Editorial: Missing boaters

The three anglers' boat, which washed ashore in another part of the state, Cape Canaveral, more than two weeks and 525 miles after they set out, with a body aboard, fails to sufficiently impress the Coast Guard.

What more does it need?

Where are the other two? What happened to them?

Perhaps the Coast Guard wants the trio's dedicated, private search party to do even more of the work.

Coast Guard officials, who last week bristled at the notion that they were less than on top of this investigation, prefer to remind the public that it already spent $1.6 million on this case.

The point is what? Isn't that the Coast Guard's mission?

Does the Coast Guard have a better idea for spending public funds?

One more point: If the powerful currents that could have whipped the 24-foot What's Left from Marco Island to Cape Canaveral are known to so many pleasure boaters, why didn't the Coast Guard factor them into the air and sea search from day one? Absent an explanation, the Coast Guard has no room to lecture the three boaters' loved ones about the importance of filing and following float plans.

Surely there is a misunderstanding with televised news reports indicating federal authorities are barring private planes and boats from some search areas. That would be beyond cruel.

The situation is this: The washed-up boat and body do not end the mystery. The boat and body amplify the urgency to solve it. As long as the Coast Guard remains aloof -- treating the missing boaters as a pair of old shoes lost overboard -- it is being part of the problem.