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Boat owners mad at Sarasota for crushing their vessels
By LATISHA R. GRAY

SARASOTA -- Wayne Hearin heard tales that his sailboat, Sheba, had 54
pounds of gold cemented in the keel.

Hearin spent countless nights trying to find the hidden treasure. He
broke three drills looking for it. The St. Petersburg resident never
found anything and he never will.

Sarasota police tagged the boat, which was moored near the Sarasota
Bayfront, as derelict and destroyed it the week after Thanksgiving.
Sarasota police say they tried to notify Hearin that his boat was
going to be destroyed, but never heard back.

Hearin, who owned the sailboat for 15 years, said he never got a
notice and was shocked that his boat was gone.

"To do what they did and in the manner they did it was wrong," said
Hearin, 54. "It's baloney."

Hearin is joined by at least two other boat owners mad at the city for
destroying their vessels. The three say they were never notified and
call the city's actions unnecessary and unjust.

Police tagged 17 derelict boats during Thanksgiving week and destroyed
six.

Police Marine Patrol Capt. Eddie Howell said boats are classified as
derelict if they have no sail or means of getting under way. Such
boats are hazardous to other boats and can attract homeless people,
which prompts those living near the Bayfront to complain, Howell said.

Some of the boats leak fuel and human waste into the bay, Howell said,
and many were in such bad condition that the smell overpowered him,
and the buildup of barnacles made it impossible to find the motors.

"They have to take responsibility," Howell said of the derelict boat
owners. "The majority of people do something about it. All it takes is
a phone call saying 'I'll take care of it.' But some people make no
effort."

The city cannot sell the boats because it does not have the storage
space or the titles to prove ownership, he said.

Hearin acknowledged his boat was a little "weathered," but said he and
a friend, Mark McCaney, were slowly restoring it.

McCaney, who lives in Venice, said he regularly checked on the boat
and never saw the bright orange sticker from the police indicating
that it had been tagged for demolition. One day, he noticed the boat
was gone and called to report it missing.

"I was looking and my heart was pounding," McCaney said. "I said,
'Where's Sheba?' I yelled to a tow boat guy and he said they took it a
few weeks ago."

According to police reports, Sheba was crushed on Nov. 29. Howell said
he tried to contact the owner but never got a response. Police say
they left McCaney a message a month later, but he never called back.
According to the report, the police called McCaney back on Jan. 2.

"I didn't hear from one owner for three months," Howell said. "We go
over whose boat is it. Sometimes it's not registered or the owner is
someone that the person bought the boat from."

David Newton said he called Sarasota police seven times after his 22-
foot boat turned up missing around Thanksgiving, but never heard back.
Newton said he got a certified letter from the police notifying him
that his boat had been tagged on Nov. 30, the day after it was
destroyed.

A police spokesman said the department tried several times to contact
Newton, but was unsuccessful, and sent the letter merely as a
courtesy.

John Daly Sr. said he thought someone stole his 47-foot cruiser before
learning the police had destroyed it.

Police say they tried to contact Daly but never got a response.

Daly said he was never called.

"They did it over Thanksgiving weekend when it was impossible to get
the letter and respond," Daly said. "They knew the majority of people
would not have been able to respond in time. It was a setup to get as
small of a response as possible."

Howell said he doesn't tag the boats on a set schedule. During his
daily patrols he tags boats as he sees them, and he waits for a large
group before they are destroyed.

"We never take a boat within five days," Howell said. "The quickest is
10 days. Most people who are out there know, because word spreads
quickly that we are tagging boats. We don't just go out there and look
for boats to take."

Daly said he invested more than $15,000 in his boat and was restoring
it. He said he is considering filing a lawsuit against the city.

"I'm not a drinker and I don't go out to clubs," Daly said.

"This was fun for me. It just doesn't seem real. This is just another
shot at the little guy."

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