b'PVA AT 50In The BeginningBY CAPTAIN ROBERT LUMPPAll of the operators at the start up of NAPVO were river based. Most were small family companies and most of the Aboats were Mississippi River themed like this one.small group of river boat operators gathered in St. Louis in 1971 to address the issue of getting adequate insurance for their vessels. Upon close examination some of the policies they had did not cover their loss or liability situations. In fact some of the policies were not valid if the operator was carrying passengers for hire.J.B.AndrewsofthebrokeragefirmLawton, Byrne, and Bruner was able to find carriers who would underwrite the operators with much better coverage.Thegroupdecidedtocallthemselves theNationalAssociationofPassengerVessel Operators (NAPVO).Capt.WilliamBowellofthePadelfordPacket Company from St. Paul, Minn. had called for the original meeting. He and some of the members were content that their insurance goal had been achieved and saw no reason for further actions.Others,includingCapt.RichardLynnofthe KansasCityRiverboatCo.,whowassecretaryAll committee and board meetings were conducted in a serious and ofNAPVO,believedthattheassociationcouldbusiness-like manner as attested by these miniature railroaders gain in several areas by meeting on a regular basis.Bob Lumpp, Dick Lynn, Jim Cross, and Alan Bernstein.PVA AT 50 24 FOGHORN'