SEBRING — Sheriff Susan Benton accepted a letter of resignation Monday from a deputy who was charged in April by the U.S. Coast Guard with intoxicated operation of a vessel, while boating in a Pine Island canal. Former deputy Craig Skipper reportedly took an excursion in his boat on April 18, when he was stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard after a complaint was filed. Coast guard officials reported Skipper appeared intoxicated but he refused twice to take a sobriety test, an investigation report by Sheriff's Internal Affairs Officer Lt. Gus Garcia stated. The agency received a complaint that the boat was "operating on plane" (speeding) in a no wake zone and that the boat operator was "exposing himself," Garcia's report stated. ...more

June 24, 2008

Rescuers searched today for survivors of a typhoon that capsized a ferry, flooded villages and left many hundreds dead or missing along its violent path. ...more

June 23, 2008

MADEIRA BEACH - The Coast Guard diverted one of its helicopters from a training exercise today to lower a pump to a boat that was taking on water 40 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, coast guard officials say. ...more

February 1, 2008

Coast guard boats and helicopters are searching today for 14 sailors feared dead in chilly waters off South Korea after their cargo ship was thought to have sunk in high seas. ...more

December 26, 2007

A preliminary investigation found human error caused a cargo ship to crash into the Bay Bridge, leading to San Francisco Bay's worst oil spill in nearly two decades, the U.S. Coast Guard said Saturday as rescue teams raced to save hundreds of seabirds. ...more

November 11, 2007