Nanny statism - a boy and some pebbles

From Jolly Olde England comes this story -- from the Sunday Express:

BOY'S DAMS IN STREAM BANNED... BECAUSE OF 'FLOOD RISK'
A BOY of six has been ordered by a council to stop building pebble dams in a stream � in case they trigger a flash flood.

It has warned �Daniel Johnson�s �father Rob that the little piles of pebbles could block the brook and cause a �major �disaster�.

But Mr Johnson, 33, said the dams his son beavers away at creating are five inches high and the water in the stream is just a couple of inches deep.

�I am gobsmacked by this, it�s just ridiculous,� he said yesterday. �This is about a child being supervised by a parent and playing in a stream two inches deep.

�We have made pebble dams a few times. It�s the stuff you do with your kids.

�It is a normal, everyday activity, something people do all over the country.

�The parish council has told me to stop doing it � but even the rain would wash the pebbles away.

�Daniel doesn�t make proper dams. It�s just a few pebbles in a row that the water flows around. We have lots of people stopping us and saying they used to do it with their grandchildren.�

A letter sent out by the council accused Mr Johnson of �repeatedly rebuilding� dams in the stream, Nettleham beck, near Lincoln, despite them being cleared away by the council on several occasions.

After explaining the threat of flash flooding, the letter ends by stating: �We request you cease your activity forthwith.�

The members of that parish council have waaaay too much time on their hands. Talk about Pournelle's Iron Law of Beaurocracy...

Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.