Luxury yacht will offer seasonal river cruises

A chance meeting between Chuck Martin and the visiting captain of an excursion boat that docked here a few months ago has culminated in what the Convention and Visitors Bureau director believes is a Cape Girardeau first -- a seasonal opportunity for the public to take in breathtaking views of the Mississippi River from the deck of a luxury yacht.

"I began talking to him about his boat and all that they did," Martin said. "I walked down with him, took a tour and thought, 'This is something that could work.'"

The Grandpa Woo III will begin offering a variety of cruises that start out at Riverfront Park in Cape Girardeau, Martin announced last week. The yacht will be offering cruises next year from May 15 to 22 and again for two weeks from Sept. 21 to Oct. 2.

Cruises will include two-hour excursions, dinner cruises, specialty cruises and corporate rental packages. The boat could even host weddings, seminars, employee appreciation dinners or private business meetings.

The yacht is 24 feet wide and 115 feet long and can carry up to 140 passengers.

Martin said that CVB and Chamber of Commerce board members took an evaluative cruise on Oct. 26.

"We wanted to get a feel for how the boat presented itself," Martin said. "It really came across as a wonderful-looking boat. The next day, we were able to reach an agreement."

Martin said that the city had to offer no money to get the yacht's owners to agree to come here. He said that if all goes well, 2005 might see two weeks in the spring and two weeks in the fall.

There has been a demand for this type of venture, Martin said.

"I can't tell you how many times I've heard we need something like this here," he said. "We have a presence on the river, but no way to get on the river. So when I saw this particular vessel, it was like 'Bingo, that's a match.'"

DIRTY WORK: The new division of a Monroe Services Janitorial Services is dedicated to more than emptying trash cans and vacuuming carpets. The division, called Monroe Enterclean, does work no one wants to do -- cleaning up crime and trauma scenes.

The business is owned by Ann Wagganer, and this division is run by her daughter, Becky Bomar. Bomar said they got the idea from talking to Cape Girardeau County Coroner Mike Hurst, who mentioned that there isn't such a business locally.

"So we decided to fulfill the need in the community," Bomar said.

Three workers, including Bomar and her husband, have been trained to clean up after a murder, suicide or other traumatic incident. They've even had to clean up a scene in which someone had died and been decomposing for five days. (There goes your breakfast. Sorry.) They learned OSHA regulations on how to handle blood-borne pathogens and contaminants and some EPA regulations. They use protective suits with respirators and eventually incinerate the items.

FAMILY BUSINESS: We've increased the work force by 25 percent at the Moyers household with Tuesday's birth of my second son and third child -- Max Allen Moyers. And yes, this qualifies as business news because he's going to help pay your Social Security someday.

Scott Moyers is the business editor for the Southeast Missourian.