Posted on 11/15/2007 12:25:01 PM PST by Caleb1411
For decades, the Delta Queen's tall stack has been a familiar sight in St. Paul and other river towns such as Red Wing and Winona. Children wave and a vintage steam calliope plays as the elegant 81-year-old steamboat majestically makes her way down the Mississippi, bound for ports including St. Louis or Hannibal, Mo. The Queen is the last steam-powered riverboat still carrying overnight passengers on American waters. With her Tiffany lamps and rare Siamese ironwood floors, she recreates a bygone era -- down to a bell from the steamboat that carried Mark Twain as he researched his "Life on the Mississippi."
But the Queen's fabled journeys are apparently coming to an end, thanks to one powerful man in Washington, Minnesota Rep. Jim Oberstar.
The Queen must cease her long-distance voyages in November 2008 unless an exemption can be obtained from a federal law forbidding wooden superstructures on vessels that carry 50 or more passengers on overnight trips, according to Majestic America Line, which owns the boat.
Since the law went into effect 40 years ago, Congress has repeatedly exempted the Queen. But this year, Oberstar, Minnesota's Eighth District congressman and powerful chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has blocked it. In previous years, and as recently as last year, Oberstar has voted at least twice to support the Queen's exemption.
What's changed?
Majestic blames special-interest politics. When the company bought the Delta Queen last year, it refused to negotiate a contract with the Seafarers International Union.
The Seafarers union previously represented most Delta Queen workers. The union had supported the exemption in the past, but now opposes it, says Joseph McCarthy, general counsel for Ambassadors International, which owns Majestic.
The company believes this played a big role in Oberstar's decision. "We were shocked and dismayed that
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Seriously when I read the headline I figured it had to be an “op-ed” opining the Hillary’s chance to become president were about to be sunk by Obama (Oberstar)
I put fuel on the Queen every year when we lived in the Twin Cities. I always held my breath because of the multiple hookups with multiple trucks. She was too big to come to our dock so we did the transfer downtown St. Paul. The port started making objections to these transfers and the Coast Guard started getting nasty about OPA-90. We finally quit doing it and a smaller outfit took on the job at Winona.
BONG
BONG
BONG
BONG
Beautiful boat!
—a government big enough to do everything for you , can also do anything to you-—
Yes, She is and She ties up at Natchez from time to time. Just further evidence that we have lost our way in a world gone mad.
It certainly is - am happy and fortunate to have been on it.
A single Congressman with the power to destroy one of America's heirlooms, along with the company that operates it.
And he is, in turn, owed by a union.
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