Fed claims you need a permit to dig in the sand

A Fed from seeking a justification for chasing off reporters who're digging in the Florida sand to examine the efficacy of BP's oil-spill-mitigation efforts has scraped the bottom of the barrel: he claimed that you need a license to build a sand castle.

"Are you digging for oil product?" the official asked. When Thomas did not immediately confirm his intentions, the man threatened to call law enforcement and advised the journalist to move down the beach.

Moments later, an officer of the National Parks Service was demanding the reporter identify himself, insisting over and over, "you can't dig."

"So, no sand castles?" Thomas asked. "None of that, huh?"

"You're right," the officer replied.

Building sand castles on Florida's beaches is illegal, feds tell oil-hunting reporter

(via Consumerist)

(Image: Sand Castle in the Sun, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from gilichu's photostream)