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April 24, 2006 -- Vol. 6 Issue 17 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:
Thought For The Week
Can a leopard change its spots? No, and most don’t want to. Editorial Comment From Jack
 Last week former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt (Clinton Administration) spoke at Earth Day festivities in Columbia, Mo., and proposed that the land along the Missouri River from Kansas City to St. Louis be turned into a 366-mile long national park. It’s not a realistic proposal, but if it were to be accomplished, they say navigation on the Missouri River would end. So would a lot of other things.
Babbitt is an environmentalist whose intentions would only further efforts of other environmentalists to reduce economic development in the United States to what is frequently described as sustainable growth. In other words, you go nowhere. Babbitt has no intention of trying to change his spots. He is an environmentalists through and through, and a check of what leading environmentalists have had to say in the past indicates that the environment is their God. In many cases people hardly rate. First and foremost, it seems clear that the federal parks department hasn’t the money to maintain the parks it already has. All too frequently, national forests are vulnerable to fire because insufficient money was spent on clearing brush and for other forest maintenance procedures. We do not need a 366-mile park along the Missouri. That does not mean that somewhere in the U.S. there does not exist a large piece of land that, due to its nature and location, could not benefit lots of people by being turned into a national park. I’m not against parks. But we do not need a 366-mile park from Kansas City to St. Louis. What is fairly easy to visualize is a very large greenway along the river, replete with modern outhouses, candy machines and information centers. And probably a spanking new highway would have to run through it. That would cost a few billion bucks. What is not as easy to see are the negative results that could result from such a proposal become reality. One of the first things, Babbitt might suggest is that the undertaking would provide jobs for lots of people. And so it would, at first. At the same time, it would bring an end to agricultural activities along millions of acres of rich bottom land and further reduce the capability of the U.S. to produce. Babbitt realizes that this idea, not a new one, has little chance, but he thinks chances are better than they once were. It would have to be a grass-roots movement to succeed, he believes. His plan would take decades, he admits. While we hate to say it, decades from now the U.S. is hardly going to resemble what it is today, just as the U.S. today does not resemble the U.S. of the 1960s, and just as the U.S. of the 1960s did not resemble the U.S. of the 1930s, those days oft remembered as Depression. We also hate to say that things are not improving. With the large plodding mechanism known as globalization forging its way around the globe, many countries are going to be enhanced while others begin to (using the word loosely) crumble. Even today we see the situation for employees brightening other countries (India for example) and for employees in the U.S. deteriorating. The government can dispute that with its statistics, but the average person can look around and see immigrants (perhaps illegal) doing roofing jobs, landscaping, any number of other jobs, that once were done by U.S. citizens. Unfortunately, throughout the U.S., local companies have found a mechanism through subcontracting to increase profits while hiring (through subcontractors) illegal immigrants and paying them poorly. We have also seen a mass exodus of certain types of industry ever since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed. Most of our textile industry is gone. Most of our shoe business. There is, it seems, only one ethic involved in many businesses. That ethic is to make profit any way they can. To be sure, the bottom line is critical in a dog-eat-dog world. A store that does not import from abroad cannot compete with a store next door that does and can undercut prices drastically. Somewhere, sometime a company started this cycle. Once started it cannot be stopped. Perhaps I have strayed from the Missouri a bit, but I don’t think so. The point is that our country is faced with monumental financial problems, including those related to immigration. The people of the U.S. need a progressive nation that moves forward economically to open up good-paying jobs and help them survive. A 366-mile park from Kansas City to St. Louis is not likely to do that. Navigation on the Missouri has been a target of environmentalists for decades. They want to return the river to its natural state, never admitting that in its natural state, the Missouri River was really a beast, frequently driving out homes and businesses. It might have been good for pioneers in their day. It might have been a welcome site to see water everywhere and lots of wildlife. But once the land adjacent to the Missouri became inhabited or turned into farmland, destruction from flooding increased exponentially. The 1927 flood had its birth in the west and as it poured down the Missouri, it raised havoc all the way to the Gulf. It could happen again. But there really is no turning back. That is a pipe dream. Navigation on the Missouri is down for a variety of reasons. Drought is one of them. But droughts do end. It is down, also, because for several decades the environmentalists have teamed up with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service people to try to enhance habitat for birds and fish and kill navigation. It is a fake effort because increasing the numbers of birds and fish will do nothing to help mankind. The money to be garnered from swelling wildlife figures, if indeed that could happen, would never match the losses brought about by letting the river go wild again. Further, the kind of wildlife they are trying to increase are not game birds or game fish. The present focus point of the war being waged by these critics is the issue of producing an unnatural spring rise in the river, an action many conservationists say will do nothing to aid wildlife. At least they see it has not been proven that it will work. So now the Corps focuses on weather conditions, reservoir elevations and storm forecasts to determine whether or not it will utilize the spring rise mechanism. Just remember, no one at the top of the environmental pyramid is truly interested in wildlife. They simply want to kill barge transportation and shackle economic progress. We think Babbitt’s plan will never get legs. At least we hope not. Bitts About People And Boats
We are not the last to know, but we should tell readers that a story about Dan Owen, photographer, Boat Photo Museum operator, and Photo Center contributor is supposed to run in the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” on April 30, according to Ed Rahe, sales manager for “The Waterways Journal.” The nucleus of the story is Dan’s magnificent collection of boat pictures, which he began taking and collecting when he was a lad living on the Upper Ohio near Pittsburgh. They now number in the vicinity of 40,000. At least that would be a healthy guess. The writer of the article is Joe Hollaman, who recently visited Maryville, Ill., to interview Dan. Lest we forget, Dan was with the WJ (and still is as a contributing editor) since the early 1970s. During this lengthy occupation, he was editor of “The Inland River Guide" and “Inland River Record” and an assistant editor. He still is editor of the “Record” and a contributing editor (as I am) to the WJ. We’re looking forward to seeing what Joe has to say about him. Friend and river rat Roger Thiede from up Dubuque, Iowa, way says “With spring coming on strong and the water falling, things are picking up on the river and at the Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.” He says he expects to be back on the dredge William M. Black [a museum exhibit] in about six weeks for his summer stint as “wannabe” deckhand.  Almost everyone on our “old boys” net has been discussing the movement of the LST 325, which was being moved under her own power on her way to Louisville, Ky., for the Thunder Over the Ohio festivities. Barry Griffith caught her passing Owensboro on April 17.
A pat on the back to Barry Griffith, a regular contributor to our Boat Photo Center, who has been named a loan officer at the McCracken County Banking Center of the Bank of Benton, Paducah, Ky. Jeff Yates of Paducah tells us that Barry’s wife is retired from the banking business. Guess banking expertise runs in the family. Our best to Barry in his new endeavor. We hope he can still contribute a boat picture now and then.  I’m not sure how many readers have had the pleasure of meeting and knowing Robert Miller, who once worked as curator on the Geo. M. Verity at Keokuk, Iowa. Robert is the father of John Miller, a frequent contributor to our Photo Center. Bob is 83 now and has slowed down a bit. Even though he requires a wheel chair and uses a pacemaker, they were not enough to keep him from visiting Lock 21 on the Mississippi River with son John recently. No doubt the sight of the river and boats brought back a lot of memories. He has collected pictures and has taken some very historic photographs, some of which John has posted on our site, along with many of his own, over the years. I never can forget the courtesy Bob showed me as I dealt with him and his weekly column years ago for “The Waterways Journal.” He handled the Keokuk news very nicely and has always been a fine gentlemen. We wish him well. And thanks to John for the update.
This appeared in “The Waterways Journal,” but I missed it. It took a friend from Newhall, Calif., to inform me that riverboat Capt. Icle W. Casey, Lockport, Ill., died at the age of 90 at the Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet, Ill., on January 14. My correspondent is Ruth C. Collier, an author of many good books, including one about the Mississippi River. She wrote an article about Capt. Casey, which she says was published by the WJ in 1990. My editorial last week about taxes and the illegality of refusing to pay them spurred Jesse Lybarger to respond at length on the subject. You will find his letter in this issue further down. Taxes, the imposition of them and the paying of them certainly is a subject of interest. The immigration issue has been a hot subject in the news for a long time. Eric and Kim Johnson, Photo Center contributors and B&B readers, forwarded an interesting set of pictures showing the American flag hanging upside down below the Mexican flag at one of the large demonstrations in California. Most will remember that the American flag is never to be flown lower than the flags of other nations, at least not in this country. Used upside down, it represents a distress signal, which is authorized at sea. I remember from my Navy days that it was appropriate when passing a foreign ship at sea, the foreign ship generally dipped its colors to any U.S. man-of-war. An unexpected rendezvous took place at Clinton, Iowa, last week as the Mv. Kathy Ellen showed up with Sam Shrop aboard. Kathy, who said she hasn’t seen him in almost a dozen years, did one of her famous 300-foot interviews. Shrop now lives in Utah, and Kathy says that’s a long commute. Read more in this week’s “Tow Talkin’” column. For Those Inclined To Pray
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On The Waterfront
Ring To Help Bring WRDA To The Senate Floor Water Resources Development Act 2006 (S-728) is a vital piece of legislation needing for action on the Senate Floor. The House passed its version last July by a vote of 406-14. We have not passed a WRDA in years. April 26 is a red letter day in that thousands of citizens across the country will join together to phone Sen. Bill Frist, the Majority Leader of the Senate, to ask that he schedule floor time for S. 728. (Earlier this year, 81 senators signed letters to Sen. Frist asking that WRDA be brought before the full Senate as quickly as possible. In spite of overwhelming support, the bill remains stalled in the Senate.) Long overdue, S. 728 authorizes water resources projects for the nation such as ports, beach renourishment, water supply facilities, hydropower generator improvements, locks and dams, environmental restoration, and flood control (including several projects desperately needed for rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf). The bill does not provide money for projects but is a necessary part of the process so that projects can be considered for funding. There are many good reasons to pass 7. 728, and thousands of callers from all walks of life and members of supporting organizations will be making those calls to help move the legislation along. You won’t be alone in making calls, but your support is needed. The “Ring for WRDA” day is being organized by the members of the National Waterways Alliance representing river valley and industry associations, banks, utilities, agriculture and electric power cooperatives; Flood control and coastal protection proponent; environmental restoration advocates, businesses such as aluminum, building materials, cement, chemicals, coal, grain and feed, fertilizer, iron and steel, salt, paper and wood products, petroleum, and other industries; port authorities; labor unions; waterborne carriers; dredging, engineering and waterway service firms; shipyards and repair facilities, and terminals, serving millions of customers, clients, consumers and stakeholders. Here’s how to call: (1) Between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m Eastern Daylight Time. on April 26 (Wednesday) dial (202) 224-3121 (the U.S. Capitol Switchboard) or (202) 224-3135 (the office f the Majority Leader) or (202) 224-3344 (Sen. Frist’s personal office). (2) State your name and where you are from. (3) Say something like: Water resources (or ports or locks & dams or hydropower or beach renourishment or the environment) are crucial to the lives of everyday Americans. (Feel free to offer information on why it is important to you.) Say that we can’t afford to wait any longer for passage of WRDA. I would like to urge Sen. Frist to schedule floor time for the Water Resources Development Act before the Memorial Day recess. If you would like to reach me, you can contact me at (your phone number or e-mail address). (4) Call your own Senators (if you don’t know the number, use the Capital switchboard at (202) 224-3121) and leave a message tell them that you have contacted Sen. Frist and hope the Senator will follow up with him. (Editor’s note: Passage of WRDA 2006 is crucial. We have fought for a new bill for years. This year the issues demanding attention are bigger than ever. If we want to see progress in the areas we outline above, we must take action. Please make the calls the Alliance is suggesting. This message in B&B will reach more than 930 subscribers. We hope many of you help us.) Bruce Babbitt Would Create 366-Mile Park Along Missouri River Since we’ve covered this under editorial comments we will do no more than remind you of it here. The idea for such a park is not new. It hints at the 50-mile wide greenway that certain Great River Environmental Action Teams wanted to develop on both sides of the Mississippi. Babbitt made his pitch at Earth Day ceremonies at Columbia, Mo. An Associated Press release said his proposal is certain to “raise the hackles of farmers, barge operators, and eminent domain-bashing politicians.” (Editor’s note: By using the phrase “eminent domain-bashing politicians,” the Associated Press seems to be aligning itself with the current popular trend to take away private property for the gain of other private developers. This fact is probably more explosive than the park proposal. We hope the writer was just being loose with words. We consider the recent Supreme Court ruling that gave the okay to such “land theft" to be a big mistake, and we admit that the method is being exercised all across the nation. But it is still wrong, and myriad lawsuits have resulted from it.) Delta Queen Now To Operate Out Of Baton Rouge Due to the hurricane damage by Katrina, the Delta Queen will operate out of Baton Rouge, La., for 2006. It will be the first time in recent history that the legendary vessel will operate from outside New Orleans. Its 2006 schedule has been reduced to 14 cruises. During a normal year, the Queen would operate 10 months, touch the boundaries of 21 states, and visit more than 100 ports of call, steamboat Master Gabe Chengery recently told Brett Troxler of “The Advocate." Two Senators Would Relocate Gulf Coast Rail Line “The Washington Post" last week announced that Mississippi Senators, Trent Lott and Thad Cochran, have included in the emergency war spending bill $700 million to relocate a Gulf Coast rail road that already has been rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina at a cost of $250 million. The idea, they said, is to protect it from the next hurricane. Most of the story points out how Lott and Cochran are good at procuring money for their state. The $106.5 billion Senate Appropriation Committee’s version of the emergency spending bill is now $14 billion more than the House version passed in March, the “Post" said. Stay tuned! News Summaries: — In January a two million pound (plus) forging press completed (by barge up the Cumberland) its trip from Osaka, Japan, to Nashville, Tenn., where it will be used at Nissan North America’s Decherd Powertrain Assembly Plant. It will be the largest forging press in Tennessee. The shipment is regarded as the heaviest of eight. The plant, which began in 1995, has a work force of 1,300 after having expended three times. Located on a 968-acre site, it has the capacity to build 950,000 engines, 300,000 transaxles and, by this fall, one million crankshafts annually. — The U.S.S. New York, the Navy’s amphibious assault ship being built at Avondale, made history when it escaped the wrath of Katrina. Some 5,500 workers are back on the job working on the New York and three other vessels. Interestingly, the New York is being built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center. The assault ship is 45 percent complete and is expected to launch in mid-2007. — B&B forgot to mention that that the bodies of two more of the passengers whose SUV plunged into the Ohio on April 2 at Henderson, Ky., have been recovered. They were found about 150 yards from the boat ramp. Four men and three women were in the vehicle when they left a barge and subsequently plunged into the river. You can contact the editor directly at jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com. advertisement
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Site Name: What’s Up On The River.com Address: http://www.whatsupontheriver.com Owner: Jim Murray Description: A web site for the boaters of the Mississippi River, Pool 26 (Alton Lake, Alton Pool). It is the one-stop source for all your river information. Your off the river, river community. Marina info, bar and restaurant guide, news, events, classifieds, live (busy) forum. We are what’s up. See what’s up on the river. (Editor’s note: The more, the merrier.) From Our Readers
Re: The Duncan Bruce The Duncan Bruce was built in 1927 by Ward Engineering Works, Charleston, W.Va. As built she had twin sternwheels, each powered by a 360 hp. F-M diesel engine. At the time, she was the largest diesel sternwheel towboat ever built, a record I believe she still holds. Her namesake was a VP of the W. C. Kelly Axe Co. in Charleston. She originally worked for the W. C. Kelly Barge line, After many mechanical problems with her sternwheel drives, she suffered a fire in 1930 and was rebuilt at the Howard shipyard and converted to Twin-screw. It is rather appropriate, I think, that her remains were hauled to the scrap yard by the J. S. Lewis, which was originally the Vesta, the last towboat built by Ward Engineering. John Fryant Re: Missouri River There [was] a disturbing article in [the April 19] “Post-Dispatch" to the extent of a proposal to make the entire Missouri River area in Missouri a National Park —eliminate barge traffic, let the river run out in its old flood plains, take land by eminent domain, etc. Scary!! Mike Brueckmann (Editor’s note: It was addressed in today’s editorial comment.) Re: Paying Taxes (Editor’s note: The writer may well be correct in his presentation about the legality of it. Anyway, I am using his entire letter. It may not be about boats, but people who work on boats pay taxes. I cannot speak to the accuracy of its contents.) In your last editorial you stated that “It is not legal to refuse to pay taxes. Those who refuse to pay taxes are breaking the law." If you can show me a law that we are required to pay income taxes or even file a tax return, it’s more that the IRS can do for people all over the country. If you ask the IRS to show you the law that requires this, if you can even get a reply at all, they will say that people pay income taxes voluntarily. They call it Voluntary Compliance. Do these two words together make any sense. There are a number of reasons why our income taxes must be voluntary. Here are a few of them. 1. A compulsory income tax would violate all three taxing clauses of the Constitution, and would be unconstitutional on this basis alone. 2. The inquisitorial nature of an income tax would be repugnant to both the letter and spirit of the Bill of Rights—and the government could extract such a tax only by disregarding the first ten and other amendments. 3. A compulsory income tax would also be violation of the 16th Amendment—the very Amendment which allegedly gave rise to the current tax. 4. Since nowhere in the code is the word income defined, (remember an income tax is a tax on income not on its sources) how can a valid law presume to tax an abstract accounting concept which the law itself does not (and cannot) define—and which Congress does not have the authority to define? 5. The law applicable to income taxes is so incomprehensible that even tax professionals have to rely on a myriad of tax services to explain it. Thus, pursuant to a fundamental legal principle known to every law student, a compulsory income tax would have to be declared—by any court of integrity-void of vagueness. The Constitution prohibits a law taxing wages for labor as this would make us chattels (slaves) of the government. The founders of the Constitution did not intend for this to happen. You don’t think that our present day Government could be lying to us do you??? Very few people know the history of our taxes. For much more information there is a book by Irwin Schiff, “The Federal Mafia", How The Government Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes. This book has been banned by the Government and Irwin Schiff was just recently put in prison without even being allowed proper procedures to defend himself, but it can be attained on E-bay. Also the web-site www.wethepeople.com offers a lot of information. Jesse Lybarger By the way. I’m paying my taxes, because I’m afraid of the Government. Perhaps income taxes are illegal and are only voluntary. Try to volunteer not paying them and see what happens. We are chattels of the Government and this is not what the Constitution intended. (Editor’s final note: I was merely trying to illustrate a principle, and I may have done it badly. Here’s what a check with www.TruthOrFiction.com tells about Schiff.) The Justice Department filed a civil suit in the same court against Schiff, Neun, and Cohen in March 2003, and the court granted a temporary restraining order barring them from advertising or selling Schiff’s “zero-income tax return" plan; preparing tax returns for others; and assisting others to violate the tax law, including by “selling services, books or other materials that provide direction about how to fill out fraudulent or false tax forms…." The preliminary injunction was affirmed after the defendants’ appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The U.S. Supreme Court this month declined to hear Schiff’s challenge to the Ninth Circuit decision. The Justice Department will ask the district court to convert the preliminary injunction into a permanent one. More information about the injunction may be found on the Tax Division website at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv03357.htm and http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv03167.htm. There are a lot of differing opinions about this out there. Just do a search on Google on Irwin Schiff and you’ll get more than you bargained for. Boat Photo Center
 Twenty-one more entries in the Photo Center this week. They include the Crosby Rambler, Joanne Marie, Karche, Laura Ann Blessey, Perry Sue and Sonny J from Eagle Marine Photography; LST 325 and Mary Roberts from Barry Griffith; six views of an old-timer vessel (the SOHIO) under various names that has now been cut up for scrap from several photographers, including Dan Owen, Jeff Yates and Chuck Krwszewski; the United States, America, Helena, sand Tom Sawyer from John Miller; the CSS Richmond and Apollo from Thomas Waller; and the Mary D from Charles Perrin. John also included a picture of his father below Upper Mississippi River Lock 21.
Click here to see the latest pictures. 
Recipe Box
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For several weeks I have reduced prices on books we have in limited supplies. We are adding none this week, but we invite you to browse our site to see what good bargains are available. Self-publishing your book: There definitely is profit in self-publishing your book, but there are also a lot of booby traps to avoid when making your arrangements with companies who say they can assist you financially with the publication. I can help you avoid the problems. Call me at 314-921-4419 to discuss the possibilities. We can publish any kind of book you can find in your local library. Readers who have had bad experiences in self-publishing their books, can email a summary to me. I do not need company names. I need only brief descriptions and an email address where I can contact you in case I need clarification. I am presently preparing to publish a book that emphasizes that there are booby traps to be avoided in the publishing field. Send summaries to jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com. Get More Visitors To Your Web Site - Join The U.S. Inland Waterways Site Ring!
This is a web ring owned by Little River Books. It is dedicated to those who work, rest, or play on the inland waterways of the United States. Owners of river-related commercial or private sites can apply to join, bringing together as many waterways related sites as possible. Sign up (FREE), put the code on your page, and watch your hits skyrocket! Let’s see if we can make this one of the biggest and best river site rings on the web. Benefit from other river sites’ traffic and gain new visitors. If you sell a river-related product on your site, this is the ring for you! (You must copy and past the site ring graphic onto your web site as soon as your site is approved.) Check out the sites currently in the ring and their hit statistics as a direct result of being in the site ring. Tow Talkin'
April 24, 2006 By Kathy Flippo  It always is a surprise waiting to happen when tow watching. But the surprise I had last week really blew my mind. As I left the Clinton County Historical Society museum I could see the pilothouse of the Mv. Kathy Ellen just coming past the water works across the street from the ’zeum. Jumped in my ’burban and zipped up to the top of the dike just as she was coming abreast of me. I got out and waved. Pilot looked over at me and waved. Pilot looked over again. Pilot came outside and yelled, “KATHY FLIPPO?" Whoa!!! I yelled back, “YEAH! WHO ARE YOU?"
“SAM SHROP" he yelled back. Oh my gosh! I about fell over! We haven’t seen Sam in a good ten or twelve years. He used to live…to keep reading, click here. See you on the Web, Jack Little River Books jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com Don't forget to visit our web site! |
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