March 11, 2005

Driving Under The Effluence - part two

I had written about the original story here:
Interesting news about the Dave Matthews Band in ProSound News Online:

The Dave Matthews Band, currently on tour, has been accused of violating Illinois state water pollution and public nuisance laws, fines for which could reach $70,000. The band and tour bus driver Stefan A. Whol were accused by Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan on Tuesday over an incident on August 8 where reportedly one of the band’s tour busses dumped 80-100 gallons of human waste on to a Chicago River tourist boat.

During a two-night stand at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI on August 7 and 8, the band stayed in a Michigan Avenue hotel in Chicago; according to the three-count civil complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court, a black 2003 Monaco Royale Coach which was on tour with the production dumped a tank of effluence while crossing a grated bridge. Unfortunately, a boat of tourists on an architectural sight-seeing journey was passing underneath at the time.
Well, the case has been resolved... Steve H. at Hog On Ice has the update and tells a story:
Dave Matthews: "Buy my CD's or FACE MY POO!"
Green Celeb Confesses to Taking Dump on Innocent Sightseers

Have you read this? It's on Drudge's site. Security videos proved that the Dave Matthews Band pooped on a boat full of tourists in Chicago. Remember the story? A mysterious black bus was sighted on a bridge over the Chicago River, and it unloaded its waste tank just as a boat passed under it. The authorities suspected that the bus belonged to Dave.

I know nothing at all about the Dave Matthews Band, since I don't listen to much pop crap (pun not intended), but the news articles all say Dave is as green as they come. And when the story came out, the driver lied his big ass off. The bus was in the garage! Honest!

Today he says otherwise. He pleaded guilty, and he's paying a whopping fine.

Now the driver is Dave's ex-driver, and we're supposed to believe that ol' Dave had no idea the bus was dumping poo illegally. Do you buy that? Do you think the man rides around in the bus time and time again and has no idea where the poop goes? Do you honestly think he never asked? Wouldn't YOU ask? Of course he knew. The bus holds 800 pounds. How many poos do you reckon that is? Maybe a hundred, tops? You have to include flush water and wash water and bath water, if they had a shower. So if four or five people are on the bus, maybe twenty whizzes and seven or eight dumps a day, plus washing up...that thing has to fill up twice a week. Surely Dave has been on board during one of the bombing raids.

I wonder why they did it. My old man's boat has poo fittings that shoot straight into the ocean, just like virtually everyone else in the U.S. People do it because it's cheaper than having a poo tank, and you can refit the tank for diesel. And because it's a disgusting chore, tying up at the poo dock and having your load sucked out. My dad's boat has been in the same marina for sixteen years, and I have NEVER seen a boat tie up beside the poo thing. Nobody does it.

But they don't SHOOT IT AT TOURISTS, EITHER.
Absolutely true -- I used to have sailboats and the marinas I was in always had liveaboards. Only saw tourists at the pumpout station. You go out for a bit, pump your tanks and have a nice sail. Come back and no one is the wiser... Posted by DaveH at March 11, 2005 10:57 PM | TrackBack