NEWS

St. Marys skydivers defy trespass warnings and jump

Airport Authority had revoked The Jumping Place's permit after two more parachutists landed on Kings Bay.

Terry Dickson
Photos by Terry.Dickson@jacksonville.com  Richard Turner waits while St. Marys police officer Amanda Graw writes him a trespass warning for skydiving at St. Marys Airport on Saturday with The Jumping Place.

ST. MARYS - Skydivers from The Jumping Place parachuted onto the city airport Saturday, even though the business' operating permit had been revoked and trespass warnings had been posted.

The authority board voted Wednesday night to revoke the permit 11 days after two skydivers from The Jumping Place landed at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base on Aug. 12. Owners Cathy Kloess and her son, Casey Kloess-Finley, could not assure the authority that skydivers from their business would never again land on the base.

The consequences over what St. Marys Airport Authority lawyer Jim Stein called "a deliberate and absolute act of civil disobedience'' were mild. Even though Stein had posted warnings that skydiving onto the airport would be considered trespassing, the St. Marys police only wrote warning tickets and told the jumpers a second offense would result in a citation or arrest.

The action left Stein and Airport Authority members Frank Frasca and Frank Drane frustrated to the point that Stein sent a notice to Kings Bay that the authority's effort to stop the skydiving had failed.

"The St. Marys Police Department officers, who are under the direction of St. Marys, took the position that the statutory trespass warnings and posted notice of trespass did not prohibit The Jumping Place from continuing operations,'' he wrote.

And indeed they did continue operations.

Even though the trespass warning signs were posted over The Jumping Place doorway, at the entrance road and even in the restroom, Kloess took up the first four jumpers herself.

"This is crazy,'' Kloess said as she got her plane ready. "There's due process. You're supposed to get injunctions. You're supposed to get days in court."

Although she attended Wednesday night's meeting, Kloess said she was not given enough time to respond to the authority's order that she discontinue skydiving at the airport.

She has filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates aviation.

In fact, she served her own papers on Stein to "cease and desist" from trying to shut her down.

Richard Turner of Jacksonville came to The Jumping Place, read Stein's trespass warning and suited up.

"I intend to jump,'' Turner said. "Best operator in Georgia, as far as I'm concerned."

After he landed on his personal drop zone, Turner bundled up his chute and walked back to the hangar.

He politely handed his identification to police officer Amanda Graw and patiently waited as she wrote out his warning.

When Graw asked the skydivers if they were aware of the trespass warnings, all refused to answer at the urging of Kloess-Finley and others. All they would do was provide their identifications.

Sgt. Vicky Lauf told the four who parachuted that the warnings were only that.

But having been warned, she said, they could get charged with criminal trespass if they jumped again.

'Nothing to fight'

If Stein and the authority board members wanted something more severe, so did Kloess.

"How do we fight these?" she asked the police.

"There's nothing to fight,'' Lauf said.

The skydiving continued throughout the day, Stein said, and to his knowledge the only trespass citations were issued between 6 and 6:30 p.m.

A lawyer himself, Drane said the city's lack of action on the airport it owns and leases to the authority means the security concerns at Kings Bay are unabated.

"We have no way to protect the base from a breach of security originating at this airport,'' Drane said.

The airport's fence line is about a mile from Kings Bay's perimeter, and The Jumping Place drop zone on the southern end of an airport runway is about 2 miles away.

Kloess had said that no skydivers have intentionally landed on Kings Bay, but that the wind has blown some off course and the base was the only place they could land safely.

The two who landed Aug. 12 on a base softball field were the sixth and seventh in seven years. One was a naturalized citizen, the other was not a citizen and neither carried any identification. Base security took them into custody and released them only after they provided proof of their identities.

Navy Cmdr. Jeff Pafford made it clear Wednesday night that no more skydivers could land on the base, regardless of the circumstances.

"They cannot land at [Kings Bay]. It cannot be a last resort area,'' he said.

Told of Saturday's jumps, Kings Bay public information officer Scott Bassett said the Navy's position remains the same.

"They just can't land here,'' he said. "People who know our strategic mission, not just for our country but also for our allies, know we cannot be distracted by that."

terry.dickson@jacksonville.com, (912) 264-0405