Brickbat: No Good Deed

Daniel and Norris Keating saw a barrel marked "flammable liquid" floating in the waterway behind their Clearwater, Fla., home. They pulled it out and saw it was further labeled "ethyl alcohol." Daniel Keating called county officials to see about dropping it off at a hazardous waste drop-off site. Instead, he ended up with firefighters coming to his home and telling him that since it was now on his property he'd have to pay to have it disposed of. The contractor who handles such work for the county told him it would cost $1,500 to get rid of the barrel. Instead, Keating called a local TV station. Once a reporter started making some calls about the matter, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection agreed to retrieve the barrel.