Ask Edward Hanousek what happens when the concept of enforcing laws veers so far off course. Hanousek was employed as a road master by the White Pass and Yukon Railroad, which runs from Skagway, Alaska, to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. As such, Hanousek was responsible for maintenance and construction of the track and other facilities of the railroad.
A high-pressure pipeline carrying fuel oil ran alongside the track. One evening, after Hanousek had left work for the day, Shane Thoe, a backhoe operator who worked for a contractor hired to load rock onto railroad cars, loaded a train with rock. After the train departed, Thoe noticed some rock remained on the track. He drove the backhoe down and removed the rock. In the process, he ruptured the pipeline, spilling fuel oil into the adjacent Skagway River.
Hanousek, not Thoe, paid the price in criminal sanctions because, according to the courts, he had failed to supervise Thoe sufficiently. Hanousek and his superior—Paul Taylor—were charged with negligently discharging pollutants into a U.S. waterway and making false statements to Coast Guardsmen investigating the incident. Taylor was acquitted of both charges, and Hanousek was acquitted of making the false statements. But Hanousek was convicted and sentenced to six months in prison because he failed to appropriately supervise the project.
He did nothing morally wrong. He had gone home for the day and had no knowledge of Thoe’s actions. Thoe was charged with nothing. Yet, Hanousek spent six months in prison. This, says Rosenzweig, is the type of use of criminal law that must be reformed
I think your "N" at the end of "dam" ran away, and is hiding in "Continental"
