Cherokee Nation wants Chattanooga's dilapidated barge

The Cherokee Nation wants to lay claim to Allen Casey's dilapidated barge, but an attorney said Wednesday he's moving ahead with a court-approved plan to rid it from Chattanooga's waterfront.

The abandoned restaurant barge known as the Casey barge is seenTuesday, Mar. 24, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn., after sinking deeper into the Tennessee River and suffering more structural damage overnight.

In the latest ripple in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court case involving the half-sunken barge, the chief of the Original Cherokee Nation filed papers saying it would like to be considered in the disposition of the rundown vessel.

The chief, Dale F. Cook Sr., said that while he chaired a Trail of Tears Committee in 1996, he formulated a commemorative rides project involving a water route.

"More recently, a feasibility study was done in furtherance of the project, [with] the 'Casey Barge' matter presenting itself as an opportunity to further that project," he said in a letter.

Cook said in a telephone interview that the barge couldn't be used in its present state, but there are some "concepts."

"This fits in with the project," he said, declining to go into more detail.

But, earlier Wednesday, Judge Shelley Rucker approved a loan agreement that attorneys said will help speed the removal of the barge from downtown's waterfront.

The judge agreed to a $350,000 loan plan involving a Tullahoma, Tenn., bank to pay for raising the half-submerged barge and later floating it away from where its moored across from Ross's Landing.

"A lot has been accomplished in the last five weeks," she said during a hearing.

Jerrold Farinash, trustee in a bankruptcy court case involving the barge, said he expected that pumping to raise the vessel will begin today and take at least a couple of days.

Then, workers will access the barge's condition and make repairs which may be needed, he said.

Farinash said a Mississippi firm, Gulf Stream Enterprises, has agreed to float the barge down the Tennessee River and ultimately to Mobile Bay.

Court papers call for Gulf Stream to take ownership and for it to be paid $195,000 to remove the barge by May 15, though workers have said it could be removed before then.

Farinash dismissed the filing by Cook, saying there already is a plan for the barge.

He termed the judge's blessing of the loan "a big, big step" in the removal of the barge, which has drawn a barrage of criticism from city leaders for its condition.

Farinash said he traveled to Biloxi, Miss., over the weekend to see Gulf Stream's facilities and "convince myself they had the wherewithal to remove the barge."

At the hearing, attorney after attorney in the case endorsed the removal plan.

Even Casey, who filed bankruptcy about a year ago after his plan failed to turn the barge into a floating restaurant, offered his OK.

"I'm all in favor of it," he said after the hearing, declining further comment.

The barge sank early last week, with Farinash saying it was intentionally vandalized and swamped.

He said police told him there was no eyewitness nor camera to show what actually happened.

The bank loan would be paid back from proceeds from the potential sale of part of a vacant 11-acre parcel to which the barge is moored. About six acres of the site was earlier put on the market for $11.2 million.

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.