THE INSIDE STORY OF THE 2014 SUPER BOAT RACE DISASTER!
THE INSIDE STORY OF THE 2014 SUPER BOAT RACE DISASTER!
EXCLUSIVELY ON STOP BAD GOVERNMENT!!
Editor’s Note: The following inside story was given to Mr. Scott Andrichak, who provided it to Stop Bad Government in Charlotte County.
The authors stated they wish to remain anonymous out of fear of repercussions from the County Commissioners, County Administration and the Sheriff’s Office.
SBG puts this information before our readers, as the authors write, to give you the rest of the story. There are facts and figures here that have not been reported elsewhere.
Mr. Andrichak says the only changes made were to punctuation, clarity, etc.
We here at Stop Bad Government made no changes.
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THE 2014 CHARLOTTE HARBOR SUPER BOAT RACE
THE REST OF THE STORY
We’ve been reading a number of stories published in the local newspapers regarding the 2014 Super Boat Races. Much of the information that has been reported as fact is lacking in many ways. In addition, if you’ve been a fan of watching our Board of County Commissioners, you will have been told a wide variety of half-truths and / or lies as to what happened. This is the first installment in a series of articles that are offered for your consideration to provide you with “The Rest of the Story”.
This information has been submitted to the local newspaper on numerous occasions, either by letters, letters to the editor, interviews with a “reporter” and / or information that has been offered to the BOCC – and discarded by the same.
We offer this only to provide the reader with a complete picture of what went on behind the scenes, and in some cases, provide answers as to why the race did not come back to Charlotte County in 2015.
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Part 1 How it Started – A Little History
The concept of bringing million dollar race boats to Charlotte County was developed in 2011/2012. A volunteer committee to consider ways of putting Charlotte County on the map was formed.
The genesis of this committee was the brainchild of Lorah Steiner, Travel and Tourism Director of Charlotte County. After numerous ideas were considered, the idea of an international racing event in our pristine waters moved to the top of the list.
Efforts to explore developing the race for this area were begun. Visits to other race sites were undertaken. Note that all costs to these numerous race site visits were paid by the individuals. No county money was involved. Once a blue print was determined, (i.e., how the other race venues were managed, approximate budgets, interaction with the race teams and relationships developed with the teams and the race sanctioning body) the committee set out to develop a method of funding the event.
Sadly, after many months, the committee was unable to secure enough sponsorship to make the race happen.
Hope was lost until County Commissioner “candidate” Bill Truex urged the committee to contact the county for funding. As he stated, “This county needs something like this and they have funds to make something like this happen”.
After many months of meetings and countless studies provided from the findings of other Florida race venues, the County Commissioners voted 4 to 1 (Truex, Doherty, Duffy, Deutsch for, Constance against) in favor of providing $250,000 taxpayer dollars over two years to get the race “off the ground”. To quote Ken Doherty at this meeting, “We need to take a leap of faith to make things happen here”.
The committee was formed in the interest in doing something positive for the community and to place “Charlotte County on the map”.
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Coming up in Part 2: Failure to Launch
Why would the County Commissioners vote to fund an event and then undermine, degrade, ridicule and sabotage those same individuals trying to make the race a reality?
