Muir Beach man cited for cleaning beach
melodious
Posts: 1,719
No good deed goes unpunished.
At least that's how Muir Beach resident Sigward 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 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."
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.
"These kinds of things are awkward for us, but they seemed to be pretty pleased with our explanation."
Paul Liberatore can be reached at liberatore@marinij.com
At least that's how Muir Beach resident Sigward 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 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."
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.
"These kinds of things are awkward for us, but they seemed to be pretty pleased with our explanation."
Paul Liberatore can be reached at liberatore@marinij.com
all insanity:
a derivitive of nature.
nature is god
god is love
love is light
a derivitive of nature.
nature is god
god is love
love is light
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Holy...weird story.
It must have looked obvious and easily verifiable what they were doing.
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
Train the people if you have to but it does not take a genius to use a shovel.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~
The Tie-Dye Lady is HOT!!!
It's county property but the county will not pick up the trash.
We went to the refuse dept. and they said they can't pick it up cuz it's county property.
Nobody has picked up trash in like a month so my boss is about to hire some guys (private citizens) to do it but I know we are going to get in trouble for this.
This is on a street that used to be "old hawaii" beach where a ton of locals still go and camp.
It's a beach that is somewhat ruined by these multi million dollar homes that have gone up surrounding the beach. But there is still two parcels that belong to the county.
But the rich jerk across the street is trying to be sneaky and cut all the trees down at the beach for his view ..... hence taking away what "local" beach is left.
Those of you who have been to hawaii allot are familiar with what kind of beaches Im talking about.
o.k. enough rant and rambling for now.
sorry
Michael Franti
It was well intentioned, but you can understand how they wouldn't want just anyone in that area doing clean-up work.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
no, i can't understand it
Ridiculous. And then to have the poor guy face down on the sand for an hour? Because he actually gives a hoot about the environment?
Grassroots, baby...I love this guy.
And I don't feel right when you're gone away