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May 11, 2009

Essex County launches boat pursuit

Supervisors irked at plan for Weatherwax in museum

By LOHR McKINSTRY

ELIZABETHTOWN — Essex County is starting the process to reclaim the Weatherwax replica sail ferry.

The 40-foot ferry was turned over to the Champlain Valley Transportation Museum in Plattsburgh four years ago, but the museum recently told local officials it will no longer be sailed.

On Monday, the Essex County Board of Supervisors Economic Development, Publicity and Planning Committee took the first step to get the ferry back.

At the committee's direction, County Manager Daniel Palmer said he'll have County Attorney Daniel Manning III review the sale agreement between the Lake Placid-Essex County Visitors Bureau and the museum.

Transportation Museum President Dr. Anthony Vaccaro has said the museum intends to keep the ferry as a static display. Although the agreement allows the Visitors Bureau to buy it back for $1 if the museum doesn't operate it, Vaccaro said they consider putting it on display as satisfying that requirement.

The ferry was built with $250,000 in state grant money and was intended to be used as a tourist attraction in southern Essex County. But the Visitors Bureau sold it to the Transportation Museum in 2005, saying it did not have money to operate it.

It's now in rough condition after sitting uncovered in outside storage, and the museum has refused to allow its use to promote Essex County events.

That has upset some members of the County Board of Supervisors.

"It's a shame what's happened with that ferry," Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava (R-Moriah) said. "We have a quarter of a million dollars sitting in drydock rotting away."

The county found out about the ferry's condition when it was denied permission to use it for a reenactment of the 1859 ferry trip that brought John Brown's body from Arnold's Bay in Vermont to Barber Point in Westport.

"If they're not fulfilling the agreement, it should be returned," Scozzafava said.

He suggested asking Fort Ticonderoga or the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Basin Harbor, Vt., if they want the ferry.

John Brown events coordinator Naj Wikoff said they have been offered a free place to store and repair the ferry.

"Shelburne Shipyard is willing to provide space for it. They can dry it out and provide a place where it can be restored. The Lake Champlain Sailing Center (in Burlington) will maintain it. It could be used on both sides of the lake. It would be available for various activities."

He said it was designed for service on the relatively calm southern section of the lake.

The person who built it, Douglas Brooks of Vergennes, Vt., is willing to restore it, Wikoff said.

"There wasn't even a tarp put over it for the last three years. It was left out in the snow and weather."

Visitors Bureau President James McKenna said he doesn't know where the estimated $25,000 to fix the ferry would come from. He said he doesn't believe any of the County Occupancy Tax money that the bureau gets every year could be used for the ferry.

Wikoff said $8,000 of the money would be for new sails, since the museum discarded the sails that came with it. Capt. Frank Pabst, who ran the ferry after the museum got it, said he bought a used Marconi sail and rigged that on the ferry when he found the original sails were missing.

The important thing is that they recover the ferry, Wikoff said.

"Where it is now, it's going to rot."

He said they have other requests for its use, including the Festival of Nations at Crown Point State Historic Site.

E-mail Lohr McKinstry at: lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com

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