Ellen MacArthur wrote:
"Joe" wrote

City crushes boy's dream of restoring sailboat
Then last week the Newtons found out they not only lost their chance to
watch today's parade from the boat, but lost the boat itself, which was
destroyed by police after they determined it to be a derelict vessel.



I'm telling you, this is a racket. I posted about it before and you'all didn't listen.
People said I was just whining. Now maybe you'll listen. The police go around tagging
perfectly good boats. Then they tow it away. They give you only a week to notify them.
I know this one guy who had his boat a Morgan 23 registered with valid and up
to date registration sticker on it. He has a house here in Sarasota and a house up in
the DC area. He works up there in the summer and down here in the winter.
They towed away his boat this summer and cut it up into pieces and hauled it
to the junk yard and then they sent him a bill for four thousand dollars. He can't
register another boat or even his cars here in Florida until he pays the cost.
He's suing them because by law a registered up to date boat can't legally be
called derelict. The police said it was because it didn't have an anchor light. It
didn't but the legal penalty for not having an anchor light is a fine. The police
said it was a hazard to navigation. It wasn't because it was in two feet of water
moored ten feet from the mangrove forest where nobody navigates. His lawyer
assures him the police WILL be buying him another boat of equal value and
waiving the charges they billed him for disposing of his boat.
This crap's gotta stop.

Cheers,
Ellen


So now we know the truth about the demise of Cut the Mustard...sorry for
your loss...but there are better boats oce you pay the 4K fine out of
your Social Security...