The Dave Matthews Band, a rock group with a “green” reputation, could face $70,000 in fines after one of its tour bus drivers allegedly dumped a tankful of human waste on a Chicago River sightseeing boat earlier this month, the Tribune reports. After a two-week investigation, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan on Tuesday accused the band and driver Stefan A. Whol of illegally dumping foul-smelling muck into the river and creating a public nuisance.
Passengers on the upper deck of Chicago’s Little Lady were doused with a brownish-yellow liquid as the tour boat crossed under the Kinzie Street bridge during an Aug. 8 architectural sightseeing cruise. Witnesses said the waste came from a long black tour bus crossing the grated bridge. Surveillance cameras at neighborhood businesses helped investigators trace the bus to Whol, a driver for the Dave Matthews Band, authorities said. Whol was driving to pick up a band member at a Michigan Avenue hotel when the bus crossed the bridge. The band was playing in nearby East Troy, Wis. A band publicist said the driver denied dumping the sewage.
Link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0408250268aug25,1,409038.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed