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| Seattle: Coast Guard Expands Security Zones Around Ferries |
| 2003-02-13 |
| SEATTLE - For the first time since immediately after the September 2001 terrorist attacks, the Coast Guard is enforcing a 500-yard security zone around state ferries. The puget sound area is highly dependent on the use of ferries for basic transportation. Coast Guard spokesman Robert Lanier said Thursday that the expanded security zones are in response to a decision by the U.S. government to place the nation on high alert for possible terrorist attacks. Lanier said the security zones, which routinely apply to tankers and military vessels, were expanded last week to include passenger vessels more than 100 feet long. The 500-yard security zone applies to Puget Sound and adjacent waters, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca, U.S. Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Sam Teague told the Peninsula Daily News of Port Angeles. Passenger vessels include auto and passenger ferries, cruise ships and chartered excursion vessels. If a passageway is too narrow to maintain a 500-yard distance, a ship's master must contact the passenger vessel's master to state his intentions and request permission to approach, Teague said. Then the vessel must proceed at the minimum speed necessary to maintain steering and come no closer than 100 yards, he said. The passenger ferry security zone is effective until Aug. 8, Teague said. Ferry spokeswoman Susan Harris said she was aware of only one instance of a potential violation of the 500-yard ban since its imposition - on Wednesday, in the waters off Edmonds. "We had a passenger vessel that had to work very, very closely with us" to avoid coming too close to a ferry, she said. Seattle, home to several money laundering operations for al-queda that have been closed since Sept 11th, a recent sweep that netted 57 illegal aliens from jordan-syria-iraq-iran, One of which was a commercial pilot, an unusual high profile jewel robbery ( 3 million in jewels stolen)that was caught by accident that revealed a smuggling ring to the middle east. Seattle has also seen a sudden enormous increase in meth labs operating in the area using smuggled pseudoephedrine from Canada. Canada import 3000% more pseudoephedrine than could possibly be used by their population, and is in fact the most popular import location for pseudoephedrine on earth. Al-queda is looking for money from other sources, the easy untraceable money that meth production creates is not lost on those people. |
| Posted by:Frank Martin |