Aldermen Will Back Ferry Bid For Funds

By MARK EVANS

STE. GENEVIEVE HERALD

Ron Inman, chairman of the New Bourbon Port Authority and manager of the Ste. Genevieve-Modoc Ferry, requested support from the Ste. Genevieve Board of Aldermen in pursuing funding from the state of Illinois.

Inman explained that while the ferry gets $88,000 annually from Missouri, it has never gotten any funding from Illinois. Meanwhile, he has found that other ferries are getting equal funding from two different states.

Inman said that a new Illinois State Senator, Terry Bryant, gives hope that Illinois may be open to the idea now.

The money can be used for anything the ferry needs.

Inman said they had always been told that since the ferries were private operations, the state would not be able to participate in funding them. That, he said, turned out not to be true.

“They had been supporting the Caven Rock Ferry, which has been privately owned by the same family since about 1798 or 1799. It came out in te paper in Metropolis.”

He said the Caven Rock Ferry threatened to shut is operation down if it did not receive more money. Inman said that operation now gets $144,000 from Illinois and $144,000 from Kentucky for the next eight years.

Inman asked the city and county and other entities to sign a letter to Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, urging him to support the funding.