What A Jerk

The Local Puppy Trainer reports that Boat owner of ‘Fuelish Pleasure’ faces thousands in fines after causing firework cancellation

FORT WALTON BEACH — A boater who caused the cancellation of the Billy Bowlegs fireworks show Friday night faces upward of $100,000 in citations and fines.

Coast Guard officials refused to release the boater’s name, citing agency policy. The boat’s captain has a Louisiana driver’s license but docks in Mississippi, according to officials. It is a federally documented boat.
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The 55-foot Marquis yacht named “Fuelish Pleasure” was anchored inside the safety zone of the fireworks display before noon on Friday.

At the time, that area was marked as a safety zone. Announcements were broadcast throughout the day notifying boaters that their vessels had to be removed from the safety zone by early evening.
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According to Lt. Matthew Mitchell, command center chief of the USCG Sector Mobile, the man and all but one of his passengers were intoxicated and unable to move the boat.

Mitchell said Coast Guard officers called Sea Tow to remove the boat, but when they arrived the boat owner refused to allow them to move his vessel.

Finally, Coast Guard officers boarded the boat and resolved the issue around 10:30 p.m.

The boat owner was initially issued a citation for violation of a safety zone, which is a $5,000 fine. Mitchell said he was also issued several other fines, which could end up being costly.

“From what I understand, this individual didn’t seem to care or have any empathy for the hundreds or thousands of people whose plans he ruined,” Mitchell said.

A fifty-foot Marquis costs around a million bucks and it’s a Winnebago on the water, a well appointed Winnebago, but a floating RV nonetheless. It is called a motor yacht, because it isn’t worth much as an actual boat.

The most common comment on the several threads concerning this incident was: “I don’t understand why they didn’t ‘discover’ drugs on the boat and seize it.” They don’t realize that seizures only happen to poor people of color, not the rich.

The city will have to sue to get back the cost of the fireworks display. The company was there, so they are owed for the show, as it wasn’t their fault it couldn’t take place.