The Delta Queen has since 1968 sailed the Mississippi River system on an exemption from a statute banning passenger boats with wooden superstructures. The exemption has been passed by Congress, and it has to be renewed every few years. The exemption ran out October 31st, and since the end of October, the boat has been parked in New Orleans.
This is truly sad.
Here’s a Commercial Appeal story today about all this.
Apparently, the effort to save the Delta Queen has been caught up in a labor dispute– the boat is nonunion, and someone in the house has jammed the legislation up because of this dispute. The legislation has been advanced by Democrats and Republicans representing areas along the Mississippi River and its major tributaries (e.g. Congressmen Cohen and Tanner from Tennessee, Senator Cochran from Mississippi. I think I’ve heard that Congressman Bennie Thompson is for a new exemption, although he’s not mentioned in the Commercial Appeal article).
I remember going on the Queen for a meal when I was nine or so. It was being used as a restaurant and was tied up on the riverfront in Owensboro, KY. I remember it had a very loud and distinctive whistle sound. It was also used to shoot a movie called The Kentuckian while it was in town. I remember going down to watch the filming. I recall tales of Burt Lancaster getting into drunken brawls with the law there. Seems like it functioned as a restaurant there for several years. It would be a shame to see this fine old symbol of another time go away. I think it has more value to the nation than AIG or a lot of the other swine at the trough.
I think if Bennie were for it, you’d KNOW.
I thought I’d remembered seeing him on list of people supporting this. I was right– here it is.
I’ve been away from the internet for a while, so I’m very late catching this, but I wanted to request updates on this as they become available.
I was about two weeks old when my parents took me to pick up my grandfather from his last trip on the Delta Queen before he retired from his post as captain of the vessel. It would be a sad day for everyone in my family to see the great lady retired. Thank you for bringing this to the attention of a greater audience.