Fake Coast Guard Boat Raises Alert...

[eanax]

Fake Coast Guard Boat Raises Alert
By Gavin McCormick
Associated Press Writer
Friday, Nov. 2, 2001; 4:15 p.m. EST

CHARLESTON, W.Va. –– Several area chemical plants have been warned to take extra precautions after a boat masquerading as a Coast Guard vessel was spotted on the Kanawha River.

"They should do whatever is necessary to protect the facility if the boat approaches at high speed," said Lt. Renee Kern, chief of port operations for the Coast Guard's Huntington office.

"We left the decision entirely up to them whether to move vessels in the way, or to shoot, or to use a crane, or whatever," Kern said.

Coast Guard officials warned the area's five largest chemical and energy plants on Oct. 5 that the boat had been spotted near Charleston. Kern didn't identify the plants.

Of the more than 30 chemicals that federal authorities say have the potential for mass destruction when they are in large containers, 28 are manufactured in West Virginia.

The phony Coast Guard boat was spotted at least four times on the Kanawha River from Oct. 5 to Oct. 20, moving at high speeds or "lurking around power plants and chemical facilities," Kern said.

A state trooper saw the boat on a trailer on Oct. 18 but did not know then the boat was suspicious.

In an Oct. 11 letter sent to 48 area chemical and energy plants, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Steven Wischmann of Huntington described the rogue boat as a light gray 20-footer with "US COAST GUARD" written on the side and a bar of lights atop the cabin.

The boat had no Coast Guard number painted on its side and no Coast Guard flag.

A boat matching a similar description was seen in late September on the Ohio River near Cincinnati, said Lt. Cmdr. Paul Mehler, executive officer of the Coast Guard office in Louisville.

Officials at the Coast Guard's Atlantic Area command office in Portsmouth, Va., said a small number of sightings of phony Coast Guard vessels have been reported since Sept. 11. All reports other than the boat seen on the Kanawha and Ohio rivers proved to be unsubstantiated.

Kern declined to give an exact description of the boat's lone male occupant. She said he fit the description of a "Joe average American."

"We don't know if the boat meant to scope this area and then move on to the next, or if it was doing something else illegal," Kern said. "Maybe it was someone not taking their medicine who thought they would be doing the government a favor."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...161520_000.htm

[Manu]

Wow, that is really distrubing...

Joe Average American...I think we need to start profiling them now

Seriously though, that is worrisome that this wasn't
a) a bigger story
b) they haven't found the boat or the guy
c) what he was doing!

[Snouter]

A trooper saw a 20 foot power boat with COAST GUARD stickers on it and no registration numbers and didn't take notice? I visited the Coast Guard Home Page to see if they have a registration number system on their vessels and several key pages at the web site are unavailable.

Kern's comments indicate a casual attitude that is unacceptable in this situation.

The trooper should have at least checked inside the boat for copies of the Koran.