Editor's note:  The media is invited to the presentation of the Silver Lifesaving Medal Award Ceremony at Coast Guard Air Station Miami in Opa Locka, Fla., Tuesday. Media are asked to arrive at Air Station Miami 14750 NW 44th Ct., Albatros training room Opa Locka, Fla., no later than 9:30 a.m.

WHO:        Capt. Richard Kenin, 7th Coast Guard District chief of staff
                   Capt. Joe Kimball, commanding officer of Air Station Miami
                   Cmdr. Andres Delgado, executive officer of Air Station Miami
                   Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class John Rivera

WHAT:         Seventh Coast Guard District chief of staff, Capt. Richard Kenin, is scheduled to present the Silver Lifesaving Medal award to Petty Officer 3rd Class John Rivera for the rescue of R&B artist Sean Kingston after his accident on a personal water craft on Memorial Day weekend. Rivera was off duty and on his personal boat near the bridge and saw Kingston go under water after he struck a bridge on his personal watercraft. Rivera immediately jumped in and kept him afloat until additional help arrived.  

                   The Silver Lifesaving Medal is awarded by the Commandant of the Coast Guard to any person who rescues, or endeavors to rescue, any other person from drowning, shipwreck, or other peril of water. The rescue or attempted rescue must either take place in waters within the United States or subject to its jurisdiction, or one of the parties must be a citizen of the United States or be from a vessel or aircraft owned or operated by citizens of the United States. 

WHEN:     Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.

WHERE:  Coast Guard Air Station Miami Albatros training room
              14750 NW 44th Ct., Opa Locka, Fla.  
                      

Editor's note:  The media is invited to the presentation of the Purple Heart to the family of a World War I Coast Guardsman in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Monday. Media are asked to arrive at Terminal 4, Port Canaveral no later than 1:45 p.m. The commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa and a family member of the honoree will be available for interviews immediately following the ceremony. Please contact Marilyn Fajardo at (305) 331-1444 to RSVP.

WHO:       Capt. Richard Kenin, 7th Coast Guard District chief of staff
                   Cmdr. Susan Polizzotto, commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Tampa
                   Robert Medina, representing U.S. Congressman Bill Posey (FL-15)
                   Diane Roberts Vess (great-grandniece) will receive the Purple Heart on behalf of Charles Henry   
                   Klingelhoefer

WHAT:     Seventh Coast Guard District chief of staff, Capt. Richard Kenin, is scheduled to present the prestigious
                   Purple Heart, posthumously, to the family of Charles Henry Klingelhoefer, a crewman aboard the
                   USSTampa when it was hit and sunk by the German U-boat 91, Sept. 26, 1918.  One hundred and
                   thirty one lives were lost with the cutter; 115 officers and men, plus a Captain, 10 seamen of the Royal
                   British Navy, and five civilian employee dock workers. This was reportedly the largest loss due to 
                   enemy action suffered by U.S. Naval Forces in World War I.

                   The Purple Heart is a U.S. military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those who have
                   been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military.

WHEN:     Monday, Feb. 6, 2012 at 2:00 p.m.

WHERE:  Terminal 4, Port Canaveral  
                   240 Christopher Columbus Drive
                   Cape Canaveral, Fla., 32920

MORE:    The ceremony will take place aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Tampa.
       
                 

WHO: Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg is scheduled to host an open house for the community. 

WHAT: The Coast Guard will present helicopter and vessel demonstrations, hold vessel tours and provide safe boating education.

WHEN: Friday, Feb. 3, 2012, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

WHERE: 600 8th Ave. SE, St. Petersburg, Fla., (North Moorings entrance).

Please see flyer here.

Media interested in attending need to contact Coast Guard Public Affairs at 305-965-4672. Media will be allowed on base at 10:45 a.m. and will be escorted on and off base during the event.    

Editor's note: Media interested in attending the ceremony are asked to arrive at the Blackthorn Memorial Park located at the north end of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, in St. Petersburg, Fla., no later than 10:45 a.m..

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The public is invited to attend the 32^nd anniversary memorial service of the Coast Guard Cutter Blackthorn collision at 11 a.m., Saturday, at Blackthorn Memorial Park off Interstate 275.

The Blackthorn sank after colliding with the tanker Capricorn near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge on Jan 28, 1980. Twenty-three of the Blackthorn's 50 crewmembers lost their lives during the Coast Guard's worst peacetime disaster. A memorial inscribed with the names of the crewmembers that perished now stands two miles north of the accident site.

Saturday’s ceremony will consist of an aerial salute by Coast Guard aircraft, posting of the Colors and reading of the lost crewmembers' names.

The Blackthorn tragedy provided the impetus for the establishment of the Command and Operations School at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. The school offers courses to prepare command-level officers and senior enlisted members for command duty afloat. Commanding officers are now required to formally assess risks such as transiting an unfamiliar port at night and are given full discretion and encouraged to say no if they feel the risks involved are unnecessary.

Additionally, the Coast Guard developed new training requirements, spent more money on safety equipment and made changes to the navigational aids in and around Tampa Bay.

Who/What:  Celebrate the City of Clearwater’s designation as a Coast Guard City with Adm. Robert J. Papp, Commandant of the Coast Guard, Congressman C.W. Bill Young, Coast Guard Auxiliary and additional state and local officials. Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard will be Master of Ceremonies for the event.

Why:  Clearwater is now one of 14 cities throughout the nation to be designated a Coast Guard City and the only one in the State of Florida. The designation, endorsed by Congress and the Coast Guard, is made to recognize the outstanding support the community provides to Coast Guard personnel and their families. The city actively coordinates community recognition, events and programs to best support its valued Coast Guard families.

Where:      Intersection of Cleveland Street and Garden Avenue in downtown Clearwater on the Blast Friday Stage.

When:       6 p.m., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012.

FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — Two search and rescue survivors are scheduled to arrive at Coast Guard Station Fort Myers Beach Wednesday at 6 p.m.

The two boaters were aboard the 33-foot fishing vessel Lucky Dog when their boat began sinking Tuesday. They activiated their Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) before abandoning ship and taking refuge on their life raft.

WHAT: The survivors have agreed to grant interviews to interested media. A Coast Guard representative will also be available to discuss boating safety.   

WHERE: Coast Guard Station Fort Myers Beach, 719 San Carlos Dr., Fort Myers Beach, Fla., 33931. 

WHEN: Media is requested to be at the station no later than 5:45 p.m.

Please contact Petty Officer 3rd Class Jon-Paul Rios at 305-965-4672 for further details about this event.

CLEVELAND — Media is invited to speak with and interview a Coast Guardsman who received a prestigious lifesaving award last month, at a media availability scheduled for Thursday in Atlanta.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Thomas McArthur, an aviation survival technician assigned to Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, Mich., and recipient of the Silver Lifesaving Medal, will be at Coast Guard Recruiting Office Atlanta from noon to 2 p.m.

McArthur, a native of Dunwoody, Ga., and 2007 graduate of Greater Atlanta Christian School, is credited with saving 12 lives from violent riptides at Frankfort Beach in Frankfort, Mich., on Aug. 15, 2010.  At the time, McArthur was assigned to Coast Guard Station Frankfort and rescued the dozen swimmers while off-duty.

McArthur was presented the Silver Lifesaving Medal at the Coast Guard Foundation Dinner in New York on Oct. 13.

He was also recognized by the National Capitol Area Council Boy Scouts of America at their annual Scouting Salutes the Military event in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 27.  A lifelong member of the scouting community, McArthur earned the rank of Eagle Scout in 2006.  Click here to read about the Boy Scout event.

For his heroism, as well as his many accomplishments, McArthur was named the Coast Guard's Shipmate of the Week.

According to Title 14 of US Code, which establishes Coast Guard lifesaving authorities, the Gold and Silver Lifesaving Medals may be awarded by the commandant of the Coast Guard to any person who "rescues or endeavors to rescue any other person from drowning, shipwreck, or other peril of the water."

Media interested in participating should contact the 9th Coast Guard District Public Affairs Office at 216-902-6020 prior to 10 a.m. Thursday.

For problems with directions or parking, please contact Chief Petty Officer Michael Armistad, recruiter-in-charge of Coast Guard Recruiting Office Atlanta, at 404-308-7647.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Captain Andy Blomme, commander, Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville, will be available via conference call to local media to discuss port condition readiness in preparation of Hurricane Irene, Monday at 2:30 p.m.

Interested media should RSVP with Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Evanson no later than 2 p.m., Monday, to obtain the call-in number and passcode.

Sector Jacksonville’s area of responsibility encompasses 40,000 square miles of ocean and inland waterways. Within the Sector's AOR are 190 miles of coastline stretching from King’s Bay, Ga.,  to Port Malabar, Fla.,  Along this coastline are 10 inlets, most of which provide safe passage to inland waterways. Inland waters within the AOR include 248 miles of the Intracoastal Waterway, 161 miles of the St. John's River, and numerous rivers, creeks, and marshes.

Media note: Media interested in attending the offload and interviewing crewmembers aboard the cutter should arrive no later than 11:45 a.m. at Coast Guard Base Support Unit Miami located at 100 MacArthur Causeway, Miami Beach, Fla. For more information contact public affairs at 305-415-6683.

MIAMI - Crewmembers from the Coast Guard Cutter Oak are scheduled to offload 15,000 pounds of cocaine worth more than $180 million, seized from a self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS), at Base Support Unit Miami Tuesday at 12 p.m.

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Seneca, a medium-endurance cutter homeported in Boston, interdicted a drug smuggling, SPSS vessel in the western Caribbean Sea July 13.

A C-130 fixed-wing aircrew spotted a suspicious vessel and notified U.S. Customs and Border Protection maritime patrol airplane to further investigate. The CBP crew spotted the SPSS while on patrol and alerted the Seneca crew of the location.

With the assistance of the Customs and Border Patrol airplane, a Seneca-based Coast Guard helicopter crew and pursuit boatcrew interdicted the SPSS and detained its crew. The SPSS sank during the interdiction, but not before a quantity of cocaine was recovered.

The Seneca crewmembers commenced searching for the sunken SPSS on July 13. Several Coast Guard Cutters, the Honduran Navy and FBI dive teams conducted multiple search patterns. The SPSS was located by the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Oak on July 26 using side-sonar equipment. 

The U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, Customs and Border Protection, Joint Interagency Task Force South, and partner nation aircraft and vessels work together to conduct counter drug patrols in the Caribbean.

The Seneca is a 270-foot medium-endurance cutter homeported in Boston.
The Oak is a 225-foot sea-going buoy tender homeported in Charleston, S.C.