Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Dave Matthews Tour Bus Dumped 800 Pounds Of Poop On People Taking A Chicago River Cruise 19 Years Ago Today

little lady boat cruise chicago incident

During warm months, the Chicago Architecture Center offers a boat tour of the buildings along the Chicago River.[4] The boats have open-roof seating, where passengers sit during the tour. The Dave Matthews Band had booked rooms at the Peninsula Hotel of 108 E. Superior Street for a two-night show at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin.[3] The incident occurred between the first and second night of the concert. The band booked five buses for its show; Stefan Wohl drove the bus of the band's violinist Boyd Tinsley. We think it’s a good idea to travel to Bulgaria with a valid travel insurance policy. Travel here includes outdoor activities and travel to highly touristed sites.

Chicago alderman claims ShotSpotter alerted police to fallen officer 5 minutes before 911 calls

Rescuers circled the Sophia for several hours waiting to save passengers and crew. The fire department said they received a call for two people in the water, so they elevated their response and sent five ambulances to the scene as a precaution. CHICAGO (WLS) -- Two women were hospitalized in serious condition Saturday after a boating incident in Chicago's "Playpen." There are some detailed descriptions of the waste itself on the incident’s Wikipedia Page (of course it has a page), along with a spirited interview of a woman whose car was in front of the bus in the Chicago Tribune.

Pic Shows Time Dave Matthews Band's Bus Dumped 800 Pounds of Poop on Tourist Boat?

– A raincoat and layers, as Sofia’s weather can be unpredictable and showers are frequent. We recommend this Marmot PreCip jacket (here’s a women’s jacket and a men’s) as they are fully waterproof, lightweight, and stand up to the abuses of heavy travel. It’s the number one thing you can do to make your Sofia travel experience run more smoothly, so unless you’ll only be in Sofia for a few hours, I recommend you do it (it’s also a lot of fun!). Passengers on the tour boat, Chicago’s Little Lady, described a downpour of foul-smelling, brownish-yellow slurry that ruined their clothes and made several of them sick. Boat passengers on the architectural tour reported ruined clothes and several cases of illness.

Matthews Band bus driver pleads guilty to dumping waste in river

Dave Matthews Band Dropped 800 Pounds of Human Waste on Chicago Sightseers 14 Years Ago Today - Newsweek

Dave Matthews Band Dropped 800 Pounds of Human Waste on Chicago Sightseers 14 Years Ago Today.

Posted: Wed, 08 Aug 2018 07:00:00 GMT [source]

For its part, the Dave Matthews Band did try to make amends during the investigation into Poopgate. The band donated $50,000 to both the Friends of the Chicago River and the Chicago Park District, Rolling Stone reported in 2005. A volunteer tour guide at the boat’s helm reassured passengers that they had been splashed with water.

For transportation, check out our guide to avoiding taxi scams in the city. If you’ll be flying into Sofia, you can read our tips for flying in and out of the Sofia Airport. If ticket control comes by and you don’t have a valid ticket – you’ll have to pay a fine between leva, so it’s not worth risking (they come by pretty frequently).

Security camera footage confirmed that the only bus in the area was the band's, the Tribune reported in 2004 (archived here). The following year, the bus driver admitted he "emptied his bus's septic tank over the Chicago River last summer, drenching passengers on an architectural boat tour with 800 pounds of human waste," according to a Chicago Tribune article (archived here). Eighteen months of probation, 150 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine for misdemeanor charges of reckless conduct and water pollution. Eighteen years ago, a Dave Matthews Band tour bus was driving over the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago, Illinois, when it emptied the bus's septic tank onto a sightseeing boat of over 100 people in the Chicago River below. An estimated 800 pounds of human waste drenched the passengers of Chicago's Little Lady. The jam band’s tour bus driver admitted to the dumping and reportedly paid a fine, served 1½ years probation and performed community service.

About two-thirds of the passengers seated on the upper deck of Chicago’s Little Lady were soaked. Passengers said they looked up to see at least one, possibly two charter buses rumbling above. They got a deluge when the boat was doused with a foul “liquid substance” that appeared to drop from one or two charter buses as the boat passed under the Kinzie Street bridge, passengers and tour officials said. “Tourists on the architectural sightseeing cruise reported they were doused with a brownish-yellow liquid from a bus crossing the grated drawbridge around the same time,” the newspaper reported at the time.

little lady boat cruise chicago incident

Wohl’s guilty plea was the first time that the bus driver for the popular rock band publicly acknowledged discharging the waste. He initially denied the charge when interviewed by police, prosecutors said. Bus driver Stefan Wohl was sentenced to probation and community service after he pleaded guilty to reckless conduct and discharging contaminants into the river.

Why Is This Trending? The Dave Matthews Band Chicago River Incident

little lady boat cruise chicago incident

If you’re traveling around more countries in the Balkans, you may want to refer to our currency guide which breaks it down country by country. In 2015 a sign was posted at the Kinzie Street Bridge asking people to remember the infamous incident. To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here. In 2015 a sign was posted at the Kinzie Street Bridge asking people to remember the infamous incident. A YouTuber filmed himself retelling the sordid story to a group of bemused tourists, complete with alleged eyewitness accounts. Dave Matthews first heard about the incident – which became known as “Poopgate” – a little later, and laughed the way you would if you weren’t involved.

Alternately, you can pre-book an airport transfer, which will be more expensive but guarantee no headache upon arrival and may be a good option if you arrive at Sofia late at night and are nervous about getting in without a hitch. You’ll be delighted to know that you can safely drink the tap water in Sofia. Unless you have major stomach sensitivities, there should be no issues. I’ve drank the water here for years without incident; same as Stephanie. It’s pretty easy to get most things over the counter in Bulgaria if you know the proper names for them. You may not get your exact brand, but there’s usually something similar.

On the first car of a tram or bus, there will be a driver who is able to sell you a ticket and make change (so long as it’s reasonable – aim for 5 leva or less if you can. Uber has been banned in Sofia for years, but luckily, Bulgaria is a pretty tech-savvy place and there are plenty of apps that allow you to hire a taxi in a way that is registered and secure. I highly recommend using an app or calling a reputable company rather than hailing a taxi off the street, as Sofia taxi scams are unfortunately quite common, especially for travelers visiting Sofia for the first time. If you stay in a hotel with housekeeping, it’s nice to pay a few leva per day.

Today Is The 18th Anniversary Of The Dave Matthews Band's Tour Bus Dumping 800 lbs of Shit Through A Bridge Onto ... - Barstool Sports

Today Is The 18th Anniversary Of The Dave Matthews Band's Tour Bus Dumping 800 lbs of Shit Through A Bridge Onto ....

Posted: Mon, 08 Aug 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

It’s almost identical to Russian Cyrillic or Serbian/Macedonian Cyrillic, but there are a few slight differences. You can learn basic Cyrillic in about 4 hours so it’s not that much of an ask. One of my biggest Sofia travel tips is to use ATMs rather than money exchange. By far the best way to get money out in Sofia is by using local ATMs.

Don’t even try to bring your American or Canadian hair dryer to Bulgaria! But since you also need an adaptor, we recommend a dual adaptor/voltage converter (or frankly, just leave it at home and buy a cheap one for Europe travel). I’ve only driven and parked in Sofia a few times, and in that handful of times, I’ve gotten my car booted twice and needed to call the Urban Mobility Center to un-boot my car to the lovely tune of 30 leva. If your bus or tram has one of those fancy automatic ticket printers, you can use that too. However they only take coins under 50 stotinki, and they don’t give change, so if you have any lev coins, they’re actually worthless. But if you do have lots of small change and can buy a 1.60 ticket out of coins worth less than 50, then they’re helpful.

I recommend ones attached to a bank as they are more secure and will offer a better exchange rate. DSK Bank, Raiffeisenbank, and Unicredit Bulbank are the big three banks around here. There were plenty of witnesses, particularly the captains of the rescue ships that had spent a day and a half circling the vessel on Vanderbilt Reef. Some of them were of the opinion that the passengers could have been taken off the ship, but the majority believed they would have been in considerable danger, and that it was not unreasonable for Locke to assume that his ship was in no immediate peril. Upon striking Vanderbilt Reef, the ship’s wireless operator sent out a distress call to Juneau and a fleet of rescue vessels was quickly assembled in response.

It’ll be either a Blue Zone number (1302) which costs 2 leva per hour with a max time of two hours or a Green Zone number (1303) which costs 1 leva per hour with a max time of four hours. If you don’t have a local SIM that’s either contract-based or pre-loaded with extra money for parking, parking in Sofia sucks. However, I would not walk home alone at night if I didn’t know the neighborhood well and would have to have my smartphone out at all times, or if I were exceedingly drunk. I’ve lived and traveled in countless cities over the years and I consider Sofia city center one of the safest places to walk at night as a solo woman. I never get harassed or catcalled and have never once felt unsafe. Coming from living in NYC when every friendship felt long-distance, I love that about Sofia.

Many operate 24/7 – if you need one specifically, I know for the fact that the one next to the European Parliament building on G.S. – An unlocked smartphone, so you can buy a cheap SIM card and use apps like Uber and Google Maps. If you don’t have the ability to unlock your main smartphone, we recommend buying a cheap unlocked one online like this unlocked Samsung phone. I have gotten my SIMs from both A1 and Vivacom and both have been perfectly fine for my needs. Visiting Sofia is a lot easier with a SIM card, as you can use local apps like Moovit and TaxiMe, as well as Google Maps and Google Translate earlier. I strongly recommend learning Bulgarian Cyrillic before coming to Sofia.

Monday, April 1, 2024

Dave Matthews Band Dropped 800 Pounds of Human Waste on Chicago Sightseers 14 Years Ago Today

little lady boat cruise chicago incident

While the photo in question is satirical creation, the Dave Matthews Band bus driver pleaded guilty in 2005 to dumping waste in the Chicago River the previous year. Passengers on a tour boat below the bridge where the septic tank was emptied said "a cascade of a 'brownish-yellow' substance rained on them," the Chicago Tribune reported. A DMB tour bus, while crossing the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago, dumped 800 pounds of waste from the bus’s septic tank, which fell on the passenger sightseeing boat Chicago’s Little Lady in the Chicago River below. Roughly two-thirds of the 120 passengers on board were soaked. It trends every year on social media because it’s gross, it’s funny, and no passengers suffered any long-lasting physical health effects, so it’s okay to laugh at it the same way you’d laugh at an episode of Jackass. After initially denying that he had emptied bus's septic tank over the river, driver Stefan Wohl eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months of probation, 150 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine.

Sofia Travel Resources

Later that month, he knew all too well when the state of Illinois filed a lawsuit, demanding $70,000 from the band for violation of environmental laws, and citing video evidence for the claim. The First Amendment protects satire as a form of free speech and expression. The Onion uses invented names in all of its stories, except in cases where public figures are being satirized. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental. The Onion is not intended for readers under 18 years of age. While the incident described above did occur in 2004, the photograph, which has circulated via social media for years, is not an accurate representation of the event.

Sofia Trams & Buses

Everyone's dad was reading the DaVinci Code.And the Dave Matthews Band dumped 800 pounds of feces onto a crowded tour boat from Chicago's Kinzie bridge. “In August 2004, at this very location, a DMB tour bus dumped 800 pounds of poo on some people. A local tour bus company official said he had never heard of a bus unloading liquid waste into the river from a bridge. Charter bus companies typically contract with disposal companies to get rid of their waste or dump it at their own disposal sites, he said.

Dave Matthews Tour Bus Dumped 800 Pounds Of Poop On People Taking A Chicago River Cruise 18 Years Ago Today

The Sophia wasn’t taking on water initially and Captain Locke hoped the ship could float free off the reef at high tide. He reassured the passengers that they would be able to get off the reef, and not to panic. As for the rescue efforts, he did not want to risk lives in such rough water. At least 353 passengers and crew lost their lives in the wintry waters near Vanderbilt Reef that year, yet, surprisingly few members of the general public know about this historic event. This could be attributed to the fact that the shipwreck occurred just days before the end of the First World War. Newspapers were highlighting the Armistice that ended the war and headlines were focused on the increasing fear of Spanish influenza rather than the news of a tragic shipwreck in Alaskan waters.

The boat’s crew swabbed the deck clean and set off only slightly delayed for the 3 p.m. Witnesses said they had just begun the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s 1 p.m. Tour when they passed under the bridge and a cascade of a “brownish-yellow” substance rained on them.

little lady boat cruise chicago incident

The offer of a full refund from Chicago’s First Lady Cruises wouldn’t have done much to alleviate matters as the company took the boat out of service to wash it down with disinfectant. Claims for ruined clothes followed – but worse was to come. They say that when in a city you’ve never visited before, you should look up. That’s just what nearly 100 tourists were doing aboard the Chicago’s Little Lady boat on the afternoon of Aug. 8, 2004, as the vessel took them under the downtown Kinzie Street Bridge during an architectural tour. They’re usually more expensive, like 2 leva an hour in a green zone, but it is totally hassle-free. There are usually private lots every couple of blocks, so opt for that over street parking if you don’t have a local SIM that has extra lev on it to be used for parking.

The Eastland Disaster Killed More Passengers Than the Titanic and the Lusitania. Why Has It Been Forgotten? - Smithsonian Magazine

The Eastland Disaster Killed More Passengers Than the Titanic and the Lusitania. Why Has It Been Forgotten?.

Posted: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Nearly every restaurant or bar you go to will have WiFi, and there is free WiFi in a lot of the parks as well (though not all) as well as along Vitosha Boulevard. WiFi in Sofia is generally stellar, some of the fastest in Europe (I honestly find it better than Romania outside of Bucharest). My home internet, which is the cheapest option, is usually 45 Mbps download and 30 Mbps upload, but sometimes it’s even faster. A ticket costs 1 leva 60 stotinki (about 80 euro cents) and can be bought inside the metro at the ticket booth or from the ticket machines, which can give small amounts of change.

It splashed right onto unsuspecting sightseers on a boat passing underneath the Kinzie Street Bridge. It was a day that would live on in Chicago lore, known in the city as Poopgate. Well, certainly not any of the passengers on Chicago’s Little Lady. Nor Dave Matthews, his band, or the driver of the bus, Stefan Wohl, who later pleaded guilty to the dumping. Chicago Police initially couldn’t figure out who did the dumping, resulting in the then Mayor of Chicago Richard M. Daley holding a press conference, in which he released a videotape used as evidence that the DMB tour bus did the crime.

The cleanup from the actual dumping of the waste probably took a couple of days. "I have been in touch with many of the people who were on the boat, and none of them suffered any lasting health effects," then–Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Robert Egan told the Tribune in 2005. The band, known for huge outdoor shows, a string of hits and environmental activism, later donated $50,000 to the Chicago Park District “to begin the healing process,” according to reports. “We feel very badly for these people who have had this day’s event ruined,” said Bastiaan Bouma, vice president of marketing and tours for the foundation. In 50 years of operation, the tour has never experienced something like this, he said. Some passengers became sick from the smell and made use of the boat’s lower-deck bathrooms, Bass said.

He noted the band would “continue to be co-operative in this investigation.” Eventually, Stefan Wohl admitted he’d done the deed. The 42-year-old, who was driving violinist Boyd Tinsley’s bus, had dropped the load into the Chicago River while he was the only person aboard the bus, presumably in a bid to save himself a trip to an authorized waste depot. The Chicago Tribune reported the tourists had been bathed in “foul-smelling, brownish-yellow slurry that ruined their clothes and made several of them sick.” None was reported to have suffered any long-term ill effects, though several went to a hospital.

Passengers shouted that police should be called and demanded the boat be turned around. Within minutes, the tour headed back to the dock at Michigan Avenue and Lower Wacker Drive, speeding as “fast as the boat would go,” Lund said. On Monday's anniversary, Chicagoans and beyond took to social media to continue to remember that infamous day. We also have articles for popular day trips from Sofia like Plovdiv, the Rila Lakes, Buzludzha. If this will be your first time in Bulgaria, check out our Bulgaria Trip Planning guide. If you plan to visit Sofia as a digital nomad as many travelers do, there are a lot of great coworking spots that cater to the digital nomad crowd.

It’s a good idea to be covered in case you have an accident or fall victim to theft. Travel insurance will help you recover your expenses and continue to enjoy your trip. You need to send a text with your license plate number via SMS to the number listed.

And any other service, such as massage, nails, salon, etc. we recommend tipping about 10% as long as you are satisfied with the service. After the incident, the boat returned to its dock where passengers were given refunds. No serious injuries were reported though several passengers did get a checkup at a local hospital. Bouma said that he was told that someone recorded license plate numbers from the bus or buses and reported the plates to police. He said he hoped to know the name of the company by Monday morning and would demand the company’s buses be inspected for defects. “Our driver has stated that he was not involved in this incident,” a spokesman for Matthews said.

We’ve hosted dozens of friends during our years in the city, and we’re chock full of useful Sofia travel tips that we think will make your time in the city far more pleasant. In the aftermath of the shipwreck, the Daily Alaskan stated that, “Vanderbilt Reef has long been regarded as a menace to navigation.” Vanderbilt Reef, located about 30 miles north of Juneau, is about seven miles long. For the majority of the time, it lies just below the surface of Lynn Canal and is no more than 12 feet above the surface at any given time. In 1918, safety markers were limited; the Sentinel Island Lighthouse was four miles away and a buoy from U.S. coastal authorities was only visible in daylight. Canadian Pacific had submitted a request in 1917 for the installation of a light on the reef, but they were rejected due to lack of funds during times of war.

Winter Hair Colors: 35 Trendy Shades

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