The Coast Guard taketh away, and the Coast Guard giveth.

Two years ago, the Coast Guard took away navigation markers in Davis Creek and at Hole in the Wall in Mathews County.

Public outrage could not persuade the federal government to keep these markers in place. So, to its credit, up stepped the Mathews County Board of Supervisors.

In June, the board learned that the Coast Guard has given permission for the county to install its own markers in these busy waterways. The county is seeking a marine contractor interested in installing them.

This is trickle-down government at its worst: The federal agency equipped and trained to maintain the markers has a station right on our own shoreline, but takes away the cost to itself by abandoning the markers that provide safe passage for vessels. Where were our representatives?

On the other hand, this is local government at its best: refusing to just accept the inevitable, choosing instead to deal with the problem. It should not have been...