Latest news with #KeithMerkel
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fleetwood police seek suspect in credit card fraud
Crime Alert Berks County, a citizen crime-fighting group, is offering cash rewards of up to $10,000 to anyone supplying tips that lead to an arrest in this case or any other case or crime. Tipsters with crime information can call 877-373-9913 anytime or contact Crime Alert at its website at or via the AlertBerks smartphone app. No one will ask the name of the caller, who will be assigned a code number. Offense: Credit card/access device fraud Date: Between April 22 and May 1 Location: Lowe's, Shillington Road, Spring Township. Police synopsis: According to Fleetwood police, fraudulent orders totaling more than $20,000 were placed via phone using a Fleetwood-area construction business' credit card and were subsequently picked up by a person not affiliated with the business. The pictured suspect picked up an order and identified herself as Ventura Polanco. COURTESY OF FLEETWOOD POLICE Fleetwood police are trying to identify this suspect in connection with a credit card fraud. (Courtesy of Crime Alert Berks County)Fleetwood police are trying to identify this suspect in connection with a credit card fraud. (Courtesy of Crime Alert Berks County) Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Alert or Criminal Investigator Keith Merkel at Fleetwood Police Department at 61-944-7011 ext. 500. Refer to incident #83-25-02626.
CBS News
07-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Crews remove 4,000 pounds of debris in cleanup of Richardson Bay
Shopping carts, an electric foot massager, a PlayStation, several outboard engines, and a floor lamp are among the many items found amid two tons of marine debris pulled last week from Richardson Bay in southern Marin County. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Keith Merkel, principal ecologist leading the project with the Richardson Bay Regional Agency, a local government agency dedicated to maintaining and improving Richardson Bay. "We have had divers working in the water here for years as part of our eelgrass restoration efforts, and we've seen that the Bay floor is littered in this kind of debris." The cleanup included 300 acres of the 700-acre Richardson Bay Eelgrass Protection Zone, which the RBRA designated in October. Eelgrass supports migratory fish, reduces erosion caused by storms, and sequesters carbon. It is a crucial part of the food chain for harbor porpoises and sea lions. In 2022, the RBRA estimated that there were more than 100 vessels in the Eelgrass Protection Zone. When anchors, chains, and other ground tackle scrape along the bottom of the Bay, they essentially act as a lawn mower for water plants, creating "crop circles" or barren areas where no eelgrass can grow, according to a statement from the RBRA. By February 2023, the Marin Housing Authority had unanimously approved a voucher program to relocate residents living in boats on Richardson Bay into long-term housing on the mainland. RBRA had a mandate from the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission to relocate all of the vessels off the anchorage by Oct. 15, 2026. Plans also included a buy-back program, offering up to $5,200 to people willing to remove or cede their vessels. Items pulled from Richardson Bay in Marin County during a cleanup. Officials said two tons of marine debris was recovered. Richardson Bay Regional Agency / Bay City News Service Will Reisman, spokesperson for the RBRA, said Tuesday that 13 boats remain on the Bay, but occupants from eight of those will soon be moved into housing by the end of the summer through the voucher program. Last week's cleanup was funded by a $2.8 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aimed at restoring at least 15 acres of eelgrass over four years. It was awarded to the RBRA and its partners at San Francisco State University and Audubon California. According to Reisman, the debris pulled up last week was brought to an Army Corps of Engineers debris yard, with some items being recycled. Nearly all metals removed from the Bay are recycled, he said. "We are not accusing anyone of deliberately discarding items overboard," said RBRA executive director Brad Gross. "That said, the type and amount of debris littering the Bay floor and preventing the healthy recovery of eelgrass reinforces the fact that an environmentally sensitive area like Richardson Bay is no place for mariners to permanently reside on vessels at anchor." Surf scoters, Lesser and Greater Scaup, Western and Horned Grebes, double-crested cormorants and other birds will soon be the visible occupants of the 5-foot shallow bay, as they stop each year to forage and fuel up during their long migration north.
San Francisco Chronicle
07-05-2025
- General
- San Francisco Chronicle
Crews remove 4,000 pounds of trash from Richardson Bay, once home to boat dwellers
A shopping cart, an electric keyboard, two small boats, a PlayStation and an electric foot massager — these were among the 4,000 pounds of trash removed from Richardson Bay last week as part of a weeklong marine debris removal project. The cleanup came months after the last of 240 anchor-out boats were removed from the bay, capping off a long, contentious battle the Richardson Bay Regional Agency had with boat dwellers who had refused to leave. The agency, along with partners, cleaned up about one acre of the waterway between Sausalito and Tiburon. Workers also removed garden tools, batteries, outbound engines and portable generators, anchors and anchor chain and tarps. 'Sadly, I am not surprised at the amount of debris and discarded items that we removed from the Bay floor, below where vessels were at anchor for years,' the agency's executive director Brad Gross said in a statement. The two tons of waste also included a microwave, various sports equipment, glass bottles, fuel containers, hand saw, a floor lamp, a fishing net and several sheets of plexiglass. Workers, including scuba divers and experts, focused their clean-up effort on the Richardson Bay Eelgrass Protection Zone, an area on the western side of the bay, extending north toward Mill Valley. The zone, which is newly off limits to anchoring boats, was launched on Oct. 30 to help restore the growth of eelgrass, 'a critical ecological component of the Bay,' the agency said. Eelgrass is a plant that grows on the ocean floor, and is key to 'healthy and vibrant' waterways like Richardson Bay, the agency said. Eelgrass reduces erosion and captures carbon, as well as serving as a resource for harbor seals, sea lions and other marine creatures, the agency said. Environmentalists working to restore the eelgrass zone said that removing debris is a key first step before being able to replant eelgrass across the more than 300 acres of the former anchoring area. The removal of 'anchor outs' came after a yearslong battle between the Richardson Bay Regional Agency and occupants of the vessels, which numbered as many as 240 about 10 years ago. The agency said that the number of illegally anchored boats in the zone was down to about 20 in October. 'This is just the tip of the iceberg,' Keith Merkel, a worker on the project, said in a statement. 'We have had divers working in the water here for years as part of our eelgrass restoration efforts, and we've seen that the Bay floor is littered in this kind of debris.' Merkel said that while they hope to restore eelgrass this summer to areas that have had debris removed, he hopes that the whole 300-acre zone is able to be cleaned of its 'many, many tons of debris.' The agency said the growth of eelgrass is inhibited by anchors and chains scraping the bottom of the bay, creating barren 'crop circles' and acting 'as a lawn mover for all living plants.' 'Despite years of environmental degradation, eelgrass has shown remarkable resilience and ability to recover as abandoned and derelict vessels are removed from the Bay,' Rebecca Schwartz Lesberg, president of Coastal Policy Solutions, said in a statement. The cleanup is part of the plan by the Richardson Bay Regional Agency to restore at least 15 acres of eelgrass by 2027, in partnership with San Francisco State University's Estuary and Ocean Science Center in Tiburon, Audubon California, Merkel and Associates and Coastal Policy Solutions. The agency said nine acres have already been restored. 'It's great to see such meaningful progress in restoring the health of Richardson Bay,' Stephanie Moulton-Peters, a board member for the agency and Marin County Supervisor, said in a statement. 'The removal of over two tons of debris from the Eelgrass Protection Zone is a major step toward protecting this vital habitat for generations to come.'
