Black Eyed Susan almost gone

has lined up are scarce at this stage, but Pollitt said he is under the impression that the buyer is not interested in using the Black Eyed Susan as a “working boat.”

“Frankly, I think the cost of bringing it up to the Coast Guard’s standards is prohibitive to anyone who wants to buy it,” he said.

There were rumblings about possible efforts to sell the riverboat to a local buyer or group who could, in theory, keep the boat local, but Pollitt said no one was able to come up with the financing to make such a deal fea- sible.

“We had to tow it back to Snow Hill from (the Coast Guard shipyard in) Norfolk because we couldn’t afford the seaworthy repairs,” Pollitt pointed out. “Anyone will have to spend some money just to get it down the river to wherever (and) no one has come up with a workable finance plan.”

Pollitt said the county communicated to him that they hope to have their dealings with the state settled by the end of next week, making him hopeful that the issue can be brought to the commissioners by their next meeting on Aug. 1.