like that... Well, it certainly would be nice to give someone that sort of reminder of "consequences!"
