Branson Ride the Ducks Will Never Open Again
Sandwiched betwixt the McDonald's and the Goodnight Inn on Branson'southward master strip, the edifice that used to business firm Ride the Ducks now boasts unlimited play on its indoor laser tag course.
For the balance of this year, the amphibious bout boat business has been replaced by Top Ops — a patriotic-themed light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation tag loonshit and outdoor maze that says it will donate a portion of its proceeds to local first responders.
Just what about the future? Will the duck boats always return to Table Rock Lake after one of them sank during a tour last July, killing 17 people and forever scarring 14 survivors?
Ripley Amusement, which ran the Branson duck gunkhole operation, said through a spokesperson that its duck gunkhole fleet is in storage and a conclusion has non even so been made about whether or non the vessels volition be used on the lake in the time to come.
There are stiff opinions on the exterior.
Some accept called for the vehicles, which still operate in other cities, to be banned altogether, while others say Branson's duck boat operation is tied into the metropolis's social fabric as much equally other staples similar the Baldknobbers and the Titanic Museum.
Are duck boats dangerous? This lawyer says they're 'death traps'
Philadelphia chaser Robert Mongeluzzi doesn't care nigh the happy memories some Branson tourists might associate with splashing into the h2o during a duck gunkhole tour.
"They are lethal on land and on water and they should be banned," Mongeluzzi said.
Mongeluzzi represents the families of several duck boat victims in their lawsuits against Ripley Entertainment, and he has brought similar litigation against duck boat operators subsequently deaths in the Philadelphia area.
By his police force firm's count, 43 people take died in duck boat incidents over the last 20 years, including xiii who died in a 1999 sinking in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Despite the contempo deaths, duck boat tours all the same operate in many American cities — including Hot Springs.
Branson duck gunkhole lawsuits : Ripley reaches settlements in more than than half of the cases
"Because of money," Mongeluzzi said. "They continue to operate these expiry traps to make a profit, knowing how deadly and unsafe they are."
Mongeluzzi said the duck boats, which are modeled after World State of war Two era vehicles, have large bullheaded spots in the front when they are driven on the road, which tin lead to crashes. In the h2o, he said modified bilge pumps aren't powerful plenty to keep the vessels from sinking in rough water, and the overhead canopies can trap passengers inside.
They continue to operate these death traps to make a profit, knowing how mortiferous and dangerous they are.
Mongeluzzi isn't alone with his anti-duck boat position; former National Transportation Safety Board chairman Jim Hall besides called for the banning of duck boats after the Table Rock Lake tragedy.
Tia Coleman, an Indianapolis woman whose husband and three children drowned in the sinking, has also called for duck boats to be banned, even starting an online petition urging Congress and the United States Declension Baby-sit to act.
"This is a time for reflection and remembrance of my precious, loving family and all the victims of a devastating, preventable catastrophe," Coleman said in a statement. "I draw hope and energy from their retentiveness to fight to ban unsafe, death trap duck boats like the ane that killed my family and the others."
While the future of the Branson Ride the Ducks operation is uncertain, the tragedy on Tabular array Stone Lake did have an affect on the duck boat manufacture in other parts of the country.
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In Mobile, Alabama, a duck gunkhole company reportedly had to terminate tours for about year, citing rising insurance costs after the Table Rock Lake sinking. And in Pittsburgh, Just Ducky Tours reportedly canceled its 2019 season for the same reason.
Mongeluzzi, the attorney, said given the current climate in the insurance industry, he would be especially surprised to see duck boats always brand a render to Table Rock Lake.
"I think they are going to slowly continue to end up where they should be, which is extinct," Mongeluzzi said.
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Springfield News-Leader
Former Branson captain says duck boats are safe
Toby "Tugg" Hicks said he would be sad if the duck boats never come back to Tabular array Stone Lake.
Hicks said he was a duck boat captain on the lake for about four years in the early 2000s and he wouldn't recall twice about taking his family on a duck gunkhole tour today.
"I believe, in my experience, they are 100 percent safe," Hicks said. "There's admittedly no reason I wouldn't accept a ride on those ducks again."
Hicks said his centre goes out to the victims of last year'due south sinking, merely he feels like it's also important to remember the duck boats operated on Table Stone Lake for decades without any deadly incidents before terminal summer.
Timeline:What happened during the tragedy on Table Rock Lake
Last year'southward sinking led to a wave of lawsuits against Ripley and also spawned a criminal investigation that has led to the indictment of iii Ripley employees — duck boat captain Kenneth McKee, Ride the Ducks Branson Full general Managing director Curtis Lanham and the company's Operations Supervisor Charles Baltzell.
The Ripley employees are facing the possibility of decades in prison after federal prosecutors accused them of ignoring conditions warnings and prioritizing profits over safety when they put the duck boat out on the water that evening.
I believe, in my feel, they are 100 percent prophylactic. There'south absolutely no reason I wouldn't accept a ride on those ducks again.
Hicks said, similar any other mass-casualty outcome, it'southward of import to let authorities complete their investigation before making sweeping decisions about all duck boats.
Spokesman Keith Holloway said the NTSB is still investigating the duck boat sinking and a final study could exist completed "sometime this fall."
Hicks said he will wait for authorities to complete a thorough investigation before drawing any conclusions well-nigh the evening of July nineteen, 2018. Simply he would welcome the ducks back to Table Rock Lake and the streets of Branson if the owners tin can figure out exactly what went incorrect terminal yr and how to brand certain a like tragedy doesn't happen again.
"That'due south one of the original entertainment options of Branson," Hicks said. "They are kind of a mainstay downward in that location."
The duck gunkhole tragedy in Branson devastated our communities as 17 people were killed after the boat capsized on Table Stone Lake. Nosotros're defended to providing you with in-depth reporting on issues that matter nearly.Please support our work.
A duck boat return could exist blocked
If Ripley Amusement always decided it did desire to re-open its Ride the Ducks operation, there could be a legal mechanism in place to cake them.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Missouri Attorney General's Office sued Ripley Entertainment, claiming the company had violated the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act by not interim on safety recommendations made by the NTSB after the 1999 sinking in Arkansas.
Those proceedings are on hold as the criminal investigation continues, merely there is an gild in place that would require Ripley to give the land 90 days notice earlier resuming duck boat operations.
"The about important thing to me, was to become these duck boats off Missouri waters prior to the upcoming tourist season, ensuring that Missourians and tourists would not be put in harms' fashion," Chaser Full general Eric Schmitt said in a May statement. "And, in the future, the operators need to provide significant warning to the state if they intend to even try to go back on the water. If that is the case, we will stop them."
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Legislation regarding duck boats is also making its way through the U.S. Congress.
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley introduced a bill this year that would require duck boats across the country to exist subject to a series of safety improvements, including removing the canopies, requiring passengers to wear life jackets, installing independently powered bilge pumps to remove water from a flooding boat and ensuring boats are watertight before they enter the water.
Rep. Andre Carson, a Democrat from Indiana, introduced a companion bill in the Business firm of Representatives. Nine of the 17 people killed in the Table Rock Lake sinking were members of the aforementioned Indiana family.
'Like I've never seen before': A moment-by-moment account of the tragic duck boat sinking
Hawley, a Republican, said he is thankful the legislation has support on both sides of the aisle.
"I've been pleased past the bipartisan, bicameral support for my legislation to prevent future duck gunkhole tragedies similar the one at Table Rock Lake last summer," Hawley said. "I'll go along to push my colleagues to bring this crucial legislation upward for a vote."
Roy Edgeless, Missouri's other U.Southward. senator, has also signed on to back up Hawley'south bill. Blunt, a Republican, is a member of the Committee on Commerce, Scientific discipline, and Transportation and could be influential in getting the nib up for a vote.
In a argument to the News-Leader, Edgeless chastised the U.Due south. Coast Guard and NTSB for what he perceives equally a lack of progress in their investigations into the duck boat sinking.
"It has been a year since 17 people lost their lives in the tragedy at Table Rock Lake," Edgeless said. "The Coast Baby-sit and the NTSB take had more than enough fourth dimension to complete their investigations, issue recommendations, and implement new safety measures. Their failure to practice then is unacceptable. In the absenteeism of their activity, this bill is an of import pace toward improving duck boat rubber. I will work with Sen. Hawley and our congressional colleagues on any additional provisions that may be needed post-obit the NTSB's terminal written report."
Source: https://www.news-leader.com/in-depth/news/local/2019/07/19/duck-boats-ever-come-again-branson-missouri-ride-the-ducks-ripley/1685980001/
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