The Agents? Jamie L. Maloy and D. Corey Maske. They serve as ABC Agents and Coast Guard Reservist Port Security Specialists with the U.S. War on Terrorism. Agent Maloy with family roots in Rosinton and Foley began his career as an EMT before entering the Southwest Alabama Police Academy. Initially a Reserve Officer working with the Summerdale Police Department, he would ultimately spend 9 years with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office before joining the Coast Guard Reserve as a Port Security Specialist in 2001, being called to active duty in 2004 for Operation Liberty Shield and the War on Terrorism. He was recruited by the ABC Board for Baldwin County because of his extensive knowledge of Baldwin after active duty. Maske, a Montgomery native, had been a police officer for 13 years and had had a 15-year military career with the Coast Guard before joining the ABC Board Enforcement Division.
The Maske-Maloy Team serves as Agents with the ABC Board, which controls distribution, licensing, enforcement, and education related to alcoholic beverages in Baldwin County. The Board oversees enforcement of state and federal laws regarding youth access to tobacco and is responsible for the enforcement and education of the public with respect to laws and their consequences. The Alabama ABC Board website notes that it strives to maintain an aggressive and well-managed distribution and merchandising program to respond to the needs of our customers.
However, Agent Maske's and Agent Maloy's focus in Baldwin County may be a little different from that of the rest of the state when it comes to its ABC Board office. Both men are involved with the Coast Guard Reserve! Contraband substances are an issue, given our Alabama exposure to the Gulf of Mexico. Contraband can involve alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and other potentially hazardous substances. Both Reservists recognize what the Coast Guard website, proclaims: In the Coast Guard Reserve you do not just practice for things that might happen someday. You do them! They are a support component to the cadre of 40,000 men and women in active Coast Guard service performing vital missions and essential duties that benefit our community and our country. They are concerned with issues related to port security, the monitoring of cargo operations, the inspection of U.S. and foreign vessels for safety violations or contraband, and intercepting smugglers carrying illegal drugs or other contraband into the country.
Think about the ABC. Alabama Agents are called on to keep alcohol and tobacco products from children and to collect taxes due the State of Alabama, which can be sizable when you consider that there is a 33% tax on alcohol in the state. The ABC literally tracks product from producer to point of sale. Besides monitoring narcotics in the state, it is charged with protection of our Governor. (Marijuana is the largest "cash crop" in the state!) Because of its activities and responsibilities, the ABC generates about 85% of the State's General Fund. The ABC is involved with insuring that points of sale are operating within State rules for alcohol and tobacco. Agents Maloy and Maske discussed a variety of compliance strategies used by the ABC in carrying out its enforcement mandate.
Is the ABC successful? Here’s a few statistics for 2004-2005, the most recent year available: 6057 inspections related to beer and liquor sales; 808 cases of minors involved with alcohol; 10,575 gallons of mash confiscated; 18,381 beers confiscated; 4,892 tobacco inspections accomplished; 2,069 tobacco compliance checks made; 1,024 drug cases opened with total drug dollars intercepted of an estimated street value of $1,641,475. These statistics are referenced to Alabama as a whole, of course, but they reveal the scope and focus of an agency that serves us here in Baldwin County as well as in greater Alabama.
What is the relationship of the ABC Board and with the Coast Guard? Would you believe maybe smuggling? The Coast Guard has security responsibility at 167 sites stretching from Florida to Mississippi along our portion of the Gulf. Goods cannot enter port without approval of the Coast Guard. "Just in our little piece of the Gulf we inspect 225,000 vessels a year,” Agent Maske notes. "There's a trillion containers shipped in the world per year and there are only 39,000 Coast Guard. 400,000 containers enter the Port of Mobile per year, and the inspection task falls on seven personnel." The task of port access of containers is complex, but there are strict guidelines for all containers and greater specifics for handling of potential explosives, all relating to how and when containers must be inspected.
