Sprayed Towboat Relased from Quarantine, EPA holding release of crop duster tests

CBS 12 WJTV Jackson, Mississippi ^ | October 22, 2001 | Darren Dedo

[umbra]

A Mississippi River towboat that was sprayed with an unknown substane by a crop duster has been released from quarantine.

The towobat and crew of 11 were released at 12 a.m. this morning. The towboat and its 17 barges of coal are again streming towards their destination of Tampa, Florida. The towboat had been quarantined since Friday afternoon.

A Mid South towing spokeswoman says that investigations by the EPA and the Mississppi Department of Agriculture have been completed. The results of the investigation have yet to be published.

Law enforcement agencies are still searching for the cropduster and a pleasure boat the plane also sprayed.

[K7TNW]

"So much for "homeland security." Your tax dollars at work."

Don't know about that area, but here in Arizona, crop dusters are all over the place. They operate from small strips, not air-fields. They can take-off/land in a couple hundred feet. Typically a cleared portion of land near the owner's home and, probably, crops (cotton). Without a good description, and/or tail number, tracking the plane would be hard.

I have known a couple crop duster pilots and consider them to be on the insane side of brave! {8^,

[Lion's Cub]

Ping FYI

DWSUWF- original thread (link in #60) has additional discussion of potential anthrax spray on agricultural barges.

[Dixielander]

There are several threads dealing with the crop duster-Mississippi River incident in addition to this one. They are:
"Sprayed Towboat; Crew Seems Healthy"
"Mississippi Probes Crop Duster Sprayings"
"Missing Crop Dusting Plane Seen".

See post #12 of "Missing Crop dusting Plane Seen" for MSNBC article.

[Dixielander]

Thanks for the heads up. Looks as though we both were referencing at the same time. Interesting stuff!

I can't help but wonder if Tunica, MS is a terrorist target. After all, there's a whole lot of gambling going on there, and we know the terrorists detest such decadence!

[AmericanGurl]

Do you have a link for the "Missing Crop Dusting Plane Seen" thread?

I searched and obviously not correctly.

[Dixielander]

I tried to provide a link, but my html skills are pathetic. The article you want is still around, so suggest you go to my profile page and curser down to "Missing Crop Duster Plane Seen" and click on it.

Wish I didn't have to make this so darn cumbersome for you.

[AmericanGurl]

Thanks! I didn't realize I could do it that way. I'm pathetic with the entire FR forum ;O)

[lonevoice]

A lot about this can be blamed on incompetence (the pilot was an idiot, no one got the plane's call letters, they can't find the plane, etc.) But, here's what I can't figure out: why haven't the people from the pleasure craft shown up on their own? This story must've been all over the regional media, lots of locals must've been buzzing about it. It would be hard for the people who were on that boat to not have heard about it. If you were one of them, and you thought there was any chance in hell you had been sprayed with a deadly bioagent, wouldn't you run to health officials and demand that you be tested?

[Coop]

Then why search for pleasure boat ?

Witnesses to the event would be my guess. Plus, to be thorough. The possibility does exist that this was some type of attack. The barge could be safe, yet the pleasure craft infected.

But if you're a terrorist, why spray along a river with two boats when you could hit a stadium, farmers market, county fair, etc.?

[Elenya]

The incubation period for something like smallpox is 2 weeks--this is pretty damn irresponsible to let that barge/crew go before we know more.

You got that right!

[callisto]

To find all articles tagged or indexed using Anthrax_Scare_List
Go here:
OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC) LIST
and then click the Anthrax_Scare_List topic to initiate the search! !

[VRWC_minion]

But if you're a terrorist, why spray along a river with two boats when you could hit a stadium, farmers market, county fair, etc.?

Practice run ? Also, how do you know he only hit two boats ? Maybe others didn't notice.

If they were looking for potential witnesses than why not put out search for anyone that could have been in the area instead of limiting it to one pleasure boat ?

[Coop]

Who says they're not? I certainly don't know the details of the investigation.

My point was and still is - they would not release the barge, its cargo and its crew if they were concerned about infection.

[Darksheare]

How hard can it be to track the plane down? especially if it had call letters on it, which is a law isn't it?
Depends. In my area of the People's Democratic Workers' Paradise Republic of New York there is a guy that buzzes houses from tree-top level and has done it for years. He changes the color of the plane fairly often, and has no wing markings. He lands in Northern New Jersey and has yet to be caught for "barnstorming", which is illegal.
He also hasn't been busted for not having his i.d. numbers/letters on his plane. The only visible identifier I saw on this particular plane at any time in the past ten years were inch high letters on the tail surfaces. And that isn't even up to regs. So our law enforcement guys are going to have a fun time finding the clown(s) responsible if they don't have numbers to track. The only reason I know where my local clown comes from is that I saw where he lands.
Sidenote: I always wanted to build an Estes model rocket and launch it at him just to see what he'd do....

[VRWC_minion]

My point was and still is - they would not release the barge, its cargo and its crew if they were concerned about infection.

Anthrax is not infectious.

[Coop]

To the best of our knowledge. But who says it has to be anthrax? And if it was you can't tell me they wouldn't be treating the crew with antibiotics. Word of that would certainly get out.

Enjoying the chat. Cheers

[VRWC_minion]

Heard on the radio last night it was fertilizer. It probably was but ever since TWA800 I never fully trust the reports from our gov.

[coydog]

I'd say put the bozo in stocks or horsewhip him in the town square. Considering what people are currently going through, there is no excuse for the actions of this grandstanding moron, if that's what he was.

[Terrorista Nada]

9mm or .223 won't do much against an armored cockpit and fuel tank, both of which the missing AY-65 crop duster has.