Make This Guy Pay for his Rescue!

I know this may sound harsh, and appologies if I offend, but damnit, people need to take some responsibility! There is more to it than this story tells, and I'm about to tee-off...

Apparently, according to the local news on channel 4, the guy in the trench was the foreman of the job site, Larry Ragland. He jumped into a freshly dug ditch for a new sewer line to a nursing home. The ditch was 6-8 feet deep, and in case you don't know, the soil around here is mostly clay. The ditch was not shored up, no supports in site. The ditch walls collapsed around him and buried him up to his waist. Clay is some heavy, tacky stuff, and he was unable to free himself, so fire & rescue was called.

Personally, I hope that since he survived intact and was joking with the rescuers (who were gritting their teeth I guarantee you) I say make an example of Mr. Ragland. OSHA needs to levy the maximum fine possible, and for every member of the crew who was in that unreinforced ditch at any point besides Mr. Ragland, the site foreman, the state should level a charge of reckless endangerment. And finally, the county should bill him for his rescue, since it was entirely avoidable. He needs to go to jail and be an example of a boss who took shortcuts and put his crew in peril. Stuff like this happens every day, and I for one am sick of it. Hold those who hold the purse-strings accountable.