Democrat Three-hour cruise, meet $31K cruise

Asheville Citizen Times

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200607210015/OPINION01/60720043&template=printart

Three-hour cruise, meet $31K cruise

There are tales of the ocean that make you smell the salt water on the breeze, tales that bring to mind the eternal tale of man and sea, tales that bring to mind sea shanties of old.
This is not one of those tales. This tale is more like salt water in the eyes, and is related to no sea shanty. So we made one up.
Here?s the story: A July 1 party cruise for 200 people, including the North Carolina Secretary of State and elected officials, witnessed the annual Tall Ships Festival down on the coast.
The cruise used a ferry normally used to haul vehicles, which caused a bit of a jam up in traffic across the Neuse River. That?s bad enough, but the cruise also cost around $31,000, and most of that cost was taken care of with tax dollars. The well-connected were treated to the Tall Ship spectacle while being entertained by a steel drum band and seafood buffet while normal folk were straining to get a good view, unless they missed any chance to look at all because of the ferry switch. (A smaller ferry was used in place of the party ferry). The DOT sent a report to Gov. Mike Easley saying it ?realizes that it should have had more appropriate protocols and requirements for use of its vessel at the Tall Ships event.??
Now, the more we thought about this, the more it struck us that hey, there?s a pretty fair sea song in here.
All the elements ? the struggle against powerful forces, tall ships ? um, seafood ? were in there for a classic song of the sea. So here we go, mateys, with apologies to authors of the folks who wrote the theme song to Gilligan?s Island ? probably the last people on the planet we thought we?d be apologizing to when we got into journalism.
Strike up fife and hear the tale of the great Cruise of ?06:
Just sit right back and you?ll hear a tale, a tale of a wasteful trip,
Using a state-owned ferry boat, to watch the famed tall ships.
The food was some mighty pricey stuff, so was the steel drum band
No other reason why we?re out
Thirty-one grand
Thirty-0ne grand.
When word got out, it got quite rough, some faces were real red,
The chant went up, taxpayers said,
Again, we?ve been bled
Again, we?ve been bled
The trip?s a-ground, cruise patrons sore, the press downright hos-tile
But then again,
It would be worse
If we were really vile ...
This song woulda been
Achy Break-y Heart
Instead of Gilligan?s Isle?
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