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| -Lurid Crime Tales- | |
| Muir Beach man cited for cleaning beach | |
| 2007-11-21 | |
| (How much more lurid a crime tale can there be?) No good deed goes unpunished. At least that's how Muir Beach resident Sigward ... (Isn't he the octopus 'friend' of Spongebob?) ... Moser felt Friday after he says he was threatened with a Taser gun, forced to the ground and handcuffed by a National Park Service ranger for refusing to stop cleaning up the oily beach beneath his home. Moser, a 45-year-old communications consultant, said he was forced to sprawl handcuffed on the wet ... oily, hazardous ... sand for an hour before he was released and given two misdemeanor citations, one for entering an emergency area and another for refusing a lawful order. "It was pretty wet and uncomfortable," he said Saturday. "This is very frustrating, and it was completely avoidable." Moser's Pacific Way home overlooks Muir Beach, where cleanup crews with 100 professionals in white and yellow protective coveralls were at work yesterday. But there was no one cleaning up Friday when oily globs the size of bowling balls began washing up on shore from Wednesday's disastrous fuel oil spill. Moser, a neighborhood liaison on the Muir Beach Disaster Council, went out on the oily beach with an impromptu crew of Buddhist monks in training at the nearby Green Gulch Zen Center. He said they scooped up 7,000 pounds of solidified oil and put it in plastic bags before park service officials arrived in the afternoon to size up the situation. "You don't have to be trained to do this," he said. "We had on gloves and we didn't feel there was a health risk. It just lifted up from the sand like it was in kitty litter. They came late with only five people. We felt that anything we could do is better than nothing." Clearly common sense is not allowed in Marin County - but we already knew that. Moser said he declined three orders to halt his activities before he was cited. Park service officials held a conference call on Saturday about the incident with members of the Muir Beach Community Services District. "They were upset, but we tried to reassure them why trained professionals are needed to do this work," said National Park Service publicist Rich Weideman, citing health hazards and unintended injuries to wildlife by untrained volunteers.
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| Posted by:Glenmore |
| #15 AlanC :-) heh.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-11-21 21:47 |
| #14 Just don't let the terrorists know about that stuff, allright! Or the sodium chloride it is mixed with as the secret ingredient. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-11-21 21:31 |
| #13 I had no idea that I should call in a hazmat team to change the oil in my car. Well, gorb, this hazardous situation involved oil mixed with that other dangerous compound, dihydrogen monoxide |
| Posted by: BA 2007-11-21 18:50 |
| #12 Weeeellllll gorb, the kids are more of a nice muted tartan complexion rather than green; the left head doesn't seem to mind but the right one's embarassed. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2007-11-21 17:44 |
| #11 No special clothes no nothing just some home made scoops made of wood and rat wire. Wow! And you're still alive to tell about it? No genetic mutations or anything? Kids with green skin? |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-11-21 15:17 |
| #10 I was involved in an effort to clean a Cape Cod beach 30 years ago when the Argo Merchant went down. The Gov't paid (ridiculously) good wages in an area that was seriously depressed economically. About 20 of us made our own tools and developed our own techniques to clear the ocean beach from Eastham to P'town of oil globules from the size of pancakes to marbles. No special clothes no nothing just some home made scoops made of wood and rat wire. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2007-11-21 15:01 |
| #9 And in other Stupid Abuse of Authority news: there is this story about a bottle collector who has run afoul of the Oregon authorities: http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/11/state_warns_ore_man_who_digs_f.html I expect activation of the Mattress Police anytime |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2007-11-21 14:54 |
| #8 California, right? 'Nuff said. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-11-21 13:42 |
| #7 Don't knock the Green Gulch crew - thay make some of the best food around. |
| Posted by: Spanky Elmoluling1932 2007-11-21 12:40 |
| #6 I started off sympathetic to him, but then I got to the point where it says he ignored three calls for him to stop. Doesn't matter what you are doing really, if the cops are standing there and telling you to stop, you stop. Had he stopped and talked to them about, I'll wager they might have worked something out, like maybe one of the professional guys coming over to simply monitor them to ensure they're doing it okay. But by ignoring the cops, he got a face full of sand and rightfully so. Kinda brings to mind Niven's Laws... Never throw shit at an armed man. Never stand next to someone throwing shit at an armed man. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2007-11-21 11:48 |
| #5 And besides, why do you need to handcuff a guy, lay him face down in the jellyfish and kelp and drink coffee for an hour to write him a citation? Sounds like a couple of asshole cop wannabees that need a serious attitude adjustment. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-11-21 11:10 |
| #4 Too bad they weren't fighting Buddhist monks, they could have filmed an action movie right there on the beach, maybe even lit it on fire for effect. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-11-21 11:07 |
| #3 I had no idea that I should call in a hazmat team to change the oil in my car. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-11-21 09:09 |
| #2 Moser, a neighborhood liaison on the Muir Beach Disaster Council, went out on the oily beach with an impromptu crew of Buddhist monks in training at the nearby Green Gulch Zen Center. I am split down the middle on this one. On the one hand it seems insane to detain people for cleaning the beach. On the other hand anyone working with an impromptu moonbat crew needs a good beat down. We are going to need Solomon to sort this one out. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-11-21 08:49 |
| #1 Green Gulch Zen Center |
| Posted by: Thomas Woof 2007-11-21 08:13 |