Paying the price for others' mistakes

This one is kind of tough to write, because we all make stupid mistakes. But sometimes other people suffer because of our times of thoughtlessness. Here are two examples:

How many people have to die before the message gets out that it’s not smart to steal copper wire from an electric substation?

Last Friday, 22-year-old Daniel Chapman and another man cut a chain link fence to enter an American Electric Power substation in Boone County, W.Va., where they planned to steal copper. But Chapman was struck by an electrical surge that ran through the station. The man with Chapman notified his father, Jack A. Chapman, who came running to help his son. But Jack Chapman came into contact with live wires and was electrocuted, too.

It’s not like this rarely happens. AEP spokesman Phil Moye says that since the price of copper started to increase about two years ago, six people have been killed trying to steal it from the company’s West Virginia service area.

As Jim Croce would have said, you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, and you don’t walk into a live substation to steal copper. But some people never learn. Not only did the thief die, but his obviously distraught father lost his life, too, because someone wanted some easy money by stealing wire.

Would the younger Chapman have broken into that substation if he thought it would cost his father's life? Probably not.

On a similar note, a local woman and her two children were injured Sunday when the ATV they were riding collided head-on with an SUV on a paved road.

Again, how many times do we have to tell people that ATVs are not meant for paved roads and that they are designed to be ridden by one person with no passengers?

The Legislature refuses to deal with the problem of people operating ATVs in an unsafe manner on public roads. But laws can be ignored, and often are. Every year, more names are added to the list of those killed or injured by ignoring basic safety rules. Until people act more responsibly, more people will be hurt.

You can get hurt by driving a car carelessly, too, but in a car you have the protection of a steel cage. There is no such protection on an ATV.

I remember when I had a little experience riding an ATV, and my two young children wanted me to take them for a ride. I did, and it became apparent real fast that I was in over my head with them on there. As soon as I could, I got them off, and I never again took small children for a ride on an ATV. I was fortunate. My kids did not pay for my mistake. I feel sorry for the woman who rode the ATV the other day. I hope her kids are okay.

We all make mistakes. It's sad when our little ones or our parents pay the price.