LOOK HERE FOR LATEST INFORMATION ENTERPRISE STORMS On Thursday March 1st, the small community of Enterprise Alabama became another city forced into an elite club with its members having the devastating loss created by sever weather. Enterprise regrouped and from the way they have responded will be stronger then they were before an F3 tornado ripped through the small community of 20,000. After nearly 10 years in law enforcement, I recently began working for Allstate Insurance as a property claims adjuster. My first official assignment was the Enterprise tornado. When I arrived in the city on Friday morning, the streets were log jammed with vehicles. For as far as the eye could see, there were utility trucks, contractor vehicles and personal vehicles. Allstate was the first insurance company to respond on a large scale level. We mobilized our Mobile Command Unit and our Catastrophe team or CAT team for short. I became a first responded. Our mission was to reach the insured’s with total loss, make sure they were safe and provide them with an advance check to help get them food, clothing and shelter until our adjusters could pay for their damage. My team entered the hot zone and found a level of destruction normally associated with hurricanes or weapons of mass destruction. The tornado had entered the city from the southwest and traveled through the center of town to the northeast, tearing a quarter mile path as in moved with wind speeds over 160 mph. We met with the insured’s in front of a pile of debris which used to be their homes and provided water, assurance that we would do all we promised and a check to get them started on the road of recovery. I observed members of the community moving from house to house with food and water and using tools and equipment to move the debris out of the area…all for free. Yes that’s right, they were volunteers. I heard helicopters overhead, looked up and saw the familiar orange of our USCG circling the area. For three days, I assisted my CAT unit as best I could, but more so used the training I have received in the past five years with the USCG AUX to provide a controlled, appropriate and efficient response to the peoples suffering. The experience is one I will not soon forget. The people will forever be on my mind. I have a renewed passion for my duties in the USCG AUX and continue my desire to be there for people when they need it the most, even if sometimes they wish I did not have to help…but were glad we were there. OSPREY “CONDOS” A JOINT COOPERATIVE PROJECT Since ospreys returned to our area over a decade ago they have unfortunately created a predictable and persistent hazard to navigation. These magnificent birds build huge nests on the top of pilings that contain USCG aids to navigation. These nests are so large they hang down over the aids and block them from the view of the mariner. The ospreys were endangered or threatened species, which made it illegal to disturb or remove the nest. Master Chief Fred Bollinger, the Officer in Charge of the ATON Team at that time in Eufaula Alabama, suggested a nest platform be constructed and placed on the pilings high enough above the pilings so the nests would not obscure the aids to navigation. He coined the name “osprey condos”. Several years passed, Master Chief Bollinger went to another assignment, and nothing was done to take his suggestion to fruition. During those years the number of ospreys increased and every year more and more aids to navigation were blocked from view. This problem was confined to the area of operations of the ATON Team and Flotilla 8-3 in Eufaula. One of the primary duties of this flotilla was surveying the ATONs on approximately 300 miles of the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee, and Flint Inland Waterway (the ACF). During these ATON patrols it was obvious to many of the crews the osprey problem was becoming intolerable and in fact had finally reached a critical point. The ospreys mate for life and build nests at the same place every year when they return from their winter migration in Central and South America. To compound the problem, the number of ospreys was obviously increasing as more young birds were surviving and were returning every year to the same general area where they were born. The net result was more and more aids were being blocked from view. During 2005 and 06 after many observations, osprey research on the Internet, and some discussions the members of F8-3 voted to initiate a project to build and install 10 osprey “condos”. They approached the current OinC of the ATON Team, Senior Chief Sam Hill, who immediately endorsed the project and agreed to install the nest platforms from the 64 foot Buoy Boat during one of their regular missions. The next big hurdle we faced was how to pay for the materiel to build the platforms. The lumber had to treated wood and all hardware had to be galvanized. The construction materials would be expensive. After many years of work F8-3 had recently completed remodeling and furnishing Auxiliary Station Eufaula on the Chattahoochee River and had just begun establishing a second station on Lake Seminole on the Flint River. At last we had a home of our own, but it had totally depleted our funds. We discussed our plans for the condos with Bill Smallwood in Ft Gaines Georgia. Bill is the US Army Corps of Engineers ACF Project Director. Bill jumped on the chance and immediately agreed to pay for all the materiel costs. Paul Munford, a member of F8-3 agreed to be the chairman of the Osprey project. Paul got the construction started in his woodworking shop at his home on Lake Eufaula. Unfortunately he was called away as a FEMA volunteer and the construction was completed by a team composed of Jim Trombley, Don Wilbourn, and Bob Parnell. Other members of F8-3 pitched in when they could. Mr. Zapata from the the newly formed flotilla in Sneads Florida, the Ops Facility of Mitch and Becky Miller from the Shell Point Florida flotilla, and Dan Berry of F1-9 in Panama City Florida also assisted in the installation of the platforms. Amidst much fellowship, fun, and some hard work, and with a number of newspaper and TV reporters present, the personal of the ATON Team installed 10 osprey condos on January 10th and 11th, 2007. We will evaluate the success to attract ospreys at the conclusion of this next season. If the condos are successfully occupied plans are to construct and install more platforms on Lake Eufaula and other locations on the ACF Inland Waterway. Ospreys are magnificent birds to watch as they dive feet first from high above into water up to 3 feet deep, grab a fish, rotate it so its head faces forward, and fly away holding the fish in the most aerodynamically advantageous position. It has been extremely satisfying to all of us to be a part of increasing, preserving, and protecting the habitat of this rare and beautiful bird. The ospreys are obviously the big winners here, but the fact this project was a cooperative effort by the USCG Auxiliary, the U. S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was unusual, very satisfying, and provided us more excellent public relations than we have ever received from any other project. This will surely be of indelible benefit to all three groups for many years. **Important POMS Colleen Shane contact info:** Commander (spi) Colleen Shane USCG Sector Mobile Bldg. 102 Brookley Complex South Broad St. Mobile, AL 36615-1390 (908) 803-0250 (251) 441-5689 Colleen.M.Shane@uscg.mil   **Important Get Your Coast Guard Car Stickers Here** (F81 and F83 will get automobile stickers through ANT Eufaula) F82, F85, F86, F87, F88, F89, F8-10 - Everything You Need is Listed: Signed CG 3308 A (in this link) Copy of the vehicle Registration (Tag Receipt) for each vehicle the person wants to have a sticker Copy of the Insurance Card Copy of the Drivers License Copy of the Aux. I.D. Mail the form and the above items to: Commander (spi) Colleen Shane USCG Sector Mobile Bldg. 102 Brookley Complex South Broad St. Mobile, AL 36615-1390 (908) 803-0250 (251) 441-5689 Colleen.M.Shane@uscg.mil   6 PAK LICENSE and WATERWAYS The answer is found in subchapter C and T of 46 CFR.  Assuming a vessel is under 100 gross tons, if you carry 6 or less passengers for hire, you must have a license and fall under subchapter C (46 CFR 24, uninspected passenger vessel).  If you carry more than 6 passengers, you need a license, but your vessel is inspected under subchapter T, and needs to have a Certificate of Inspection from one of our inspectors.  However, if you dont operate on a navigable waterway, the federal regs don't apply. This does not account for any State Regs which may be answered by Alabama Marine Police. The six navigable waterways in Alabama are: *Alabama-Coosa Waterway - links Montgomery and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (and subsequently the Port of Mobile, Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico) via the Alabama River. *Chattahoochee-Apalachicola Waterway - links the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway/ Gulf of Mexico and Phenix City via the Chattahoochee River (known as the Apalachicola River within Florida). *Tennessee Waterway - links Knoxville, Tennessee and the Ohio River (and subsequently the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico) via the Tennessee River. *Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway - links Port Birmingham and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway at Demopolis (and subsequently the Port of Mobile, Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico) via the Black Warrior River. *Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway - links the Tennessee River in the northwest corner of the state (and subsequently the Ohio River and the Mississippi River) and the Gulf of Mexico via a manmade canal, the Tombigbee River, the Mobile River, the Port of Mobile and Mobile Bay). *Gulf Intracoastal Waterway - serves the Alabama coast, extending from Texas to Florida, where it connects with the intracoastal waterway serving the Atlantic coast of the United States.