We know the Globe is in crunch-time negotiations with New York Times management to reach a $20 million cost-cutting consensus before the May 1 deadline, so we’re not even mad about “Lynn gambling ship now in bankruptcy.” Just disappointed.

This front-page piece is a model of armchair reporting, suspiciously similar to Lynn’s ItemLive.com article, “Lynn Bet Boat Goes Broke.” We didn’t see a single additional factoid not appearing in ItemLive’s story, which ran yesterday. The Globe appears to have simply conducted a second interview with James Cowdell, the same source used by ItemLive, for a couple of slightly different quotes. It’s even more of a shame because this is a story ripe with potential for investigative reporting.

Around midnight last October the SS Horizon’s Edge, a “Las Vegas Style Casino” cruise ship, sailed away from its pier in Lynn Harbor and never returned. A note left on the door declared simply that the ship had departed. After five years of twice-a-day sailing, charging rates of $27 per person on weekdays and $37 on weekends, the 500-passenger-capacity ship vanished overnight.

During the past few months, Horizon’s Edge has managed to accrue a sizable tab. Horizon’s Edge Casino Cruises, LLC now owes $15,000 for three months worth of pier rent to Economic Development & Industrial Corporation (EDIC), $2,383.61 to Lynn Water & Sewer, and up tp $200,000 in a lawsuit for damages to the dock. Not anticipating any forthcoming money, the city of Lynn placed a $65,644.47 lien on the cruise ship in March.

On April 27 the company filed for bankruptcy, claiming its assets are worth less than $50,000 and its liabilities are upwards of $500,000. One of the original partners at the casino, David Zion, is also a partner at Patriot Properties, Inc. in Lynn. The 24-year-old appraisal company employs over 50 people and serves more than 185 clients nationwide.

Attorney Jeffrey A. Kitaeff of North Andover told the Lynn paper that Zion is cooperating in the bankruptcy filing process. However, neither of them has said where the boat is harbored or if they will pay their fees.

ItemLive reports that Kitaeff previously offered the city “a ticket booth in exchange for the back rent, which only infuriated city officials.”

Maybe it’s too much to expect the Globe to track down the 186-foot cruise ship, but they could at least have talked with former employees and looked into the company’s finances. You know, use the telephone or Internet and do some reporting.

But, hey, who are we to talk. Even better than investigative reporting, our list of the top five reasons why the Horizon’s Edge made for the, er, horizon:

5. Afraid gambling was going to be legalized in Mass.

4. Invested heavily with Bernie Madoff.

3. Crew hit on 17 and lost a bundle.

2. Philip Markoff stopped playing there.

1. Captured by Somalia pirates.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 1:47 pm and is filed under Casino, Entertainment, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Posted by David Mashburn on 4/30/09 in Casino, Entertainment, Travel 3 Comments »