Category: Chickity check it!

Terry, Gail and Nancy get all the interviews in these big time pieces-

Perfect Storm: 20 years after

Memories fresh for those closest to losses

By Gail McCarthyand Terry Weber

Roberta Tyne Smith, now 60, recalls hearing the phone ring 20 years ago this weekend — at 5 p.m. on Halloween in 1991.

On the line was the ex-wife of Smith’s brother, fishing captain Billy Tyne, calling to tell Roberta that the Andrea Gail was three days overdue.

"I was in the middle of getting ready to go trick-or-treating with my three sons," said Smith, who now lives in Manchester. "But life changed dramatically from that day forward.

"My biggest regret is that Billy never got to see his children grow up. Billy loved his children more than anything. He always looked forward to coming home and spending time with them."

Tyne and his five-man crew on board the Andrea Gail were lost in what is today known as The Perfect Storm.

And the telling of their story — both in Sebastian Junger’s best-selling book "The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea," published in 1997, and again in the blockbuster Hollywood film of the same name, released in 2000 — has made the term "perfect storm" a common part of the American lexicon.

But memories of the storm — and the Andrea Gail tragedy — remain painful here in Gloucester, especially for the families who can never forget those days two decades ago.

Click here for the rest of the story at The Gloucester Daily Times website

and because I can never get enough of this song by Earl and Arch and the video made by Mike Lindberg The official Song od GoodMorningGloucester- Gloucester Til The End

Nancy Gaines Piece Here-

Tragedy, film lore still driving economy

By Nancy GainesCorrespondent

In the 20 years since what’s now known as the Perfect Storm, the story of the nation’s oldest seaport reads like a tale of two cities.

The economic impact on the home of the seafaring tragedy that inspired the best-selling book and blockbuster movie has been, by most measures, a wallop. And, in a sad paradox, it’s also been a boon to a place that’s been beset by a dwindling fishing industry and is now retrofitting with retail, commercial and development ventures.

The working waterfront of fishermen who go down to the sea forever — at least 30 since the Andrea Gail, says the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association — still works.

The fishing industry is worth about $200 million to the city annually, considering the ripple effect (economists use 3.5) for shoreside businesses, taxes and temporary employment, from $56.6 million in sales last year.

Yet, the business is a shell of itself 20 years ago. Fish landings in Gloucester were 126 million pounds in 1990; 41 million last year. At 100 boats, the fleet is half what it was when the movie hit, never mind the storm.