Murphy Bros. Shocked at Insurance Scam

[waterboy]

About a week ago the World ran a 2col x 4in story inside the paper about the county fair and the Water Park being uninsured because of a fake insurance policy. This should have been a story. What is with Murphy Bros. that they barely suffered a blip in pr damage?

Why is it a story? If you have done business with the city or county you know that a bona-fide insurance certificate is an absolute necessity. Lloyds of London had to contact a Bull Ride operator in Bristow to tell them that their agent is not registered to represent them. Then it became apparent that the Fairgrounds and Big Splash use the same agent. He supposedly pocketed the premiums, made a fake insurance certificate and skipped the state. This is not small potatoes. Probably 10K per month.

The Murphys were shocked. The agent is a personal friend of the Murphys. The fairgrounds director was shocked. Uh-huh. Even though this is the same agent used the last time, two years ago when it surfaced that no insurance was in place on Big Splash. And the same operator, Murphy Bros. who had no insurance in 1986 when a child died at Big Splash. See a pattern here? The fair board director didn't. The World didn't.

My favorite remark in the story was the director assuring everyone that there was no lapse in coverage for the public as the Fairgrounds insurance would have kicked in. That Fairgrounds insurance is you the taxpayer, probably through self insurance. Good spin. He also made the not so brave announcement that Murphy bros. could not run the fair without insurance. Apparently they can.

This merited some investigation and comment. Have I missed something here? Bear?