Fleet Week Prologue

Just in time for this year's U.S. Navy Fleet Week during Seafair, the U.S. Coast Guard has rendered a decision in the 2004 case of Glen Milner, a peace activist about whom Geov Parrish wrote last winter. Milner was detained and charged with violating a 500-yard Naval Vessel Protection Zone while he was skipper of an 11-foot inflatable in Elliott Bay (pictured) and participating in a protest of the Navy's presence organized by the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action.

The Coast Guard hearing officer in D.C. slapped Milner on the wrist, concluding that he "more likely than not" got too near the USS Bonhomme Richard, but not intentionally, so a warning was in order. A far cry from the $10,000 fine he was facing after the first round of the Coast Guard's prosecution of the case.

In an e-mail, Milner says he's not satisfied, however, and plans to appeal the warning.

This case went over 15 months. The case file is over 1,100 pages and has 268 photos. I have at least 1,500 hours of my time on this.

Aaron Caplan, an attorney with the ACLU in Seattle, believes I won the case. It doesn't feel like it to me—there are too many unanswered questions. The ACLU sent a letter this year to Coast Guard District Thirteen requesting that they respect our civil rights. The Peace Fleet will be out again on August 2.