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February 28, 2005 -- Vol. 5 Issue 9 Written by Jack R. Simpson (unless otherwise noted), owner of J.R. Simpson & Associates, Inc. and contributing editor to "The Waterways Journal." 
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 In This Newsletter:
Quote of the Week
"I used to have a handle on life, but it broke." A Personal Note From Jack
Today's comments are surely designed to arouse disagreement among some of our readers, but that is the advantage of offering a free newsletter. If I didn't have that advantage, I wouldn't publish. An extremely important case now being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court relates to the procedure involving eminent domain and the taking of people's property. This is a practice that can be acceptable if the limitations on taking are held to what they once were. That is, a person's property can be taken from them by condemnation if it is for the public good.  Originally that meant, for example, that if a city needed land upon which to build a courthouse, and that centrally located land was privately owned, chances are it could be acquired via the right of eminent domain. Our understanding is that the procedure also calls for the entity acquiring the property to pay the owner at least the fair market value. If the taking of that land, even if the owner is reimbursed at fair market value, results in added expenses, relocating and/or acquiring other property necessary to make the relocation, then the payment should be sufficient so that the property owner is not overburdened by debt because of the "taking". (The legal argument is the Fifth Amendment against taking people's property without just compensation.) I have seen this procedure at work in numerous areas. Frequently where it bogs down is that the acquiring entity disagrees with the owners about what is fair market value. One example involved a man (and his company) for whom I did photographic work on occasion. He was what I would describe as land rich. Over the years he had acquired numerous properties, some that he rented, others that he just held onto and paid the tax. In one case I remember well, the city was trying to acquire a small sliver of land that was adjacent to a major thoroughfare. The land was virtually worthless-too small to build on. It was important, however, because the land would allow the city to widen the important roadway in a section of town where it represented a bottleneck during rush hour traffic. In order to try to raise the value of his land, the owner dug holes in the gravel surface of the narrow strip and in them stuck pine trees that he had sawed down in the forest. He wanted the land to look like a well-developed park. It took only a few days for the trees to turn brown. His ruse was recognized immediately. In addition to it being a small city, everyone knew the owner, who had a reputation for instigating lawsuits and, as we commonly explained, making trouble. So he lost his case. That means he got paid for his land but he did not receive the inflated price that he tried to support by making it look like a park. The same man also owned land located strategically in an area where a beautiful wood bridge was to be built in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The state wanted to really make the bridge an attraction. They needed his land. In this case, the owner had owned the land for many years and had paid tax on it without complaint. Since he had bought it as an investment years in the past, just waiting for the time when prices would rise, his demand for more money than the state wanted to pay was legitimate. The courts ruled in his favor. That's part of capitalism. Invest and wait for prices to go up. If they don't, you lose. If they do, you might win. Part of the Republican Contract with American in 1994 addressed the issue of "taking" land from private owners and not paying them fair market value. The Republicans were against it. And so am I. Fast forward to today. The procedures have been polluted in a way that does not protect legitimate property owners. Now, instead of acquiring property in order to benefit the public (in the way we used to understand), they are promoting the taking of property from one private owner to benefit another private owner or investor. This procedure may be known to many of you, I suspect, as tax incentive financing (TIF), or something akin to that. One level or another of government decides Joe's little store is standing in the way of higher property taxes and that the land would be put to better use if they could categorize it as blighted, take it away from the owner (being blighted would make it not worth much, you see) and lease it for a span of years to some better-financed private concern. These cases differ just as the cases I previously described. They are happening all over America. The same criteria (arguments over value) are involved. Sometimes property owners are willing to part with their property but the acquiring entity (usually a city) is not willing to pay fair value for the property acquired. The whole area of South Clinton, Iowa, has been categorized as blighted by the city in order to acquire the land and turn it over to Archer Daniel Midland, so it can expand its holdings. ADM now owns what once known as Clinton Sugar Refining Company, a firm that originated in 1907. Actually it experienced seven name changes in 74 years, ADM having taken over in 1981. Over that time it has grown from a "first-day" processing of 3,000 bu. of corn to present-day processing of 300,000 bu. The problem is that homeowners in South Clinton do not believe the area is blighted - a designation that must come into play if the city is to successfully "take" the land. Many homeowners have lived there for decades and are perfectly happy with their abodes. South Clinton, by the way, is the subject of an entire book that Little River Books published for author Kathy Flippo, now a South Clinton resident. "Between The River And The Rails: South Clinton" describes the history of that section of the city going back more than 100 years. Obviously, because of the controversy over the "land grab" effort, the book is in high demand. It is well illustrated and certainly doesn't reveal a blighted South Clinton. Again, the argument over property values prevails. Owners believe they cannot find suitable homes elsewhere for the amount of money the city wants to pay for their property. Many owners are of the age that makes it difficult for them to make such a drastic change in their lives. (ADM apparently has said it is willing to pay fair market value, but some residents report it is far less than the fair market value they have in mind.) The area involved is literally "Between The River And The Rails". There is good river frontage, but ADM has said it will not use the river to transport coal to the plant. We are told that if the process moves forward, it will not offer many (if any) new jobs for Clintonites. Yet, ADM wants to expand what once (in 1907) stood on 12 acres and was contained in 12 buildings. There were 250 employees and a $2 million payroll. In Florissant, Mo., where I live, the city is busy using TIF procedures to clean up some areas we all agree look run down - blighted if you want to go that far. Nevertheless, while we support the "taking" of the land, we believe that owners should be reimbursed fairly for their property. In other instances, private business owners are resisting "takings" because they believe they are getting along fine. While their operations could be more prosperous, they are satisfactory and providing a living for the owners. In one instance, the city wants to turn the land over to another business entity. Admittedly, it might render more tax money for the city. However, is it right to go about destroying private lives to enhance other private lives? I don't think so. My experience in the St. Louis area has been that large malls have about a 20-year cycle. After that length of time, they start down hill and soon businesses leave for greener pastures. So taking someone's property to allow for construction of a mall that will go down hill in 20 years doesn't seem proper. The St. Louis Centre in downtown St. Louis is such a structure. It is now virtually abandoned. In its prime, it was really attractive and well patronized. Another entity is working to turn it into something else now. Jamestown Mall in north St. Louis Country is in deep trouble. Northland Shopping Center, another once popular shopping center, has been on a down hill slide for years. River Roads, another, also saw its best days 25 years ago or more. There are all kinds of ways for business to manipulate financing so that investors come out smelling like a rose. But the rosy glow that they claim will be lasting on some of the ventures they promote may not be so rosy. And for this do we destroy the private lives of people by taking property that holds a lot of meaning for them? I personally would not. For what I have read about city dealings over the past 30 years, it is very common for various levels of government, ranging from the lowly school district to the federal government in Washington, to pay top dollar (and then some) for many of the services they buy. But when it comes to compensating owners of private property for taking what is theirs, they fight it every step of the way. Is there any question about why some people have lost faith in government? Finally, there is a proposal in place on the upper Mississippi River at Minneapolis-St. Paul for river operations to give up their holdings along the river and to replace these operations with various housing projects and more environmentally suitable developments. The city offers no land elsewhere to help facilitate such a move. The river operations service numerous businesses whose products are shipped by water or their own product needs are met via water transportation. Such a "taking" would really impact the area. But the environmental-sensitive backers don't care. No one seems to recognize the problems it will create for the businesses involved. All they can see is that will get a better river view for home owners. But if you cannot put a river operation on the river, where can you put it? This commentary is not specifically about any one of the cases I've mentioned. They are used merely as examples. But the insidious financing methods and "property taking" procedures now being put into play are ripping the rights of private citizens right out of the Constitution. The business of "blighting" intentionally what is not really blighted, just to force owners to sell at a reduced price, should remain unconstitutional. The old procedure of using eminent domain to acquire property of public use is legitimate. Even then, property owners should be compensated justly. But the business of using TIFs to force people off their land should be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court if the procedure does not result in satisfactory financial arrangements with the former owners. If the land sought is so much needed by the city, or country or state or even a private developer, then let those entities pony up the money to give the owner a fair shake. In the case of private homes, the homes often represent the sole estate of the owner. It's all they have when the sun goes down. Take it away from them and you have done a bad thing. The case being heard in the Supreme Court is similar to the Clinton, Iowa, case. Riverfront residents in New London, Conn., say their working-class neighborhood is slated for destruction primarily to build an office complex that will benefit a pharmaceutical company that built its research and development headquarters nearby. The first reports on February 23 indicated that the court was sympathetic to the property owners, but the court questions whether it has the authority to stop the town's plans. If the Supreme Court cannot rule definitely on this case, then we are going to hell in a hand basket. As O'Reilly would say, "They aren't looking out for the folks." The U.S. Supreme Court has made a habit of creating law where law did not exist, and disregarding the fact that its decisions are frequently not based on the Constitution. (Read "Men In Black" for a few pointers on that.) In recent years there have been 10,000 instances of private property being threatened with condemnation or actually condemned by government for private use, according to the Institute for Justice. In the Connecticut case the city plans to give the developers a 99-year lease for $1 a year. It says it is willing to pay a fair price. But what if owners do not wish to sell? Well, that's why there is a lawsuit. Some truly don't want to sell. Others may be jockeying for higher payments. Even why a person does not want to sell is his/her own business. I don't think one really needs a reason. If they hold title to the property, then it should be theirs. It also seems to me that if the court rules in the favor of such condemnations or fails to rule at all, the door is wide open for other deprivations of personal property rights. It will not stop here. The starting point for the Connecticut case was a decision 50 years ago that allowed cities to take private property for urban renewal. If one buys into the argument that a financially depressed area can soon become a blighted area and then justify condemnation on that grounds, every time a mall closes or a company lays off workers, the city could jump in to grab land. Clintonites are waiting with baited breath! A Call For Comments
The barge accident that knocked out a section of an Interstate-40 bridge near Webbers Falls in 2002, killing 14 people, continues to stir opinion, particularly in the region where the mishap occurred. On February 25, 2005, "Muskogee Phoenix" printed an editorial titled "Towboats should have safety devices installed." After the incident, Oklahoma State Representative Ray Miller (D-Whitefield) viewed a monitoring system demonstration that would sound an alarm if the pilot of a towboat became incapacitated (which is what happened on the Mv. Robert Y. Love). According to a "Muskogee Phoenix" editorial, Miller has introduced House Bill 1820 (in the state legislature). The bill, authored by Miller, does not require towboats to install the monitoring system. It says, "Absent an operator incapacitation alarm system, the captain shall assign on-duty personnel to make regular checks on the officer on watch to ensure that the captain is alert and in control of the vessel", with checks being made every hour and before passing under a bridge. The editorial calls for dropping HB 1820 and replacing it with a law that would require waterway companies to install automated pilot monitoring systems in all of their towboats. The editorial said the state must be serious about safety and to demonstrate that, it should press for the installation of monitoring systems in every towboat coming into Oklahoma. We invite B&B readers to send us comments (kindly limit to 250 words) revealing their opinion about the actions called for in the editorial. (Editor's note: I have said repeatedly that rules are sometimes made to be broken. This is one of those cases. If an individual merely says "I am against it because…" and does not explain why, then 250 words are enough. If the writer is a person who provides his pedigree and has worked in the safety field and is able to include some information from studies and reports done on the subject, we may be a little more tolerant of length. If the writer is involved in safety matters, them identifying his role also would be appropriate-Jack (Second Editor Note: This call for comments is in no way suggesting that I am taking a position on the legislation being proposed in Oklahoma. I am merely urging a debate on the subject so that people far more educated on the subject than I can share their thoughts. If there is no sharing of good ideas, accomplishments come slow.) For Those Inclined To Pray
Join our Prayer Circle so that you can tap into the prayerful support of the circle members. Membership and prayer requests are open to everyone. The activity of the Prayer Circle is confined totally outside of our weekly newsletter. With the exception of this segment, all contact is made, ultimately, through jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com. To learn about the prayer circle click here. Newsletter News
Wrong term? -- In my reporting about the Elizabeth M last week I said that the Elizabeth M was operating on the port hip of the six-barge tow. While it did put the boat and tow in the proper configuration, more knowledgeable people suggest that the word "hip" is generally limited to references to boats. Applying that suggestion, the tow would have been on the starboard hip of the Elizabeth M. - Jack A headline goof -- The headline Permit South…etc…should have read Permit Sought…etc.  A Nice Surprise -- A call from a long-time acquaintance came as quite a surprise this week. As it turns out, he read "Tales of Fear" (in last week's Book Beat presentation) and wanted a copy. Seems his company's vessel was involved in recovery efforts after the New Orleans ferry George Prince and tanker Frosta collided in Greater New Orleans Harbor during the ferry's run to Destrahan. More than 70 people died. There's more, but what the heck, this was a private conversation - off the record. I just thought it to be quite a coincidence. The book, "If Ships Could Talk", was published in 1982 and is still available at a highly discounted price of $4.50 plus S&H. Web Site News
We were pleased last week to announced that Joyce Cochran-Loyd of Maynard, Ark., had made several contributions to the recipe section of our web site. Our hopes are that river cooks, active or retired, will follow suite and submit recipes for their favorite foods-even tell us a little bit about their boat and crew. A picture would be welcome, too. After all, Bitts and Bytes is intended to be for all river folks. On The Waterfront
Elizabeth M Story in Limbo At this point we have no update on the Elizabeth M story, except to say that we would welcome a picture or two from anyone who actually was at the site and photographed Montgomery Locks and Dam and the boat. We cannot use pictures downloaded off of news sites. The pictures of the boat below the dam have been in news presentations every since the incident occurred. Nevertheless, we are certain there are B&B readers who may have seen them, particularly the one of the pilothouse showing above the water. Questions still exist over the actual training and skill of the pilothouse crew. But if the Coast Guard isn't in a position to sort out that matter, we don't know who is. Feinstein Calls For Improved Security at Ports U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), speaking at a news conference on February 23, described the nation's ports as the "soft underbelly" of homeland security and urged reforms to strengthen counterterrorism. laws. She urged that funds go to coastal facilities at highest risk of attack. Feinstein was apparently responding to a Department of Homeland Security audit revealing that DHS has given hundreds of millions of dollars to protect ports since September 11, 2001, without sufficiently directing the money to those that are most vulnerable. Baltimore Replaces Security Firm Found Wanting The Associated Press has reported that the Port of Baltimore has replaced its security company after an operations review revealed personnel sleeping on the job, abandoning posts, and violating federal regulations. The unacceptable performance was revealed by the U.S. Coast Guard, who sent a memo to the port administrator. Remember The Coast Guard Eagle? Well, this 66-year-old ship, the largest tall ship flying the Stars and Stripes in government service, is ready to get underway for its 2005 winter training cruise. It is, you see, a seagoing classroom. As the Coast Guard reported on February 23, she stands renewed, refreshed and ready for high winds and high seas. In the way of background, the barque Eagle is the seventh Coast Guard cutter since 1792 to bear the name Eagle. Its origins trace back to Hamburg, Germany, where it was built in 1936. Since October 2004, it has been undergoing extensive renovation at the Coast Guard yard in Baltimore, Md. While in drydock at the yard, the 295-foot cutter saw the renovation and restoration of its 147.3-foot maintruck or forward mast, including the rigging. The vessel has 60 crew members who are charged with maintaining the vessel year round and executing training in seamanship while underway. During the summer they add an additional 25 crew members. During training cruises, the vessel can accommodate up to 150 cadets and officers. Our Readers Write
"Thanks very much for including the article on my river activities. When you become attached to the river, you just can't let it go!" Chuck Parrish Responsible Carrier Program Is Subject of Letter (Editor's note: The following letter was submitted to both The Waterways Journal and B&B. It was the intention to give the WJ a head start. We agree.) "I recently attended the USCG meeting that solicited public input on implementing the new inspection program for towing vessels. "On arriving at the meeting I saw [that] the AWO [American Waterways Operators] 'choir' was a substantial majority of the attendees. I estimate there were about 30 AWO members from industry management for every pilot who actually made at least one 30-day trip as a crew member of a towing vessel in the last year. A show of hands revealed only one other pilot in attendance. "The meeting started with the first speaker singing the AWO anthem with bountiful praise for the Responsible Carrier Program (RCP) and all of its accomplishments, both real and perceived. This speaker was particularly proud of the latest industry casualty figures that showed the Coast Guard-AWO partnership was responsible for only 40% of the total towing vessel casualties in spite of the fact the AWO claims to account for 67% of the active tugboats and towboats in the United States. "While it is noteworthy that this figure of nine deaths per year as displayed on the AWO web site shows an improvement for the latest year, the number itself is appalling. Doesn't the AWO know that the Bureau of Labor Statistics fatal accident figures show the average death rate for all private industry is only four deaths per year per 100,000 workers? "According to the AWO Mercer survey, the towing industry workforce total is only 32,000. If AWO companies include roughly 67% or 21,440 of these workers, again according to their web site, this means the AWO companies with nine per 21,440 workers have a fatality rate of 4.7 times 9 or 42 deaths per 100,000 workers per year. This translates to over 10 times the national average. If the nine fatalities are for the whole industry, than the fatality rate is 3.13 times 9 or 28 deaths per 100,000 workers per year, or seven times the national average. The real shocker is [that] prior to the RCP, from 1985-1994, the average deaths per year for the entire industry was 13.6, while from 1995-2003, with the RCP initiated on December 7, 1994, the average deaths per year, (again from the AWO web site) was 17. "This unacceptable increase in an already high death rate makes it obvious [that] the current Safety Management System provided by the AWO RCP program must be flawed in both content and execution. It lacks the main ingredient for success in any Safety Management System---enforcement. The 'Strawman' proposal the towing industry presented to the Coast Guard is just a clone of the existing RCP Program; therefore, it cannot possibly deliver the results Congress expects. "Since criticism alone seldom results in viable solutions, I will offer some suggestions that may resolve some of the major problems. I recall that before the current RCP was established, management made several changes regarding recruitment, hiring, and boat crewing. These changes laid the foundation for many of industrie's current problems. No Safety Management Program, including the RCP, could ever succeed without first addressing these problems. The original program, had little input from the employees it was written for, so not only were existing problems never addressed, they were never even identified. In spite of these problems, the original RCP program, if implemented as originally conceived, may have taken meaningful steps toward advancing marine safety. Something went wrong. "Unfortunately, the good ideas and intentions of the original authors collided head-on with the realities of capitalism. Every critical issue necessary to keep the program viable was voted on. In almost every case the majority voted to remove key components [that] the authors considered necessary because they were too burdensome or too costly. "The minority consisted of about one-third of the participants, and these dedicated people, together with those originally left out of the process, can still become the cornerstone for constructing a successful Safety Management System. "Where can these dedicated people start? They can start with a dialogue with their active crew members. This will be more fruitful than more paper, rules and wishful thinking from chair-bound office personnel. The problem today is that you may not get the honest answers you need to reach viable conclusions, because for the most part, those crew members who are most at risk of dying still have no access. Even more important is the fact the turnover is so great, by the time they have the experience to offer anything meaningful they have departed the industry of their own free will or in the back of an ambulance.. NO SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM CAN SUCCEED with a deckhand turnover of over 60%. Think about it. "In closing, I look forward to the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to the TSAC Working Group in Washington next month as it confronts these issues. I am confident that the one-third of the AWO members, who were outvoted in the past, still want 'to get it right'." Capt. Bill Beacom Sioux City, Iowa Boat Photo Center
 Now that we are beginning to receive pictures of lighthouses, I would like to give readers and potential contributors a really good example of what we are looking for in the way of picture descriptions. To illustrate, I am including in the Photo Center this week a picture of the Fort Niagra Lighthouse submitted by Craig Nowack, along with several others that will appear later. Here are the description lines:
The Fort Niagara Lighthouse. This structure was built in 1872 at Youngstown, New York, where the Niagara River empties into Lake Ontario. Photo taken on August 11, 2004. Copyright Craig Nowack. Obviously not everyone will have that much information about lighthouses they have photographed. But the point is that we want all the information we can get. This week's Photo Center also includes: the Mv. Clean Sweep from Barry Griffith; the Mvs. Eleanor and A. A. Vestal from Brent Maletic; two views of the Mv. Olmstead and one of the John C. Byrd from Jeffrey L. Yates; and the Mvs. Red Wagner, Hank Tuloozieski, Joe Cain, Biloxi, Hurtt, and Voyager from Jess Lybarger. The Book Beat
 "Rivers of Kentucky" by David and Lalie DickHard cover, 270 pages of the best reading you will find anywhere. If ever there was a pair dedicated to writing beautifully, entertainingly and educationally about anything, it is man/wife team of David and Lalie Dick. I was fortunate enough to meet them one year during the festival at the Howard Steamboat Museum, and between customers we were able to share a few words. We exchanged books, of course. I was surely the winner in this exchange. The Dicks had other commitments for Sunday, so they were on hand only for one day. But it was enough for me to decide that I surely wanted to market "Rivers of Kentucky". I have not been disappointed. There is a quiet, gentle way about that pair. David had a colorful journalistic career before getting into his current activity, writing, traveling and marketing books. A phrase over the phone from Lalie is like the sweet fragrance of lilac wafting in the breeze. And David? He is a man of great dedication to the people for whom they both write. I was particularly impressed when a customer - I assume it was all by phone - was asking David how he could get a book he wanted delivered in time for him to give it as a gift the next evening. David drove about 100 miles to deliver it, no extra charge. I don't know anyone who would do such a thing. I have often been tempted to see if I could convince myself to do that. I do not want to mislead you by giving the impression that "Rivers of Kentucky" is only about rivers. But it is one of the most educational, rewarding books I have ever read. And yes, he does get into writing about navigable rivers. The chapter on the Ohio is really wonderful. But he also writes about wonderful people and wonderful places in Kentucky, usually all connected on one way or another with his subject of rivers. Allow me, therefore, to excerpt a segment of the chapter titled simply "Ohio". "It's four o'clock on a misty mid-October morning on the west side of Louisville. While most of the city is sleeping, towboat crews are on their six-on, six-off watches. On the waiting SuperAmerica, bound upstream to Catlettsburg, pilot John Carson and first mate Ron Felty have spoken to their deckhands with voices muffled in vapor and mist becoming fog. "Ready? "Ready. "The only other sounds are the deafening groan of the engine room, where Bobby Burge wordlessly monitors the controls of the 4,200 horsepower twin-screw engines. Forward on the same deck, there're the cracking of three dozen eggs, the sputtering of bacon in the galley, where Connie Chambers from Carter County, quietly mixes batter for another round of blueberry pancakes. There's the splash of the water at the cutting edge of the head-tow, and the foghorn that stiffens the hair on the neck of most any landlubber. For river traffic, McAlpine Lock is the only way around the Falls of the Ohio. "Rain slants through shafts of mile-long searchlight beams. Huge steel chamber-gates slowly, smoothly swing open. The Floyd Blaskey midges nudges and gathers its brood of fifteen barges carrying chemicals, mothering them downstream. Destination-New Orleans. "Marathon-Ashland Oil's multi-million-towboat SuperAmerica has delivered its downstream cargo: three barges loaded with low-sulfur diesel, one loaded with turbine fuel, three loaded with gasoline - each one of the big barges with about twenty-five to thirty-six barrels of gasoline or diesel fuel in it. SuperAmerica will now maneuver into the vacant chamber, where water will pour back in to raise the upbound towage to a lever above the Falls. They say it's like threading the eye of a needle, but it's more like parking three football fields end-to-end in a space with twelve inches on each side and about half of a football field on either end. "Six inches and closing," says the mate into the two-way radio microphone clipped to his life jacket. If he were to slip and fall overboard between the lead barge and the chamber wall he'd be smeared like a bucket of bright red paint. "Hmmpff," says John Carson in the pilothouse, more than three football fields away. "Four inches and closing," says the mate. "Hmmpff. "Head on the wall," meaning the front corner of the tow has touched the chamber wall. "All right," says John, adjusting with a feather-touch the rudder stick, like a quarterback feeling the leather with the tips of his fingers. When the SuperAmerica and its towage are inside the lock and the deckhands have secured the temporary mooring lines, the chamber gates close and water pours in again. When the level of the surface is equal to that of the river, the gates ahead open and the SuperAmerica inches out, one barge loaded with twenty-five thousand barrels of gas and oil to be re-fined, and seven empty barges to be reloaded again at Catlettsburg. More empties will be picked up in Cincinnati." The Dicks write not just about rivers but about people and places along the river. The chapters in "Rivers of Kentucky" include: Big Sandy and Little Sandy; Licking; Kentucky and Little Kentucky; Dix, Redbird, and Horn; Salt, Rolling Fork, Nolin, and Chaplin; Green; Pond, Rough, Mud, and Tradewater; Barren, Little Barren, Gasper, and Finns; Echo, Logsdon, and Styx; Rockcastle, Laurel, and Little Laurel; Cumberland; Little; Blood, Clarks, and Tennessee; and not to omitted - the Mississippi. I believe if you have read your way through that list of Kentucky rivers, you have already learned things you didn't know. This book is not one to dismiss lightly. It is a keeper, unless you want to share its contents with a good friend. A warm fireplace, mug of hot coffee, tea or chocolate and a copy of "Rivers of Kentucky" can give you much pleasure. This information about "Rivers of Kentucky" was published with permission from authors David and Lalie Dick and Plum Lick Publishing Incorporated, North Middletown, Ky. Tow Talkin'
February 28, 2005
By Kathy Flippo The towing industry has come a long way in the modern world of electronics. There are all sorts of doodads now to make life on a towboat a lot easier. One is the cell phone! Not all that long ago, radio was the only means of communication between the boat and anywhere. Radios are still used to communicate with the locks, bridges that have to open, and the head of the tow. Sometimes radio communications would get a little goofy, like down around… if you wish to continue reading this column, click here. See you on the Web, Jack Little River Books jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com Don't forget to visit our website!  |
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