OCTOBER 2010
The Treasurer’s report, given by Pat Lovett, followed the pledge of allegiance.
September 1, 2010: 42,709.82
Deposits 2,394.22
Expenses 3,293.00
October 1, balance: 41,811.04
Secretary, Chris Grimm, asked for volunteers for two committees; a Membership committee and volunteers to help design the next shirt or promotional item for the LIA. Dave Eyink and Stan Wilker graciously volunteered to lead the Membership committee. We are still looking for some volunteers for “promo” committee. Please contact any member of the LIA Board if you would like to help with this project. Thank you notes from Holly Platfoot from the Auglaize County High School MD Unit ESC and Carma Sheely, the St. Marys Primary Multi Disability Teacher were read to the membership.
Vice President, Mark Piening reported the Google analytics results; another successful month. Over 100,000 page views. Viewers are spending the most time in the Knowledge Base and Contact Your Legislators areas. The website is undergoing a ‘face lift’. The LIA is searching for photos of GLSM, historic and recent, to use in the new website appearance. The new look is designed to promote the lake; to encourage people to “Come back to the lake.” Many thanks to Evay & Less Kemper for selling over 50 SaveGrandLake t-shirts, and Rick Nurrenbrock of ValPak of Troy for donating the ValPak mailers.
A reminder to sign up at the website for the LIA newsletter and news alerts. Type in your name and email address and SUBMIT. You will receive a confirmation email, submit and you’re on the list!
Tom Rampe announced that it is election time. All board members and 2 trustees have terms that are ending. Additionally, Trustee Mark Utrupp must resign his position due to other commitments. Tom invited all members interested to come forward and apply for any office. Five executive offices and 3 trustees’ positions are open. Candidates must declare in November. Voting takes place in December.
Tim Lovett thanked quite a few restaurants/bars in the area for their continued fundraisers.
Bayview, Angie and the team, hosted a Beach Party and donated $120 from the 50/50 drawing.
Tony Seger, LIA Trustee, donated 200, blue, “I ♥ GRAND LAKE” wrist bands to each participant of the Fishing Derby. The kids seemed to love them!
Behm’s Landing held a Guest Waiter night and donated $1000 to the GLRC. Stan Grimm, also shared another fundraiser, suggested by one of his employees, that will be seen around the lake. Reynolds & Reynolds donated the printing of 10,000 SAVE GRAND LAKE cards which they are sharing with other establishments around the lake. They ask for a $1.00 minimum donation; write your name or other message and it will be displayed at the place where it was purchased. (Similar to the Relay for Life Cards sold in area businesses.) $200 was raised in the first week of sales. Duckfoot and Sunnyside are also participating. Stan says that his staff is in the process of delivering to all lake area establishments. One of the Behm’s employees, Vonnie Crouch, also held her own fundraiser selling breakfast sandwiches to employees. She donated another $50 to the SAVE GRAND LAKE fund.
The Fishing Derby results are back! Dave Meyers reported the fishing derby for 2010 was another success. The weather was beautiful and the fish were very cooperative. 191 mentally and physically challenged children from kindergarten through high school attended. There also were 180 teachers, teachers’ aides, parents and volunteers there to help. They prepared and passed out the food and beverages, prepared the fishing poles, baited hooks and removed hundreds of fish that were caught. Close to 500 hot dogs were consumed, along with chips, cookies, soft drinks and water. We definitely had a wide variety of cookies this year to pass out.
Many thanks to all of the cookie bakers who donated cookies and Mickie and Andrea van Horn who picked up cookies from those who couldn’t bring them to the site. Also thanks to the volunteers who helped the day of the fishing derby. Bill and Jan Rye, Elaine & Loran Coy, and, of course, Gayle Meyers thanks for the extra effort! A great time was had by all who attended.
Secchi disk readings where presented by President Emeritus, Bill Ringo. Soil & Water has provided monitors, training, and kits to test. If you’ve been a Monitor in the past, please consider being retrained and certified. The Secchi disk is 8” in diameter with a string attached. Lower the disk until it can’t be seen. Sunlight which helps plant growth is 3 times that dimension. 7-8” visibility indicates sunlight reaches only 24” into the water. Sunlight does not reach the bottom. A comparison of the Harmon’s Landing treated area and Club Island, an untreated area reveal that initial visibility after the alum treatment was 39”, compared to the untreated water at Club Island of 8”. Over the next 10 days, daily measuring showed a declining visibility rate. On 10/1/2010, visibility of the two sites was 18” and 11 ½”. A Secchi disk only measure visibility and does not establish if the test Alum was effective. Lake and lab testing will determine if Alum is an appropriate treatment.
Tom Knapke, Chairman of the Lake Restoration Committee (LRC) addressed the group to disclose that there will be a meeting on October 20th at Dicke Hall at Wright State Lake Campus. All vendors with projects in/on the lake are invited to provide progress reports to the public. Guest Speaker, Storm Cunningham, a U.S. Economist will be discussing the impact of water condition to the lake and surrounding counties.
ODNR reports that the campground is full for their Halloween event! Dredging has resumed around the lake and will continue as long as possible. Great news!
Nicki Hawk, Administration and Education Specialist from the Soil & Water office was the guest speaker. She answered questions from the membership regarding the EQIP program for better farm practices. She estimated that there are approximately 330 families, corporations or farms in the water shed. 136 EQIP programs’ funding has been granted, some farms may be eligible for more than one program. About 65 businesses have been qualified for the program to date.
Recently, State Representative, Jim Zehringer estimated that 21% of the farms are in compliance for the EQIP programs. 3 new Soil & Water staff members have been approved to assist in the lengthy processing of applications for the programs. There are significant numbers of farm businesses awaiting responses to their applications. Whole farm conservation planning is being done with the assistance of JCARR and ODNR. Thanks to Jim Zehringer and others for delivering approval for new hires at Soil & Water to help with this monumental task.
Q: If farms are required to check phosphate levels every 3 years, how many farms are above the permissible phosphate level?
A: Soil & Water only has compiled new placements. The 136 EQIP program participants will have to submit their phosphate levels.
Q: How does Phosphate get tested?
A: A multi-location grid is sampled. The samples are taken to a lab. Theresa Howick contributed their farm hires “Helena” to take the samples. 5 samples are taken over a 20 acre area at a cost of $5.00/acre. ($100 for each sample area). Testing is additional.
Thank you Nicki for your contribution to the October meeting.
Tim Lovett closed the meeting. The LIA goals/objectives include supporting those who support clean water. State Representative Jim Zehringer has stepped up to open discussion about solutions, and delivered promises for resources to this region.
Tim invited anyone with questions or comments to write to president@LIA.com. The LIA is looking for input from members regarding meeting format, content or practices.
Monday, October 4th, there will be a discussion with the ODNR and Ohio Wildlife and Fish and Game regarding rough fish in the lake. Rough fish examples are carp, shad, and sheephead. These omnivorous fish eat phytoplankton and smaller game fish. Their excretions contain high levels of dissolved phosphorous. These fish are harming GLSM. The important issue is how can we reduce the numbers of these fish, which some estimate to be 80-90% of all the fish in the lake.
Clean water is a complex issue with many parts to the answer.
The 50/50 winner was Loran Coy. Loran generously donated his earnings back to the LIA.
NEXT MEETING: NOVEMBER 6, 2010, 10:00A.M., MOOSE LODGE