Capt. David Barchie looks for new challenges and opportunities every day.
That’s why working on the river has always appealed to him.
Barchie, 60, of Daphne, Ala., began working for American Commercial Barge Line in 1983 and went up into the wheelhouse in 1986, but he has been on the river for far longer. Barchie was in high school when he worked for a summer as a deckhand for the former Dick Meyers Towing Service, based in Mobile, Ala. At the time, his father was also working on the river, for Ohio Barge Line.
“I used to go down there on Saturdays when he worked traffic and fish off the boats and hang out there a little bit,” Barchie recalled.
December 22, 2020 By Mary Ann Kuper
When you work on a boat, there are times holidays are unavoidable, and you are away from your family for weeks at a time. The people you work with become your family during these times.
As a cook for American Commercial Barge Line, I want to make the holidays as nice as possible for my crew. One way I do that is by asking what each person’s favorite holiday dish is and getting the recipe. In addition to holiday cooking on the boat, I prepare several more dishes to make the holiday festive. However, this can be time-consuming among my other chores. It is best to prepare dishes ahead of time. Included are some easy-to-prepare dishes in the morning.
December 18, 2020 By David Murray
In the top story of 2020, an invisible virus has, to date, caused more than a million and a half deaths worldwide, sickened tens of millions more, overwhelmed the health care facilities of many countries at times, and upended the global economy, completely reshaping some industries. It is a story that is far from over, but whose end may be in sight.
After crash development by an emergency team under the aegis of Operation Warp Speed, two vaccines have been developed, one by Pfizer-BioNTech and the other by Moderna. Pfizer’s has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration after encouraging testing indicating an effectiveness of more than 90 percent. Moderna’s vaccine was awaiting approval at press time, with 6 million doses ready for immediate allocation.