jonyb

Once again another BBQ on the River has passed where the towboats claim they own the dock on the riverfront and no one is allowed on it. This is the "public dock" that I speak of.

Yesterday I was down there with my boat and 8 people. Yes, that many people fit in my boat, comfortably . There was an Ingram Barge Co. towboat tied to the dock. When we pulled in, there were 3 Coast Guard officers sitting on their boat, on the trailer. I BS'd with them for a minute then asked if my driver would be able to get on the dock to board my boat when we launched the boat. The response was "yes you can, and if you have a problem, let us know".

We got ready, everyone loaded up, and dropped the boat in. When I went to pick up the driver and another person, I idled around to the side of the dock and put the bow of my boat to the dock so the 2 people could get on the boat. As soon as I pulled up, the captain came out and said "you can't tie here". I ignored him. 2 guys on the dock (1 with a JMI shirt) came over and said the same thing. I said I'm not tying here, I'm picking them up. They got in, we left.

We went so far down the Tennessee wakeboarding that we got to Calvert City. About 2:00 we head back to the dock to pick up a few other people. We saw about 5-6 powerboats going up the Ohio, and I thought it was Dave Brown's boat, but later found out it wasn't. We got to the dock, saw John Polk sitting beside it just hanging out (not tied up). Pulled up to the dock where 1 person was standing and the same people came out saying that we can't tie up here. I went to stage 3 at that time. "I'M NOT TYING TO THIS F UC K I NG DOCK! I'M PICKING PEOPLE UP, GET OFF MY 8SS!!. "Calm down, it's okay" he said. "**** THAT! I COME DOWN HERE EVERY YEAR AND YOU *******S THINK YOU OWN THIS PLACE! THAT SIGN RIGHT THERE SAYS PUBLIC DOCK AND I'M PICKING PEOPLE UP SO BACK THE **** OFF!. I backed away at that time. I'd had a drink or 2 and decided leaving was the best solution.

I stopped to talk to JP for a few minutes, and after my outburst I turned the boat around and gave them about 2 minutes of the band Rise Against as loud as it would go. That's pretty deafening up to 80'. That was it, when we came back the twoboat was gone.

I later found out that some of our Southern Illinois friends had made the journey down and had a run-in with the same people on the dock. A person was about to be let off of their boat on the "public dock" to go get food and was instructed that if she set foot on the dock she'd go to jail. She evidently didn't take that chance.

The excuse from the tow boat people is liability. What legally says I can't get on that dock? What gives them the right to "own" the dock for that day? The signs on the dock say "public courtesy dock 15 minute limit" or something to that effect. It doesn't say trespassers will be prosecuted. What am I missing here? 3 years ago there was almost a fight between some of us, Paducah Police, the towboat people, and the Coast Guard.

Please discuss. Don't just look at this thread, please add some input. I'm ready to make a few phone calls about this.....

tfarmer

Only in paducah will some **** like that happen.
I was picking up around the yard and it sounded like
a powerboat was coming up the street. A hour or so later
I was riding a fourwheeler on the river banks and seen a few boats.
It looked like everyone was having a good time.
Its nice to hear the pipes cracking down the river

Poker&Run

We put in at Livingston Point....so I was almost in your back yard!

~As far as the dock goes....It is a real shame that Paducah being the "riverport town" wanting to capture the business of pleasure boaters, as our illustrious mayor just stated in a news article, won't allow people on the courtest dock. We called the dock manager for Crounse Towing after a similar run-in at the "courtesy dock" and they gladly let us tie up and walk up the hill. Only in Paducah!

jonyb

I spoke with Richard Abraham today. He doesn't exactly work for the city, but he has ran for City Commission in the past. His recommendation is to attend a City Council meeting, sign on the docket, and speak with them. He recommended that a few people go and tell what has been happening with this and explain how tourism and people are turned away from Paducah because of this. The 6-7 boaters that came from Golconda that were threatened with jailtime spent anywhere from $200-$300 in fuel just to come down here that day, and they didn't get to enjoy any of the festivities because they weren't allowed to dock or even so much as get out of the boat.

The mayor's office phone number is 270-444-8504 and the next meeting is October 7th. This is election year, so Richard thought that this may get some well-deserved attention.

mama tryed

JB,, write a letter to the editor of the Paducah Sun, when I see yours I'll write one as well.

Poker&Run

I am up for attending a council meeting. I would think if they would welcome boaters, we would have a pretty good showing at the bbq event. Interesting thing was, we were attempting to pull around the side of the dock closest to the bank and would have been 30-40 ft from the towboat. If memory serves me correctly, the captain who pulled this same routine several years ago with T Crowe cited Homeland Security as the reason they couldn't tie up. What about the thousand some odd people who boarded his boat for the tour that day.

RunninHotRacing163.1

Well that BLOWS BIG Daddy , sounds like they phuched up your weekend .. good luck Bro

kennyo

Two John's in a city council meeting sounds like a bad idea to me!!!!

jonyb

Jim Diesel

So is anyone going to the meeting?