Coast Guard honors, thanks Clearwater

CLEARWATER - Cleveland Street in downtown Clearwater was blocked off Friday afternoon and evening for a big celebration.

With Congressional endorsement, Clearwater was officially designated a Coast Guard City.

"It's for those cities that go out of their way doing things that they really don't have to do to make sure that our Coast Guard people are taken care of," explained Admiral Robert Pappas, Coast Guard Commandant. He noted Clearwater is the 14th community to receive the recognition nationally and the only one in Florida.

The Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce applied for the honor, a process that took about five years.

"We had to show a history," said Chamber President Bob Clifford. "That these things were not just created over a short period of time, that they have been on-going over a period of years."

In fact, some of the courtesies date back decades. Many are geared toward making new arrivals feel welcome.

"Let's say I have a new coastie that's transferring in from Kodiak, Alaska," AMT1 David Ashey told FOX 13 News. "What I can tell them is they have nothing to worry about. This community will reach out and help you out and it welcomes families and it welcomes single people as well."

Clifford said many services help orient the newbies.

"They move into town, they need to get housing, they need to get schools for their children, they need to find out where the hospitals are, special care, those types of things," he explained.

There are also numerous special events for Veterans Day and the Coast Guard's official birthday, and an attempt to send letters acknowledging life events, such as marriages, births and deaths.

"If there's a death in the Coast Guard, the community really reaches out back towards the Coast Guard and gives back to us a lot," Ashey said.

There are about 650 full time Coast Guard personnel in Clearwater, some assigned to Station Sand Key, but most work at Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, the largest air station in the nation. There is also a Coast Guard Reserve Unit and a Coast Guard Auxillary unit.