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City has an obligation to patrol river

Published 12:03am Thursday, July 19, 2012

The independent American spirit in us wishes our country didn’t have to have laws to protect people from doing foolish things.

But the common sense side of us also knows that laws are required to protect some people from harming themselves, harming others and foolishly putting people in harm’s way.

That’s why we have speed limits and laws prohibiting discharge of firearms in close proximity to others, such as within the city limits.

It’s also why local leaders have threatened to cite residents who are seen playing along the dramatically lowered banks of the Mississippi River.

They’re not trying to ruin anyone’s fun, but simply trying to keep people safe.

We wish it were safe for residents to head down to the banks of the Mississippi River.

We wish they could safely walk along the edges of the river and enjoy its beauty, gazing up at the banks and wondering with amazement just how much the river level can change in a year’s time.

Just more than a year ago the Mighty Mississippi crested at a new high. Today, the river’s surface is approximately 50 feet lower, and experts tell us it may drop further.

As tempting as it can be, please be aware of the dangers and heed the warnings. Some residents may not remember, but it hasn’t been all that long ago one of The Natchez Democrat’s own employees, Danny Richardson, was swept to his death while walking along a sandbar on the river’s edge.

The danger is real, and the warnings are for your own good — and to avoid sending rescue workers in to save you or recover you if you fall into the water.

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  • Anonymous

    BS!

  • Anonymous

    Nanny state!  It will never stop.  You can’t and shouldn’t have to protect people from themselves.  Grew up on the river, swam in the river all my life.  Could it end tragically, absolutely.  People drown in swimming pools everyday.  Do we need to outlaw them.  We all have different personalities, some people are willing to take greater risk than others.  My wife and I are prime examples.  I grew up riding motorcycles and doing risky activities and she grew up thinking all that was crazy and wasn’t worth the risk.  I try to explain to her that if I was to die doing something that I enjoyed doing that I would have died happy.  For the life of her she cannot understand.  I think that it has benefited our kids.  I have a tendency to try and make them do things out of their comfort zone she wants them to only do safe things.  Hopefully they will end up somewhere in the middle.  Life is full of risk, do we want to outlaw everything.  I’m glad the Wright brothers invented flight before this day and time, because we would have outlawed that to protect them from themselves. 

  • Anonymous

    It ain’t all about you, pal.

  • Anonymous

    Actully it is.  Where do my rights stop and yours begin.  Here you are a person that I don’t know, you don’t know anything about me, but you think you know what’s best for me.  I am an adult male, own a business and run others, very involved father and husband, never taken anything from government and a contributing citizen to my community and you think that you know what’s best for me.  I would never think that I know what’s best for you because I consider you to ber FREE to make your own choices for you and your family.  I will never understand why people are willing to give up freedom for security.  We will just have to agree to disagree.  As I said before, different personalities.

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