Marion Co. Lake: Swimmers urged to wear life vests
By TOOTSIE SNELLING
Marion County Park & Lake reporter
Well, we made it through another Fourth with no major problems. With all the boats out there Friday and Saturday, it was a wonder! Gosh, when I looked out the office window all I saw was boats and jet skis going every which way. So I tried not to look.
The biggest problem Dale had was with swimmers with no jackets in the skiing area. Please remember — when you or your crowd is boating, everyone in the water must have on a life vest or jacket. They are permitted to swim close or around your dock — not 30 or 50 feet away. This rule is so you can get into the water to cool off on hot days, but it's not for swimming purposes, that is what the beach is for.
One young man at the north end of the lake was almost hit by a jet ski for swimming out by the buoys. That's way too far to go, and the jet skier was not looking for someone swimming out there and did not appreciate sliding sideways and changing course to miss him. Of course, by the time Dale got there, he wasn't there, but I got the phone calls. Please make sure your boating friends know the rules. That's your responsibility for having a boat or jet ski, and the rules are for your safety and everyone else's, even if you don't think so.
We wrote several new jet ski permits and boat permits. There are more now that ever so please be careful and watch out for the other guy.
Our camping crowd was down, but the Fourth has never been a big one. We still got phone calls and people asking if it was OK to drink or be in the water. And, of course, they all asked if it was OK to shoot fireworks. So all that contributed to the small camping crowd.
The beach was full all weekend long, as that was the coolest place to be — under water! We also got several calls wanting to know what time our fireworks display was. One man argued with me that he was here last year on the Fourth and sat on the beach hill and watched them. After about five minutes of telling him nicely that we didn't have them on the Fourth, he finally decided that I was right and it was on Labor Day. (I was happy I finally won an argument with a man, YEA!)
Friday night was pretty dead here as everyone loaded up and went to Peabody. But, by midnight, cars were roaming everywhere again.
Fishing was slow, but it was too hot for most to fish. Channel cat was the prevalent fish being taken. Several wipers were caught, but most were not big enough to keep. There were a few reports of walleye and drum and lots of perch and bluegill. Most of the fishermen I saw were setting in lawn chairs under the shade trees waiting for the breeze.
We had some bikers here on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. That's bicycles. They started out in Oregon and were traveling to South Carolina. There were three of them and they averaged about 50 miles a day. I asked them how they liked our Kansas heat. They said they just drink a lot. They have been on the road about 20 days and were hoping to finish up in about 20 more days. Hats off to them.
The Helmers used the hall on the Fourth for their family reunion and it looked like they had a big crowd. On Saturday, the hall was used by the McCartys. Chat and Dine used it in the evening. It was the Jewett reunion on Sunday.
Galen and Roy, our outside men, did a good job getting the lake ready. It really looked good guys — we got several compliments on how nice it looked. Thanks for all the hard work!!!
The trash bags have arrived. Please pick them up at the lake office.
