Coast Guard outlines river rules
Common actions may draw scrutiny

By Kevin Eigelbach
Post staff reporter


If Bela Berty continues to pursue his love of riverboats, he's going to
have to answer a lot of questions.

That was Berty's conclusion Thursday evening after hearing a U.S. Coast
Guard's homeland security presentation at the Mike Fink restaurant on
the Covington riverfront.

If he visits a riverboat, he likes to ask how it's powered, how to
operate it, what makes it work.

"What good is it to visit a riverboat if you just look at the tables
and chairs," the Aurora, Ind. resident asked.

But those kinds of questions would make him a suspicious person in the
eyes of the Coast Guard, which is responsible for homeland security on
America's inland waterways.

Coast Guard officials spoke Thursday at a meeting of the Cincinnati
Propeller Club, a group of locals who promote use and development of
the Ohio River.

According to the Coast Guard officials, unless you want to answer a lot
of questions, you might want to avoid:

Taking photographs of the underside of bridges.

Mooring your boat or dropping anchor beneath a bridge.

Misusing river lingo or showing an inordinate eagerness to use river
lingo.

Going out of your way to avoid contact with your neighbors on the
river.

Dropping unusual objects into the water near dams or locks. Take those
old refrigerators to the landfill, all right?

Appearing that you are under the control of someone else.

Loitering around a waterfront facility.

New Richmond resident Bill Judd said officials questioned him about a
year ago because he was taking pictures of a barge.

He photographs damage to barges for his business, Judd Marine. Now, if
he photographs a barge at a power plant, he shoots away from the power
plant.

"Your first inclination is to be a little ticked off," he said of
heightened security concerns. "But then you realize it's something
we're going to have to live with."

Cameron Cord, a volunteer with the Coast Guard Auxiliary, suggested
that those who do things that might look suspicious simply let
officials know ahead of time what they're doing.

The Coast Guard wants regular users of the Ohio River to report
suspicious activity.

That will make for the equivalent of a very large neighborhood watch
program, said Lt. Chris Rose, supervisor of the guard's Cincinnati
detachment.

In fact, the Coast Guard is depending in part on those who know the
river to let the agency know what's suspicious and what's not.

"You all know the norms in this area," said Darrell Eaton, a Coast
Guard intelligence specialist.

"If it's suspicious to you, it's suspicious to us."

College Hill resident Bob Alexander wondered how quickly the Coast
Guard could act if someone did report an imminent terrorist attack.

After all, he said, the U.S.S. Cole was an active military vessel, with
a perimeter set up around it, but that didn't prevent a terrorist boat
from blasting a hole in it in 2000.

Normally, the Coast Guard couldn't stop a boat from ramming the Delta
Queen, for example, Rose said.

But during big events such as the Tall Stacks festival, Guard boats are
in place to stop such attacks, he said.

In other countries, they shoot first and ask questions later, but not
in America, Alexander said. "That can be a big hindrance to us."

Frank Katz, of Bond Hill, a captain with the Covington-based B&
B Riverboats, wondered why more law officers don't patrol the river.

"I'd say 90 percent of the time, nobody's out there patrolling," he
said. "Maybe 95 percent of the time."

It's a manpower issue, Rose replied.

Not even land-based police departments have enough officers to patrol
every road in their jurisdiction, he said.

The U.S. Coast Guard wants regular users of the Ohio River to call
(877) 24-WATCH to report suspicious activity



Publication date: 04-15-2005


http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs....WS01/504150333