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by Ted Mooney
Chemical paranoia has gripped New Jersey for a decade, with our
elected leaders quick to fan the fires whenever the panic threatens
to abate. But somehow I was confident that our State Supreme Court
would be a little more intellectually honest. Instead they shamed us.
An after-hours fire, apparently set by vandals, destroyed the
buildings, property, and inventory of Alden Leeds Inc. Never mind
that the company suffered a loss of $9 million dollars when the State
failed in its duty to protect them, the State then saw fit to
prosecute them for a release of chlorine from their inventory of pool
chemicals, because their containment plans did not withstand criminal
wildfire!
In NJ--where our elected officials have been worthless at
controlling sprawl or urban decay, this seems to be a new standard
operating procedure: allow the police and firefighters to be
ineffective in preventing vandals from burning down the old
industrial buildings, then blame the victims.
Prosecuting someone for a chemical release caused by a major
criminal act perpetrated on them is no different than criminally
prosecuting a home owner if her window is blown out by a stray bullet
from a drive-by shooting and the glass shards cut someone. Drawing
the distinction when there is simply no difference can only be one of
two things: either total panic-induced mindlessness or shameless
whoring.
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