TUG OPERATOR TESTS POSITIVE FOR MARIJUANA

James Webber gives up license after bridge accident, Coast Guard reports

The operator of a tugboat that slammed a four-barge tow into a Mobile River
railroad bridge on April 13 tested positive for marijuana the next day and
has surrendered his mariner's license, a Coast Guard spokesman said Tuesday.

Joseph Webber, 38, of Robertsdale was the operator of the tug Perry Lynn
based in Gretna, La. He gave up his operator's license after the Coast
Guard's Marine Safety Office in Mobile filed a complaint against him "for
use of a dangerous drug and negligence," the spokesman reported.

Webber could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

No one was hurt in the accident that caused more than $250,000 in damages
to the CSX railroad bridge 11 miles north of Mobile. But the case is one of
several in recent years in which commercial operators or drivers have
tested positive for drugs after accidents.

Last year, on Mother's Day, a charter bus accident in the New Orleans area
killed 22 people. Bus driver Frank Bedell, 46, had a potentially deadly
combination of drugs in his blood, New Orleans police said in a report. The
report said Bedell had smoked marijuana two to six hours before the
disaster and was still impaired by the drug at the time of the crash.

Bedell also had taken the antihistamine Benadryl the day before the
accident, the report said. Common side effects of Benadryl, an
over-the-counter drug, include dizziness, confusion and blurred vision.

Bedell had been fired by two other bus companies in 1989 and 1996 after
testing positive for marijuana twice, according to the National
Transportation Safety Board.

In Webber's case, "We can't determine if he was under the influence of the
drug at the time of the accident," said Lt. Jerry Hubbard, the assistant
senior investigative officer for the Coast Guard MSO in Mobile. But Hubbard
said that after the Coast Guard filed its complaint "Webber then executed a
voluntary surrender of his merchant mariner's license. Webber chose to
surrender his license in preference to appearing at a hearing ... to answer
the complaint against him."

Hubbard said Webber "permanently relinquished all rights to his license and
waived the right to a hearing, appeal and judicial review."

The Coast Guard official said urine drug tests were administered to Webber
and the crew of the Perry Lynn the day after the accident and that Webber
was the only one who tested positive. Occasional use of marijuana is
detectable in urine for two to seven days and regular use of the drug is
detectable for up to about 30 days, according to a spokesman for the
Regional Poison Control Center in Birmingham.

A Coast Guard investigation revealed that Webber "failed to compensate for
weather conditions" thus causing the accident. In April, Hubbard had
reported that a wind gust 15 to 20 knots apparently propelled the tug and
four empty barges it was pushing into protective fenders along a trestle.

"It's like trying to go through your garage door and turning too soon, but
this time, the wind turned him," Hubbard had said in an April interview.

The tow struck a pillar, knocking the crossing nine feet out of alignment
and closing it to traffic.

The bridge is about three miles from the site of the Sept. 22, 1993, Amtrak
disaster, where the Sunset Limited derailed, killing 47 people.

The Coast Guard estimated the cost of the damage to the bridge the Perry
Lynn tow struck at about $250,000. But Kathy Burns, a CSX spokeswoman in
Jacksonville, Fla., said Tuesday, "It's likely to be more than $250,000.
We're still gathering information on the total cost of the damages,' she
said, and added, "We expect to be compensated" by the owner of the Perry Lynn.

The Perry Lynn is operated by Perry and Son Towing out of Gretna. Attempts
to contact the company Tuesday were unsuccessful.

The Department of Transportation enforces regulations pertaining to drug
testing of persons working in the transportation industry. As a DOT agency,
the Coast Guard enforces the regulations specific to the maritime industry.
The regulations include sample collection, laboratory testing and
administrative measures.