WebProNews

Tag: monitor

  • USS Monitor Restoration Threatened by Funding Cuts

    The famed Civil War-era ironclad, the USS Monitor, is back in rough waters after seeing significant dips in funding for its restoration. When the wreck was pulled from North Carolina coast in 2002, it was thought that restoration might take a total of 15 years to complete.

    “But right now, if nothing was to change, 50 to 60 years is not out of the question,” David Krop, director of the USS Monitor Center, said.

    That’s because funds have simply dried up.

    The decline in funding comes largely from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which was tasked with overseeing federal involvement with the project after Congress designated The Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, Va., the official conservator of the wreck.

    James Delgado, director of NOAA’s Maritime Heritage Program, said the agency will support the museum’s work with the funds they have available: “We have been partners with the museum since 1987 when at their request they asked for the artifacts to be entrusted to them for conservation. That partnership continues, and the artifacts are not at risk.”

    The Monitor, an innovative battleship with iron-plated hulls is best known for its battle with the CSS Virginia (nee USS Merrimack), another ironclad. Their confrontation at the battle of Hampton Roads in 1862 ended in a draw. The Monitor sank in bad weather later that year, killing 16 of the ship’s 62 crewmembers.

    The remains of the Monitor, including its 120-ton turret, were hauled up in 2002. The bodies of two sailors were found in the turret and were buried in 2013 at Arlington National Cemetery.

    The turret, its two 13-foot-long Dahlgren guns (each weighing 8 tons), and the steam engine that powered the vessel are now stored in massive tanks that contain treated water and chemicals intended to draw out the saltwater. Visitors to the museum previously could look down through windows into the museum’s so-called “Wet Lab,” which once boasted five full-time conservators. Now, with funding cut, they’re down to one remaining employee, and the tanks are covered with tarps. Tours of the lab have been suspended.

    The Mariner’s Museum has initiated a push to reclaim funding, including a Change.org petition, and a link through their website where supporters can send NOAA an email to urge funding for the project.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Joe Arpaio, Arizona Sheriff to Await Delayed Ruling

    U.S. District Judge Murray Snow delayed a ruling in the racial profiling case against Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office Friday as both sides remain at odds over key remedies to ensure the agency adheres to constitutional requirements. Snow found in May that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office singled out Latinos and deputies unreasonably prolonged detentions, marking the first finding by a court that the agency covering Arizona’s most populous county engages in racial profiling.

    In June, the case was delayed to give the two parties more time to reach and agreement, though Friday it became apparent that neither side was ready to give in. “I presume that you’re now leaving it up to me to take your outline and create an order, and that’s what I intend to do,” Snow told attorneys. He said he would issue a final order shortly after the Sept. 18th deadline for both sides to turn in any additional briefs.

    The case arose after a small group of Latinos sued the sheriff’s office, claiming that their constitutional rights had been violated. They claim that they were detained by the agency simply because of their race.

    There are a couple of key points they are hung up on. One requires deputies to note to dispatchers why they have stopped a vehicle before they make contact with the driver. Maricopa County Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan told the judge it would be burdensome and risky since “traffic stops are one of the most dangerous things that deputies do.”

    However, Cecillia Wang, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who is representing the plaintiffs, stated, “It takes less than a second to say, `I’m pulling this car over because it was speeding.’”. She added that such a requirement is needed “given the record … of racial profiling of Latinos in this county.”

    Another key point that neither side will give on is the appointment of a monitor to oversee the agency’s adherence to the judge’s eventual order. Arpaio claims that allowing a monitor means every policy decision would have to be cleared through the monitor and would undermine his authority.”Obviously, my client opposes the appointment of any monitor,” Tim Casey, one of Arpaio’s lawyers, told the judge.

    Casey said in addition to undermining the authority of the sheriff, the agency is concerned about how much power the monitor would hold, and how exposed the monitor would be to sensitive information, including ongoing investigations and search warrants. “Basically, the concern is one of safety,” Casey said. “The more people who know, the greater the risk of being burned.”

    Despite the objections, Snow indicated that a monitor would be appointed and would have significant authority.
    “It will be the monitor’s obligation to determine when the MCSO is in full compliance,” the judge said.

    Arpaio’s office also disagrees the plaintiffs’ proposal to create an advisory board aimed at improving the department’s relationship with the Latino community. Casey argued that the Sheriff’s Office already has a community outreach liaison, and that “the sheriff recognizes there needs to be some improvement.There’s a positive effect if my client goes to the Latino community voluntarily,” he said, adding that if it appeared forced it would be “throwing fuel on the fire.”

    While the judge’s May ruling doesn’t prohibit Arpaio from enforcing the state’s immigration laws, it does limit what the sheriff can do on his patrols, some of them in heavily latino-concentrated areas. The restrictions focus on using race as a factor in deciding whether to stop a vehicle with a Latino occupant and on detaining Latino passengers only on the suspicion that they’re in the country illegally.

    Image via Twitter