Wash it away

The Alabama Legislature on Thursday approved a bill by Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville, designed to keep Marshall County's water from going to Blount County, and Gov. Bob Riley has promised not to stand in the way.

Meanwhile, one of Blount County's legislators, Rep. Elwyn Thomas, R-Oneonta, has threatened to respond in the future to Marshall County's water protectionism bill with a Blount County water protectionism bill. That bill would hurt Birmingham, which draws a lot of water from Inland Lake, something fierce.

The answer to all of the petty squabbling is a statewide water policy that doesn't leave counties at each other's throats. Thomas said as much to The Birmingham News, which makes you wonder why he didn't propose to write a bill to create a statewide policy instead of seeking vengeance with another protectionist measure.

Then again, vengeance is rather tasty.