From: jeffh@nonsuch.EBay.Sun.COM (Jeff Huntington)
Newsgroups: rec.boats
Subject: Re: Boarding(was Re: Coast Guard Boating T
Date: 17 Dec 1992 18:52:57 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: jeffh@nonsuch.EBay.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: nonsuch.ebay.sun.com

In article 828@encore.com, tflynn@encore.com (Tonya Flynn) writes:
> 
> I'm afraid the Coast Guard has proved to be no friend of ours.  Living in
> south Florida and frequently sailing between the U.S. and the Bahamas, we
> have had the occassion to be boarded twice by the Bahamas Defense Force
> and twice by the Coast Guard.  On SEVERAL occassions, while out for a
> day sail, we have been stopped by the Coast Guard and interrogated as
> to where we were from, what we were doing, how many were on board, who
> was on board, where we were going and the Captain had to produce the
> proper documentation.  
> 
> The boarding and searches by the Bahamas Defense Force was basically
> a pleasant experience.  While they were indeed armed and thoroughly
> searched the boat, they were professional and pleasant.  The searches
> by the Coast Guard, on the other hand, were humiliating and expensive
> encounters.  They accompanied us to the nearest public dock and had 
> everyone but the Captain disembark.  We were all held at gunpoint while
> they searched the boat.  They emptied every locker of its contents and
> left the contents thrown about wherever it landed.  They went through
> the women's purses and left some of the contents to be found all over the
> boat.  Some of the watertight fittings had not been opened for a long time
> and were reluctant to  come free.  They simply pried them open with a 
> crowbar and screwdriver.  They ripped out the head liner in the main salon.
> After all this, they issued a citation for not having a plaque about oil
> discharge laws in the engine compartment.
> 
> If this was just one of a few isolated instances, I probably wouldn't
> be as 'down' on the Coast Guard as I am.  This seems to be a frequent
> manor of operation.  I was not upset by the fact that they boarded
> and searched, I am alarmed at the manor in which they conduct their
> business.  Yes, there have been many reports of the Coast Guardies
> rescuing foolish boaters from themselves but it doesn't dismiss the
> shaddy treatment of your basic American sailor.
> 
> It seems the latest 'job' and/or accomplishments of the Coast Guard,
> at least in this area of the country, is to escort Haitians to and
> from Guantanamo and to south Florida.  Nope.  I'm afraid I'm no friend
> of the Coast Guard.  And if we "fit the profile", then almost every
> group of average 30-something Americans must fit the profile.



We are not going to solve this "problem" by just ventilating on the net.  
The story Tonya relates is very similar to stories I have heard all to 
often.  The Coast Guard has really given themselves a black eye since 
they have been ordered to get involved in the enforcement of "zero 
tolerance".  I understand that they arenot doing it because they want to; 
they have been order do perform this duty.

In fact, I don't even object to their being involve in drug enforcement.  
What I strongly object to is the way they treat citizens (many of them 
innocent) andtheir boats.  I have even heard stories of the Coast Guard 
boarding cruising boats and cutting open all of the provisions that had 
been vacuum sealed in plastic, thereby destroying it.  This resulted in 
a severe hardship to the people who were cruising on a tight budget.  In 
other case they have destroyed bulkheads and hatches as they tear the boat 
apart looking for drugs.  Leaving the boat with all of the gear strewn 
about the boat, as Tonya relates, is not at all uncommon.  Surely there is 
a way for the Coast Guard to accomplish their mission of drug enforcement 
without treating innocent people as criminals and trashing boats.

Is there some reason why the Coast Guard can not be held accountable for 
their actions?  It is impossible for them to put things back into a locker 
they way they found them (or reasonable close to the way they found them)?  
If they have sufficient reason to believe that drugs exist that they are 
justified in destroying a boat or provisions to find it, should they not 
be responsible for fixing  the damage (or reimbursing for the loss) when 
nothing is found?

Does anyone on the net have any ideas on how boaters can band together and 
exert the proper pressure to fix this problem?  Do anyone know what buttons 
to push or where the appropriate pressure points are?  This has been going 
on for quite a while now, and if we don't do something together (as boaters), 
I am afraid it will continue for a long time. We have all kinds of laws that 
protect the "rights" of all kinds of citizens (both guilty and non-guilty).  
Seems that we should be able to get some protection for the right of boaters 
not to have their boats trashed in the name of drug enforcement.  If the police
(or Marines) were to treat ordinary citizens cars and houses this way, there 
would be such a howl raised that every politician in the country would be 
proposing a law to fix it.  I, more than most, am not in favor of more laws.
Still, there has to be some way to solve this problem.  What do you think?

Jeff Huntington