"OBSTRUCTING GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS"

Here is an interesting breaking news story. Because the first week in June was very hot, temperatures reaching the nineties here in the Denver metro area, our mountain streams are running very high with freshly melted snow, after a very cold and snowy spring. This is the season for river rafting. Clear Creek is the stream made famous by Coors Brewery ads, as it starts up on the continental divide and flows through Golden (into the Coors Brewery) and on across the metro area. Up in the mountains it is roiling right now.

Yesterday one of the river rafting companies had a group of four or five people in a boat that capsized in the roaring mountain stream. All but one immediately made it to the river bank safely. The one was a thirteen-year-old girl. After searching for her for several minutes, the rafters called 911. The Clear Creek County Sheriff, (whom I just heard interviewed by Jon Caldera on talk radio station KHOW, so my information is more up-to-date than the Denver Post on-line story linked to above) asked for help from all the neighboring law enforcement agencies, who converged on the scene and soon found the girl on the opposite bank of the river from where the officers came down to the river. The officers were getting their rescue operation started when...

At the same time that the call was made to the sheriff, the rafters called their company. Two guys from the company got in their vehicle and rushed to the scene. They saw the officers and rushed down the bank to the river. The Undersheriff was at the scene, saw that the rafting company employees were about to jump in the river to swim across to the girl, and ordered them not to do so. One of the rafting company employees ignored the order, and jumped in the roiling river and swam across to the girl. He was arrested and charged with "obstructing government operations." So was his companion from the rafting company, who was standing by with rescue equipment, perhaps to throw it across to his fellow employee and the girl.

I told this story to my three children, and asked them what they would have done. Six-year-old Sara said she would have pushed the rafting company employee into the water, arrested him, taken him to jail, and then when her boss the sheriff was not looking, she would get the keys and let the guy out of jail. (A budding devious female?)

Eight-year-old Greg said he would have given the guy a ticket and made him pay a five dollar fine.

Ten-year-old Jon said he would have taken everybody to a nearby pizza restaurant to celebrate the rescue.

What are your thoughts?