By Associated Press
Gee's Bend, AL – Forty-four years after it was closed by white politicians amid protests by blacks seeking to vote, the Gee's Bend Ferry reopened yesterday when 89-year-old quilter Ollie Pettway broke a bottle of champagne over the boat's railing. Gee's Bend is only about seven miles across the water from the Wilcox County courthouse in Camden, but since the ferry closed its 300-plus residents have been forced to endure a bumpy, winding 40-mile trip by car to get to town. The ferry was reopened in a colorful ceremony that featured speeches by local, state and national dignitaries, including Governor Bob Riley. Birmingham Congressman Artur Davis whose district includes rural Wilcox County said the racially mixed group is a sign of how far the area has come since 1962. The official christening comes more than a decade after the state first received 500-thousand dollars in federal funding to buy a ferry. There were delays in getting the ferry and landings ready and additional funds to operate the service.