The Story below was printed first in the Park Kills MO "Daily Journal. You can read their version here.
It was then picked up by Fox 2 News and aired on Tuesday evening. You can see the text here:
and the video here.
Missouri Stream Team 3550 recovers ATM from the Big River at Bonehole access.
On Saturday, May 17th, Stream Team #3550 cleaned sections of the Big River from Mount's Gravel Pit (off of Hwy 8) to the Bonehole access (near Hwy P).
One of the Stream Team crews, composed of Park Hills and Des loges residents, recovered a 200 pound ATM cash dispensing machine near the Bonehole access.
The recovery team was Sam Allison, Jamie Allison, Jeff Barton, Jason Legrand, Rodney Reed, Tim Richardson, Jason Stevens, and Brad Yoder.
The team dug the ATM out of the silty mud, and Mr. Yoder used his truck and a tow chain to drag it up onto the bank.
Stream Team coordinator, Jerry "Chip" Barton called the St. Francois County Sherriff's office, and Deputy Jason Rayoun retrieved the ATM for inspection of identifying serial numbers, bank identification logos and the mud soaked hard drive. Kenny Barkley's tow truck hauled the evidence back to the station for inspection.
The ATM appeared to have been in the river a very long time and the data may not be recoverable, but speculation was high that it may be evidence of a crime as ATM companies and banks do not dispose of their equipment in this way. when found, a fish had taken up residence inside, but the money box was long gone.
In addition to the ATM, Stream Team 3550 recovered and removed approximately 2 tons of trash from the Big River and its tributaries. This included 48 tires, a clothes drier, a couch, a swimming pool, 80 full bags of assorted trash, about 300 pounds of metal that was recycled.
The family of Kenny and Phyllis Ratliff won this representation of a native American medicine shield, which was donated by a local resident sponsor.
The cleanup was to have involved canoes donated by Cherokee Landing, but became a land-based operation, instead, due to near flood conditions. Several local kayakers from Leadwood were the only Stream Team members to collect trash by boat.
The "boat based" cleanup has been rescheduled for Saturday, June 7th with the Stream Team members meeting at the Leadwood boat access at 8 am. Call Jerry Barton in Leadwood (573-218-8989) for more information and to join this effort.
The Missouri Stream Team program is a joint partnership of the Department of Conservation (MDC), the Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), and the Conservation Federation of Missouri, local volunteers and sponsors.
There are currently more than 3,500 Stream Teams in the state and over 70,000 members. Collectively, these volunteers have removed more than 400,000 tons of trash and debris from Missouri's rivers and streams in the 19 years that the program has existed. You can see this collective effort represented on an interactive map at http://www.mostreamteam.org.
Thomas Ball
Missouri Stream Team AmeriCorps Assistant
home (314) 962-1241
Confluence Greenway office (314) 436-1324 ext 118
thomas.ball@sbcglobal.net
www.mostreamteam.org
www.moriver.org
1 comment:
What an interesting find! Very cool!!
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