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On 15 Apr 2005 15:55:28 -0700, wrote:

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.

Yeah, can't be catching fish that congregate along bridge pylons, now
can we.

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

Huh? So you speaking the language in order to fit in is now verboten?
WTF?

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

I don't like people. Why should I have to interact with people that I
don't want to? I have lived here for 11 years and still haven't met my
next door neighbor. Don't care to either. Why should I?

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

Hey, a reasonable one. Who woulda thunk it?

Appearing that you are under the control of someone else.

You are in my power. You will do as I say. I have you hipnotized!

Loitering around a waterfront facility.

Isn't that what they are there for? Isn't the whole point of a
waterfront the loitering?

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."

No, you don't have to live with it. You can do something about it. The
guys in power now won't listen. So we have to get rid of them and put
people in that will listen. The only terror I have seen in this
country since 911 is that which the government has inflicted on it's
own people. Terror like this. Do you like to live in fear? Fear that
if you anchor under a bridge or hang out too long enjoying the scenery
or take a picture of the wrong place you will be accosted by the feds?
I'd rather have to worry about the rare arab exploding in a shopping
mall and not have all these rights stolen. Besides, there aren't any
foreign terrorist in this country. If there are, they are the laziest,
most incompetent terrorists in Earth.

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.

Yes of course the government wants you to ask permission for things
that should be rights. "Just inform us". Why? It's none of the
government's damn business.

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

Be paranoid. Rat out your aquaintenances over piddly little crap and
ruin their lives for fun and profit. It's the new American way!

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.

God forbid an out of towner decides to go fishing.

"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."

Yeah, like that's what we need, more pigs infesting the lakes and
rivers. I don't need to be hassled and forced to interact with the
police and "show my papers" every time I go on the water.

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.

Not yet. give them time. They are trying.

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

Should be 1-877-ima- narc. Let's all be tattletales and spy on
everyone else. Can't have people living private lives now, can we?

Doesn't this fascist police state crap **** off anyone but me? Am I
the only one who really hates what has happened to this nation since
911? I want my old country back. Even if it means the occasional
terrorist attack. It's worth it. Isn't it?

Publication date: 04-15-2005

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

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