The high price of carelessness

It is always unfortunate when people do not live up to their responsibilities, and probably 90 percent of the world's troubles can be chalked up to carelessness or laziness in some regard.

But it is particularly sad when our actions or inactions lead to the death of a child that could have been avoided.

The case with the Kalispell tot who drowned in a septic tank should be instructional to all of us that sometimes those often-neglected home maintenance projects can have tragic consequences.

A misdemeanor charge has been filed because a broken riser on the septic tank was not repaired properly. This should be a wake-up call for all those people with similar, easily accessible septic tanks that deferring maintenance on the tank lids is not advisable.

The lightweight lids are plastic and can be easily damaged. Some tank designs allow for a separate inside concrete lid to be installed, which increases the safety factor. For all those plastic lids, however, homeowners should make sure they're secure.

Equally upsetting to many people, although not as significant as the death of a child, is the death of an animal due to human carelessness or laziness. Animals, after all, like children can be totally dependent on our help.

That's why so many people were shocked and outraged by the death of six horses recently by starvation. A Columbia Falls woman has been charged in that case with aggravated animal cruelty.

Regardless of how the case turns out in the courts, it reminds us that whenever we take responsibility for an animal, we must follow through. It doesn't matter if it is a dog, cat, horse or some other critter.

Any animal which comes to depend on human care must be treated humanely.

It was a revealing e-mail that cost Bill Bennett his job as British Columbia's Minister of Mines, but perhaps there was more to it than a momentary indiscretion.

Bennett went on an anti-American rant in corresponding with one of his constituents in Fernie about hunting permit allocations. The e-mail exchange was circulated widely, and the next thing Bennett knew, he was tendering his resignation to Gordon Campbell, British Columbia's premier.

Campbell certainly understood that a prospective open-pit coal mine in the Canadian Flathead drainage is a huge concern in Montana, and there has been quite a bit of shuttle diplomacy, presumably aimed at soothing those concerns.

Having a hot-headed cabinet member with anti-American views and decision-making capacity regarding the prospective mine isn't exactly soothing in a situation where the state and province are outwardly, at least, trying to establish "good neighbor" relations.

Bennett's resignation was warranted.