Posted on 09/22/2005 2:42:37 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Two of the Moss Landing Harbor residents who were the subjects of random boat searches during Labor Day Weekend say their experiences were closer to armed invasions than the friendly "safety inspections" characterized by U.S. Coast Guard officials.
Both residents said search crews entered the harbor in inflatable boats with machine guns mounted on their bows. Then, carrying M-16 rifles, they approached residents and boarded and searched their boats in the name of safety and "homeland security."
One resident, who asked not to be identified for fear or retribution, said his experience was "very intimidating, very frightening."
"To me it reeks of Nazi Germany and the death squads in Argentina," he said. "I don't want my name on their list."
Scott Jones, a live-aboard resident who was searched, said there has been talk in the harbor about contacting the American Civil Liberties Union, but he first wants to hear further from the Coast Guard about its future intentions.
Lt. Mark Warren of the Monterey Coast Guard Station said he has heard mostly positive response to the operation, but may rethink future actions given current criticisms.
"We take lessons and learn from these types of operations. If the public is genuinely distasteful of it, we might not do it," he said. "I'm not saying we won't, but I'm not saying we will."
In addition to trying to ensure the safety of boats on the bay during the holiday weekend, Warren said, the operation was part of an effort to increase the public's awareness of the Coast Guard's role as a law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security. He said the public might have been surprised to see weaponry that is now standard issue to all Homeland Security forces.
"I, as a U.S. citizen, am highly offended by that," said Jones, who is accustomed to Coast Guard boardings when he sails. "When a sheriff's deputy drives down the road or a CHP officer drives down the road and I see them, I'm aware of his job, and not because he's pulled me over and put a gun to my head.
"The Coast Guard's needs would be better served by an advertising campaign," he said, "rather than bullying people in their bedrooms at 10:30 at night."
Jones said he and his wife were sleeping when they were awakened by knocking on the side of the boat.
He went to the deck and was confronted by two armed officers asking if they could come aboard. Thinking something had happened in the harbor that the officers needed to talk to him about, Jones acquiesced.
"It seemed a little unreasonable at 10:30 at night," he said, "but it was the middle of the night and I was half asleep, so I said 'OK.' At this point, I looked out and saw six to eight officers (on the dock) and all appeared armed."
The officers boarded his boat and quickly spread out beyond the immediate deck without invitation, saying they were conducting a safety inspection.
"I can say with all certainly that what they did was not a safety inspection or in any way related to a safety inspection," he said. The officers demanded access to the bilge, saying they wanted to make sure the boat wasn't taking on water.
"This was highly suspect," Jones said. "If you're on board, you'd know if you were taking on water."
When Jones showed them the bilge, the officers repeatedly, and with increasing forcefulness, demanded to know if there were other accesses to the bilge. They also "demanded" the driver's licenses of everyone on board.
Increasingly upset by the nature of the search, Jones asked for the officers' authority and justification. One officer read to him from a federal code authorizing the search.
"It was either the Patriot Act or homeland security,"Jones said.
Warren said the officers would not have cited the Patriot Act because it affords the Coast Guard no additional authority.
Jones conceded he may have heard "homeland security" and registered "Patriot Act," but still feels the search was unwarranted and in a gray area of the law at best.
"I wouldn't question their professionalism, but I do question their motive and their authority," he said. "To me, it sounds like something that an ACLU lawyer would just tear apart."
Coast Guard officials say they are authorized by maritime law to board and search vessels on U.S. waters, including waters that lead to U.S. waters, to enforce federal laws.
Warren said the officers were attempting to ensure the safety and compliance of docked boats by checking for oily water in their bilges and that their sanitation devices were in locked position. Some searches were conducted at night in an effort to catch boats before they went onto the bay for the weekend.
The second boat owner who spoke to The Herald said his boat was searched after he challenged officers who were searching other boats, at 10:30 p.m. Sept. 2, and during the morning on following days. Told they were acting as Homeland Security officers, he asked what they were protecting the harbor from.
"Terrorists," he said he was told by the officers, who exhorted him to "remember the Cole," referring to the October 2000 attack by terrorists on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors.
"The only terrorists down here are you guys," he told them. "You're scaring the hell out of me with that machine gun."
While Warren was noncommittal about future searches, he said it is important for the public to know the Coast Guard's presence will be increased.
"The Coast Guard's focus on homeland security has increased our presence on the water and will continue to increase our presence simply because that's what Congress is wanting us to do right now," he said. "The concern at the congressional level about the security of ports is pretty high."
"Go ahead and slam the Coasties and National Guard again."
You see here is your err and this is your lesson. I never "slammed" the Coasties nor the National Guard. Folks who can read and comprehend know that.
Anyone who attacks from the profile page automatically loses as they obviously have nothing else to say.
So you've already admitted defeat.
Yes, you did.
Your post 575, remember?
"And all you sickos out here who suck the wangs of the gestapo warriors do not deserve to live in a nation born for freedom."
Dear Mikey,
This is a metaphor. Go get some grammar lessons son. I want you to especially pay close attention the the field of cognitive linguistics.
you're a joke.....a sick stupid repeatitive joke.
"Yes, you did.
Your post 575, remember?"
No I didn't. And how can I forget post 575? You've reported it to Jim twice already.
(And no, I am not pinging him to bother him.) Unlike you I can fight my own battles and hold my own. When and if you grow up, you will be able to also.
Btw, are you losing your touch? Has your credibility been in doubt lately? I ask because I sense this in your responses of late.
"you're a joke.....a sick stupid repeatitive joke."
Now that is the finest compliment you have paid me all day...and a fine way to impress as well as address a nam era vet.
"No I didn't. And how can I forget post 575? You've reported it to Jim twice already. "
Funny, you seem intent on acting as if you didn't say it.
"Btw, are you losing your touch?"
Touch you?
Tick, no thanks.
"Has your credibility been in doubt lately?"
Projecting again I see.
"I ask because I sense this in your responses of late."
Really?
Whose credibility is in question oh he who has to attack from the bio page because he has no original material nor a good platform to argue from?
Funny, for a guy who claims to have been in the military.. your post 575 sure is waaaaay out of whack with the claim.
takenoprisoner : I see yet another lost soulf else who believes the media
instead of waiting for an official Coast Guard Investigation.
Bet you thought Dan Rather was correct also.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1489544/posts?page=575#575
Yeah, it takes REAL genius for a guy CLAIMING to have been in the military to call the Coast Guard "gestapo warriors".
Believe me I anxiously await that report and continue to hold out hope that this be proven false.
Our CG nor or citizens should be abused in this manner. Our CG is about search and rescue and saving lives...and yes I know they engage the enemy as well, but those folks harbored at that marina were not our enemy, they are us.
We will see.
"Our CG nor or citizens should be abused in this manner. Our CG is about search and rescue and saving lives...and yes I know they engage the enemy as well."
Funny, the text of your post here contradicts what you're saying in 575:
"This behavior by the US Coast Guard, boarding privately owned harbored boats as citizens sleep, is a disgrace and a disservice to the people so harrassed, and to the Coast Guard.
Time to remove this "Patriot Act" for good.
And all you sickos out here who suck the wangs of the gestapo warriors do not deserve to live in a nation
born for freedom."
What was that?
You called them gestapo warriors?
Say, Taken, how does that foot taste?
"Everywhere in the world I dread that same self-deception which holds that "it can't happen here." It can happen anywhere. It becomes unlikely only where the mass of the population is aware of the threat, where there is accordingly no relapse into lethargy, where the character of "totalitarianism" is known and recognized from its very inception and in each of its aspects-as a Proteus which is constantly putting on new masks, which glides out of your grasp like an eel, which does the opposite of what it claims, which perverts the meaning of its words, which speaks, not to impart information, but to hypnotize, divert attention, insinuate, intimidate, dupe, which exploits and produces every type of fear, which promises security while destroying it completely."
—Karl Jaspers
and you vague quotation of someone 99% of the human race has never heard of STILL DOESN'T EXPLAIN why you called the Coasties "gestapo warriors".
Go back to hitting your bong and leave us without your doped up rantings.
I'm not the guy calling the Coast Guard "Gestapo Warriors".
You've been trying to justify your statement for over two days now.
How about you just shuut up now instead of trying to get that foot out of your mouth?
For a guy claiming to have been in the military, you sure don't SOUND like a guy who was in the military.
;^)
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