=2E...Kafka is alive and living in Texas....
British pilot who 'buzzed' Bush ranch to be deported
By James Macintyre
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
A British amateur pilot on a round-the-world flight faces being
deported from the US after he landed near George Bush's ranch in
Texas, where he had wanted to thank the President for his earlier
rescue by the US Coast Guard.
Maurice Kirk, 63, who is nicknamed the "Flying Vet", was rescued from
sharks in February when his Piper Cub light aircraft went down on the
Caribbean leg of his trip.
Mr Kirk, from south Wales, was arrested on Saturday as he tried to pin
a thank-you note to the President's front gate. He was taken in
handcuffs to a psychiatric hospital in Austin, the capital of Texas.
After being released from the unit, he was then arrested for "walking
around town aimlessly" with a petrol can. His wife, Kirstie, 48, said
he was now being held in a deportation centre after turning down the
option of voluntarily returning to the UK.
Mrs Kirk has been updating a blog devoted to the pilot at www.kirkflyingvet.=
com.
On it, she wrote: "I was told that he was invited to a restaurant for
a beer (probably Thursday evening). He said he was outside sitting on
a bench with other people, when he was picked up by the police. (This
is in line with the information I initially received via the Foreign
Office.)
"Police stated that he had been seen walking around town aimlessly
with a gas can. [Mr Kirk] believes that the Secret Service traced him
to this location by him using his credit card and the public
intoxication charge was used to hold him until the Secret Service
arrived." Mrs Kirk, from St Donats, in the Vale of Glamorgan, added:
"He was given the opportunity for Secret Service to drive him to the
airport for a flight to London, and would not be deported.
"But he did not want the charges on his record for offences he did not
commit. When he refused, they shackled him in hand and ankle cuffs and
chains, and took him to the deportation centre in Houston."
Mrs Kirk =96 who is a vet like her husband =96 added that she was
"humbled" by the public's support. "Most have responded warmly to his
latest sc. though he has clearly exasperated some people." |
