As yacht remains beached on St. Croix, bills aim to punish ‘derelict boat owners’

They start out with such promise, the boats with names like Sunseeker and Freedom and Voyageur, that it can seem unlikely they would one day be forgotten or sunk or left on an island by an owner.

And yet it happens. Sweet Destiny, the 54-foot motor yacht beached, bemoaned, and bewilderingly difficult to remove from Beer Can Island in the St. Croix River is just the latest example.

The answer for future such boats might be prison time for the owners, according to a new bill drafted by a Wisconsin legislator. A Minnesota bill, meanwhile, doesn’t address prison but would make it a misdemeanor to dump a boat.

“We’re not putting derelict boat owners in prison, but it does have to have some teeth,” said Sen. Judy Seeberger, DFL-Afton, who proposed the Minnesota measure.

The proposals come after lobbying from Hudson Mayor Rich O’Connor, who wants to see stiffer consequences for boat abandonment after his city spent months trying without luck to dislodge Sweet Destiny from its perch near downtown Hudson.

“This is a common-sense approach,” said O’Connor, who spent 12 years representing St. Paul neighborhoods in the Minnesota House of Representatives before his family moved to Wisconsin. “I’m delighted that legislators in both states have taken up this cause.”

Wisconsin state Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, a Republican whose district includes Hudson, drafted a bill that would give owners 30 days to move their boat if law enforcement deems it abandoned. The owner risks a nine-month prison sentence or a fine of $10,000, or both, if they don’t comply. The state DNR could also revoke any hunting, fishing, or trapping privileges the boat owner holds and require the person to take a boating safety course. The bill was prompted by the dumping of Sweet Destiny, but there’s an abandoned boat in Milwaukee that’s been making news as well.

The bill is in draft form, but could be introduced in the next 10 days, said Zimmerman. The reception from other legislators so far has “all been favorable,” he said.

“If you care about the quality of the water, you’ll care about this bill. If you care about the environment, you’ll care about this bill. If you care about basic human responsibility, you’ll care about this bill … I think it just makes sense,” he said.

O’Connor also reached out to Minnesota, finding a receptive audience with Seeberger. Her proposal had a hearing Tuesday in the Senate’s Environment, Climate and Legacy Committee. It was approved despite some questions from Republican committee members about government overreach and passed along to the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.

The bill makes it a misdemeanor to leave a boat on public lands anywhere in the state, whether it’s a waterway or the side of the road. Seeberger said she heard anecdotes from DNR officials about people tossing out old boats anywhere they could.

In one example, highway surveillance cameras caught a man tying a rope to the back of his trailered boat, tying the other end of the rope to a signpost, and then driving off and leaving the boat behind.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Law conservation officer Lt. Col. Robert Gorecki testified in Tuesday’s hearing that the state sees about 40 abandoned boats a year. Many of the boats go unreported and often get cleaned up by sheriff’s deputies.

“The DNR has told me that the sheriffs would love it if they don’t have this responsibility anymore,” said Seeberger.

In addition to facing a misdemeanor charge, a boat owner who abandons their vessel could see their state licenses suspended — including those for hunting, fishing, and ATV riding — until the boat is cleaned up and the removal is paid for, Seeberger said.

Seeberger said she was prompted to act in part by the intense public interest in the ongoing saga of Sweet Destiny. The boat has become an internet meme and drawn thousands of comments on Facebook pages related to it.

Despite the attention, it’s still lodged on the beach of Hudson’s Beer Can Island. City officials say they plan to start issuing fines soon to the boat’s registered owner, Bill Warren of Elba, Ala.

Warren, a sometimes-treasure hunter who says he wants to use the boat for a new treasure diving project in Florida, said this week that he doesn’t have the money to remove the boat. He’s hoping investors in his diving project will help pay for the boat’s restoration.

“This bill,” Seeberger said, “has probably generated more feedback from people than anything else I’ve ever done.”