Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
- Joined
- Nov 3, 1999
- Messages
- 84,998
ORANGE BEACH, AL — Share the Beach sea turtle volunteers never know what they might see when they hit the sand at sunrise looking for turtle tracks. He didn’t expect to find a package of illegal drugs.
The goal is to find signs where a momma sea turtle came ashore to lay a clutch of eggs so the nest can be monitored. But sometimes … well … you just never know what you might see.
“It was a little exciting,” volunteer Ron Smith said. “We had started our turtle patrol, only a couple hundred yards down the beach and I spotted what I thought was seat cushion floating.
“It was a little excitement on the beach. Something you read about, you see on TV, but to actually see one come ashore like that was kind of surprising.”
It’s hard to keep your eyes on the sand with the beautiful Gulf steps away, but Smith has a purpose in that as well. Smith is the lead kayak instructor at the city’s Wind and Water Learning Center when he’s not a turtle volunteer.
Smith and wife XXXXX patrol the section of Orange Beach from Bluewater Condominiums to Romar House.
“Doing the sea turtle patrol looking for the nest is our primary responsibility, but I normally walk the wrack line,” Smith said. “If I see something that could be harmful to marine life I pull it out of the surf, throw it up on the beach and we’ll pick it up on our way back.”
When Smith got closer to the item he got quite a surprise.
“Once I picked it up I realized it wasn’t a seat cushion and got it up on the beach and opened it up it appeared to be, to me, marijuana,” Smith said, who called police to the scene.
According to Lt. Cliff Roberts of the Orange Beach Police, it was indeed. More than 10 pounds of it.
“A 10.3-pound package of compressed marijuana washed up on the beaches of Orange Beach,” Roberts said. “It was packaged water tight, it was found by a concerned citizen (Tuesday) morning who contacted the police department a little after 6 a.m.
“The package was retrieved and placed into evidence at this time. We have no leads as to where it came from and we have contacted the Customs and Border Patrol. We also referred it to the Border Enforcement Security Task Force.”
The later, also known as BEST, whose mission is “border related crime, and the violence that is often associated with it, pose significant risks to public safety and the national security of the United States” according to its website.
Smith said responding OBPD officers said it was likely thrown from a vessel when the Coast Guard showed up. It appeared to have been floating for some time.
“It had been in the water awhile because it had a couple of barnacles on it,” Smith said. “You can tell it was professionally wrapped.”
It was a turtle patrol Smith and his wife are likely to remember for a while.
“Something to break up seeing all the herons that are standing by the fishermen,” he said with a laugh.
Source: http://www.gulfcoastnewstoday.com/area_news/article_0213c6c4-f998-11e4-bb35-c75eeb59a279.html
The goal is to find signs where a momma sea turtle came ashore to lay a clutch of eggs so the nest can be monitored. But sometimes … well … you just never know what you might see.
“It was a little exciting,” volunteer Ron Smith said. “We had started our turtle patrol, only a couple hundred yards down the beach and I spotted what I thought was seat cushion floating.
“It was a little excitement on the beach. Something you read about, you see on TV, but to actually see one come ashore like that was kind of surprising.”
It’s hard to keep your eyes on the sand with the beautiful Gulf steps away, but Smith has a purpose in that as well. Smith is the lead kayak instructor at the city’s Wind and Water Learning Center when he’s not a turtle volunteer.
Smith and wife XXXXX patrol the section of Orange Beach from Bluewater Condominiums to Romar House.
“Doing the sea turtle patrol looking for the nest is our primary responsibility, but I normally walk the wrack line,” Smith said. “If I see something that could be harmful to marine life I pull it out of the surf, throw it up on the beach and we’ll pick it up on our way back.”
When Smith got closer to the item he got quite a surprise.
“Once I picked it up I realized it wasn’t a seat cushion and got it up on the beach and opened it up it appeared to be, to me, marijuana,” Smith said, who called police to the scene.
According to Lt. Cliff Roberts of the Orange Beach Police, it was indeed. More than 10 pounds of it.
“A 10.3-pound package of compressed marijuana washed up on the beaches of Orange Beach,” Roberts said. “It was packaged water tight, it was found by a concerned citizen (Tuesday) morning who contacted the police department a little after 6 a.m.
“The package was retrieved and placed into evidence at this time. We have no leads as to where it came from and we have contacted the Customs and Border Patrol. We also referred it to the Border Enforcement Security Task Force.”
The later, also known as BEST, whose mission is “border related crime, and the violence that is often associated with it, pose significant risks to public safety and the national security of the United States” according to its website.
Smith said responding OBPD officers said it was likely thrown from a vessel when the Coast Guard showed up. It appeared to have been floating for some time.
“It had been in the water awhile because it had a couple of barnacles on it,” Smith said. “You can tell it was professionally wrapped.”
It was a turtle patrol Smith and his wife are likely to remember for a while.
“Something to break up seeing all the herons that are standing by the fishermen,” he said with a laugh.
Source: http://www.gulfcoastnewstoday.com/area_news/article_0213c6c4-f998-11e4-bb35-c75eeb59a279.html
