As many of you know, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Representatives Steve Chabot (R-OH), Geoff Davis (R-KY), and Jean Schmidt (R-OH) have sent the attached letter to President Bush, asking him to issue an Executive Order continuing the Delta Queen’s exemption from the 1966 Safety of Life at Sea Act. As many of you also know, I have gone on record numerous times as saying that the President does not have the power to overturn an Act of Congress.

That is true, but Congressman Boehner thinks that in this case we may be able to squeak by on a technicality. He is operating on the theory that, although the Constitution does not grant the President the power to overturn the law itself, there is a chance that he can order the continuation of an exemption that has been routinely granted for the past 42 years.

As of the close of business yesterday, the White House had not responded directly to the letter, but they have asked for more information about the issue.

Please contact President Bush and ask him to act on our behalf. He will be under extreme pressure from the Coast Guard bureaucracy to turn thumbs down on Congressman Boehner’s request, so please stress the Queen’s impeccable safety record (see this Delta Queen Safety fact sheet) and the fact that the Coast Guard inspectors who examine the boat six or more times each season say she is in fine shape to keep plying our waterways for many years to come. This season, the Coast Guard’s top-ranking traveling inspector, Marc Kruger, made a five-day trip on the Delta Queen and issued a positive report that is posted on the Coast Guard’s web site.

Please also contact Mrs. Bush and remind her that keeping this irreplaceable historic treasure alive would be a truly significant part of her husband’s legacy.

You can mail letters and petitions to the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500. But because time is of the essence, faxes, email, or phone calls are better. Email messages should go to  comments@whitehouse.gov. And here are the fax and phone numbers:

Fax: (202) 456-2461
Phone: (202) 456-1111 (comment line)
(202) 456-1414 (main switchboard)
 

Republican lawmakers yesterday (Dec 3) sent a letter to President Bush asking that he issue an executive order to protect the Delta Queen against special-interest politics that could put the historic paddlewheel ship in dry-dock.  Reps. John Boehner (R-West Chester), Steve Chabot (R-Westwood), Jean Schmidt (R-Miami Township) and Geoff Davis (R-Hebron) requested the President issue an executive order extending an exemption to the 1966 Safety at Sea Act to allow the Delta Queen to continue operating.

The full letter of John Boehner requesting President Bush’s support for the Delta Queen is available in PDF format at Rep. Boehner’s website.

The Save the Delta Queen Campaign team applauds this action and again is emphasises how important the Delta Queen is not only for so many small businesses in the communities along the rivers but also for the employees of the Delta Queen and so many jobs indirectly depending on the Delta Queen continuing to operate as an overnight passenger vessel. The Delta Queen is safe, with a perfect safety record for now more than 80 years of operations. It’s just not right to stop her for obscure reasons that do not have anthing to do with her safety.

Ken McRae from Little Rock, Arkansas, sent this beautiful picture from the Delta Queen just after passing the Helena, Arkansas, Mississippi River bridge on the evening of November 1, 2008. Doesn’t she look like a brand new vessel in this wonderful evening sunlight? Hey, Congress, she’s not ready to go, don’t you see this?

(click picture to enlarge)

From Gaylon Reasons, Tennessee, come this great shot of the Delta Queen along side the American Queen at her port stop at Helena, Arkansas, on November 1, 2008.

(click picture to enlarge)

Ken and Gaylon, thanks very much for this gorgeous pictures and for sharing them with us! I hope so much these are not some of the last pictures of the Delta Queen in operation.

Here is the official schedule for the Delta Queen for the next couple of days which might be her last active days as overnight passenger steamboat on the rivers.

Don’t forget: We are not bidding the Delta Queen goodbye. We are sending her off to rest for the winter, while we continue the fight to have her exempted once and for all from a law that never should have involved her

(click to enlarge) The picture shows the Delta Queen on the Ohio River at Anderson Ferry near Cincinnati, OH.

The Delta Queen will arrive in Memphis on Thursday, October 30, for her final visit of the 2008 season. She is scheduled to come in at 8 a.m., but most likely she will be there in the early morning hours. Majestic America Line will hold a "Farewell Tribute" ceremony from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. On Friday, October 31, at 6:00 p.m. the boat will depart Memphis for New Orleans with no passengers and only a skeleton crew onboard.

At each of five more ports along the way, the Tribute ceremony will be repeated. The grassroots Save the Delta Queen Campaign and the Mississippi Delta Grassroots Caucus urge everyone to come down to the waterfront to enjoy the boat’s legendary calliope and performances by the Delta Queen band and singers, but most importantly to rally in favor of keeping this quintessential American treasure in full operation.

The schedule is as follows:

Thursday, October 30 - Memphis, 5:00-6:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 1 - Helena, Arkansas, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 2 - Greenville, Mississippi, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Monday, November 3 - Vicksburg, Mississippi, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, November 4 - Natchez, Mississippi, 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Wednesday, November 5 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 4:00-5:00 p.m.

On Thursday, November 6, the Delta Queen will dock at Oak Alley Plantation for a private onboard ceremony. Plans are still in progress for events in New Orleans when the boat arrives there on Friday, November 7.

Photographer Ron Rack from Cincinnati has put up a website with a series of wonderful panorama photos of the Delta Queen where you can see and feel the full glory of our beloved Delta Queen. Even if you have never been on the Delta Queen before, this gives you an impression on what nasty and egomanic politicians like Rep. James Oberstar are going to destroy by refusing to let Congress even discuss an exemption for the Delta Queen on the House floor.

Be careful though if you know the Delta Queen well - these picture will propably wet your eyes from their sheer beauty and from knowing that these paroramic pictures might be the only way left to visit the Delta Queen after October 31. Don’t miss clicking on the pictures as this will give you a Quicktime or Flash animation where you can move around, zoom in and out just like you were standing right on board the Delta Queen.

It had been heart breaking moments when the crowd on the Cincinnati levee watched the Delta Queen lift her stage on Tuesday evening, probably for the last time in history.

Tom Schiffer and John Fryant did a great job in documenting this sad historic moment when almost 200 years of steamboat history at Cincinnati ended; at least so far. (for more pictures, see steamboats.org message board: Final Whistle Salute to Cincinnati)

But there is still a lot of hope that the Delta Queen will return, under her own steam. So let’s not stop fighting for saving our beloved Delta Queen but let’s do even more to stop evil politicians to play their dirty games on the Delta Queen.

The Delta Queen will arrive in Cincinnati on Tuesday, October 21 for her final visit of the 2008 season. Majestic America Line will hold a "Farewell Tribute" beginning at 4:00 p.m., with their invited guests arriving between 3:00 and 3:30 p.m.

The boat is scheduled to arrive in Cincinnati at 9:00 a.m. and leave at 5:00 p.m., although most likely she will not depart until 6:00 or later. She will go upriver to Maysville, Kentucky, arriving early in the morning on Wednesday and departing at 1:00 p.m. She will then head back downriver to Madison, Indiana, where she is scheduled to arrive at 8:00 a.m. and remain until 1:00 p.m.

If you live in the Cincinnati area, or if you are a passenger arriving or departing on October 21, please come to the Public Landing with the biggest Save the Delta Queen sign you can come up with. Most likely the media will be there in the greatest concentration between 3:00 and 6:30 p.m.

If you can also get to Madison the following day (October 22), please go on over, and take as many people as possible with you.

At Louisville the staff of the Belle of Louisville and Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson will hold a party Friday, Oct. 24, to celebrate the legacy of the Delta Queen. A public ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. at the Louisville riverfront. The boat will depart Louisville at 8 p.m. Admission is free and family events will run until 11 p.m.

Not a "Good Bye"!

Remember: We are not bidding the Delta Queen goodbye. We are sending her off to rest in New Orleans for the winter while we continue the fight to have her exempted once and for all from a law that should never have involved her.

Here is how you can help saving the Delta Queen - immediately and without much effort! The crew of the Delta Queen has put together a dramatic Youtube video clip asking for help saving their jobs as well as a national historic treasure, the Delta Queen.

Please, go to Youtube, watch the video there and then vote for it and leave a comment (just "Save the Delta Queen!" is okay; we need a high count of comments!) and forward it to everyone you know asking them to do the same. Please, do it NOW; we need as much impact as possible within the first 24-48 hours of this video being online to be effective!
(if you’re not a member of Youtube, please don’t hesitate to register in order to make comments and vote for the video. The Youtube membership is free and without any obligations. Please, do this for the Delta Queen! ).

Here is the link to the video at Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ss0tgXYSPc

–> If you need the video in high quality, e.g to send it to your loal TV station,
please download the original Windows Media File (WMV format) here:
Delta Queen’s Crew video plea to Congress (right-click on the link; save target as …)

This is what the DQ’s crew has to say:

Please help us, the crew of the Delta Queen, save both our jobs and a national treasure!

The Delta Queen is the last traditional steamboat carrying overnight passengers on our inland waterways, an example of a time when the rivers were our highways. The steamboat is one of the most significant inventions in the history of the world, and it is an American invention. Before the power of steam was harnessed to transportation, the fastest that people could travel was the speed of a galloping horse. The arrival of the steamboat meant that not only could people and goods travel faster, so could knowledge and information. That transforms society!

The people who work on this boat are some of the finest people you could possibly meet. Many of them lost everything they had in Hurricane Katrina; the stories passengers tell of those tragic days when many staff had no idea where their family members were, yet continued to provide exemplary service, are heart-rending.  We are family on the boat—black, white, Hispanic, Asian, gay, straight—we look out for each other, and cannot bear the idea that after 81 years of service, our boat will end because of political greed!
 

Senator George Voinovich of Ohio has introduced a "Save the Delta Queen" bill in the U.S. Senate (bill no. S. 3498) to exempt her from the 1966 Safety at Sea Law. Support comes from at least eight other Senators, both Republicans and Democrats, and there are more to join in soon.

While this bill alone will not save the Delta Queen directly, it raises enormous attention and is an important step. Newspapers, TV and radio stations and blogs are reporting about the Save the Delta Queen efforts frequently and the number of media coverage increases every day now. What a momentum!

Please, ask your Senator for support!
Get on the phone, go to your Senator’s local offices, fire up your fax machines and urge your Senators to support and co-sponsor this important bill (S. 3498) to give the Delta Queen a chance to survive. Contact your local newspapers and TV stations to report about what it means to you and your community if the Delta Queen disappears forever. Even if you did contact your Senator before, give them an update and let them know about the bill no. S 3498.
You’ll find the contact information for your Senator at: www.senate.gov (in the upper right corner, just choose your state; phone numbers and addresses of your Senators will be listed).

The Delta Queen is safe!
Don’t forget to point out that all this is not about safety, because the Delta Queen in fact is a very safe boat. Detailed information about the Delta Queen’s safety can be found at deltaqueen.wordpress.com/deltaqueensafety/.

Already on the list of co-sponsors of bill S. 3498 are Senators …

• Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee)
• Evan Bayh (D-Indiana)
• Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
• Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi)
• Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
• Richard Lugar (R-Indiana)
• Barack Obama (D-Illinois)
• David Vitter (R-Louisiana)
  

Update Sept. 20:

• Thad Cochran (R-MS)
• Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
• Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
• Roger Wicker (R-MS)

Update Sept. 22:

• Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

In four states both Senators have joined in now:

• Ohio
• Iowa
• Indiana
• Mississippi

(We’ll be updating this list when new co-sponsors are signing up.)

You might also want to call these Senator’s offices to let them know how much you appreciate their support. They need to hear from all of us that they’re doing the right thing.

After a long period of struggles and doubts, I eventually do have the strong feeling that we can win this battle! The Delta Queen will be saved if we all work together. Please, contact your Senator right now. We don’t have much time to loose.

Thank you, Senator George Voinovich, for rolling up your sleeves and tackling this issue in the Senate!

We’re proud to present a wonderful new radio documentary about the Delta Queen. Cincinnati-based radio producer Mike Martini (WMKV-FM/Maple Knoll Communities, Inc.) made this comprehensive documentary about the Delta Queen to be run in September 2008 and gave the permission to air it here on save-the-delta-queen.org.

"Against the Current: The Plight of Paddlewheeler Delta Queen" is about the Delta Queen and the “Save the Queen” campaign and I can’t imagine a reason you don’t want to hear it - it’s just wonderful!

Against the Current: The Plight of Paddlewheeler Delta Queen - part 1 (19:00 min):

Against the Current: The Plight of Paddlewheeler Delta Queen - part 2 (40:00 min):

Mike Martini has also extendes permission to anyone who would like to air it on any radio station as long as it remains intact and unedited.  If a United States’ radio station would like a CD copy, let us know and we’ll forward your request to Mike; he’ll try and send one through the mail.

In case the above player doesn’t work on your computer, here are links to the pure MP3 files: part 1 - part 2.