European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 10, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Bailing out the coast guard by Johnar Bolyn associated press w Hile our Century old lady of the Harbo looks on the no nonsense boats Anri Airrall emblazoned Wilh the familiar Vermilion insignia will Shepherd some40,000 boats and warships this forum of july. It won l look like the i s coast guard is broke. Bui it nearly is. Efforts Are under Way in Congress to Rescue the guard Lor the next fiscal year Starling sept 30. But that won l res lord Hie deficit Lor this year. The 196-year-old service thai guards the shorelines is running $35 million Short having Cut More than $100 million in operating expenses so Lar this year mostly by Dele ring maintenance reducing training and Vir Laily hailing routine patrols the guard does t go to sea these Days unless there s clearly trouble Oul hero. While coping with an operating budget pared to $1.69 billion in 19b6, the coast guard has trimmed is manpower by almost 2.000 people through a i Ion in the past five years. And impending Are More cuts in Gramm pied Ryan reductions Are imposed indiscriminately. Adm. James s. Gracey who retired As commandant on May 30, says his tactic should budget cuts become Loo stringent would be to continue to perform guard functions Only in lower places. Over and Over in any Calendar year the guard is called on 1o do Yeoman s work the routine chores of maintaining buoys on the Mississippi River or navigation stations around the world chasing Down smugglers and illegal immigrants dogging icebergs yanking stricken sailors irom the sea checking fishermen Lor illegal catches. There is always special duty when hurricanes strike the coast guard even directs ships worldwide 1o the Aid of other ships in trouble. Is computers watch Over a Quarter of the world s maritime Fleet. Last year a guard helicopter lying at neg he saw a suspicious boat in Miami s Biscayne Bay called in two 41-loot patrol boats thai corralled the boat and chased the three Man Crew into the arms of waiting Miami police. The result the biggest cocaine bust in coast guard history almost a Tor this year s prime crisis was the Long search after the space shuttle challenger went Doivan. Now comes he fourth of july and the 100lh birthday of the statue of Liberty that Are expected to draw twice As Many seagoing visitors to new York Harbor than sailed in Lor the Bicentennial. And the statue s birthday is being staged in a Unika slates that sees terrorists everywhere allot this when the thin Blue line has been sketched even thinner and the ships and planes that Wear coast guard red Are spending More Lime at Home we re coming up on the Busy season says Gracey. We be been doing without maintenance. We re eating into spare parts me says he visited one unit recently where a a Iron coat s going on a Mission depended on the flier he morning mail brought the pan it needed. You can Only do that so Long and Ihen you just have to shut them we re trying to avoid lying up ships and air Rall and taking Crews off them getting id of people the Admiral adds. Especially with of 2 president saying f want the guard up there i Wani Mem to do their thing " nevertheless routine patrols have been Cut to the nub. Fishery patrols Cut in half spare parts purchasing slopped. Some units work 80 to 100 hours a week. A More Normal workweek would run 70 hours. The coast guard s men and women spend up to six months of the year Al sea. Especially the Polar icebreakers and Gracey is unwilling to Ash More. At one Point this Spring seven search and Rescue stations in Southern Florida were on Crew fatigue which Means new priorities Are set and operations Are pared because fatigue could affect safely. The guard depends on the department of transportation s ability to give it operating funds Tor the rest of the fiscal year. The Dot has another Money Short unit As Well the Federal aviation Agency in charge of air and Airport safety. Hanging Ovar All Federal agencies is the possibility of across the Board cuts under the Gramm Rudman act. New of a coast guard patrol bet new York cily t Fatt River right crewman n scene from hit coast guard Parrot boat Art Hudson River below near the George Cathirn Bridge at the Northern end of Manhattan it the 196-year-old it Vico thai Guardi the Nati Shoreline to it having to Tope Vilh an opera budget pared raft.69 billion in it it s possible to live with Gramm Rudman of ii is As i believe it was mean to be administered on a priority basis the Admiral says. It s a Case of getting Congress to decide what the priorities Are the coast guard s Pinch started in Congress. Last tall the Senate came up Wilh $230 million in cuts. That would have mean laying up a third of the ships and. Planes and laying off 20 percent of the 39.000 guard i orc. A Senate House conference committee reduced Page 14
