Regular readers know that I don’t have high regard for government. I’m willing to believe just about anything bad about politicians and bureaucrats, and I am not the least bit surprised when I hear horror stories about counterproductive government programs riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse.
So you can imagine that it takes something truly mind-boggling to make me lower my opinion of government.
Well, that’s happened. Apparently, a woman drowned in a government-run pool and it took two days for the bureaucrats to notice her dead body. Here are some excerpts from a Boston news report.
The body of a Fall River woman was discovered floating in a state run pool late Tuesday night, two days after she apparently drowned in that same pool. Police say lifeguards were on duty and people were swimming in the Veterans Memorial pool at Lafayette Park Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and it appears no one noticed the dead body. …Police say Joseph was watching her 9-year-old neighbor at the pool on Sunday when she apparently had an accident sliding down a waterside. Family friends tell FOX25 the little boy told lifeguards that she did not come up from above water but no action was taken.
I actually hope this story is somehow false. Sure, I enjoy mocking the incompetence of government, but I would hate to think that lifeguards, other staff, and supervisors (not to mention other swimmers) could overlook a dead body for two days.
[…] for saving rafters from drowning, fining people for rescuing children from savage dog attacks, leaving a dead body in a pool for two days, requiring permits to be a bum, poisoning water supplies, and paying bureaucrats not to work for 12 […]
[…] de ahogarse , multar a la gente para rescatar a los niños de los ataques de perros salvajes , dejando un cadáver en una piscina durante dos días , que requiere permisos ser un vago , envenenar el suministro de agua , y el pago de los […]
[…] for saving rafters from drowning, fining people for rescuing children from savage dog attacks, leaving a dead body in a pool for two days, requiring permits to be a bum, poisoning water supplies, and paying bureaucrats not to work for 12 […]
[…] for saving rafters from drowning, fining people for rescuing children from savage dog attacks, leaving a dead body in a pool for two days, requiring permits to be a bum, poisoning water supplies, and paying bureaucrats not to work for 12 […]
[…] for saving rafters from drowning, fining people for rescuing children from savage dog attacks, leaving a dead body in a pool for two days, requiring permits to be a bum, poisoning water supplies, and paying bureaucrats not to work for 12 […]
Is this not perfectly obvious?
[…] The all-time record for government incompetence was set by Fall River, Massachusetts in […]
Art’s and genomega’s comments give further evidence why government is incompetent.
Art – following your train of thought, government sure was not looking out for minorities now was it? How could they allow racists in through their screening process?
Genomega – why were the government’s endless checks and regulations not working in this case making sure that the people in charge did their job? Hint: maybe because government takes away most incentives for excellence. The person in charge knows they have a “comfy” job no matter how well or how bad they perform.
From the reports that I have read the pool was poorly maintained resulting in cloudy water making it impossible to see the bottom of the pool. Back in the day when I was responsible for maintaining pools the rule was that you had to be able to see a dime on the bottom of the pool. The fault lies here with whoever was in charge of maintaining the pool.
Personally, I suspect foul play. The body probably wasn’t there two days. If it was, then they have clearly filled the blind quota for hiring at that particular pool.
You are decieving yourself and you would have others believe you…SHAME ON YOU!
There are many othe places in the world that are safer!
You are decieving yourself and would have others believe it…SHAME ON YOU!
If we only had simple incompetence to be concerned with, we could avoid a lot of grief. When incompetence joins forces with corruption, as in the cases of financial institutions, trouble comes looking for us. We have seen financial ruin, followed by the next phase of the currency collapse. I would like to say something good about the next 3 months, but I can’t spin the obvious in na more positive direction. There is no place in the world that is any safer than that pool.
Well folks, let’s face it, the low caliber of people that the government has been hiring for the last few years is mind bogeling. One can only assume they favor hiring K-mart rejects, anyone who has shopped at K-Mart, will understand what I mean, it is truly pitiful!
Marie Joseph is a common name of Haitian immigrants. No one is mentioning this, but could there be a racial aspect to this unfortunate occurence? Was the little boy who told the lifeguard about the disappearance ignored because of his skin color? Maybe, Daniel, this had nothing to do with government incompetence.
I am from a country where this neglect does not surprise me. Kind of similar things are very common here. Be it government-run banks or railway station, the staff is very indifferent to needs of people. Even strangers are more interested in people passing by than government employees are in people, in most government-run institutions.
During my tenure as an elected official, my office was engaged in over-site of the public pool on a daily basis. While we had issues with the occasional bump or bruise which the summer staff always reported, the thought that a person could die in the pool and remain there for 2 days without being noticed, is beyond my comprehension! For this report to be true, the victim would had to remain in the water overnight after the other patrons have departed for the day. Surely, even the most inattentive teenaged lifeguard would have noticed that someone was still in the pool, prior to closing for the evening. What about the staff that checked the chemical composition of the water prior to opening for the day? I could understand if the staff reported for work in the morning, only to find that someone broke into the facility overnight and drowned in the pool, but not if the body had been their for several days. Didn’t the public notice the situation? The citizens of my city seemed to have both my office and home phone numbers on their speed dial and would have notified me or the police department of anything suspicious. The original news article left many questions begging and I am curious about the balance of the details. Should this story be correct as reported, it is a sad statement of the condition of at least that governmental unit and of the public that it serves.
From the article is it clear whether the person in the pool was a woman or a 9-year old child..?