May have gone a bit to far........

[Spaceman3750]

The SCWG website says the member in question is now suspended.

[N Harmon]

From SCWG Website:

CAP in the News
Written by Emerson Smith   
Saturday, 15 October 2011 06:29

CAP was featured on October 14, 2011 in an article in The Sun News (Myrtle Beach SC).  The story was about a CAP member driving down a highway in Horry County SC.  Reportedly, he noticed a child using a laser pointer to shine the light into the member's eyes and into the eyes of other drivers on the road.

In September 2011, due to repeated abuse of laser pointers, the City of Myrtle Beach passed an ordinance regulating the use of laser pointers.  Minors are now forbidden to possess a laser pointer.  This laser incident took place in Horry County where there is no specific regulation of laser pointers.

The CAP member allegedly stopped and took the laser pointer away from the child so that others on the highway would not have this laser pointed at their eyes.  Words were said by the member and by the parents of the child.  The police were called.  The parents pressed charges, leading to the member's arrest. All involved are now reportedly engulfed in controversy.  Reader comment on parental control of their children is extensive on this news article. Go to The Sun News to see the original story and updated stories on this incident.

The story is not really about the laser.  It is not really about the now-suspended member or the child or the child's parents.  These are very important issues for those immediately involved, but are surface stories.

The deep story is about the Civil Air Patrol and how essential Civil Air Patrol services are to each county in South Carolina.  This story got the attention of the National Commander of the Civil Air Patrol and involved many at the CAP national headquarters and at the SC Wing headquarters. It was distributed to newspapers across South Carolina and the United States.

The Civil Air Patrol, on a wing level and on the national level, is always concerned that the CAP has positive and informative messages in the news about our emergency services, our cadet program and about our aerospace education program.  Our members in each squadron have contributed to the success of the Civil Air Patrol image in South Carolina.

The Civil Air Patrol is perceived as essential as emergency medical technicians, as fire fighters, as police in protecting the people of South Carolina in the event of an emergency or disaster.  The story is that the Civil Air Patrol, thanks to the members in every county who lead, train, study, and teach others about how we can improve in our service to the people of South Carolina.  The South Carolina Wing of the Civil Air Patrol is, thanks to the good work of cadets and senior members, semper vigilans, always vigilant, always watchful, always looking for ways we can better serve the people of South Carolina.  This work is not easy and it is not without risk.  But it is worth the time that members serve in preparing for missions and in serving on missions.

[Майор Хаткевич]

Of course the worst rub of all is the County official saying they couldn't say what, if any impact CAP withdrawal would have anyway...

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

What's really going to reek is if the Air Force gets involved.

Three AF bases I know of in SC - Shaw AFB, Joint Base Charleston and McEntire ANGB.  I'm not sure if any of them host CAP facilities but it sure doesn't polish our reputation any in their eyes.

I'm not saying they will get involved...but it'd just be another perfect excuse for a knuckle-rapping from Ma Blue against those incorrigible CAP boys and girls.

At least this guy wasn't in uniform when he pulled this.

[PHall]

What's really going to reek is if the Air Force gets involved.

Three AF bases I know of in SC - Shaw AFB, Joint Base Charleston and McEntire ANGB.  I'm not sure if any of them host CAP facilities but it sure doesn't polish our reputation any in their eyes.

I'm not saying they will get involved...but it'd just be another perfect excuse for a knuckle-rapping from Ma Blue against those incorrigible CAP boys and girls.

At least this guy wasn't in uniform when he pulled this.

Why would the Air Force become involved in a internal matter of CAP?

The guy acts the fool, is suspended pending the outcome of the criminal case, and the world moves on.

[flyboy53]

I'm sure the Air Force side of the house was already informed.

As to their direct involvement, not likely, especially when the legal guys are probably already formulating a strategy that includes a 2b and showing this guy the door; the sooner the better due to the bad PR -- which actually affects all of us with the more media exposure this situation gets.

Instead of taking things into his own hands, he should have initiated a phone call to authorities as joe citizen, made the appropriate complaint and then let the chips fall as they might in court.

Just how overzealous and stupid can you be......

[Brad]

We have enough planes and pilots in the surrounding squadrons that even if this had come to pass then it wouldn't have hurt too much.

The real issue aside from the squadron commander overstepping his personal and CAP authority I found was the write-up of the article itself. It makes it seem like the Myrtle Beach squadron is doing all kinds of patrols and missing person searches for Forestry, Horry Co, the various beaches, etc. Sad to say that isn't true. Most of that is handled by SLED or city and county agencies.

We catch the occassional ELT beacon, but that's about it aside from some Homeland Security missions. Upstate gets more activity, yea, but it's sad to say the regular non-emergent non-federal agency missions are non-existant in SC