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H:\!DOCS\MSOFFICE\WINWORD\TEMPLATE\NORMAL.DOT MArine Notes Charles V. Balch Charles V. Balch Cruzan Boat Ting Charles Balch St. Croix Marine News Wednesday, September 7, Volume 1 --- To Earl --- Like Marilyn, Earl touched the life of persons all across our island. Like Marilyn, the marine community most felt his presence. Yesterday, amidst a backdrop of mud, frayed canvas and damaged boats, a few memories were spoken, a joke, a song, and some final toasts. There were tears but there were many more smiles. Earl would have wanted it that way. I will carry the memory of his smile as a shield. --- Editorial --- For myself, Earl’s service marked a transition point. Psychologists talk about the natural progression of feelings about loss. First there is denial. After Marilyn, my mind would loop constantly thinking there was some magic that would create an expanding circle of cleanliness and perfection covering the islands I love. Debris would disappear, boats would float. Earl would smile and knowingly say “Ah Charlie, are you sure you want to do that?” again. The real magic was elbow grease. With my home mostly intact, clean and habitable, came the next phase, anger. Marilyn did not effect my lifestyle enough to get angry about. But it’s always easy to find things to get angry about. Like the weather reports before and after. I did some yelling. The final stage is acceptance. My focus is now on more immediate concerns of the marine community. Again I have freed my energy for more important work. I can’t say that we are all better off than Earl -- I’m sure Earl is in the very good place he deserves. But we are all here, ready and enabled to pick up the pieces. It’s a long tough job. But at the end, those who focus their energy and try, will be better for it. I’m not so bored that I want to do a marine newsletter. But, as a member of the marine community who has access to unusual amounts of information and a computer to write it up with, I thought I’d give it my best shot. So I’ll coordinate (unless someone else wants the job) but this had better be written by all of we. I don’t know all the facts and am depending on all of you to help me find them. Contact me at my temporary home 773-9437, of leave messages with PC Paradise (Voice 773-9227, fax 773-9228). --- Bulletin Board --- This section will be for offers/requests and cries for help. I will not consider offering equipment that is not from the owner. Your author, Charles Balch, has some money for a very strong hydraulic system steering (including autopilot) and a couple of anchor rollers. I have tools and will help with removal from YOUR boat. Mark and Robin at the Wreck bar offer an emergency bulletin board. Post info on persons you want to hear from, to let people know you’re OK, to find a place to live, to offer a pace to live, etc. Thanks. The St. Croix Yacht club also offers bulletin board space. Let us know about others. I’m working on a community storage space and a flea market. Give me your ideas. --- Do you Know --- Some crew members of the fishing vessels Misty Dawn and the Triple Challenge were pulled from the water after their boats sank off STT during the storm. Others were not recovered. We hope they made it to land. Contact us with any information about crew of these boats. --- We heard --- We are so sorry to hear. About 200 people died on St. Martin. Over 220 boats destroyed Some huge with helicopter pads and such. STT and STJ are terrible too. The BVIs are doing OK. Please pass stories along. We think the marine vultures are going to focus on the better pickings on STT and St. Martin. This gives STX a bit of time to think and have a united front. Our immediate concerns are boats on the hard and boats in navigable waters. There are rumors about barges from PR and St. Kitts but we have not seen either yet. --- Current Weather --- Today’s weather is from my Dad who reports “Our big worry is tropical storm Noel. At 11 this morning Noel was upgraded to a tropical storm with 40 knot winds. This is only the second storm ever to get an N name. Location is 12.7 40.7. Moving at NW at 8 MPH. The Yellows and Reds are back on radar. Watch for lots of rain.” Thanks Dad (John Balch)! Noel, please keep up that North movement. This sailor looking from the deck is only a little worried but looking very close. I’m leaving my storm anchors down. If it gets any worse I’ll use my newly renewed Internet connection to offload the intergovernmental discussion. --- Talk About de Money --- You can dial teleregistration from a land line if you first dial ATT at 102880. Ask for the FEMA teleregistration desk at (800) 462-9029. Their hours are 7 to 7 Central standard time. Here’s what happened when we registered. It took about 1/2 an hour. They want to know your: Name, SS#, disaster time (Friday, Sept. 15, evening), physical and mailing address w/ zip, damages to auto, roof, electrical power, Heating/AC, plumbing, home access, foundation, windows/doors, floor/ceiling, clothing, furniture, if you own, is it livable, money already spent on repairs, if you’re in immediate danger (includes medical - eye glasses, dentures etc.), insurance status, who was living there, source(s) and amount of income, and whether you own an affected business (a yes probably starts another set of similar questions including number of employees, loss of income, damage to inventory, rent etc). Ask for your control number right away (before they start with all the questions). You may get cut off and you will need the number to complete or follow your application. Ask the name/number of the person you are working with. Be friendly - they are. You will be informed of what other applicable programs. Later you will need to provide physical proof of home ownership, pictures, receipts and such. We are not sure how we are going to get the physical forms. --- What’s the Law --- What follows is from a phone conversation with Andrew Simpson (Voice 3-2785, fax 3-5427) all around good guy and maritime lawyer. I asked him to brief me on the laws of salvage. He promises to look this over and until he does any mistakes are my own. Expect a new issue tomorrow. I’m giving his numbers in case you need a lawyer now but wait for tomorrow’s updates for corrections. He’s busy. As always, advice is not as good as a lawyer. If you think you need a maritime lawyer, talk to Andy or some lessor lawyer. A person who salvages your boat may not maintain the title to your boat without due process. The amount awarded to a person who has salvaged your boat under dire circumstances (about to lose the boat) varies but it usually depends on the value of the vessel, risk to the salvager and amount effort it took. Traditionally, courts have awarded 25 - 50 percent of the vessels value. You may reject salvage. However, if the boat is a hazard to navigation the owner must move as fast as possible to minimize your threat to others. You are responsible for damages done to other boats as result of hitting the obstruction your boat has created. Minimize the threat by putting out buoys and removing things like masts. Attach a note with your name, contact information and address stating that you have not abandoned your vessel. If you are going to abandon your boat, do it ASAP. Typically boats are abandoned to the Army Corps of Engineers who routinely reject the request. Abandonment is a gray funk of legal stuff. --- Irie Ideas --- DPNR requests Naval chain be lain down for the marine community. Create a boat dump site (<60’) as a dive attraction.. Normal Heading 1 Heading 2 Heading 3 Heading 4 Heading 5 Heading 6 Default Paragraph Font Header Footnote Text List Table Footnote Reference Bibliography Example Quote Question Answer wfxRecipient wfxFaxNum Heading UVZc0 Telecom_Out Telecom_In Page_Heading wfxDate Title_Heading wfxTime wfxSubject Footer Charles V. Balch H:\!DOCS\BREEZE9.DOC Charles V. Balch H:\!DOCS\BREEZE9.DOC Charles V. Balch H:\!DOCS\BREEZE9.DOC Charles V. Balch H:\!DOCS\BREEZE10.DOC Charles V. Balch H:\!DOCS\MARINE1.DOC Charles V. Balch H:\!DOCS\MARINE1.DOC Charles V. Balch H:\!DOCS\MARINE1.DOC Charles V. Balch H:\!DOCS\MARINE1.DOC Charles V. Balch H:\!DOCS\MARINE1.DOC Charles V. Balch H:\!DOCS\MARINE1.DOCÿ@HP LaserJet 4/4M LPT1: HPPCL5E HP LaserJet 4/4M HP LaserJet 4/4M Symbol Palatino Book Antiqua Courier Courier New MArine Notes Charles V. Balch Charles V. Balch