76-05-A2
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Bureaucrats Revisited
TranscriptNo matter how big our government grows it is still, if you won't think me sacrilegious, capable of seeing the sparrows fall. I'll be right back. We should all be indebted to columnist James J. Kilpatrick for exposing how far and at what administrative costs the swollen forces of federal government will go to become involved with totally unimportant trivia. Mr. Kilpatrick tells of a minor auto accident, a rear-end collision, in Toledo Ohio one afternoon last May. One of the cars involved sprung a seam in the gas tank resulting in a spill of about two gallons of gasoline. The patrolmen at the scene properly called the fire department and the two gallons of gasoline, obviously a fire hazard, were flushed into a storm sewer. The sewer runs into a ditch, which in turn runs into the Ottawa River, which runs into Maumee Bay, which opens into Lake Erie. All of these waters are under the purview of the Federal Water Pollution Control act. While the firemen were efficiently reading the accident scene of the threat of fire, a Coast Guard inspector driving by on his way home witnessed this flushing of two gallons of gas into Peterson Ditch and thereby begins a story attesting to the ridiculousness of which government is capable. Roughly one month later, a report was filed with the Marine Safety office in Toledo citing the driver of the car with a leaking gas tank as the discharger of pollutants into the waters of the United States. Another representative of the Coast Guard investigated and confirmed the report. A photographer was sent to photograph the scene of the crime. A captain reviewed the evidence and sent his report on to the chief of the Marine Safety Division and two weeks later Gogolin and Sons Incorporated received a letter threatening them with a civil penalty of up to five thousand dollars. Oh yes, I should have mentioned that the driver originally sighted was driving a van owned by Gogolin and Sons Incorporated. So the company was charged with discharging oil in harmful quantities into Peterson Ditch. To any of you who may carry a cigarette lighter, take care when you fill it, don't spill any of the fluid near a gutter or big brother will have you up for endangering the world's water supply. The final officer in this whole chain of events, the one bringing the charge against Gogolin and Sons followed up his threat of five thousand dollar liability by asking how they'd feel about a fifty dollar penalty. He said, “I have preliminarily determined that amount to be an appropriate penalty. After a careful review of the investigatory report based upon my assessment of the gravity of the violation.” To their everlasting credit Gagolin and Sons Incorporated dug in their heels and said no. Elton E. Gogolin Jr said, “Why a small businessman should be subject to this classic example of federal harassment is beyond rational comprehension.” Amen. Columnist Kilpatrick spoke to the officer and expressed the thought that the matter seemed too trivial for a fifty dollar fine. The captain replied, “Nothing is trivial.” and that must be true of the total administrative effort and cost of the taxpayers that went into this two-gallon gas leak caper. Jack Kilpatrick, thank you. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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