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Help is on way
for fabled ship The Post and Courier
Speaking with another member of
the state Budget and Control Board, Chellis said: "I have been down to
the very bottom of the Laffey, and it's like sponge down there. They
really need some help." A few
conversations later, a majority of the five-member board had agreed by
phone to a $9.2 million loan to the Patriots Point Naval and But the funding
comes with one caveat: Patriots Point must repay the loan within 18
months. The attraction's
officials hope that $20 million in federal funding requested by U.S.
Rep. Henry Brown, R-S.C., will come through next year. They promised to
use that money toward the debt. Chellis said the
$9.2 million becomes available as soon as the Budget and Control Board
formally approves the loan. Because the board does not meet again until
June 29 and Patriots Point officials hope to move the ship to dry dock
by an August high tide, Chellis said he would try to get the go-ahead in
a phone vote even sooner. Patriots Point
interim executive director Dick Trammell said the destroyer otherwise
might not move until September, "right in the heart of storm season." Laffey veterans
joined Chellis on a tour of the ship, some traveling hundreds of miles
to be there. The ship's association each year holds several work parties
to paint and make repairs, though their efforts above the waterline
never uncovered the dire situation below. Sonny Walker,
president of the Laffey Association, came down from Patriots Point
officials recently learned that sinking the Laffey would cost about
$488,000 less than restoration, a small difference on a $9 million price
tag. The attraction's board then resolved to seek help from state
leaders and found an audience at the treasurer's office. Addressing
Chellis,
The treasurer, a
former Air Force captain, took time to chat with Lee Hunt, a James
Island resident who served in the Battle of Okinawa that earned Laffey
the reputation as "The Ship that Would Not Die." Hunt said his watch
station caught fire during the onslaught of Japanese kamikaze planes
that killed 32 men and wounded another 71, out of a crew of 336. Walking along the
ship's deck Thursday, Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia, said, "This is where
my grandfather stood." Smith's
grandfather shot down a kamikaze so close to striking the ship that
debris injured some of his fellow sailors. The younger Smith took an
active role in generating support for Patriots Point and held a
flashlight for Chellis as he felt chunks of the ship crumble in his
hands. Back on land,
Laffey veterans and Patriots Point officials alike cheered as Chellis
shared the good news that he had gotten the necessary support. "This is a
monument," Chellis said. "It is a monument to a generation that defended
liberty. It is a monument to those brave men who fought for freedom. And
it is a monument to those who gave the last true measure of devotion. We
must save this ship." Sen. Chip Campsen
and Rep. Chip Limehouse, both Charleston Republicans, also toured the
ship Thursday before Chellis arrived. That afternoon Limehouse said he
supports the repairs but that Patriots Point should focus now on federal
funding for the future. "A state
intergovernmental loan to stabilize the Laffey is probably a good point
to stop, catch our breath and figure out what we're going to do,"
Limehouse said. "The reason the Navy gave us all those ships is because
they are prohibitively expensive to own and keep." Patriots Point
outlined in March a $64 million master plan to repair its entire fleet
of warships and revitalize the attraction. Its board soon will award a
contract to formally develop a master plan, though the military museum
still lacks a financial strategy to implement that plan.
Reach
Allyson Bird at 937-5594 or
abird@postandcourier.com |
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©2009 by Marshall K DuBois - All Rights Reserved