The Coast Guard reverses course and says weekly Tampa fireworks are okay if sponsors provide extra security.
By STEVE HUETTEL, Times Staff Writer
Published June 7, 2005
TAMPA - Tampa's port might be safe from some things that go boom in the night.
Two weeks after saying weekly fireworks displays at the Channel District posed an unacceptable risk of a terrorist attack, Coast Guard officials decided Monday the shows can go on if sponsors provide extra security.
An association of downtown Tampa merchants asked to put on an outdoor festival with fireworks on the water on Friday evenings from June through August. They hope the events will draw big crowds during the slowest season for restaurants, shops and attractions.
Local Coast Guard officials and the district headquarters in Miami initially rejected the request. The events would create "a repetitive and predictable diversion terrorists could exploit to mask their activities," wrote Capt. Mike Farley, the Coast Guard's top safety official at the port.
The Downtown Tampa Attractions Association appealed to Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C. On Monday, officials at the Seventh Coast Guard District in Miami decided the fireworks could proceed with beefed up security.
"We're making an effort to be accommodating and look at measures that could mitigate the risk," said Capt. Mark O'Malley, chief of marine safety at the district. The specifics will be left up to Farley.
Troy Manthey, president of the attractions association, said he hoped the Friday festivals, dubbed "Rockin' on the Riverwalk," could begin as soon as next week.
"We're very happy," said Manthey, chief executive of Yacht StarShip Dining Cruises. "We have a reasonable shot at breaking even this summer. It could make the difference for a lot of (businesses)."
The association pays for the two Tampa police vessels that keep recreational boaters away from the fireworks barge and at least three off-duty officers on the wharf behind the Channelside entertainment complex, he said.
The group had proposed additional security, Manthey said, "and we hope it will be acceptable so we can move forward."
In an interview last week, Farley said his biggest concern was that the fireworks could create cover for terrorists to go after industrial areas of the port away from the crowds. He didn't identify possible targets, but emergency officials have previously stated concerns about tanks of toxic anhydrous ammonia at the port.
The Coast Guard believes large crowds at the events also could be a tempting target for terrorists, O'Malley said. Manthey has asked about other big spectator events, such as Tampa Bay Lightning games at the St. Pete Times Forum a few blocks from Channelside.
"Hockey games we don't control," O'Malley said. "We have to control things in our jurisdiction - the port is it."
Other agencies will be consulted about the fireworks shows, including the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Tampa Port Authority, which controls the wharf behind Channelside that is closed except for a few special events.
"The U.S. Coast Guard regularly asks for the port's input ... and any concerns of the port would be taken into consideration," said Steven Valley, a port authority spokesman. "The Port of Tampa will abide by the Coast Guard's decision."
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/06/07/news_pf/Business/Port_sky_to_bloom__bo.shtml
Cities and counties throughout the United States are creating stockpiles of anthrax countermeasures that mirror the drugs available in the Strategic National Stockpile, the Baltimore Sun reported today (see GSN, June 3).
The drugs, purchased with federal money given to cities to prepare for a terrorist attack, are meant to immediately treat first responders in the event of an anthrax attack without having to wait for drugs from the National Stockpile.
“It makes a difference knowing that you can take the medicine immediately and not put your family at risk through exposure,” said fire fighter Randall Owens.
However, one bioterrorism expert was critical of the practice.
“The idea is kind of nuts,” said William Stanhope of the Institute for Bio-Security at St. Louis University. “It presumes it is going to be an anthrax attack, and it presumes that we will know in an instant. ... A bioterrorist attack will not be white powder floating out of the sky. It will not be obvious. It will be covert.”
Stanhope also feared that distributing countermeasures for only anthrax gives first responders a false sense of security.
“There’s a good chance it won’t be anthrax,” he said.
Baltimore, Md., Health Commissioner Peter Beilenson said the city would not distribute any countermeasure before the situation is carefully analyzed.
“I’m a doctor. My first concern is to do no harm,” said Beilenson. “We’re just trying to be proactive and do the right thing with this [homeland security] money in a very smart, targeted way.”
A second public health official said the stockpile was necessary because it would take too long to distribute countermeasures from the National Stockpile.
“There is a difference between getting several trailer-loads of drugs to a central location in a state and then unpacking trailers and boxes and dividing the drugs into county sizes and dispersing them to the public,” said Diane Matuszak of the Baltimore Health and Mental Hygiene Department. “You would want the [antidotes] in the hands of every citizen within 48 hours” (Greg Barrett, Baltimore Sun, June 6).
Meanwhile, researchers from Canada and the United States said post-attack anthrax immunization and antibiotic therapy is more effective than pre-attack vaccination.
In the event of an anthrax attack, “post-attack prophylactic vaccination and antibiotic therapy is the most effective and least expensive strategy,” said researcher Robert Fowler (Biotech Week, June 8).