Saturday, March 29, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
In his letter, printed March 20, Mr. Guiffre goes on to say, "... it is not his responsibility to 'guard' the cement until it dries."
What nonsense. Of course it is. Mr. Plaster's deal was to do a piece of work, within certain specs, for the city. Until that job was delivered and accepted, no matter about anything else, the responsibility was still the contractor's. This does not mean, however, that little Jeremy is absolved of wrongdoing. Or that his mother is not responsible for the misdeeds of her child. It just means that Plaster crossed his fingers and tried to save a few bucks. The worst happened; some kids acted like kids and destroyed his work.
Mr. Plaster, leaving his job unguarded until the transaction was completed, would be like a merchant not locking the doors to his establishment at the end of the workday. Or a banker leaving his vault and front doors open at night. Pretty dumb.
One more thing. So many people seem to be upset over the fact that this fairly provincial incident became a national event. Maybe, if it had been handled properly in the beginning, it would have stayed local.
Jerry Dobin
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