The U.S. Coast Guard today physically inspected Allen Casey's rundown barge on Chattanooga's downtown waterfront and found no significant reservations for the vessel to be towed away, an attorney said.
Jerrold Farinash, trustee in Casey's U.S. Bankruptcy Court case, said the Coast Guard determined that the barge could safely travel on the Tennessee River.
He said that a Biloxi, Miss., company commissioned to move the barge is working on summoning a tugboat to take the barge away. But, Farinash said that it's still unclear exactly when the barge will be moved out of the city.
He said the Coast Guard may have to make one more inspection of the tug's hookup to the barge.
Casey, who developed the Chattanooga Choo Choo more than three decades ago, brought the barge to Chattanooga in 2009 to serve as a floating restaurant. Casey and one of his companies filed for bankruptcy more than a year ago, and the barge has been part of those cases since then.