CREWS FINISH REMOVING SUNKEN BOATS FROM RIVER The Facts : October 09, 2009 Crews finish removing sunken boats from river By Nathaniel Lukefahr The Facts Published October 09, 2009 FREEPORT — Crews have finished removing sunken boats from the Old Brazos River, clearing navigational hazards and improving its appearance. Now city officials want to steer clear of having to remove abandoned vessels in the future by keeping a close watch on the Freeport waterfront. “The main thing is keep your eyes open,” City Manager Jeff Pynes said. “We’ve had a couple instances recently where we’ll see boats that show up and you can pretty much tell what’s going on.” City officials have been working toward removing the boats since February, when the countdown on the marina’s completion began. The Texas General Land Office agreed to foot the $64,000 project cost. The removal work began in late September, with crews raising eight sunken vessels from the river bottom using a crane atop a barge. “We don’t want to catch seven more boats sunken in the harbor,” Mayor Larry McDonald said. “We didn’t do all of this work for nothing.” The sunken boats were resting along many stretches of the river, some of which were not visible from above water, posing a hazard to boats navigating the channel toward the new marina. “Obviously, sunken boats don’t look nice, so we got that stuff cleaned up and hopefully we’ll do a better job as a city to make sure they don’t get in that condition again,” Pynes said. The marina is scheduled to open in the spring. Nathaniel Lukefahr covers Freeport for The Facts. Contact him at 979-237-0151. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2009 The Facts