Doofus Of The Day #225

Today's Doofus is from Florida.

Commercial fisherman Rodney Salomon ensnared an 8-foot-long missile in his longline while out in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City late last month.

Salomon tied the missile to the top of his boat, the Bold Venture, and kept it there for the rest of the 14-day fishing trip. He brought the missile ashore Monday evening along with his 5,000 pounds of grouper.

Rodney figured the missile was inert, and he'd keep it as a souvenir.

Only one problem: It was live.




After Salomon came ashore, emergency officials summoned a bomb squad from MacDill Air Force Base to a marina off the Tom Stuart Causeway where Rodney had docked.

"This is a live air-to-air missile," Pinellas sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha said Monday evening. "It is 8 feet long, and the MacDill team is dismantling it."

Officials cleared everyone out from 500 feet around the missile and asked a few people in nearby houseboats to move away.

The bomb squad dismantled the missile and left the scene just before 11 p.m.

. . .

Salomon, who was captain of the boat with three other fishermen, said he found the missile about 50 miles south of Panama City. That part of the gulf is used by the U.S. Air Force and Navy for weapons testing and training.

. . .

In fact, Salomon said the missile he carried to shore Monday was actually one of two he found on this trip. He said the other one appeared live to him — it had lights, a gauge and a camera that appeared active.

Salomon said he was fishing at a depth of 785 feet when he pulled up the missile. Pasha said the missile was corroded from saltwater, making it very unstable. Rodney reported his find to the Madeira Beach Fire Department when he got to shore.

. . .

Salomon said the MacDill people told him not to pick up any more missiles. "They told me if you find another one, just let it go," he said.

There's more at the link.

Uh . . . yeah. That's one form of catch-and-release fishing I'm very happy to support! And as for strapping a bloody great missile to the roof of your boat, where it can get banged about by the waves for days on end, and simply assuming that it's harmless . . . I think Mr. Salomon's Guardian Angel was working overtime during that trip!





Peter