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WANTED: An individual, corporation or city, with a fat wallet, to adopt the world's only full-size Confederate ironclad warship replica.
WHAT: The Neuse II.
REQUIREMENTS: Must be able to pay off $22,000 in debt, finance the relocation and setup of the boat outside Kinston, and underwrite the last phase of construction.
BENEFITS: Selection of new site; accrual of gratitude from future historians, students and tourists.
The Neuse II's board of directors, shipbuilder Alton Stapleford and Ted Sampley, the boat's originator, say they're weary of the city's interference and are ready to move the boat outside Kinston.
"Just as soon as we can find a sponsor," Sampley said.
The boat is a tourist attraction and Pride of Kinston Director Adrian King said he would hate to see it leave. Pride leases the land on which the boat is erected to The Last Firebase, the veteran's organization that formerly owned the Neuse II.
The latest salvo fired across the boat's bow came this week. Tommy Lee, the city's planning and inspections director, notified Sampley that power would be restored to the boat if builders would fulfill a laundry list of building and safety requirements.
Sampley has said he would comply with many of the "suggestions," but only voluntarily and without acknowledging the city's claim that the boat is a building. He maintains that the city has no control over the Neuse II. The boat is registered with the U.S. Coast Guard and is governed by naval requirements, not the city or state's building regulations, he and Stapleford say.
Sampley and Stapleford say they're looking for an environment where the boat will be welcome and they can continue building it, as much as possible, to the same specifications used to build the original CSS Neuse "without a lot of hassle." Sampley said he hopes the new site is near water, but would not have to be near the Neuse River.
The local Sons of Confederate Veterans organization has been working on landscape plans for the site, but has called a halt until Neuse II's final resting place is known.
Pulling the boat from the city will result in a hole in the city's historic tourism advertising campaign. The Neuse II is prominently featured on literature distributed in Virginia and throughout North Carolina.
Thursday has been designated as Museum Row day in Kinston, when visitors can tour several historic sites in the city, including Harmony Hall, the old firehouse, the CSS Neuse, the Civil War battlefield off U.S. 70 East, the Black History Museum and the boat.
Plans, for which the state Legislature has so far failed to allocate money, call for moving the original gunboat to a climate-controlled museum downtown, only a short walk from the Neuse II. King said the opportunity to see both boats so close together would be a bonus for tourists.
"But Pride doesn't have any part in this discussion," King said. "This is between the city and Ted."
Pride does own the land at Gordon and Herritage streets where the Neuse II stands, however. The land was leased to The Last Firebase for four years at $1 annually. Sampley was to have first right of refusal to buy the property for $1 after the lease, and its extension, expires on Aug. 31, 2006.
"I've been told by a Pride member that there are land mines ahead and I don't believe Pride has any intention of turning that land over to our organization," Sampley said.
King said he knows about no plans Pride has to back out of the purchase agreement.
The lease also calls for Sampley to pay taxes on the property, which have averaged less than $170 annually during the lease. He said he asked about the taxes during one of his last meetings with Pride officials, but the issue was not discussed. Sampley said he has never received a tax bill on the land.
King said Pride has paid the taxes for the last three years and he
doesn't intend to raise any questions about it.
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