I don't know the law, but at what point can someone declare the boat to be abandoned and simply salvage it?
Posted on 07/14/2010 7:36:48 AM PDT by Willie Green
LITTLE RIVER, SC (WMBF) – With several large abandoned boats dotting the Intracoastal Waterway, Horry County leaders and residents say they are concerned.
The boats range in size from 30-40 feet, and according to different accounts, these vessels have been an eyesore for the past several years.
"These boats are just junk laying out here in the middle of the waterway," said Ronald McManus with the Freedom Boat Group. "It is just ridiculous for our tourists to come down here and see and it's a very serious problem."
Horry County Councilman Brent Schulz agrees something needs to be done to resolve what he calls a growing problem.
"I think part of it has to do with the economy," he explained. "I think people cannot afford to pay the dockage to keep the boats up and they leave the boats abandoned."
According to Schulz, the county does not have the means nor the jurisdiction to resolve the issue alone.
"The waterway is considered navigable waters of the U.S., so it's going to involve a federal agency or even the state of South Carolina, and I've made calls and I've tried to get on top of this," said Schulz. "I've been told by different groups such as the EPA, Coast Guard and Army Core of Engineers that it's a lack of funding or it's not their jurisdiction or there's several reasons that I get."
According to Robert McCullough with the Department of Natural Resources, his agency identifies the abandoned boats, but local agencies with the county or city where the boats are left are supposed to remove them.
McManus, who received a substantial federal grant to pay for a local artificial reef, claims he would gladly take the abandoned boats away.
"I could go ahead and even pay for cleaning up these fiberglass ones and getting them off the water - all I need is possession of them," said McManus, who claims he also contacted DNR. "I hope that somewhere along the line they, DNR or DHEC or anybody, either give us permission to get these boats and clean things up around here."
Since no level of government can do anything about it, perhaps some anonymous citizen action under the cover of darkness is in order.
I don't know the law, but at what point can someone declare the boat to be abandoned and simply salvage it?
I say we load the boats onto trains and whisk them away.
;-)
Clearly this is an emergency that requires us to build the Intracoastal Railway.
I learned at a young age that the use of combustible materials and application of a combustion source was usually a very effective method for getting a government carry out its responsibilities with regard to abandoned property, vehicles, etc.
um.. this lends an air of great credulity to the article...
Good question
Time for the locals to step in and take care of their own place, like it used to be before all the socialism. Just like the folks in LA and MS tried to do with the oil spill, before the Coast Guard muscled in and stopped them.
Idiots!
It's "Corpse" of Engineers.
Same writer as Zero’s “ Corpseman”?
We’re from the gov’t and here to help and serve.
I remember a story about a Louisiana boy that got his 4x4 “swamper” stuck in the bayou. A dredging boat came by, saw the truck and picked it up. The kept it under state laws of salvage, and he had to pay a good penny to get it back.
Is that the High Speed Intracoastal Railway?
On another note; why can't the owners be traced by the boat registration? Even is the registration numbers are gone, isn't there a serial # or something like a VIN on boats?
Here in Washington we pay a derelict boat tax on our boat licence. We who own working boats have to pay for the idiots who dump their old ones on the side of the road or set them adrift.
LOL~!
any farmer knows it’s the CROPS of engineers!
” Army Core of Engineers”
Apple corps have seeds...and funeral homes deal with corps.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.