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News - As published on page A1/A2 on July 8, 2006
Pirates: Boats found
on Nashwaak River
Civilian plays key role in boat bust
By HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN
hmclaugh@dailygleaner.com
RECOVERED:
(THE DAILY GLEANER/STEPHEN MACGILLIVRAY PHOTO)
Boats from the Small Craft Aquatic Centre and
the Fredericton Rowing Club were taken from where they were moored in the St. John River. Above, Fredericton police officers
load one of the stolen motors into one of the stolen boats near where they were found along the banks of the Nashwaak River.
From left are constables Yves Depres, Mike Wilson and Scott Patterson. |
A curious fisherman, a fleet-footed police officer and
a cellphone were the key ingredients to busting a trio of boat thieves Friday.
Three adults - two men and a woman -
were being questioned Friday and charges related to theft are expected to be filed.
Police spokesman Cpl. Martin Gaudet
publicly thanked Rick Greene for the aid he rendered to police in making the arrest.
"When citizens get involved to
this extent and their safety is not in danger, we really, really appreciate it. It was a key, key role in this case and it's
very much appreciated," Gaudet said.
Others played pivotal roles in retrieving the stolen property, including a student
at the Fredericton Small Craft Aquatic Centre and a coach with the Fredericton Rowing Club.
The Fredericton Police
Force received a telephone call about 7:30 a.m. Friday from aquatic centre summer employee Jill MacEachern to report the theft
of two boats.
Jennifer Fitzpatrick was returning from a 5:30 a.m. rowing practice when she noticed that the motor-drive
Princecraft aluminum boat they use as a coach boat for rowers wasn't moored to a floating dock on the St. John River.
MacEachern,
who comes into work at 6 a.m. noticed the aquatic centre's Carolina Skiff motorboat, was also gone.
A kayak usually
on shore was tied up at an offshore floating dock where the two motorboats were tied up. Neither motor boat had gasoline,
since the tanks are usually removed as a disincentive to steal them, both young women explained.
While MacEachern notified
police and waited to file a report, Fitzpatrick took a third motorboat out and began to scour the river for any sign of the
two missing boats.
While she was searching the river, Fitzpatrick met up with Longs Creek resident Rick Greene, who
was launching his own motorboat on the north side of the St. John River shortly before 8 a.m.
Greene, a member of a
New Brunswick Sportfishing Association, was going to check out potential fishing spots for a charity children's fishing tournament
Sunday.
"I was launching my boat and she (Fitzpatrick) came over and asked me to keep an eye out for the boats," he
said.
Turning into the Nashwaak River, up past the train bridge, there's an outcrop of land bounded by the river on
one side and a creek on the other, Greene said.
It's isolated and away from the road, he said. That's where he saw
the Princecraft adrift and spotted the Carolina Skiff.
BOATS STOLEN: Boats from the Small Craft Aquatic
Centre and the Fredericton Rowing Club were taken from where they were moored in the St. John River. Fredericton Police Force
Const. Scott Patterson prepares to board one of the stolen boats. Behind him is Rick Greene, who used his boat to assist the
police in finding the boats after he spotted them along the side of the Nashwaak River | |
Greene used his cellphone to notify Fredericton police
and reported the location of the boats.
But one of the two boats, the Zodiak, which the police force owns, is no longer
fit to be used and the second was out of commission. The force is slated to purchase a new boat, but it hasn't yet been selected,
Gaudet said.
"They (police) asked me if I would pick an officer up at the mouth of the Nashwaak. I ran down and got
him. He jumped in the boat, and we came back up," Greene said.
The officer, Const. Yves Despres, splashed through water
and mud to reach dry land, spotted the suspects and gave chase.
"He could run, I'll tell you," Greene said of the officer's
fast footwork.
Greene secured the two stolen boats.
"They (the thieves) had both motors laying on the deck of
the Carolina Skiff," he said.
Greene said he's never without his cellphone, but everything else was just fluke.
"I
was just in the right place at the right time to help," he said.
With the compliments flowing all around, Greene gave
kudos to the police.
"They impressed me. They were really quick and from the time I made that phone call, it was half
an hour (before they had them)," he said.
"We were really lucky that I saw him and asked him and that he was willing
to help us," Fitzpatrick said of Greene.
MacEachern said the aquatic centre's boat is used as a coach boat for a summer
sailing school that's ongoing right now.
The rowing club purchased a new motor for its boat about a week ago and the
rowing club's motor for its boat was purchased about a month ago.
Although neither boat had gasoline aboard, each would
have had a paddle stored aboard. The current in the Saint John River flows north to south out toward the Bay of Fundy, Fitzpatrick
said, and the current was strong on Friday morning.
She figured if the boats were just cut adrift in the river, they'd
be well on their way Oromocto by the time she started her search.
Local Trivia
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Situated in the beautiful Kennebecasis Valley, the town of Rothesay was so named in August, 1860 at the request
of the Prince of Wales, who was later to become King Edward VII. The Prince said the area reminded him of Rothesay, Bute,
in Scotland. The name Kennebecasis is thought to be derived from the Micmac "Kenepekachiachk", meaning
"little long bay place".
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Officially, a bridge is either named after the river it crosses or the owner of the land on which it was built.
If several bridges cross the same river, they're numbered. For example, the Kennebecasis River No. 8 was the eighth covered
bridge from the mouth of the river; while the Tranton Covered Bridge in Roachville is named after its original landowner.
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The original inhabitants of the Quispamsis area were the proud Maliseet First Nation, part of the great Algonquin Federation.
The name, "Quispamsis" was translated from the Maliseet language and means, "little lake in the woods", the lake being the
present-day Ritchie Lake located in the center of town.
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 «Amelia Earhart» is famous for being the first woman to make
a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. During this flight she broke two other records by becoming the first person to make
two crossings of the Atlantic, the first time as a passenger and the second as the pilot, and by completing the trip in the
shortest time. The solo flight was to start in Grace Harbour, NF. On the way, she made a stopover in Saint John on May 19,
1932.
At Breakfast on May 20, 1932, a reporter from the Saint John Telegraph Journal handed Amelia
Earhart a copy of that day's paper containing an article he had written. She promised to read it and took it on the plane
with her. Whether or not she actually read it is unknown, but it became the first North American newspaper to arrive in Europe
the day it was published.
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There was a small campground used by the militia for a summer training camp, and was located six miles northeast
of the city center. Opened in early 1860's, this site had only one or two small wooden structures, as the troops were usually
billeted in tents while at camp. This site was also used for military reviews. One particularly large review was held on 25
September 1864. A total of 1,400 soldiers, both British regulars and New Brunswick militia, were reviewed before more than
3,000 civilians. A target range known as the Drury Cove Range was also located on this site and was used for a number of rifle
competitions in the 1860's and 1870's. By the 1880's the militia was training more often at the Lower Cowe Military Grounds
than at Camp Torryburn. In the late 1890's after the militia was issued the«Lee Enfield rifle» , the target range had to be closed as unsafe for modern firearms. After this the site saw very little use.
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Enter supporting content here
Kennebecasis Rowing Club
RPO
21, 2055 Rothesay Road
Renforth NB E2H 2K0
(506) 847-5803
Email: rowkrc@nb.sympatico.ca
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