Article: ON POINT.(Opinion/Commentary/Editorial)

WHY SHOULD U.S. PAY?

Should the federal government pay for damages from the Hayman fire? Rep. Tom Tancredo thinks so, because the blaze was set by a federal employee. And he notes that the government paid for damage from a ``prescribed burn'' in New Mexico that roared out of control and leveled hundreds of homes.

But there's a world of difference between the Hayman and the Cerro Grande fires that can be summed up in a single word: ``intent.''

Government employees set the New Mexico fire as part of an approved program. So naturally the government was liable for the inferno that ensued. But lighting the Hayman fire was a criminal act of arson ...

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