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 Vallarta Living | February 2007 
U.S. Coast Guard Visits Agape
 Peter Gray - PVNN
Our local Navy League organization arranged for a work party headed by the Executive Officer of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell, Commander John Mckinley, to swing into action on Tuesday February 13th, at the Agape home for abused young girls. Boutwell's Public Relations Officer, Ensign Cole Morgen also helped lead the group.
While part of the team worked on painting the interior walls of the facility, others tackled the tough job of removing a stubborn layer of cement on the roof of the building. The time has come to totally remove years of patching up the roof and start on a complete resurfacing job. Stuart Howard of the local Navy League attested to the physical demands of the job.
"I haven't worked this hard since I came to Mexico," he remarked while taking a break. Navy League members Jim and Lynn Brophy were also much in evidence - somewhat paint-spattered by the end of the day. Also on site were Jeff Miltenberger, President of the Navy League, Cal Levitt and Bill Clark who is the VP in charge of setting up the naval parties that volunteer to lend a hand in maintaining schools, orphanages and other worthy institutions in need of help.
In the case of Agape, there are twenty girls being cared for at present, with big plans to expand the facility given sufficient community support.
As a change from their normal duties, U.S. ships perform these voluntary social activities wherever they go. Puerto Vallarta is fortunate that it is one of the favorite stop-over places for ships heading south along the Pacific coast. The Boutwell has a distinguished record built up over the years since it was built in 1967. It has seized many millions of dollars worth of drugs, two hundred million dollars in one year alone.
On another occasion, the Boutwell carried out one of the largest ever rescues at sea when it took five hundred passengers off a stricken cruise ship in the Gulf of Alaska. In 2003 it saw action in Iraq, protecting the oil facilities along the coast. I asked Commander McKinley if he was on the ship at the time. He laughed: "No, actually I was already there when the Boutwell arrived."
On a lighter note, the Boutwell lost a little time in arriving at Puerto Vallarta because it paused at sea to help rescue a large turtle that had been trapped in a fisherman's net. Clearly, the Coast Guard has to be ready for anything that comes their way.
It will take another visit or two for the work at Agape to be completed. Two more U.S. ships are expected to arrive in the near future and Bill Clark is ready and waiting to get the job completed. In the meantime, our sincere thanks to the Boutwell volunteers and to their captain, Captain Peter J Brown. |
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