ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 24, 1996 TAG: 9612240072
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
The owner of a cruise boat operating on the New River out of Claytor Lake State Park since 1992 has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Western Virginia in Roanoke.
Howard Barrett Co. of Dublin, trading as New River Cruise Co., Virginia Deli & Gifts and Pioneer Maid, filed for liquidation, estimating assets of between $100,000 and $499,999 and liabilities of less than $50,000.
The filing was as a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, under which assets are often liquidated to pay debts.
The deli and gifts shop were started after the Pioneer Maid cruise boat was launched four years ago. The owners are an Austinville couple, Howard L. Barrett Jr. and Joyce E. Barrett, who also filed for a wage earner plan estimating both assets and liabilities as less than $50,000.
Park manager Richard Johnson was unable to say how this would affect future boat cruises from the park dock. The Barretts could not be reached for comment Monday.
But the filing did halt a scheduled auction of the 60-foot 140-passenger cruise boat, deli and New River Cruise Co. office, as well as the couple's house and two acres of land in Austinville.
The couple filed a separate Chapter 13 bankruptcy on their home and land, which allows a payback on a percentage of the debt.
That auction had been scheduled because of a default on a $150,000 Small Business Administration loan maturing in six years.
The Barretts had convinced the state Department of Conservation and Recreation State Parks Division in 1990 that a cruise boat offering meals along with tidbits of local history would be a viable enterprise. Then they had to convince department officials that they would be the best people to operate it, which they did.
Once started, their cruise boat drew recognition from tourism organizations such as the 19-county Virginia's Southwest Blue Ridge Highlands Inc., which gave it an outstanding achievement award in 1993. Later that year, the Barretts spoke at the Governor's Conference on Tourism and Outdoor Recreation in Richmond on how other entrepreneurs could successfully prepare business plans, obtain local and governmental support and work with financial and government agencies for original projects like theirs.
It was host for the Virginia Hospitality and Travel Industry Association, formed by the merger of organizations representing Virginia restaurants, inns, motels and other hospitality and travel businesses, for its first cruise of the 1994 season.
Its only public problems in recent years came during the past two winters. In 1995, the cruise boat took on water during a winter freeze but area fire departments pumped it out. In early 1996, the boat actually sank beneath Claytor Lake and had to be raised.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB