A royal visit: Events draw plenty of people to town

Delta Queen makes first of final visits

By Patrick Cooley, pcooley@mariettatimes.com
Ann Grimm of Vienna, W.Va., came to get a glimpse of The Delta Queen Thursday while it was docked on the levee in downtown Marietta.

“It’s an icon that puts it into perspective how important the days of river navigation were,” she said.

Grimm’s chances to see the boat again might be limited.

A 10-year exemption to the Safety at Sea Act, which bans overnight cruises on steamboats with wooden superstructures, was defeated in the U.S. House of Representatives on April 24. The exemption would have allowed the Queen to continue operating.

Thursday was the first time the boat has stopped in Marietta this year, beginning what could be its final series of visits to the area.

Grimm said she has been on the Queen and once took a tour on it up to Pittsburgh. She said the steamboat is an important part of the history of Washington and Wood counties.

“It’s like entering a different time period,” Grimm said. “Every kid in this whole region should see this boat before it does eventually stop. Every parent should be making sure their children see it.”

Although the April attempt to extend the Queen’s exemption was voted down, U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, continues to spearhead efforts to keep the boat afloat. Todd Lindgern, communications director for Chabot’s office in Cincinnati, said freestanding legislation which would grant the new exemption was introduced in the House late last year with 30 co-sponsors.

“There was a very spirited rally on Monday here in Cincinnati when the boat itself was here,” he said. “Congressmen Chabot reiterated that he would continue the fight for the Delta Queen, and we are looking at any and every legislative option available to pursue that exemption.”

Lindgren said the freestanding legislation has been referred to the transportation committee chaired by Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn. Oberstar, who is opposed to the exemption, decides whether to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.

Other legislative options include attaching the exemption to larger bills, as was attempted with the April vote.

Jim Berard, communications director for the House transportation committee, said the boat does not meet fire safety codes set in the 1930s and the U.S. Coast Guard is adamantly opposed to an exemption from those regulations.

“They’ve determined that carrying overnight passengers is a fire and safety hazard,” he said. “There have been fires on The Delta Queen in the past; fortunately, they have proven to be not too destructive.”

The Coast Guard will not certify the Delta Queen because its wooden superstructure does not fall under the agency’s fire-retardant materials regulations.

“They have the engineers; they are the experts,” Berard said. “The chairman listened to the Coast Guard.

“It can still take passengers,” he said, “just not overnight.”

Jim Ruley, 48, of Springfield was a passenger on the Queen when it came through Marietta Thursday.

“It’s like a floating hotel,” he said. “It’s also a giant history lesson.”

Ruley said the failure of the exemption was terrible.

“It’s in great shape, it’s unique, and it should be kept running,” he said.

Kelly Blazosky, director of the Marietta/Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the Queen is the only authentic paddlewheel steamboat which still travels through Marietta.

Regional congressmen were split on the last vote. Rep. Charlie Wilson voted for the exemption, while fellow Ohio Democrat, Rep. Zack Space, opposed it.

Space’s press secretary said the congressman understood the historical significance of the steamboat, but for him it came down to the issue of the safety of the people riding it.

Blazosky said organizers behind the Web site www.save-the-delta-queen.org are putting together rallies in support of the Delta Queen on certain stops and are planning an event in Marietta in June.