Ben Bernstein: [00:00:00] This episode of Ramblin on the River is presented by BB Riverboats. 

Sponsor Message: What does summertime in the Ohio River Valley mean to you? From the deck of a BB Riverboat, it means a breeze on the water, lush views, and a historic cruise by the Queen City skyline. BB Riverboats offers an experience as unforgettable as childhood summers.

This season, let our crew take care of yours as you cruise the mighty Ohio River. BB Riverboats. The river is waiting.

Moderator: You're listening to the Ramblin on the River podcast, presented by BB Riverboats. The Bernstein family has been a predominant name in Cincinnati's hospitality landscape since the 1960s, and this podcast will be a collection of the stories, tales, and experiences from their [00:01:00] entrepreneurial endeavors in the restaurant and excursion boat business.

Join as they take you on a A journey through the family's history in their own unique style. Now, here are your hosts, Ben Terri and Alan Bernstein.

Ben Bernstein: Hello, everybody. Welcome back found the Ramblin on the River podcast. My name is Ben Bernstein joined by my father. Alan. And my sister, Terri, you want to say hello? Hello. That's, that's why 

Alan Bernstein: I have a comment to start. It's the same order that we go, Ben, Terri and Alan start 

Ben Bernstein: muting your microphone at the beginning of every show again.

Thank you everybody for listening. We really appreciate it. Now [00:02:00] our seventh time doing this. We're. Doing pretty well, I'd say we're moving right along even as I think I'm doing well. I don't know about the two of you. You short of lagging behind as little as we knew about hosting a podcast. We're learning.

We're just only a tiny bit more at this point. 

Before we get started, please ask that you go and like and subscribe our podcast on any one of your favorite podcast platforms feel free to head over to our Instagram and Facebook pages as well as our website at ramblinontheriver.Com. And if you'd like to connect directly with us as we've had quite a few emails here since we started, you can email us at podcast@bbriverboats.Com. This week, we are going to get into. our industry association, it's been a very key part of BB Riverboats growth and success over the years.

We are members of the passenger [00:03:00] vessel association, affectionately known as PVA. And they have played a very large role in helping us from a restaurant family back in the El Greco, Mike Fink years and propelling us into our riverboat history. Helping us grow 

Alan Bernstein: so this is an interesting sidelight.

Most boat companies start as a boat company and get into the food business Yes, and or have we took the opposite road and we're in the food business and then got into the boat business. And we needed all the help we can get. Right. We needed more help. We still need 

Terri Bernstein: all the help we can get. 

Alan Bernstein: We sort of took the back road into, so we were a food operation that got into a boat operation and married those two where most people just do the opposite. 

Ben Bernstein: And really, when we got into the boating business Boats did not have a very good [00:04:00] reputation. for great food, right, there's always been a focus on safety and all the operational aspects of it.

There was not very often that you went around the country and wrote on a boy, I had a great meal on exactly. Yeah. And kind of the the marrying of our restaurant heritage and the riverboats interest, I guess, would be a better word to say that. You know, an interesting sign. 

Terri Bernstein: It's actually the riverboat dynamic.

It's much harder on a boat than it is. everything 

Ben Bernstein: is more difficult on a boat. 

Alan Bernstein: And the irony of the whole thing is, my father was a very seasick prone person. He hated being on the water because he always got seasick. And of course, the river is a different experience. he was talking about the world war two trips that he had to go across the ocean.

It's a whole different, a whole different kind. And today's cruising, even as a as an overnight cruise to the Caribbean they have [00:05:00] stabilizers on, but you know, the military didn't have any of that stuff. So it was, they were not there for comfort. No, they were not built for any comfort. That's correct.

At all. 

Ben Bernstein: Alright, well let's get the show started. Okay. 

Moderator: Gather round everybody, because it is story time on Ramblin on the River.

Terri Bernstein: What happened to Dad? Yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: Oh my goodness. 

Terri Bernstein: Oh my god. Get around everybody! It's story time! On the ramblin on the river! On the 

Ben Bernstein: ramblin on the river! It is pretty good. That's way better. That's way better. We need to get some music behind it. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: All right. So as we get started this week, we are joined Is this our third week in a row of the guests?

Is that three weeks in a row? I think it is. I think so. Rizzo, 

Terri Bernstein: Troy, and then 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah. We are joined by the executive [00:06:00] director of the Passenger Vessel Association. He is none other than John Groundwater. 

Terri Bernstein: Watch it. A little clap. 

Ben Bernstein: Oh. Oh, 

Terri Bernstein: wait, wait, wait. 

Ben Bernstein: Oh, yeah. Wait a minute. And, 

Alan Bernstein: and, and that, that is not accurate.

That's not accurate. As a fact. Fact. Fact. Check. Check. Yeah. His name is not groundwater. It's a bilge water because you cannot be the executive director. of a marine operation, or operators, and be groundwater. It's got to be bilgewater. 

John Groundwater: It's got to be both. Well, let me just say thank you very much for that introduction.

And I'm delighted to be here. And not everybody knows me as bilgewater, but now they do. It's out there now. Right? I have to say that some folks, you know, they'll say Groundwater, but others, Alan, you know this, others will say John Bilgewater, so, you know, some know and some don't, but [00:07:00] now everybody knows.

Ben Bernstein: That is 100 percent thanks to my father's large mouth. 

Alan Bernstein: Exactly. And we've gone multi generational on this. Even the John's kids are known as the Little 

Speaker 7: Bilges. 

Ben Bernstein: Well, John, thank you, 

John Groundwater: very 

Ben Bernstein: much for taking a little bit of time out of your day. I just wanted to start, John, will you give us a little quick history how you made your way to PVA?

John Groundwater: Oh, sure, sure. And it's, it's my pleasure to be with you all. It's, it's always good to be with the Bernsteins and you guys are very well known in the industry and certainly have been doing great things for past, for the passenger vessel industry and for PVA for years. So thank you very much for having me.

You know, I came to PVA actually yeah. Without a maritime background, I came actually from the Broadcasting Industry, the National Association of Broadcasters, which had nothing to do with vessels. I was doing [00:08:00] marketing work for them, and they actually have a very well oiled lobbying machine and all of that.

And I interviewed for the job as executive director and came over and I say this to, to, I've said this to you all and you know, I was thinking, okay, I'll be here about five years and you know, keep moving on in the association business and next thing you know, I look it over my shoulder and I've been here a long time and, and I think it's, you know, for several reasons and I, I think a, it's, it's a fascinating industry.

It's a fun industry to be involved in. It's, it's an industry with wonderful people, you know, this is an industry made up of folks like yourselves, who interact well with the public, you know, you're in the people business, you interact daily with your customers, you know how to treat people.

 So it's been it's been a really a lot of fun And I think we've done good things and I think the PVA [00:09:00] staff has Had a blast and it's really every time we hire a new staff person.

I say listen count your blessings this is a great industry to work with so You know, I came out of the broadcasting industry, but I've been in associations really since You I probably graduated from college, and I started out with in the limestone industry, believe it or not, and I was doing lobbying for limestone folks, and These are quarry people, and my first job I was lobbying for the Agricultural Conservation Program, and if I could get 190 million dollars in the Ag Bill appropriated to put agricultural limestone on fields of farmers, you know, I could keep my job, 

so, you know, that was my first taste of, of lobbying in Washington, so I was thankful , to have some senior members of staff people, primarily in Congress, that [00:10:00] were able to speak to a 20 some year old guy. And one of them was from Kentucky.

And I was able to keep my job, luckily, and I learned a lot. And one thing led to another and I enjoyed the association work. I did a little stint in advertising and the like, and those kinds of things served me well throughout my career. But I really feel like to a great extent, I found a home in PVA, enjoy the issues, enjoy the maritime industry, enjoy the folks in the industry.

And you know, every day is, is a sort of a new day. In the boat business, right? Absolutely. 

Ben Bernstein: That is the one thing we always say, you know, you may be running the same cruises and the same cruise schedule every day, but every day is different, there's a new challenge or the weather's different, or there's a certain group on board but it is. while some may look at it as mundane as far as the repetition goes, it certainly is. Is anything but that's in reality. [00:11:00] I think the 

Terri Bernstein: cool thing about our industry too is it's a very family oriented industry. Most of the companies are family owned businesses and PVA is like that. We're all together, we all You know, collaborate and everybody 

knows the kids and 

John Groundwater: the 

Terri Bernstein: grandkids and from boats all over the country and we all help each other out because if one's better than we're all better, you know, 

Ben Bernstein: now, before we get too far, I've gotten, I've gotten a couple of comments.

We obviously everybody listening to our show is not very in tune with what everything is that we're talking about had a couple of comments of, you know, certain definitions. So because of that, John, give us the 30 second pitch for if nobody's ever heard of the passenger vessel association, why don't you give them a little primer 

John Groundwater: about who PVA is?

Yes. Yes. 

Ben Bernstein: Correct. 

John Groundwater: Okay. Well, PVA is a trade association, a membership [00:12:00] driven trade association. And that means we are made up of member companies. We have vessel members, that is folks who operate passenger vessels. Those are members who pay to be members of the association.

And then we also have associate members who are vendors. You know, manufacturers, there's everybody from shipyards to you know, electronics producers to engine manufacturers and on and on and on and on, everybody supplies the industry. So back to the vessel operators you know folks have said over the years, and you all have heard this many times, you've seen one passenger vessel. You know, you've seen one passenger vessel. It's a hugely diverse industry, right? and the membership of PVA is made up of dinner boats, which actually that was the really the roots. 

Alan Bernstein: That's the beginning Yeah, 

John Groundwater: And Alan you were a [00:13:00] big part of that in your company in your Your father and, you know, 

and it was primarily started, PVA was started in the rivers, in the Western rivers. And, and over the years as PVA grew and spread throughout the country it became small overnight cruises, ferry boat operators, whale watch operators excursion boats, private charters. So the industry, as I said, is extremely diverse. So we represent lots and lots of interests now more than just, say, the industries. Mississippi River or the Western River dinner boat operators, which really started the organization many, many years ago.

So that gives us reason to do lots and lots of, of representation, so to speak, in Washington, D. C. And so our work is with Congress and with the regulatory agencies and the Coast Guard. Primarily representing all these [00:14:00] interests and all these diverse interests and, for example, yesterday I was talking with one of our staff members, Richard Patch, who's our new legislative director, and he had lunch with one of the commissioners of the Federal Maritime Commission, and we were talking about surety bonds that our overnight cruise operators have to maintain.

And, and how sometimes as these small companies have to maintain the surety bonds, sometimes they're tough as a small company as compared to the big international cruise ships. So all these interests that we deal with are different depending on the industry type or the, you know, the market segment maybe is a better way to say that say it than, than different activities.

 And many of PVA's companies are small businesses. In fact, at one point we did some numbers and about 80%, I think at one point it was 82 percent said they were actually our vessel members [00:15:00] at least were small companies by corporate standards. 

Alan Bernstein: And one thing that we haven't mentioned just as a requirement to be a member of PVA is your vessel has to carry. A certificate of inspection or a COI Exactly. From the Coast Guard. So if you are not, if you are a pleasure boater, for example, 

John Groundwater: correct. 

Alan Bernstein: And you wanna rent your boat and you wanna become a pass PVA member, you cannot Mm-Hmm. unless you get a certificate of inspection. So there's a, a difference between a large pleasure boat and a small excursion boat.

So the Coast Guard is, is certainly a member of our life all the time. Correct. Yeah, right. Absolutely. And 

John Groundwater: One of the things that I thought when I first came to PVA and that we've stressed over the years is that as an operator and I can talk about the vendors, the associate members in a second because it applies to them also to an extent.

But one of the things that I thought was [00:16:00] important is that our staff members are generally content experts. We have staff members who are retired coast guard officers, or experts on Capitol Hill. And so let's say you're operating or you have an inspector that's standing on the deck plates and you have a disagreement.

Or you get an 835, or you get an 835 that's a no sale, and you have a wedding coming up, or something like that, and all of a sudden there's panic going on, right? 

Alan Bernstein: And an 835 is a technical violation of the Coast Guard rules. So anybody listening to what the heck's an 835? It's a violation or you have to 

Ben Bernstein: correct 

Alan Bernstein: are we 

Ben Bernstein: are regularly inspected by the united states coast guard?

That's correct. There's any sort of deficiency. You are written in 835 You're issued an 830 and there are differing levels of 835 So you can't sail until it's if you don't have your fire pump working You're out 

Terri Bernstein: side note. We got an 835 

Alan Bernstein: Oh 

Terri Bernstein: [00:17:00] When we had our facility inspection, we got an 835 to say we didn't get any 835s.

Ben Bernstein: You're right. That was, that's probably a whole other episode of some of the boondoggles we've been through with the Coast Guard, but it all said and done. Yeah, that's, that was 

Terri Bernstein: only a couple of weeks ago. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah. Yeah. 

John Groundwater: And that sounds kind of good, I guess, right? I guess. So that sounds, but so let's say you get a bad one, you know, and they say, well, you aren't sailing and you say, well Mr. Coast Guard or Ms. Coast Guard inspector I have a wedding and they say, well, I'm sorry to say you aren't sailing. You actually can pick up the phone and call PVA and what we're saying is, I'm not promising that we can fix the problem on the spot, but you have a resource to at least talk to, and we can provide maybe more than therapy, we can provide some advice and help on how to possibly solve the [00:18:00] problem.

Really in some associations. don't provide that kind of assistance and they'll say, you need to call your lawyer or, you know, that's beyond our purview, that's not a part of our mission and things like that. We actually pride ourselves on helping in that way, or at least trying to help in that way, shape or form.

So, we pride ourselves on having an expertise and being available to you. To provide that expertise and advice to you when you need it. That's right. I feel 

Terri Bernstein: like you probably do that a lot, like multiple times a day. Some days are 

John Groundwater: busier than a lot of those phone calls might be 

Terri Bernstein: from us.

Well, let's go, let's go back a little bit. 

Ben Bernstein: This is actually before you came on board at PVA. Since my father was there almost at the very beginning, not at the very, not at very, very close, very close. Yeah. Why don't you talk about the very early days of PVA [00:19:00] wasn't even called 

Alan Bernstein: PVA prior. It was not.

It was called the National Association of Passenger Vessel Owners, NAPVO. And when NAPVO, NAPVO started in 1971 and laid dormant for oh, nine years or so. until the winter of 1980, when they had their second meeting, my first, and there was a total of eight or 10 operators.

I can, who was there? Okay. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Memphis Dubuque St. Paul Nashville, Nashville, Dr. Clawton's operation. 

Terri Bernstein: Gotcha. 

Ben Bernstein: John groundwater had just said before he mentioned the Western rivers.

That's right. So what that defines really is the Mississippi river and its tributaries. All of its tribute. Correct. So, all the cities that my father just named, those are all Western rivers cities. That's correct. So it [00:20:00] started, as John said, it all started 

Alan Bernstein: based around here, the Mississippi river and the Ohio river and their tributary that the Ohio river actually is a tributary of the Mississippi river.

So if you look on a map, you'll be able to follow it, just find the Mississippi river in the middle. And you can see where the Western Rivers go and just historically, the reason they called it the Western Rivers is they thought originally this was the Western Rivers of the U. S. They didn't know that there was a big mountain and you could go farther west.

So I don't think anybody wanted to climb that. They probably didn't. But that is how it's got its name. It's it has, Been memorialized in the rules of the road. Now they're trying to take it away. Now they're trying to take it away, which I think is stupid, but that's, that's because I'm old. That's for 

Terri Bernstein: PVA to fight.

Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. That's a good fight for PVA. So BB Riverboats was invited by, well, we were notified that there was going to be a national meeting of all these [00:21:00] boats and we didn't know who was who anyway, we were brand new. 

Ben Bernstein: Oh yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: Right. So I went down with your mother. If we went down to the first meeting, 

Terri Bernstein: did Grandpa go 

Alan Bernstein: not to the first one?

Well, it's really the second meeting. Well, okay. I'm sorry. My first, your first meeting. My first and, and mom and dad did not go. They went to the second and there's a very funny story. I can tell when it's time to tell that story, but that was my, my first one. I met Bob Lump and Dick Lynn and Dr. Claughton and Tom Dunn and 

Terri Bernstein: Was it Terri Wirginis back then? Well, 

Alan Bernstein: Terri was a young kid. Maybe, maybe a teenager. the representative for Gateway Clipper was Zack D'Alessandro. Oh, 

Terri Bernstein: yeah. I love Zack. 

Alan Bernstein: Almost all of the people listening have no idea who those people are. None. Just so you know. Many of them are, many of them have passed. But 

Terri Bernstein: all those companies are still active. All their companies 

Alan Bernstein: are still active today in the association and in the boat business. So I do wanna tell this funny story [00:22:00] because it, well, it is story times.

Oh, it is. Are we in story time right now? We're in story time. Alright. The Bengals were in the Super Bowl. Super Bowl in 19 eight. Their first one. Detroit, Michigan. Detroit, Michigan. 1981. 1981. And it was in Detroit. We were gonna go for the 1982. PVA meeting, which happened to fall right at the end of the Superbowl.

So Mary and I went to the Superbowl. We had a great time up there. And then we flew to Florida and we got into Florida, I don't know, 1130, 12 o'clock at night. And my mom and dad had to check into Mary's in my room because their TV didn't want to work. And they wanted to watch the game.

So they checked into my room. Well, when we came back from the airport mom and dad gave me the key and they said, it's a room, you know, 202. So I go up to 202 and I can't get in the door. It's locked. And my dad said, well, what's wrong? I said, well, I can't get into the room.

He said, we were just in the [00:23:00] room before we came to pick you up. Well, it's locked. I can't get it. So he and I go down to the front desk. Now this was an old style hotel. The office was across the street from the actual dwelling of the hotel. Yeah. And they had an old style intercom that you could hear the phone person and everything in the lobby going on at the same time.

So you answer the phone and you can actually hear people in the lobby if you were on the others. So he answers the phone, the front desk. And there's a yelling and screaming on the telephone. 

John Groundwater: There's a crazy woman in my room. Call the police. 

Alan Bernstein: Well. All of a sudden, the crazy lady in the room spoke.

And dad says, that's your mother. She had climbed over the balconies. Three or four outdoor balconies. Outside elevated two or three stories up to get [00:24:00] into my room to let us in But there was a guy sleeping in the room and And the poor guy at the desk didn't know what to do It dad's going Shirley get out of the room get out of the on the food.

She's yelling get out of the room and finally As it turns out, this is my luck The guy that's sleeping in the room's name is Alan Bernstein. 

True story. True story. And we obviously were moved to another room and it all worked out. But your grandmother Was ravaging through hotel 

Ben Bernstein: balconies those people who know her who are listening.

Oh, yeah, that is not surprising. No But 

Alan Bernstein: anybody that doesn't know her that's sort of the kind of personality she had 

Ben Bernstein: right? She was determined So PVA started where it was. Yep 1984, you guys had a convention in New Orleans in conjunction with the world's fair. That is correct. The world's kind of a theme of our whole podcast.

The [00:25:00] last world 

Terri Bernstein: started because everybody needed insurance. 

Alan Bernstein: It was, yes, it was a insurance necessity and we were having lots of trouble with insurance companies insuring riverboats. And out of that grew a fairly large industry of marine insurance, so we were in New Orleans, New Orleans, 1984.

And one of our members got up and said, I'd like to change the name so it would be the National Association of Passenger Vessel Operators. And there was a major fight ensuing as to if that was appropriate or not. But in all honesty, there were a lot of people who were not owners.

They were the operators like Zach D'Alessandro had no ownership and other general managers had no ownership. And so they wanted it to become operators since it was simple. And it won under much debate, controversy Shoe [00:26:00] throwing and all kinds of stuff. I can imagine. Yeah. Yeah. So we then became the National Association of Passenger Vessel Operators.

Now, John, were you there for PVA or not? 

John Groundwater: No, that was right 

Alan Bernstein: before you, but that was close, right? It was right before he got there. We made, there was a recommendation that the national association of owners, operators. Was too big, too long that we needed to condense it and PVA was the passenger vessel association was the appropriate acronym.

And that too came with a lot of controversy. One of my best friends Dick Lynn, who's long been up in the boat company in heaven. He nicknamed us PVA. PVA was now going to be known as PVA. And everybody thought it was really funny, [00:27:00] but there were a few who were very upset that we were leaving our roots.

And but in the long run, I think today PVA is a great name. It's simple, you know, it's easy to remember and all that. And the main guy who opposed it. He's up in the riverboat heaven. He and Dick are probably fighting about that. Who was that? Bill Bowell. Oh, Bill Bowell.

Yeah, that's, 

Ben Bernstein: so, John, you came on, it was, is it 1994? 1994. 

John Groundwater: 1994. And, yeah, and the way I understood it, and it was really a question of competition, right? I mean Oh yeah. He expanded things and, and being open to, to letting others in.

And so in, in a lot of ways, isn't it true that really in changing from NAPVO to PVA, it opened the gates for others who weren't owners to come in and really kind of set the stage PVA is a pretty sharing group, even [00:28:00] though there's some competition, I mean, there is competition, even competitors share.

Ben Bernstein: Yeah, and that's, 

Alan Bernstein: absolutely. 

John Groundwater: And that's where it started, probably, don't you think? Well, and Bill, 

Alan Bernstein: Bill was the biggest opponent, simply for that reason. I'm not going to educate my competitor who's going to go down the road, get a lease with the city, and then compete with me, and I've taught him everything he needs to know.

And that was Bill's if he were here today, he would say the same thing. I'm not going to train my competitors, but in the restaurant business, it isn't done that way. In fact. It's a very open kind of thing, and if you steal something from a competitor, it is a badge of honor that somebody thought that it was good enough that they should steal it.

There were a lot of people on his side. But it was a movement that everybody that was a part of PVA at the time, felt that it [00:29:00] would be better to have more people, the West coasters and the great Lakers and the Florida and, oh my God, build in one Florida operators.

Cause they had a terrible safety record and they were going to ruin the insurance program. And of course, none of that happened. And in fact Probably one of our biggest memberships is from Florida. We're now 

Terri Bernstein: the minority. Yeah. The river's just tiny. 

Alan Bernstein: The river's was the beginning, and then, well, the west coast, I think, is the big one now.

Isn't it, John? Our west coast is the biggest zone. 

John Groundwater: The biggest region. It goes back and forth between the original colonies and west coast. Oh, okay, okay. So east coast, west coast. Yeah, it fluctuates. Yeah, 

Alan Bernstein: Bill did have a point and it was a good one. But a lot of people don't feel that way any longer.

And we did decide to grow. it was a great decision. It wasn't a bad decision. I think Bill would tell you that it's a pretty good decision. That we made to [00:30:00] grow certainly 

Ben Bernstein: you go to our annual convention here and you sit in a room with, with 50 or 60 other operators or a hundred or 200 other operators.

And Terri always hosts a session every year on food trends and you sit and you listen and the presenter, Terri might bring up three or four things, three or four topics. But it's just dialogue back and forth and it's invaluable.

I mean, we really owe a lot just from operations and food and processes and things like that, just from the relationship. From all the other people around. And that would have never happened 

Alan Bernstein: go ahead, John.

John Groundwater: That was my point. I think that was where we really took the step. forward in that regard. It's right there when we went from NAPVO to PVA and that really set the stage for all of that. And I think folks do that. Ben's right. I think in region meetings and in the convention, there's a huge amount of sharing, you know, bearing of your soul, so to speak, you know, almost in those [00:31:00] things.

Terri Bernstein: Well, in our industry is hard. I mean, a restaurant is a restaurant. But you're on and it's hard on its own a restaurant is hard on its own But we have now the Coast Guard. We have the FDA we have the EPA we have every agency and different things where restaurants you open your doors and you get a board of health permit and you're done We still have the Board of Health, but we have everybody else and It's nice to have a group of people to ask the questions and how do you handle this and how do you get the food on a boat, you know, it's hard, so 

Alan Bernstein: it is and I tell new members all the time, John welcome to the hardest work you have ever tried to do in your lifetime.

And it's hard because you have so much to grasp and as a member of the hospitality industry. Not only do you have the technical stuff, that's difficult, you have to smile and you have to be happy [00:32:00] and even in the depths of despair, you still have to do that.

So it is difficult, but I will say this. It is a sort of the end of my career. I don't know that I would change anything that I have done. Anyway, along the way. I have had a tremendous career. I have met people all over the world. We had Tibetan monks on our boat. It is amazing.

We had Huey 

Terri Bernstein: Lewis. 

Alan Bernstein: We've had Huey, yeah, yeah, yeah. He sang to me. He did sing to you. Privately, he sang to you. So John comes on in 1994. 

Ben Bernstein: A couple years later, now, as I set this up. You know, that's, the crux of the association.

There's also a lot of fun that has had. And a couple of years after John came on board, everybody went to St. Louis and there was some cross dressing. Oh, I 

Alan Bernstein: don't know that I would call it cross dressing. What, what 

Terri Bernstein: happened? Tell the story. [00:33:00] Okay. 

Alan Bernstein: PVA was 25 years old. The, the convention that we were in St. Louis was for our 25th anniversary of PVA. And you kids don't, don't understand it because you're too young, but there used to be a movie, meet me in St. Louis, and there was a song, meet me in St. Louis, . And and they were I guess a chorus line of women that. I sang that song, and I'm going to think that it was Gordon Stevens thought that it would be sort of fun for the past presidents, at that time there weren't many of us, could dress up like the chorus line, and you were all males, right?

Wait a minute, we had a female, but she wouldn't do it. Holly Agra. Yeah, she wouldn't do it. Well, cause she was a woman anyway, it didn't matter . So we were all males. There was about six or seven of us and it's at the [00:34:00] final banquet and they wanted to send everybody off with a great feeling that they had been in St. Louis, Missouri. I don't know if that's the way to do it. 

Terri Bernstein: Did you wear pantyhose? 

Alan Bernstein: No, no, no, no, no. He shaved his legs and his hair never grew back. That is correct. Our president and he introduces a farewell song from the bells of St. Louis. Yeah. Now, nobody in the audience knows who the bells of St. Louis are and they open up the door. And here we come. And we came into the room and filtrated all of the tables of the room and sat on, guys laps and that place erupted.

It, it absolutely erupted in laughter that people are taking pictures and I don't think anybody was totally offended at that particular cross dressing situation, and I don't want to make it sound like the PVA is a cross dressing organization because it's [00:35:00] not but we did have another one that John was very upset about.

We may have 

Terri Bernstein: found a picture, 

Alan Bernstein: but 

Terri Bernstein: it'll be on our Facebook post. 

John Groundwater: There are pictures. Yes, there are. All right. Bye. And, and the movie, but just to set for context, the movie Meet Me in St. Louis was, it was made in 1944, and it's, it's a Judy Garland.

Oh, just for those that, you know, 

Alan Bernstein: I think I was voted Miss Judy Garland in my costume. I think 

John Groundwater: it was a pretty scary group. I just have to say, I mean, that's well before my time, but it was a pretty scary group. I have to tell you, 

Alan Bernstein: it was, it was, 

 John, I think you have clear memory of this whole thing. We were having a big argument with the Coast Guard. Big argument. Nationally. Big argument. Not individual. PVA as an association. PVA and the Coast Guard were fighting about a regulation and about not understanding the operator's point of view and we , not [00:36:00] understanding the Coast Guard's point of view.

Alan Bernstein: And so there was this huge disagreement. And there was was not very computer efficient, even at the beginning. You still aren't, I am still not. You are correct. And I'm very proud of that. I should never be involved in anything computer. But I was, I was a main cog in the wheel here.

Beth Gedney was our she 

Speaker 9: was our safety, safety, right, right, right. 

Alan Bernstein: And I think it was a big safety issue, so Beth is sending to our admiral at the time, Admiral Watson. He's still a very good friend of mine. I will say that at the beginning. If he sees me, he would stop and come over and say hello to me.

So we're going back and forth and finally I had had enough and I hit Reply to all you meaning to do a meeting, applying to Beth and John and Beth were sorted together there. If I had [00:37:00] sent an email to John, Beth would have gotten it and vice versa, but anyway, 

John Groundwater: but as I recall, there was a big, long list of individuals on the.

On the email train, so to speak, and the Coast Guard was included, as well as Admiral Watson, I believe. That is correct. 

Alan Bernstein: And I was not aware of that. I did not know that anyway. I would not have known that. And I don't know that I would actually know it today, other than that on the line there would be a lot of people's names.

Terri Bernstein: Exactly. So you 

Alan Bernstein: wouldn't even know how to look at all the names. No. In fact, it cuts off at a certain point. And I would know any name after that anyway. 

John Groundwater: And just so the listeners will know, there is a moral to this story.

Alan Bernstein: But anyway, I finally had had enough. And I said to Beth, it was really directed to Beth. From Alan Bernstein. [00:38:00] Saying that Admiral Watson does not understand what we're saying. And he's the equivalent. And now if anybody has any young kids in there listening, you'll need some earmuffs. I apologize in advance for the expletive of what I'm going to do.

But it was to make a point, which I did I called Admiral Watson a bald headed chicken fucker. Which 

Ben Bernstein: right off the 

Alan Bernstein: bat that should be a name of the day no way that should be bald head Wait, are you really?

It could be a word of the day or whatever it was anyway and Immediately when I hit send when I hit the sent button John calls me John Groundwater bad side said Alan What are you doing? I said, John, I don't know what the hell you're talking about. [00:39:00] 

Ben Bernstein: John, do you remember this? Very well.

Alan Bernstein: John said, what the hell are you doing? I said, what are you talking about, John? He said, didn't you just send an email? And I said, well, sure. And I said I sent it to Beth and he goes no you didn't and I go what do you mean? No, I didn't I said I sent it to Beth. He said no you sent it to the entire list on that email Including And I went oh my god, it's so now I'm going what the hell do I do The panic 

Ben Bernstein: ensues 

Alan Bernstein: it did and I said John I I'm coming to Washington tomorrow morning.

I want you to pick me up at the airport. And I would have, if I were John, I would have had a bicycle waiting for you. 

John Groundwater: I 

Alan Bernstein: wouldn't have picked you up. No, John was very courteous in getting me to headquarters. And we know 

Terri Bernstein: how John is so politically correct. Well, 

Alan Bernstein: so anyway, I said, I will get a meeting with [00:40:00] the admiral and I'm coming to Washington.

So I did. I called the admiral's secretary who knew me. And said, Mr. I'm sure she read your email. I think she, she was probably excited to see, know you before, and I said, I need to have a meeting with the Admiral tomorrow. I don't care what time where you tell me I'll be there I, I will get there.

And she said, well, about one 30 tomorrow we can fit you in. That'll be fine. So I, I hung up. I said, I'll be there at, at one 30, so hang up. I called John, I said, John. I got an appointment with the admiral, if you would pick me up in the morning, take me over there, drop me off, and then I'll make my way back to the airport.

So , John picks me up, we get to headquarters and I get up to the office and she said, Mr. Bernstein, the admiral has been called to the commandant's office and he's going to be there a little while, but he'll be back as soon as he can. I said fine I'm not going anywhere if it's an hour it's an hour if it's five [00:41:00] hours I'm gonna be here all five hours so she said what in regards do you want to talk to the Admiral about and I said well I think it would be considered a personal matter but I sent an inappropriate email to him and I'm here to apologize.

And she goes okay. And he was about three and a half hours late. That was planned. That was your punishment. It might have been. And so finally he comes around the corner, you know, in his contingency, and he comes back to his office, and nobody said anything.

He said, Alan, I am so sorry that it's taken so long and you've been waiting here. Come on into my office. Yeah, I've got to hear what you're here for. No one else said anything and everybody left and I'm going into the admiral's office. And he said, Alan, what can I help you in?

And I said, well, Admiral yesterday. PVA and [00:42:00] I were involved in this issue between Beth Gedney and you and the Coast Guard, and we weren't seeing eye to eye, and I made a reference that was inappropriate, and I'm here to apologize for it. And he didn't, didn't say anything, I mean, he didn't answer, he didn't, and he just looked over nonchalantly and he said, Alan, you don't become admiral in the United States Coast Guard without being called a lot worse than a bald headed chicken fighter.

I was dumbfounded. I didn't know what to say. I said, well, Admiral, I absolutely have respect and understanding and you're trying to do your job and we're trying to do our job and the industry's trying to grow and he said, so now what are you really here for? To say to me, and I said, Admiral, I wanted to come in upon, I think it's the appropriate thing to do.

My father, if he was alive, would be [00:43:00] very upset that I called a high ranking a military officer, a bald headed chicken fucker, which was one of my dad's favorite sayings. It was just one of his and he said, Alan, Let's shake hands. You go back home. It is forgotten. Don't worry about it.

We will be great friends and we have been great friends ever since he became the head of ABS in the U S. And now I, is Admiral Watson retired totally? John, do you know, 

John Groundwater: is he? He's, he's not with ABS. Oh, he's not with ABS. Okay. We see him from time to time. Every 

Ben Bernstein: once in a while. I would like to hear, knowing John Groundwater personally, I would love to hear what the inner dialogue inside his head was when he read the email.

John Groundwater: Well, you know, the blood drained out of Beth's face, and she went completely white, and she said, Boss, we have a problem. [00:44:00] And truthfully, you know, Beth, if any of you listening know Beth, you knew that Beth didn't get that. You know, she didn't get rattled.

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, she, she was very hard. Not very easily. 

John Groundwater: No, not very easily. She was rattled. So so, so, you know, I mean, that falls under the category of, you know, if you're going to write the email, write the email, but wait 24 hours, right? Yeah. Oh yeah. But, you know that is a true story and, you know, I think it just really goes to, to Admiral Watson.

I think he always has been a friend of PVA's, is still a friend of PVA's, and I think he was always Very supportive of PVA and I think his decisions about things. I mean, he always was very open and communicative with us. And if you remember one of this was, I don't remember if it was about TWIC or what it was about.

But you know, we work with him on TWIC and some other things like that, and he was [00:45:00] always really up front with us. And, just so folks know, we have a quality partnership, with the Coast Guard. and we have this meeting with them twice a year now. And that charter goes back to 1996. It was signed by PVA. Rick Mosteller was president of PVA then. It's a non regulatory meeting where we have conversations about issues. And that was an issue that whatever, Got you inflamed, Alan, was something we had talked about that was, you know, on the agenda there.

And so I guess the good news about all of that was that we're able to have these conversations with the Coast Guard about things that get under our collar or that things, they have conversations with us about things that get under their skin that don't result in regulation, right?

I mean, Terri, you talked about all these regulatory agencies. I think your company counted one time. We had this [00:46:00] conversation that you're regulated by federal, state, local, local agencies, at least 14. So the, the neat thing about this, Quality partnership that we have with the Coast Guard is that we can have discussions about issues That don't turn into regulations You know and that can solve problems that don't turn into regulations how'd you like that, turning that from a negative into a positive, I'm just asking here, you know?

Terri Bernstein: I'm sure John fell out of his chair when he read that email. Oh, 

Alan Bernstein: they did both of them. Because 

Terri Bernstein: John is a people pleaser. 

John Groundwater: I can remember the day she came in and said, boss, we have a problem. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, in Beth and John were on the phone and I kept saying, no, I didn't do that.

And they're saying, yes, you did. We've got the evidence and we're, 

John Groundwater: we're holding it right here. 

Alan Bernstein: Right. Yep. Yes. 

John Groundwater: And But the [00:47:00] fact that he treated you the way he did, I mean, it is really a testament to him. The fact that you jumped on a plane because you were up the next morning.

Oh, I, 

Alan Bernstein: I couldn't believe I did something that stupid. I can. I, yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah. I don't think anybody knows you. I don't think anybody is surprised. God bless my two children. God bless them. 

John Groundwater: A life is one big learning experience, isn't it? Right. Right. 

Ben Bernstein: Well, let's fast forward a few years. This is just a, well, it's hard to say, man, that's nine years ago, actually.

One of the locales of the convention that's very popular with our association is going out to the West coast, long beach, California in particular, and it is, and I, and I'll just to give everybody an idea, our national convention, you. In essence have three days of seminars followed by an exhibit hall where, where our associate members come in.

Radars. Absolutely. [00:48:00] And any, any sort of industry that used to outfit a boat or benefit about technology, everything. 

Alan Bernstein: Right. 

Ben Bernstein: And then most of the nights there's social, social events and things. Well, at the end of every convention, there's a president's dinner. And that is where the outgoing president.

Welcomes in the incoming president and they have a speech. They, yeah, they, they, they accept and this, this particular convention, if anybody's been to long beach, California 35 miles to the West is Catalina Island, which is a very beautiful, wonderful place to go visit. 

John Groundwater: Beautiful. Yes. 

Ben Bernstein: And you hop on the Catalina Island express and.

It's a high speed ferry. It takes 45 minutes or so. And we made our way there. And we had 

Terri Bernstein: a wonderful president of PVA 

Ben Bernstein: at the time. My sister was the outgoing president at the time. And there is a very famous historic building there called the casino. It's not a, not a gathering, a [00:49:00] gathering, yes, not a, not a gaming casino.

And our president's dinner 

Alan Bernstein: was there that now, Ben, I have to stop you a second because there's an important piece to put in here. Yes. Go up, John. After many years of doing annual banquets we had waterways conferences and we had other things that were going on. And I was sort of the King pin.

Of that I did put on the three or four waterways conferences and it was a big deal. So my job in PVA was to plan and prepare the, the final banquet or the, the convention in whole, but in this particular case, the final banquet. And I have a young lady that helps me, Tamara. And we had gone through all the things that we normally go through for that particular banquet and we thought we were in great ground. We thought we were solid with what we had. Your [00:50:00] numbers. Our numbers were good and yeah, everything was ready to go. The 

Ben Bernstein: event gets planned at the casino.

Yep. And you know, the, the membership had to leave. At a certain time to get on the ferry, to get over, it's about a, I don't know, what is that? A mile, mile plus walk, 

Alan Bernstein: maybe it's a horseshoe. It's all the way around the bay 

Ben Bernstein: of Catalina, right? Get to the casino. Right. And I remember, I think there was a couple red flags that went up when we boarded the ferry to get head over to the casino.

Terri Bernstein: I think dad kept calling cause dad was there. I was there, 

Alan Bernstein: Tamara and I, and the sound people in the video, you know, everything, we were all over there on the early run out. I 

Terri Bernstein: think John was calling you. 

Alan Bernstein: Yes. Cause I think John 

Terri Bernstein: was with us and he was a little panicked.

Alan Bernstein: Very. And so was I, because he kept saying I have 260. People on the boat and I said John you can't you it's impossible 

Terri Bernstein: and you went over with a [00:51:00] bunch in the morning 

Alan Bernstein: That's what I'm saying. I went over with a bunch and he kept saying so he said let me count again let me count again and it kept getting worse. Actually. It never got better and I said well John I'm determining that we have a problem and I'm at the casino in Catalina, and our sales lady is there and Tamara's there. I said to the sales lady I'd like to go speak to your chef. And she said, sir, I don't think you ought to do that. And I said, well, could Yeah, go ahead, John. 

John Groundwater: Well, the problem was not, we had under, under, underestimated the amount of people for the dinner, right? That's right. Yeah. And we, yeah. We 

Alan Bernstein: had only planned on 250 or 240. As a total, which is over that on the boat and we still had people in which 

Ben Bernstein: historically is a good number.

I think that I think that convention had probably around 600, 700 attendees. It was a large one, but [00:52:00] everybody underestimated the draw of Canada over to Catalina Island for free. And 

John Groundwater: it's a huge, it's a huge draw. 

Alan Bernstein: It is no question. So We realized before the boat lands that we have the serious problem.

And I wanted to speak to the chef and the sales lady absolutely resisted all that she could. And I finally said, ma'am, we need to do something here and I need to have a plan when my boss gets here and we have no plan right now. And we are going to be way short on meals and we're on an island.

Terri Bernstein: Weren't there two entrees? Weren't you gonna split? Split? Yes. There was a, you wanted to split 

Alan Bernstein: the, I wanted to make everybody a one entree deal and then everybody would've gotten food. That was my idea. He had nothing. He was not gonna have anything to do with it. I think you wanted to split it because it was a whole chicken breast.

You wanted them to cut it in half. I, I wanted them, well, I wanted to have a chicken dinner and a beef dinner. [00:53:00] Gotcha. Is what I, I thought would be the best way to do that. Well, the chef. Literally ran me out of the kitchen with a knife. I mean, he, 

John Groundwater: he, he was, I thought he wanted it. Yeah. So I thought he wanted to split you in half.

Oh yeah. I mean, essentially that's what I 

Alan Bernstein: think he wanted me to do. What, what he wanted to do to me. But so he said no. And here I am with Tamara and the sales lady going, what the hell are we going to do? And I kept calling John. I said, John, just for. Goodness sake, let's count one more time. It came back.

It was even worse than the last time. So I said houston, we have a problem. And so when John got there, we huddled and I said, John, let me get up in front of the audience and I'll announce that we have an issue. And let's see how we can resolve this. So everybody [00:54:00] got in.

Now this was my daughter's final banquet. She's all dressed up and you couldn't have had a more downer of a banquet than what we produced we being John and I and Tamara. More to you. More, more Tamara and I than John. So I got up and I said, ladies and gentlemen if I could have everybody's attention, I would like the Rivers Region to step over to my right and stay there for a moment as they're coming in the casino.

And So, the rivers, they all complied, they did a very nice job, actually. And I think we got everybody seated, except for rivers. Is that, do you remember, Terri? I 

Terri Bernstein: think so. I think everybody. Well, I think some chose to not, to leave. To leave. 

Alan Bernstein: Some did choose to leave. So we had to get rid of about 65 70 people and We didn't have anywhere [00:55:00] really to send them, but we sent them into the island Which was a real problem.

Which turned out to be an enormous problem because the island couldn't handle those 70 people. 

Terri Bernstein: I think they did. I think people really enjoyed themselves. What happened, John? Did they enjoy 

Alan Bernstein: themselves? 

John Groundwater: Well, I think Well, according to the bill, they did. Well, our contact at the casino arranged for, I think, two restaurants, wasn't that it?

I think it was two or three, yep. And our folks went down to these two restaurants and apparently had a big time, from what I understand. From the receipts that they sent you. The receipts of the bill, with all the wine, and the, yeah, whatever. 

You know, we were just saddened, but you know, the biggest thing that I remember is that Alan had on a red shirt. I think it was a red shirt, and you were standing up in this huge ballroom. I mean, it's, it's a beautiful ballroom. You know, it was the 1930s, I guess. Yeah, [00:56:00] 1920s, 30s. Yeah, it was beautiful. And you were standing up you were holding two arms up and you were saying, Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention?

You remember Terri? Yeah, I am. And nobody was listening to him. You know, may I have your attention, please, you know, kind of a thing. So it was, it was Bedlam, but you did finally get their attention and you were able to, to send people off to these restaurants. And although that was, we didn't like to do that, they, they did have a big, a big time.

Well, John, I know you 

Alan Bernstein: have a beautiful daughter and to All the people listening that are fathers and their daughters are princesses and all that stuff. Just imagine to yourself the biggest night that your daughter has in her career saying nationally goodbye to all of her newly found friends and family [00:57:00] members and everything.

And that me, the father ruined that occasion. 

Terri Bernstein: Number one. Number one. You sent all my friends away. Yes, 

Alan Bernstein: I did. All the rivers regions was Time 

Terri Bernstein: to talk number two. I had to stay because I had to give a goodbye 

Alan Bernstein: But there was 

Terri Bernstein: not a seat for me to sit down and have dinner. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, yes, you did Oh, no, 

Terri Bernstein: my brother and I had to stand there the entire time and we shared the 

Ben Bernstein: Snickers bar in a roll 

Terri Bernstein: in a roll 

Ben Bernstein: That's all we got.

That's all we got one pat of butter You And then not to fast forward and then we leave and we're on the Catalina island on the way back and everybody's talking. Oh, we went to the greatest restaurant and pva picked up the bill and we had 17 

Terri Bernstein: bottles of wine. Oh, yeah, we get to share beef jerky on the way home because that's all they had at the snack bar Well, I was starving 

Alan Bernstein: Well I had to 

Terri Bernstein: stay there.

Alan Bernstein: I will apologize publicly to [00:58:00] my princess. That I am very sorry. As I know that John would to Caitlin. I know what he said. I would. Oh, yeah, 

John Groundwater: we have. I mean, this is all hindsight, but we have instituted some, fail safes. 

Ben Bernstein: Yes, we have that from happening. Yes, we have. There's now RSVP on your registration.

Yes. 

John Groundwater: Yes. Oh, Again, a learning experience, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yes. 

Alan Bernstein: That was the end of Catalina. They're still talking about that 

Ben Bernstein: banquet though. They are. Yeah. Well, not for the best reason. Well, I didn't say that.

I just said there's, we did have a reboot last year, two years ago. 

Terri Bernstein: I didn't go. I I still had PTSD 

Ben Bernstein: I was not there. They were. I had a new liver, John and John, and and dad got to pull off a successful event at the casino just two years ago. Well, that, that was more 

Alan Bernstein: Tamara and John.

I was 

Ben Bernstein: I was awol. That's, [00:59:00] oh, that's right. You weren't there either. I was liver. Yeah. You were getting a liver transplant. Yep. Thank goodness. Yep. Well I mean, I, I think we could probably sit here and, and spit these stories back and forth, but for the sake of time. For John anyway. Yeah. At least for John.

I do want to point out that, that kind of more on the serious note, there are a long list of accomplishments, between BB Riverboats, rather that be you, or Terri, or very small, myself has been able to do with the industry over the, however many years we've been involved at BB.

I guess every, every year we've been involved. You want to talk about a 

Alan Bernstein: couple of them? Yeah, and I can say this, John, not because you're on the telephone and not because you're participating but since I was at the very beginning of PVA we had some executive directors who were not executive directors.

As John came on with his wife and the years that we [01:00:00] have come from the beginning to where we are today PVA is a extremely well respected organization nationally in the marine business. Now, if you were in the Farmers Association, you wouldn't know John Groundwater or you wouldn't know PVA, but the Coast Guard is an interesting organization because they're our regulator.

They are also a part of the military, and they have a lot to do, and they hire a lot of smart people and we have been able, we collectively a lot of it is John and some of the staff that we've had Ed and Pete Lauridsen, a dear, dear, dear friend of mine I hired Pete back in 1988, Terri And I hired him in 1988. Has made so many steps forward that we're sort of the go to people now when something happens [01:01:00] marine wise, even if sometimes even tow boating and sometimes a tow boat hits a passenger boat or what they're, they're now calling PVA.

And in all honesty, I think John and his staff are a huge part of that. And my father was right years ago. If you're going to get involved in an industry, you need to get involved and you need to be involved. You need to. Be active and participate. Sometimes it's not all important critical stuff, but just to know people, I have friends in the entire United States of America, and I include Alaska and Hawaii should, 

Ben Bernstein: because 

Alan Bernstein: they're part of the United States of America.

They are, and they all have Marine connections. And through the organization. I have been able to be, I've gone on several boat rides in Alaska, several in Hawaii. Every [01:02:00] vacation 

Terri Bernstein: we go on, we go see somebody we know. 

Alan Bernstein: Absolutely we do. And I have friends now all over the United States. All of it is because of PVA. There's no doubt about it. And John has been a great breath of fresh air. I could tell all the stories about the previous John, there was only four and then John came along and he's been the rock of Gibraltar.

Really. 

John Groundwater: Yeah. Well, Alan, for saying that. Well, thank you, Jonathan. I mean, publicly. It's been a lot of fun. Yeah. It has. Thank you. It's been a lot of fun. The staff of PVA is you know, and you mentioned they're drinking the Kool Aid. And they very much love this industry.

They enjoy working with the members, the PVA members, the committee people, the committee, the board members. Everybody is, we all work well together, and I think that really is the fabric of what makes PVA strong. [01:03:00] And I think that the Coast Guard, we work well with the Coast Guard.

I think we try to be logical and respectful, but when we disagree We let them know that we disagree. And And I think they respect 

Alan Bernstein: that when we disagree. And I think we respect them when they disagree with us. 

John Groundwater: Right, right. So that QP is a good two way communicator. You know, And A vehicle that allows us to communicate.

And So, you know, thank you for those comments. We're having a lot of fun but , we're working hard and I think the staff is committed and I've had fun today. Thanks for having me. 

Ben Bernstein: And I will say from a member, I'm, I'm the current member of the board of directors and to give everybody John is very politically correct.

Very humble guy. But to give you an idea of the type of job that John does it was on the agenda as part of our board meeting this is I don't [01:04:00] know four or five six months ago part of the agenda was dedicated to seeing how much longer John wants to work. Is he thinking about retiring?

It's not about removing John or Maybe we need to look in another direction. It's how many more years do we have with John left? We don't want anybody else to be our executive director. It's looking at the progression past that. And I think that's a testament to the type of job that, that John does, and really it all starts with him and this organization hums and goes through because of the work that you do. What was his answer? He said at least for the next five years he's not going to. Oh good. Oh good. We'll approach that. If he leaves, 

Alan Bernstein: I'm going with him. I'm out. I'm out. If he leaves. If he leaves, I'm going with him.

Thank you. But John. Thank you. Thank you very 

Ben Bernstein: much. We appreciate it. I know we took quite a bit of time. Yeah. But He's a busy guy. he knows he's dealing with the Bernsteins and nothing goes quickly when you're on Mm-Hmm. a phone call with them. 

John Groundwater: It's been fun. Yeah. John, 

Alan Bernstein: thank you very, [01:05:00] very much.

I really appreciate you coming along and I know the kids do, so we will see you soon. Yep. 

John Groundwater: Looking forward to it. Okay. Thank you much. Thank you. 

Ben Bernstein: All right. Time for the word of the day. 

Moderator: Now it is time for Ramblin on the Rivers.

Word of the day. 

Ben Bernstein: Now AlaTerriry are looking at each other because they're looking down on our outline and as sneaky as I am. I'm going to call an audible here. I didn't want anybody to be too prepared. So this is actually going to be directed to Terri this week. Oh, This is Terri's word of the day.

Oh, so today's word of the day is wallering. 

Terri Bernstein: What? 

Alan Bernstein: Wallery 

Ben Bernstein: wallering. 

Terri Bernstein: And number one, number one, it [01:06:00] says hoity toity. It 

Ben Bernstein: does say hoity toity. We'll do that next week. But this week, this week is Terri's Word of the day, and it's wallering. Terri, why don't you try to spell it out? What is the real, what is the real word 

John Groundwater: wallowing wallowing?

Alan Bernstein: No wallering. I can spell it for you. It's w w a l l 

John Groundwater: e r. I N G G The biggest 

Ben Bernstein: issue is it's not a word. This was two days ago. Yeah. Terri was trying to say something. And she kept saying, 

Terri Bernstein: I was, I was, 

Ben Bernstein: I was wallowing in, in pain.

I don't know. I don't remember. Oh yeah. It had something. I don't think it did, but I can't remember, but I use 

Terri Bernstein: that word all the time. And you're like, 

Ben Bernstein: what? 

Terri Bernstein: Wallowing. I'm like, well, you know, like, 

Ben Bernstein: Hmm and to make it even worse she's [01:07:00] got a retainer in I know I have a list Why don't you say super tear super super colorless?

Terri Bernstein: My daughter makes fun of me a 

Ben Bernstein: little bit of a lisp For what, the next four weeks? Yeah, we've got a 

Terri Bernstein: little while. 

Ben Bernstein: What's the origin of waller? Waller, can you use wallering in a sentence? 

Terri Bernstein: African. 

Ben Bernstein: No 

John Groundwater: They were in the mud and Madagascar 

Terri Bernstein: when the hippo is wallering in the water. Yeah, 

Ben Bernstein: that's exactly I would agree I am a 

Terri Bernstein: chip off the old block. You're 

Ben Bernstein: definitely a chip off the old block. Yeah whenever she used it, I sent myself an email, and it just says wallering on it.

Just, I sent it to wherever we were. I think we were at dinner or something. Oh, who knows. Alright, moving on. 

Speaker 12: Welcome to As the Paddle Wheel Turns. Our look at paddling. Pertinent [01:08:00] current events happening right now in the world.

Ben Bernstein: All right. So today is August the 16th and we're a little, my parents 

Terri Bernstein: anniversary. 

Ben Bernstein: My parents too. Oh yeah. Our parents, our parents. There you go. That that's the proper way. Happy anniversary, Al. Well, thank you very much. Happy anniversary, Mom. Do you, do you know what number it is? It is 51, because last year was 50.

We had a party one year ago. We had a party last year. Was it last year? Yeah. I thought it was two years ago. Okay. He had, just so everybody knows, he had the look like we were wrong when we said 51. I thought it was 

Alan Bernstein: 52, 

Ben Bernstein: but Anyways, earlier this week, I believe on the 14th of August of this past Wednesday we had a lot of visitors.

If you happen to come into work or come down for a cruise in the morning or afternoon hours, you noticed there were a lot of [01:09:00] authoritative vehicles. 

Terri Bernstein: I got a lot of phone calls and text messages. What is 

Ben Bernstein: going on? What is 

Terri Bernstein: going on? There are, there are boats following your boat. 

Ben Bernstein: So there is a committee called SOSINK that you are a part of.

Why don't you tell them what they were doing? 

Alan Bernstein: Well, it is an area Maritime Security Committee group and I convinced them since Tall Stacks River Routes is coming next year, that we ought to have some preparation in emergency preparedness and operations. We had about 156 law enforcement officers and every one of them had a vehicle everyone had a vehicle And we do 

Terri Bernstein: this every year don't let him say that it's just because of that.

We do this every year 

Alan Bernstein: We don't do it every year with this kind of tactic and they're going to do another one in next year We do bigger that is going to be going to be more specific and more gunpower and all of that stuff [01:10:00] In preparation it's good practice anyway. If there was a Marine event to happen that our group here, and I say group, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, the feds, FBI, the coast guard, the core.

Everybody works together, the fire departments and the police department everybody can work together. They know how to set up the command. They know how to do this. They know the issues. And it is often our crew. That come and say, Mr. Bernstein, I'm really glad we did this. I was very interested to see how this.

Terri Bernstein: Well, and it's neat because the location we're in we have two we're in three states three states. I know but right here. We have two states We have we have multiple different counties and cities along the way. So we have jurisdictional problems we only have one level one trauma center in the city.

So if we had a [01:11:00] mass mass casualty or a mass mass 

Ben Bernstein: casualty event casualty event 

Terri Bernstein: We can flood all the hospitals, the local hospitals and last year is when we did it with a broader spectrum of people and it's interesting to hear, you know, what would happen in different events or, you know, mass shootings or hijackings or whatever, all the terrible things that could happen and we're about as prepared as we can be.

I think 

Alan Bernstein: we are. And I think it's interesting that our crew, which has nothing to do with law enforcement, firefighting anything else professionally, they are, they're simply people that we train, that we give instruction to they do what they're told. It's amazing how it all works and I think a lot of them get a lot out of it.

I certainly do is I feel much better as a operator. That can say, you know, we practice this. It's a terrible thing to think about. I mean, I lose sleep at night thinking about [01:12:00] stupid stuff like that, but in this day and age, you really can't not ignore it and you have to simply embrace it and say, you know, we'll do the best we can do 

Terri Bernstein: well.

And part of our job is we have to have a security drill every year. That's 

Alan Bernstein: right. 

Terri Bernstein: And it's nice that we can do a bigger scale drill than just internally that we have all these agencies come and we're able to, you know, get the boat underway. They come on board and try different things. And it's really good training for our crew when, you know, more than just us. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, and we had 10 canine units some of them were bomb dogs. Some of them were drug dogs. Some of them were terrorist related how to find the bad guys. Or search and rescue.

Search and rescue and all that. And the dogs really did great. It's hard on a boat with all the different things that happens on a boat. The sounds, the movements. There's vibrations, there's sounds, there's smells. Diesel fuel's not a great smell. For a dog to [01:13:00] encounter when he's trying to find a bad guy or, you know, whatever.

And they were able to do it. The airport brings their dog. They were not here yesterday. The airport dogs are pretty special, but they have used us to bring some of their dogs down. And I was very proud to 

Terri Bernstein: however, I did see that we were boarding our lunch cruise. Wow. A huge, 

Alan Bernstein: a 

Terri Bernstein: huge group of military guys with a 

Ben Bernstein: lot of power, a lot of fire power.

So they 

Terri Bernstein: were empty, but yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: So sink is Southern Ohio, Southeast Indiana, Northern Kentucky. It's a maritime security committee that is in place to prepare the immediate area, but it's in conjunction with. 

Terri Bernstein: The area maritime and whatever it is, 

Ben Bernstein: Why don't you talk a little bit about what they actually 

Alan Bernstein: did 

Ben Bernstein: on Wednesday?

Alan Bernstein: Everybody that knows the Belle of Cincinnati. it's a big [01:14:00] boat and it has freeboard. That's the distance from the water's edge up to the top of the deck. So on the Belle of Cincinnati it can range from four foot nine or 10 inches all the way back to about four foot even. In the places where it would be even what's higher than four feet on the seven feet. That's from the, from the water level to the deck, but up on the balance much higher than four, but it might be five feet up there. I don't. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it's higher than that. At the very four.

You might be right on the side and they, you know, the dare boats are little runabout kind of boats. They're not runabouts, but they're that. Kind of boat. So they, some of them are very 

Ben Bernstein: advanced though. 

Alan Bernstein: Some of them are very advanced and they have a good 2, 3, 4 feet in some, depending where they are, that they have to get moving.

Now, we're not stationary. The boat is moving and their boat is moving, and they have to get from their boat onto our boat, [01:15:00] and then they have to find. Their mission. If it's drugs, they're 

Terri Bernstein: They have their full 

Alan Bernstein: gear, they have their guns, their ammo, they have about 50 pounds of extra weight to their body weight.

So if they're 250, they're 300 pounds. So, yeah, they have to get on the full gas. And they 

Terri Bernstein: have to come in fast, like somebody's shooting 

Alan Bernstein: at them? Absolutely, absolutely. And they practice that all morning long. Getting from their boat to our boat. To finding something or finding somebody. And neutralize it.

So that was the real purpose. Was to give them the practice on a moving vessel to a moving vessel. Now, we had rescue divers, we had rescue swimmers. We had a lot of safety people behind them so that if they did fall in, they were ready to retrieve and all that. Nobody got hurt yesterday.

Out of a hundred and, or Wednesday, out of a hundred and fifty some participants, not one person [01:16:00] sprained their finger. 

Terri Bernstein: Not one person, but I had twenty. Persons in the water. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, that you that 

Terri Bernstein: I retrieved. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, did you take them back? Did you they are here? You know, we need to return them. I got an email.

They're 

Terri Bernstein: pool noodles that were Floating in the water that people had to Why did 

Ben Bernstein: they throw pool noodles in 

Terri Bernstein: so that they could 

Ben Bernstein: you got to explain it so people can also they can rescue 

Terri Bernstein: them Well rescue, then what are the 

Ben Bernstein: pool noodles? 

Terri Bernstein: They're people. 

Ben Bernstein: There you go. Thank 

Alan Bernstein: you. 

Terri Bernstein: They simulate people.

They were people in the water. 

Alan Bernstein: If you have an incident, the natural place on a boat to go is overboard that a fire, smoke explosion, anything that's bad because you have no other real option. Right. Right. So that's why they simulate that. And I do believe we recovered everybody that they put in the water.

Sounds like Gary says you've missed 20. Oh, you had on the boat or that were, 

Terri Bernstein: I did not. I think the [01:17:00] fire department or we found them all. Okay. I'm sorry. we did have to get a. life size person out of the river. They do have a mannequin. They have 

Alan Bernstein: a mannequin. It weighs 180 pounds.

Wet. Fills with water, which when it's filled with water, it's 180 and you have to get that person into your rescue boat and onto the platform of the boat that is, or take 

Ben Bernstein: him to shore. I believe if you go to a channel nine or channel five you'll see a slideshow and I believe some videos of exactly.

Terri Bernstein: I think I have a video we can post on our Facebook 

Alan Bernstein: page. Okay. And they call him Oscar. I think officially his name, even though there's many of them, they're all Oscars. Yeah. That's just, is it an acronym? I don't know if it's an acronym. It's Terri's Dog's name too. 

Ben Bernstein: what? 

Terri Bernstein: Yeah, but my dog is Oscar The Grouch, so, yeah.

Oh, 

Ben Bernstein: well. Well, we've gone a, a over. We don't have a plan for next week, so we'll leave everybody. Surprise. Yeah. We'll leave everybody. 

Okay. We will leave [01:18:00] everybody in suspense for next week. Oh. But other than that, that's our show. We appreciate everybody coming out and listening.

We'll see you all next week. Send me emails. I like getting emails.

Moderator: Thank you for listening to the Ramblin on the River podcast presented by BB Riverboats. Stay tuned for the next episode of our podcast and remember to like, subscribe and follow us on all your favorite podcast platforms.

Ben Bernstein: The previous episode was brought to you by BB riverboats. 

Speaker 11: The moments that await just around the river's bend are what we look forward to each day watching high school sweethearts tie the knot or watching them celebrate 50 wonderful years together a group of old friends reuniting for one more adventure or young [01:19:00] minds embarking on their first.

At BB Riverboats, we believe a cruise on the mighty Ohio is where lifelong memories are made. And that once you experience it, you'll want to share it with others time and time again. Plan your group event at BBRiverboats. com. Journey Aboard.