UPDATED at end of post.

FISHING -- Sportsmen are fond of stocking ponds and endorsing events that give kids and other newcomers a chance to try the sport of fishing.

To that point, the Spokane Valleyfest fishing pond event at Mirabeau Point pond is praiseworthy.

But after that, it gets a little troublesome, as when the uncaught trout die under the winter ice and come belly-up to the shores as the ice recedes.

I've voiced my opinion on this before to deaf ears so I won't rag on, except to say again -- the Valleyfest introduction to fishing might be tainted by the message we're sending kids about our tolerance for wastefulness.

I still think there ought to be a creative way to utilize and harvest more of the trout leftover from the summer Valleyfest event.

UPDATE:  I've been informed that commendable efforts were made to improve this situation last year. Kudos.  More to come on this....RL