Closure on the Oriskany Items

[Oriskany Divemaster]

My objective in starting this thread is not to open the lines up for the bashing of two men. The goal is actually the opposite; to commend these two guys for making the right decision. Please take a look at the posting, and if you feel you must vent, feel free to PM me. But I believe Captain Tim and Rich Sleppy have suffered enough publicly.

The day I found out about the posting from Mike S, I located Mr. Sleppy’s email and sent him a note. Upon receiving it, he replied immediately and expressed how sorry he was and wanted to make things right as soon as possible. That attitude went a very long way with me. At first I considered it a legal maneuver, but I tossed that idea when I considered that even now, law enforcement is trying to determine if a crime was even committed, and then who would have jurisdiction. Since that email, I’ve spoken to Mr. Sleppy several times on the phone, and I truly believe he is genuinely remorseful.

Rich wanted to make things whole again, so he shipped the control panel and the phone to my house and made arrangements for Captain Tim of the Viking to take me out alone on a charter so that I could return the items. The control panel went in perfectly with just a few screws—there was no prying, or welding, or any destruction to the panel at all. The phone went on the same way. And now everything is right with the world, and the Oriskany is back together, for now.

So hopefully even the harshest critics of Mr. Sleppy and Captain Tim will appreciate all their efforts and expense to return the items to the ship. Regardless of whether you agree with their original actions or not, their desire to correct the situation should be looked upon favorably. After talking with Rich on the phone several times, I’ve gained a solid level of respect for the man. And after talking and diving with Tim, and witnessing first hand his level of professionalism, I’d certainly dive with him again.

So if you wouldn’t mind following the spirit of this thread and leaving only the positive notes for these two guys, I’d sincerely appreciate it.

Thank you.

Eric Kline
(ODM)

 

[onfloat]

Glad to hear it.

 

[Sasquatch]

That's good news. Good Karma on them both.

Now,

if the lessons learned from this can only be passed on to other divers, awesome!

Sea ya!

 

[PerroneFord]

I for one, and VERY happy to hear this news. While I feel that the attitude shown by the two men in question was not what I would have hoped, I feel the return of the items and the actions of the captain demonstrate good faith.

Hopefully, the dive community can let well enough alone. I would fully support any legal action being taken against these two men being dropped and the matter closed. Hopefully, others will feel the same way.

What I *WOULD* like to see is these two make a public statement to the effect that what they did was wrong, and giving fair warning to other operators and divers to not remove anything from the ship. An apology to the state of Florida, and a general one to the men who served aboard the ship would be very nice too.

But well done in any event. And thanks to you Oriskany Divemaster for the part you've played in this. Your stock has certainly gone up in my eyes, and I'll most certainly steer people your way when they come to visit the ship.

 

[The Chairman]

Thanks for the update and what should have been done has now been accomplished. I am closing and sticking this thread for ALL to see what stand up gentlemen they turned out to be.