Spraying on River Might Be Routine

Commercial Appeal ^ | October 23, 2001 | Reed Branson

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JACKSON, Miss. - Even as the FBI and state officials searched Monday for a crop duster pilot who sprayed two boats on the Mississippi River last week, experts downplayed suggestions of bioterrorism. The incident could be one of dozens of accidental sprayings reported every year in the cotton-rich Delta, they said.

State epidemiologist Dr. Mary Courier said preliminary tests found no evidence of anthrax, and a six-man crew on the barge tow sprayed by a crop duster on Friday had been told to stop taking antibiotics. The tow, which had been quarantined near Rosedale, was allowed to continue.

Officials hope to know today whether the substance that was sprayed onto at the tow and possibly a pleasure craft was the saltwater solution used to defoliate cotton crops.

"This is not an unusual event in Mississippi. It happens every year,'' said Chris Sparkman, deputy commissioner with the Mississippi Department of Agriculture. "There is cotton in that immediate area, between the river and the levee. . . . It could very well be a case of drift."

Sparkman said the state logged more than 150 complaints of misapplication in 1999 and about two dozen last year.

Friday's spraying attracted the attention of authorities, at least in part, because of the fear by some on the barge tow that the pilot's path seemed deliberate.

Three investigators from the state's Agriculture Department were reviewing flight logs of more than 40 crop dusting companies and talking to area planters to find out who was in the air that day.

Contact Jackson, Miss., Bureau reporter Reed Branson at (601) 352-8631.

October 23, 2001

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Just some further info on the cropdusting incident.

[WyldKard]

Well, thats the problem, isn't it? Events that might never have made the news now do, and we have to question every suspicious event...for fear the terrorists are trying to use the cover of "statistical probability" to cover their actions.

Sure...it COULD have been an accidental spraying. The Dengue outbreak in Hawaii COULD be naturally explainable. But on the other hand, it's nothing we can't afford to follow up on, either, especially since we still can't find out who sprayed that stuff. If it was an accidental spraying, how come we can't find the guy right away? How come no one has fessed up?

[Patria One]

Good post.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

CNN Radio News just reported at 7:00am here on Tuesday morning in their top of the hour report that the Feds are investigating a cropdusting plane spraying a Coast Guard base on the Mississippi river. I've just searched their site and numerous others for a further report but found none. Anyone here see anything about this? It was apparently a separate case from the spraying of the tugboat/pleasure boat.