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You'd think by now that every manager in every organization would have these eight words memorized. But in the case of a massive sewage spill in Thomasville, these words bear repeating: It's not the crime; it's the cover-up.

It's too soon to say if there was a crime committed in the state's largest reported sewage spill in at least a decade until the Environmental Protection Agency finishes its investigation. But what happened in Thomasville was needless, reckless and irresponsible.

Heavy rains on July 13 caused a sewage pipe to collapse near Baptist Children's Home Road. For three weeks 15.93 million gallons of raw sewage ran from the broken pipe and into North Hamby Creek. From there it trickled into Abbott's Creek in Lexington and eventually made its way into High Rock Lake. The city discovered the leak on Aug. 3 and stopped the flow by the next day. Thomasville reported a leak to the state of 385,000 gallons -- two days worth of leakage. The N.C. Division of Water Quality fined the city $1,616.

The issue would have ended there, but on Aug. 28 a wastewater treatment employee blew the whistle to an environmental group, which then alerted federal officials.

The city reviewed its records and found a much more serious problem. As a result, the city's maintenance and construction superintendent took early retirement, and Thomasville may face heftier fines.

What's so disturbing about this case is that there were plenty of warning signs. Some residents along High Rock Lake were complaining of foul odors back in July. Someone at the Baptist Children's Home reported a sewage smell to the city four days before the leak was discovered, but no one from the city bothered to check it out. Even more telling, the city's own records show that the amount of sewage coming into the plant dropped by up to 40 percent per day starting in mid-July.

Thomasville will be punished for failing to act when the evidence pointed to a problem. It remains to be seen how much damage High Rock Lake and its tributaries will sustain.

To Thomasville's credit, City Manager Kelly Craver has acted quickly and forthrightly once the scope of the problem became clear. Now let's hope Thomasville can act just as quickly to repair its sewer system so this doesn't happen again. Sewage may stink, but ignoring it stinks worse.