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kjbathe · 07-23-2006, 10:12 AM

I get a kick out of reading the constant complaints about MP, usually before I keep reading and find myself annoyed with the folks doing the complaining. MP is in a no-win job. They cannot be everywhere at once and are much like referees on the field among 80,000 other spectators -- they will not see everything, and regardless of the call someone will always be unhappy.

When they enforce the rafting laws and encroachment on personal property, people complain they should be stopping speeding boats. If they are present along the shoreline and boaters are keeping their distance, speeds down or not throwing dangerous wakes, people complain because they took the time to make sure a snorkeler was aware of the rules and otherwise safe. MP's job is not make life convenient for the rest of us, it is to ensure our safety while enforcing the laws. We may not always agree with the laws, or agree with the timing, but that's our issue, not MP's.

For all those complaining, the Foster's article makes it appear that there are still 15 vacancies left to be filled on the summer roster. Perhaps you'd like to take one of those $15/Hr. positions, give up your weekends, and head out to a future MP job. Or perhaps you'd like to contribute some excess wealth and starting funding full-time MP positions to attract and retain the level of safety and enforcement professional that $15 can't get. If it's not a job we'd want to take, we need to think twice about how critical we want to be of the folks that, thank God, are willing to do it.

A Marine Patrol officer made a stop on a presumably quiet Friday morning, a woman and now readers of this forum were better educated on the rules, an inconvenient but otherwise meaningless warning was issued, and hopefully an unknown number of future swimmers, snorkelers or other folks just enjoying the water won't be chewed up by the screws of Captain Bonehead on an increasingly busy -- and some say unacceptably risky -- lake. To me, this is all a net positive by an MP officer that can't win regardless what he or she does.

07-23-2006, 10:12 AM	#26
kjbathe Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 283 Thanks: 3 Thanked 21 Times in 11 Posts	I get a kick out of reading the constant complaints about MP, usually before I keep reading and find myself annoyed with the folks doing the complaining. MP is in a no-win job. They cannot be everywhere at once and are much like referees on the field among 80,000 other spectators -- they will not see everything, and regardless of the call someone will always be unhappy. When they enforce the rafting laws and encroachment on personal property, people complain they should be stopping speeding boats. If they are present along the shoreline and boaters are keeping their distance, speeds down or not throwing dangerous wakes, people complain because they took the time to make sure a snorkeler was aware of the rules and otherwise safe. MP's job is not make life convenient for the rest of us, it is to ensure our safety while enforcing the laws. We may not always agree with the laws, or agree with the timing, but that's our issue, not MP's. For all those complaining, the Foster's article makes it appear that there are still 15 vacancies left to be filled on the summer roster. Perhaps you'd like to take one of those $15/Hr. positions, give up your weekends, and head out to a future MP job. Or perhaps you'd like to contribute some excess wealth and starting funding full-time MP positions to attract and retain the level of safety and enforcement professional that $15 can't get. If it's not a job we'd want to take, we need to think twice about how critical we want to be of the folks that, thank God, are willing to do it. A Marine Patrol officer made a stop on a presumably quiet Friday morning, a woman and now readers of this forum were better educated on the rules, an inconvenient but otherwise meaningless warning was issued, and hopefully an unknown number of future swimmers, snorkelers or other folks just enjoying the water won't be chewed up by the screws of Captain Bonehead on an increasingly busy -- and some say unacceptably risky -- lake. To me, this is all a net positive by an MP officer that can't win regardless what he or she does.