Neighbours feud over the Wanda Sue

While the neighbourhood is happy to see the repair work near completion, there are those who fear the boat named Wanda Sue could cause further problems if it remains in the water.

“We’d like to be compensated for our loss, and we’d like to have the Wanda Sue removed out of the water.”

Margaret Harvey was out of town when the old paddle wheeler broke free of its mooring, destroying her dock.

“Now we’re back home to deal with the issue,” Harvey said. “My husband has spoke with the owner of the Wanda Sue to see if we’ll be compensated for this, and he’s not willing to settle with us.”

Gunnar Slack owns the Wanda Sue and says the incident was an act of nature, the result of an ice jam on the South Thompson River.

“What had happened is that ice and water had come over, jammed up against our pilings and our dolphin that was out there and literally just took the boat and everything downstream,” Slack said.

Slack believes his boat actually prevented further damage to the riverbank.

“It had a walkway that was flipped underneath it, so there was about 4-5 feet of wharf protection there that was actually forcing water and ice back out in towards the middle of the river, towards the outside of the boat anyway.”

The Wanda Sue was tied to Marlene Crowther’s dock next door to Slack, where it remains while repair work is done.

“My concerns are it’s tied here only on one piling, that’s a lot of pressure,” Crowther said. “It broke loose when it had a whole lot more pilings than that, and it’s not insured, so it is a concern being here when it’s not insured.”

Crowther is also worried that her property will be weakened by the repair work that is being done.

“All this rock that they’re adding is brand new protection work that was not here in the last three properties, so I’m just the fourth property, so I feel I should be done too to protect,” she said. “Otherwise now they’re all protected, the water’s going to end up coming in here. I’m going to be the weak spot.”

Greg Wightman, Utility Services Manager for the city, says Crowther would have to get the work done herself.

“We’re basically doing this work as advised by the province here, so what we’re doing is just repairing the imminent failure section there and our work is going to end as soon as we’ve repaired that section of concern,” Wightman said.

Crews have been working along the riverbank for about two weeks, and the work is expected to be completed in around a week’s time.

by Jill Sperling

Neighbours feud over the Wanda Sue

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