A New Water Hazard at the Golf Course

Boynton Beach, Florida. Sounds like a great place to live, work, and play. Well, I can't speak for the live and play parts, but a recent Associated Press article from the Palm Beach Post suggests that Boynton Beach is a hazardous place to work. It appears that the city needed to have some golf balls retrieved from a lake at The Links golf course, so it hired 43 year old Stephen Martinez to dive for them. Unfortunately for poor Martinez, the lake happened to be the home of 9-foot alligator, which bit Martinez's arm. The injuries were described as serious but not life-threatening.

I have the following thoughts about this unfortunate event:

1. Martinez was stupid for taking this job.
2. Boynton Beach has a dysfunctional safety program, hiring divers to go into lakes in obvious alligator habitat.
3. Martinez is going to have some tough decisions ahead of him, such as which personal injury lawyer should he pick to file his lawsuit.

But don't worry, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is on the case and guess what - it's the gator's fault! It has been trapped and will be euthanized.

Up here in Pittsburgh, golfers face similar hazards with squirrels. They're ferocious for their size, and are more numerous than gators. The In The Bleachers comic below depicts a typical scene.