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Search for Merrill Continues - His Wallet and Lifejacket found still in the boat
Washington Post Staff Writer ^ | Sunday, June 11, 2006; 12:27 PM | By Ernesto LondoƱo

Posted on 06/11/2006 11:19:52 AM PDT by Mongeaux

Rescuers using small boats, a helicopter and a C-130 aircraft searched a portion of the Chesapeake Bay today for missing diplomat and publisher Philip Merrill, whose sailboat was found adrift last night, Coast Guard authorities said.

Officials from the Maryland Natural Resources Police and the Coast Guard began searching overnight the area between the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the point where his boat was found, which is roughly 20 miles south of Annapolis. The search area is roughly 25 miles by 8 miles, said Coast Guard Lt. Commander Adam Mach. Rescuers using small boats, a helicopter and a C-130 aircraft searched a portion of the Chesapeake Bay today "As far as I know, he was a fairly experienced sailor," Mach said. "His wife said he was in that area quite a bit."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: annapolis; bay; baybridgetunnel; chesapeake; chesapeakebay; merrill; missingperson; sailboat; sailing; washingtonian
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From Wikipedia on Philip Merrill:
"According to Right Web profile of Merrill, he donated $4 million in 2003 to setup the new Center for Strategic Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. The Center for Strategic Studies was headed by Eliot Cohen, a key neoconservative scholar. [1]"

No lifejacket and wallet found still in the boat. Suicide? The DUmmies may have to take on illegal alien temps to help cope with the volume of conspiracy theories that could devolve from this story.
1 posted on 06/11/2006 11:19:53 AM PDT by Mongeaux
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To: Mongeaux

The Activism sidebar is reserved for Activism, protests, news and business of Free Republic Chapters.

Not this.

Please read the following for FR's posting rules.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1611173/posts


2 posted on 06/11/2006 11:22:13 AM PDT by Admin Moderator
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To: Admin Moderator

My sincere rookie apologies. I "overclicked" the boxes in my haste.


3 posted on 06/11/2006 11:23:37 AM PDT by Mongeaux (''I would sooner be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone directory," W.F. Buckley)
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To: Mongeaux
Obviously he didn't get back to the shark cage in time..
Big shark took Merril the cage and everything.. Of course he left his wallet on the boat.. On the other hand, Maybe he didn't have a shark cage at all..
4 posted on 06/11/2006 11:29:18 AM PDT by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole..)
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To: Mongeaux

I met Merrill in D.C. at an affair for the National Defense University. He was a gregarious and socially pleasant fellow. We shared a brief cocktail party superficial exchange about NATO's role in post-Soviet threat Europe. I hope the Coast Guard finds him safe. Not wearing a vest is always risky.


5 posted on 06/11/2006 11:30:33 AM PDT by middie
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To: hosepipe

The thing about a shark, chief - he's got dead eyes...lifeless eyes...like a Democrats' eyes. Till he bite yer wallet. Then those eyes mist over brightly. And then you hear the terrible, high-pitched whinin'.


6 posted on 06/11/2006 11:31:56 AM PDT by Mongeaux (''I would sooner be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone directory," W.F. Buckley)
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To: Mongeaux; Wolfstar; snugs; onyx; Mo1; ravingnutter; kcvl; backhoe; Peach; Txsleuth; Howlin; ...
This guy was REAL heavy hitter:

Institutional Affiliations

# Center for Security Policy: National Security Advisory Council Member (2)
# Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments: Former Vice Chairman (1
) # International Institute of Strategic Studies: U.S. Director (1)
# Capital Gazette Foundation: Founder (1)
# Merrill Family Foundation: Founder (1)
# Council on Foreign Relations: Member (1)
# Chief Executives' Organization: Member (1)
# World Presidents' Organization: Member (1)
# University of Maryland Board of Visitors: Former Member (1)
# Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies: Former Board Member; benefactor--donated $4 million to SAIS in 2003 (1, 3)
# Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory: Former Board Member (1)
# Aspen Institute: Trustee (1)
# Chesapeake Bay Foundation: Trustee (1)
# Johns Hopkins University: Trustee (1)
# Cornell University: Trustee (1)
# Corcoran Gallery of Art: Trustee (1)
# North Atlantic Treaty Organization: Assistant Secretary General (1990-1992) (1)

Government Posts/Panels/Commissions

# Export-Import Bank of the United States: President and Chairman (2002-current) (1)
# U.S. Department of Defense Policy Board: Member (1983-1990) (1)
# U.S. Department of Defense: Counselor to Undersecretary of Defense for Policy (1981-1983) (1)
# Law of the Sea Conference: Former U.S. Representative (1)
# International Telecommunications Union: Former U.S. Representative (1)
# U.S. Department of State: Former Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State (1)
# U.S. Department of Defense Business Board: Former Member (1)
# White House Fellow Commission: Former Chairman of Regional Panels (1)
# Gulf War Air Power Survey: Former Member (George H.W. Bush Administration) (1)
# Commission on Cost Control in the Federal Government: Former Member (Reagan Administration) (1)

Corporate Connections/Business Interests

# Capital-Gazette Communications, Inc.: Chairman of the Board of Directors (1)
Education

# Cornell University (1)
# Harvard Business School: Program for Management Development (1)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As head of the Export-Import Bank .. who knows what evil could've lurked (tinfoil off). Hopefully, this was a tragic accident .. prayers for rescue. People just shouldn't go boating alone after a certain age.

7 posted on 06/11/2006 11:34:36 AM PDT by STARWISE (((They (Rats) think of this WOT as Bush's war, not America's war-RichardMiniter, respected OBL autho)
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To: middie

Not wearing a vest, age 72, singlehanding a 41 foot sailboat is very risky.


8 posted on 06/11/2006 11:35:56 AM PDT by maica (Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle --Abraham Lincoln)
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To: STARWISE

I've been monitoring the progress during my radio watch. Nothing found after 24 hours.


9 posted on 06/11/2006 11:36:28 AM PDT by GAB-1955 (being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the Kingdom of Heaven....)
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To: STARWISE
All those smarts, but he goes alone out in yesterday's very windy weather.

Does anyone know if he did have a life jacket on?

10 posted on 06/11/2006 11:38:41 AM PDT by OldFriend (I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag.....and My Heart to the Soldier Who Protects It.)
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To: GAB-1955
Too bad.

His bio page.


11 posted on 06/11/2006 11:39:12 AM PDT by STARWISE (((They (Rats) think of this WOT as Bush's war, not America's war-RichardMiniter, respected OBL autho)
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To: middie
"Not wearing a vest is always risky."

Very seldom done on boats that size. This kind of mishap is more common place then people might think. The only reason this one is garnering headlines is because of who was involved.

12 posted on 06/11/2006 11:39:20 AM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: STARWISE
.. who knows what evil could've lurked (tinfoil off). Hopefully, this was a tragic accident .. prayers for rescue. People just shouldn't go boating alone after a certain age.

Yes I suppose he may have tucked the wallet away someplace safely to keep it from dropping out of his pocket while he sailed. And lifejackets are bulky - experienced sailors can be overconfident.
13 posted on 06/11/2006 11:39:45 AM PDT by Mongeaux (''I would sooner be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone directory," W.F. Buckley)
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To: hosepipe
Hey, that's where the Ted Kennedy Regatta was rafted up for cocktails to celebrate Patrick's big dump in rehab.

Coincident? I think Not!

14 posted on 06/11/2006 11:41:28 AM PDT by battlegearboat
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To: battlegearboat
The Overboard
By Dan Brown

Prologue.

Chesapeake Bay, Sunday, June 11, 2006.

Theta team spotted the sailboat in the water twenty-nine minutes after insertion. Prominent Republican and avid sailor Phillip Merrill had pulled his boat into the shallows, as usual. They worked their way up the sloping tidal channel towards his boat, rebreathers leaving behind no telltale bubbles to give away their position on the surface. They stopped just under his hull.

The Harpoon was ready."
15 posted on 06/11/2006 11:51:29 AM PDT by Mongeaux (''I would sooner be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone directory," W.F. Buckley)
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To: CWOJackson
Exactly. We've been involved in a lot of searches on the Bay of people who fell in without PFDs. They just aren't as prominent, but the Coast Guard expends the same time and effort on a poor man as Joe Kennedy or Philip Merrill.

When you boat, wear a PFD. Attend a boating class. Remember the Rules of the Road. Set a good watch and don't drink and sail.
16 posted on 06/11/2006 11:55:37 AM PDT by GAB-1955 (being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the Kingdom of Heaven....)
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To: Mongeaux; STARWISE; CWOJackson

I really hope he is found alive, but it doesn't sound good.

We live on a large lake, and way too many people drown in boating accidents every summer-seldom are they wearing life vests. It is very foolhardy to take a boat out in windy/choppy weather even on a lake, never mind a bay, or to go boating alone-too many things can go wrong very quickly on the water. The summer before last, I was cooking dinner one evening during a bad thunderstorm that came up suddenly, and from the kitchen window I saw a small sailboat in distress, rolling and nearly heaving over sideways in the choppy water. Fortunately, my neighbor up the road saw it too and had put his pontoon boat in the water when he got home from work for the weekend-in spite of the rain and wind, he was able to get to the sailboat, secure a line to it and tow it to the dock at the state park. He told me later that there was one man on the boat, he was not wearing a life vest, and the small craft warning flags were up at the launch...


17 posted on 06/11/2006 12:04:34 PM PDT by Texan5 (You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line..)
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To: GAB-1955

Thank you for stating it again-the best possible advice-it could save your life.


18 posted on 06/11/2006 12:06:24 PM PDT by Texan5 (You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line..)
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To: Mongeaux
Throughout the thirty hours or so the yachts were rafted, small craft would ferry back and forth to shore for Chivas and ice sculptures.

At night, multicolored string lights outlined the Regatta as Latin music and laughter muffled the surf.

The dog "Splash", braced over the bow of The Cutty Sark, barked at the floater.

19 posted on 06/11/2006 12:06:35 PM PDT by battlegearboat (I'm out of carbon paper and this ribbon is fading)
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To: battlegearboat

I missed the first 10 chapters ;).


20 posted on 06/11/2006 12:18:21 PM PDT by STARWISE (((They (Rats) think of this WOT as Bush's war, not America's war-RichardMiniter, respected OBL autho)
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