RIVER FERRY RESUMES; DORENA-HICKMAN CHRISTENING SET

Harold Garrison took his first ride on the new Dorena-Hickman Ferry Tuesday.

"It was great," said Garrison, judge executive in Kentucky's Fulton County. "This is going to be a great facility."

Garrison rode the ferry from its landing over the levee at Hickman, Ky., to the Missouri landing near Dorena.

"We wanted to check everything for Thursday," said Garrison.

"Everything is ready," said Ron Crenshaw, director of the Mississippi Country Port Authority, which is responsible for operation of the ferry.

Thursday is christening day for the ferry, which includes a new tugboat, The Dorena, and new barge, The Hickman.

"We're proud of these crafts," said Crenshaw. The boat is a 40-foot vessel, 13 feet wide, powered by a pair of 250-horsepower John Deere engines, and includes the latest safety equipment: radar system, radio and other communications and safety lighting.

The barge is 78 feet long and 32 feet wide.

The Mississippi County Port Authority will pay for the tug and barge with a $278,000 federal grant. Missouri and Kentucky will provide an additional $75,000 each to ensure adequate operating money until the ferry becomes self-supporting.

The champaign will flow Thursday when the christening ceremony is held at the Dorena Landing. State and local officials from Missouri and Kentucky will participate in the 4-p.m. ceremony, said Liz Anderson of the Charleston Enterprise-Courier newspaper. She is helping plan the ceremony.

Ginna Lee Hequembourg Copeland, wife of Missouri Rep. Gene Copeland of New Madrid, and Sharon Green, wife of Kentucky Sen. Jeff Green, will officially christen the barge.

Attending the ceremony will be Melvin L. Sundermeyer, director of the transportation division of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Department, and a number of district engineers form the Kentucky Purchase Parkway Commission.

Although the ceremony will be held Thursday, the ferry won't be open for business for another week to 10 days.

"We still have some work to do at the Hickman Harbor Landing," said Garrison. "We're in the process of widening the landing."

Additional work is also needed at the Dorena Landing. The Missouri National Guard has constructed a temporary landing for the christening ceremony.

Garrison and Crenshaw have been looking forward to the reopening of the Dorena-Hickman Ferry. "We started working together on this project more than a year ago," said Garrison. "This link will make Southeast Missouri and Western Kentucky real neighbors again."

The ferry, said Garrison, will provide a direct link between the two states.

"It's a full economic circle for growth and development," said Garrison. "It opens up a new work force."

Over the past five years employment opportunities in the two states have been hampered because of a two-hour commute.

A ferry operated between the two towns for more than 150 years. The Dorena-Hickman Ferry was established in 1840, and was operated by the same family until it closed in 1990.