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Hello Nori,
I know you have never heard of me, but 37 years ago when I was a 14/15 year old I poured my heart and soul into getting the Delta Queen her exemption from the SOLAS Act. I think I pounded on every door in my home town of Catlettsburg, KY getting signatures for my petition. I wrote letters, made phone calls.....you name it. I even actually met your father once....and Betty Blake several times. Now that woman was a ball of fire.
I still have my old SOS SOS DQ certificate.....and one of the highlights of my life was after Marlow Cook, a Senator from my state, engineered the rescue........Betty Blake called (I was stunned) and on the Queen's first trip up the river after our victory had me and a friend of mine, who had also been involved, standing on the river bank in Catlettsburg...they actually stopped the boat and blew a whistle salute to us.
Pretty heady stuff for a youngster. But unfortunately it is a battle we apparently must fight again. I am gone from Catlettsburg for thirty years now and live in the Pittsburgh area. I have written to my representatives in Congress and have friends and family doing the same both in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. I think we are going to get a resolution from the Allegheny County Council next Tuesday urging the continued exemption. We are also going to get one from the Catlettsburg City Council for what it is worth......I still have connections back there. I am also working on some TV, radio and newspaper exposure in the Pittsburgh market. We shall see if that bears fruit.
A number of things bother me this time around......we have no champion in Congress that I know of like Leonor Sullivan in 1970, we have owners who have thrown in the towel, and we have no spark at the center of things like Betty Blake. (I would nominate you for that position......)
Anyway, if there is any possible assistance I can render beyond what I am doing please let me know. I am eager to help and I have time on my hands. We are up against the same old thing as the last time, the committee system of Congress, designed to subvert the will of the public.
I love this magnificent boat nearly as much as you do!
Regards,
Jim Armstrong
Editor's Note: Vicki Webster worked for President Nixon in 1970, during the Save the Delta Queen campaign. Following is one of her memories from those times.
On Oct 1, 2007, at 5:12 PM, Vicki Webster wrote:
Like Mr. Armstrong and many other 1970 crusaders, I still have my SOS SOS DQ certificate. I also have many quirky memories. Probably my favorite is the time when one of my early political mentors, the Allegheny County Republican Chairman, Elsie Hillman, dropped by to visit me at the White House after I'd told her of the Queen's plight. My boss invited her to join us for lunch, and she said, "Oh, I'd love to, but I can't. I have to go see Hugh Scott [then Senate minority leader] about Vicki's boat." From then on around the White House and in western Pennsylvania political circles, the Delta Queen became known as "Vicki's boat."
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