Thursday, July 17, 2008

Agriculture Amusement

Nope, you are not reading another post about my stupid garden or the bunnies who are waiting to take it over (give me a few weeks and I'll get back to it). I wanted to share something I read minutes ago in my local newspaper. This seems like just another story in today's newspaper about an amusement park shutting down a ride until you get to the part that I've highlighted...

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom has shut down a ride called the Rainbow after a ride like it collapsed at an amusement park in Sweden, injuring at least 40 people.

"We have temporarily closed the ride, as a precaution, due to what happened in Sweden," said Kentucky Kingdom spokeswoman Carolyn McLean. She said the ride will remain shut down until further notice....

McLean said Six Flags mechanics and technicians will inspect the ride thoroughly before any decision is made to restart it. She also said the state Department of Agriculture, which is charged with inspecting amusement-park rides, also will "look it over."
I'm not sure how they handle things down in Kentucky, but as a Hoosier, I'm a big supporter of agriculture and everything they do to grow and manage our food supply. In fact, that seems like it would be a full-time job all by itself, without the need to add other responsibilities (like inspecting amusement part rides).

Here in Indiana (at least in my part of the state) we actually ELECT a coroner. It gets better, folks. Some of these elected coroners have not been doctors. So, this is where it all comes together. We need to get these elected coroners who are not doctors down to Kentucky Kingdom so they can investigate these rides.

6 comments:

Mighty Morphin' Mama said...

Um yeah. I hope the inspectors from the dept. of agri. are at least somewhat mechanically inclined...
I bet you will feel so safe after they give it the okay.

Mr. E said...

I bet the blaim the ride closing on Ecoli or something. The Department of Agriculture is in charge of inspecting gas pumps and scales to make sure they are up to standards of measurement. I am assuming the ride's failure has something to do with saftey standards along those lines.

Toni said...

The department of agriculture inspects rides? Hmmm. So, is that why Indiana Beach has a rollercoaster called The Cornball Express? Ya gotta wonder, eh?

To me, this would be like airline customer service agents inspecting aircraft fuel for debri. Something like, "Let me sump a lil' fuel out of this line and take a little look-see. Yep, looks dandy fine to me. She's good to fly." Idiotic, I know. Oh wait, I did that job. Yeah, wish I could say I'm joking but it's true. Bet I could get hired over at the department of agriculture 'cuz I got skills.
Blessings,
~Toni~

jan said...

No, I bet they end up blaiming global warming which, as we all know, like everything else that's going wrong on the planet, is Bush's fault.

Tech Daddy said...

I wonder if the Dept. of Agri. took on this responsibility to inspect rides because someone enjoyed riding coasters and wanted to play instead of work, and get paid for it?

Rebekah said...

thats government for you