The St. Marys yachtsmens' Thanksgiving.

While waiting for the line to slack at Aunt B's, I went down to the waterfront. At 1:00 PM, I counted 40 yachts (mostly sailboats) riding at anchor or secured to mooring buoys. Lang's dock appeared to be full to capacity but there was no way of telling how many of those were locals versus visitors. There was a line out the door from Seagles all the way tot he opposite end of the block on Osborne.Most of them looked about the right age and dress to be visiting boat owners. Doug Vaught (in shorts and sandals, of course) was in the median recording the line with his cell phone. Also in the median was a guy in his 50s clutching a large, long -stemmed glass full of red wine. From the looks of him, it was not his first of the day. A wet run of the new festival zoning? So, you might ask, why did I go down there. Normally, I don't give a damn what the DMA is up to so long as it does not involve a subsidy from the taxpayers. Well, an old friend sent me an e-mail this morning and suggested that I check it out. He pointed out how these people who stop over might very well like to go shopping in parts of town other than downtown, but have no transportation. I think the subliminal message was that perhaps the community should do something about that. Okay. If some private individuals want to volunteer as a taxi service, fine. However, I see no role for the taxpayers in this. It would seem to me that the ideal solution would be for the DMA to rent one or two vans for the day. Doug Vaught and Greg Bird would no doubt drive them around. Don't look for that to happen, though. Most DMA members are quintessential dogs-in-the-manger. The idea of transporting the boaters and their credit cards much more than a block away from their own cash registers would be absolutely anathema to them all. Not a very far sighted bunch.