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Tuesday, December 25, 2007 Read an article about Captain Lou (click
here)
A) A carefully planned and executed exercise to
thwart a terrorist attack in Portsmouth, New
Hampshire took place last week. A team of
federal authorities from the Coast Guard, the
Navy, the FBI, and U.S. Customs all participated
in the exercise. The scenario included an
underwater mine explosion at the mouth of the
Piscataqua River that crippled an outbound
container ship and the discovery of explosive
devices planted on the Memorial Bridge in
Portsmouth. Exercise planners said they chose
Portsmouth because the port is home to the
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and a host of key
industrial facilities, many of which are vital
to the New England energy infrastructure. A
follow up full scale exercise is scheduled to
take place in Portsmouth next June.
B) A barge filled with dredge
material being pushed outbound by a tugboat
owned by the Jay Cashman corporation struck the
commuter railroad swing bridge in Beverly,
Massachusetts. The bridge crosses over
the Danvers River. Both the barge and bridge
sustained minimal damage and no injuries were
reported. Even so, commuter rail service had to
be interrupted to make repairs to the bridge's
mechanisms. Investigators from Coast Guard
Sector Boston investigated the cause of the
accident and reported that that there were only
12 inches of clearance on either side of the
barge as it passed between the bridge's fender
system.
C) An inmate in a Florida jail told
investigators that a fellow prisoner, who is a
suspect in the killings of four people aboard
the Florida charter fishing boat named Joe Cool,
admitted to him that he was indeed involved in
the murder of the boat's captain, the captain's
wife, and the two mates on board. The four were
shot and their bodies thrown overboard. He said
the four were killed because they refused to
take his friend and him to Cuba. Previously, the
two suspects claimed the four were killed by
Cuban pirates who attacked the boat at sea. The
two allegedly paid $4,000 to charter the "Joe
Cool" to take them to Bimini, but then tried to
force the captain to take them toward Cuba.
D) During the height of last
week's most recent northeaster, a Canadian
sailor reported he was adrift in 12 foot seas
about 270 miles east of Cape Cod in his 29-foot
sailboat bound for Bermuda. He asked to be
rescued and taken off the boat. The Coast Guard
Cutter Tahoma was dispatched, departing from
Portland, Maine, to rescue the sailor. The
cutter had to navigate through 15-foot seas,
wind, and ice, and could only achieve a speed of
6 knots. The Cutter finally arrived on scene the
next day and made visual contact with the
sailor, but still, the Coast Guard had to wait
for the sea and wind to subside before the crew
felt it was safe to pick up the sailor. At last
report, the sailor was safe, returned to shore,
but his sailboat was left behind, abandoned.
E) The Lori Emily, a 35-foot fishing boat from
Portland, Maine, was ordered back to the dock
after a Coast Guard boarding team found the
following safety violations: the vessel's life
raft inspection tag had expired; the emergency
flares and emergency position indicating radio
beacon (EPIRB) were expired; and the fire
extinguishers were expired or not working. The
Coast Guard escorted the boat back to the dock,
explaining that the regulations exist to keep
mariners alive.
F) A 40-foot humpback whale was cut free of
fishing lines in Canada's Bay of Fundy. A worker
from the non-profit Provincetown Center for
Coastal Studies on Cape Cod assisted the
Canadians in the rescue. A fisherman spotted the
whale entangled and reported its location to the
Canadian officials.
G) Every five years, the Massachusetts Division
of Fisheries and Wildlife conducts a winter
waterfowl survey asking where people are feeding
wild ducks and geese during the winter season.
The survey is conducted in January and includes
sites in urban and suburban and on or near fresh
and salt water. While the feeding of wildlife is
discouraged, there is no state law or regulation
that prohibits the feeding of ducks which has
been going on for decades.
H) After 800 years of lying on
the bottom of the South China Sea in 65 feet of
water, a 100 foot long merchant ship
loaded with some 60,000 to 80,000 rare items
made of porcelain was raised to the surface in a
specially built basket. In addition to the
porcelain antiques, archaeologists also
recovered containers made of gold and silver as
well as about 6,000 copper coins.
I) Some people are upset about the iPond - a
portable speaker with built in fish tank. People
are buying the miniature tank with a real live
fish in it, but animal activists say they are
being cruel to the fish. Not enough room for the
fish swim. Not enough oxygen! Experts also said
the noise from the speaker would be louder
underwater creating another hazard for the fish.
Somehow, however, the pet stores selling the
iPonds said the fish in the iPonds appeared to
flourish.
J) Two ice fishermen in Green Bay, Wisconsin,
became stranded on a piece of floating ice. The
two men were on snowmobiles, about 100 yards
offshore, when the section of ice they were
standing on broke away. They did not realize
they were stranded on the ice until they tried
to return home on their snowmobiles. The Green
Bay Coast Guard station was called, and about
two hours later, the two young men were rescued.
There was no word if the snowmobiles were saved
or left behind on the ice flow.
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