BAYFIELD'S IRON BRIDGE, AND THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

BAYFIELD'S IRON BRIDGE AS SEEN FROM WASHINGTON AVE.

VIEW FROM BRIDGE TO SOUTH, OVER DOWNTOWN

VIEW TO NORTH, INTO RAVINE WOODS

Friday,  8:00 AM.  24 degrees F, wind SW, light with stronger gusts.  The sky is completely overcast, the humidity has risen to 88%, and the barometer has fallen to 29.86".  A low has moved in and will likely give us some snow.
   Bayfied's 19th Century Iron Bridge is located on the north side of town, and crosses a deep ravine between North Second Street and North Third Street.  It actually spans an area which, south of Washington Ave., where the ravine is diverted and stops, is known as Broad Street, between Second and Third Street.  A hundred years ago the iron bridge, which has a wooden deck, supported carriage and early auto traffic.  It has been for many years a footbridge only.  It is beautifully ornate, and connects two separate areas of the north side of town, which used to be known respectively as School Hill and Catholic Hill.  The view to the south from the hight of the bridge is one of the best in the city, and the view to the north glimpses the wilderness of the ravine.  The Iron Bridge Trail, which starts at Washington Avenue, passes under the bridge and wends its way up the ravine to the countryside far to the north of town.  The ravine is a natural corridor for wildlife, and bear, eagles and other animals and birds are often seen along its trail.
  A prime example of the Law of  Unintended Consequences:  An existing federal ruling is being expanded by the gun-hating Obama Administration, with predictably stupid results.  The Health and Human Services Administration has a broad mandate to use the testimony of  individual psychiatrists to deny the Second Amendment right to own a firearm to  war veterans, police and firemen and others who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.  Thousands of these military and civilian heroes are now being targeted and stand to loose their right to own guns for self-protection, sport and hunting, for life.
   This is unjust and disturbing in and of itself, but the possibilities for expansion of the use of this vague and draconian law to target political opponents is real, and a danger to the ability of the body politic to defend itself against tyranny, present or future.  Now, perhaps that eventuality may be considered too abstruse by most individuals, and summarily discounted.
   But the present and expanded use of this vague administrative ruling has another, immediate and damning effect: to discourage sufferers of  PTSD, and even persons who would simply
seek the help of a mental health professional (yes, even that is enough to make it illegal to own a firearm for life), from seeking the help they need for fear of being targeted and blighted for life as unstable and unfit to exercise their constitutional rights.  Every political excess and overreach has a reaction, and this one is especially negative in its unintended consequences.