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NATION IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Brothers Enter Pleas in Ship Grounding

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From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Two brothers aboard a ship that rammed a fragile coral reef pleaded innocent in Miami to federal charges of operating the vessel recklessly and while intoxicated. A grand jury Wednesday indicted Michael Anthony Bishop, 43, who was at the helm, and crew member Jerry Alan Bishop, 40. State and federal investigators say the empty freighter cut a 200-foot swath through a reef. The Oct. 25 grounding of the 155-foot Alec Owen Maitland off Key Largo was the first of three groundings in the Florida Keys during a three-week period.

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