[url]http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/ap/20011021/us/crop_duster_towboat_1.html[/url]

Sprayed Towboat Crew Seems Healthy
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Crew members who were aboard a Mississippi River towboat when a crop duster sprayed it with an unknown substance have reported no health problems but were given an antibiotic as a precaution, health officials said Sunday.

The towboat's skipper reported that the low-flying plane sprayed the towboat and barges Friday near Rosedale, Miss., then circled around and sprayed a pleasure craft. Officials were still searching for the pleasure boat.

``This was a deliberate act by a crop duster - this was no accident,'' said Kent Buckley of the Bolivar County Emergency Management Agency.

Buckley said officials suspect the sprayed substance was sodium chlorate, used to defoliate cotton crops. Buckley said that sodium chlorate is similar to salt water and is not dangerous.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked the Mississippi Department of Health to test the unknown substance, said NancyKay Wessman, spokeswoman for the state health department.

Officials do not know who owns the plane and are looking for witnesses who may have seen an identifying number, Buckley said.

It was unclear how many crew members were on the towboat or if any were on deck when the plane passed over; owners of the towboat at Metropolis, Ill.-based Mid South Towing could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Lt. Dale R. Dean of the U.S. Coast Guard said no crew members reported any symptoms. As a precaution, the crew was given the drug Cipro, the primary antibiotic used to treat anthrax, Buckley said.

The FBI is investigating; Mississippi FBI spokesman Jeffery Artis declined to comment. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Coast Guard and the CDC were also involved in the investigation.

The towboat and its 17 barges have been grounded and quarantined near Rosedale. Their contents were unknown.

It is a pitty someone didn't return fire on this bastard.

That's what I was thinking.  At what point do you decide that it's deliberate and shoot at a plane?

The start of the second spray run.  The first might be an accident, but the second!?  FLAME HIM!

A liberal dose of .303 from a Bren would've done wonders here.

I thought my opinion might be shared by a few people on the board. [;)]

HMM, I guess I spend too much time on here and not enough watching the local news.  I live in Jackson, MS and haven't heard about this.  I sure hope it really is sinus problems I'm having right now.

One Phalanx system please.

Hold up guys, if you check out the area where this occured on mapquest (Rosedale, MS) this guy could have been working the farm land east or west of the river.
He was spraying sodium chlorate, used to defoliate cotton crops, according to the article and maybe we should hold fire until we hear the whole story.
Given the crop-dusting scare of the last few weeks, my bet is this guy was a working man doing his job and the flack is nothing more than paranoia.

Mike

Ah hem.....[b]``This was a deliberate act by a crop duster - this was no accident,'' said Kent Buckley of the Bolivar County Emergency Management Agency.[/b]

So you think Mr. Buckley of the county FEMA was there cypher? I doubt it, [b]paranoia[/b] from a gov. employee does not impress me, that jerk more than likely get's his jollies by blowing the situation way out of proportion. Make's him feel more important.

If you read what I wrote, this guy [b]could[/b]have been working the farm land east or west of the river. Didn't say he was, just think that some folks are a little too quick to believe everything that's out there. Me, I'm content to wait for the truth and intelligent enough to read between the lines and check out things for myself. When I first heard this story the tug and pleasure boat were "30 miles off-shore".

Mike

Mr. Wilson, please read the topic on the boards which was posted by me this morning: "Real good secrity we have!"

For one thing, the guy sprayed the tug and barges, then circled around again to spray a pleasure cruiser.  Accident?  Hell F$ckin no!

Then yesterday, a crop duster sprayed a Coast Guard station here in MS.

I live in Jackson.  This is hitting close to home.  I'm not scared, just watchful.

edited to say that there is no flame intended, just that I see no way that this could have been an accident.  

WE need to control all arabic persons within the US......

Theyre taking flyin lessons ?

I wouldnt board a plane with one of those browns flyin it.

Renting Crop Dusters ?

Who in their right mind would let an arab buy, look at, or even inquire about cropdusters. those browns dont farm!

They shouldnt be allowed to drive buses, cabs, or anything other than a gas station (still a bad idea) or sell slurpies.

We should do what was done in WWII.......put them all in concentration camps till we figure out what to do with them. Like we did with the Japs.

E

The first time, it could be an accident.

The second time, it's enemy action.

Cypher: Read your earlier article this am, been checking out the MS Papers, Natchez paper says the guys at the CG station can't even say it was crop duster plane that sprayed them. Obviously there appears to be some twisted jokers around there and if reports in other papers are correct, dusting of tug and barges was prank too.

I tend to think most folk are good until proven otherwise and have to say it is dissapointing to find such sick-humoured individuals appear to be the culprits.

Mike

Spray me once, shame on you.  Spray me twice, shame on me![50]

Well, no crop dusting exerts have been questioned yet, and the CDC results aren't back.  Lets hold judgement.  If the cotton fields are along a river, maybe the guy just turned around, and started to make his next run where the pleasure boat happened to be.  Cropdusting is like mowing a lawn, when you get to the edge, you shut off the sprayer, turn around, and start making your next pass after starting to spray again.  If these boats, in a river, just happened to be going along the edge of the farm, it might seem as if they are being attacked.  Well see what the CDC says, I bet it turns out just to be paranoid people.

If it is a prank then the local news needs to get their facts straight.  How can you have a tug boat crew being tested for something that didn't happen?  How can you have samples of a substance from both incidents that was never sprayed?  I find it hard to believe that these incidents never happened.  But....stranger things have happened.