LAKE PARKER ASSOCIATION, INC.
PO Box 69, West Glover, VT 05875
May 1998 Newsletter
Bob Johnson - President
Welcome back
everyone!
We have a busy summer ahead! The purpose of this newsletter is to get a list of all this summers’ lake-related events out to everyone. You will find a schedule of events, suitable for posting near your calendar, with several events detailed later in the newsletter. Please note - some of the dates have been changed.
Summer 1998
Upcoming Events – Mark your Calendar!
EVENT |
DATE |
TIME |
PLACE |
|
Watershed Survey Coffee Hour / Kickoff Meeting. |
Saturday, June 6th |
10:00AM |
Bob Johnson’s Camp #25 |
|
Instructors’ Boating Safety Course |
Thursday, June 18th |
7:00 PM |
Bob Johnson’s Camp #25 |
|
Lake Parker
Association *** Annual Meeting and Potluck Supper *** |
Saturday, July 11th |
5:30 PM |
West Glover Church |
|
Kids poster contest deadline for entry submission. |
Saturday, July 11 |
5:00 PM |
Lake Parker Store |
|
20th Anniversary Lay Monitoring Program Celebration. With special guests Gov. Dean and Senator Leahy. |
Friday, July 17th |
5:00 –7:00PM |
Radisson Hotel, Burlington, VT. |
|
LakeFEST ‘98 Week |
July 18 - 26th |
N/A |
State of Vermont |
|
Aquatic Nuisance Species Workshop Hosted by the Shadow Lake Association |
Tuesday, July 21st |
3:00-5:00PM |
Glover Town Hall |
|
Workshop: Watershed Management; Building a Community Base – LPA representatives will be presenting information on our watershed survey. |
Thursday, July 23rd |
2:30 -5:00PM |
Lake Morey Inn, Fairlee, VT |
|
Kids poster contest winners announced. |
Saturday, July 25th |
TBD |
TBD |
|
Glover Day |
Saturday, July 25th |
All Day |
Glover, VT |
|
LakeFEST ‘98
Wrap-Up *** Dixieland Band
/ Lake-Wide family grill-out. *** |
Sunday, July 26th |
1:00-4:00 PM |
Lake Parker Boat Access |
Vermont
LakeFEST ‘98!
You have already heard a lot about LakeFEST ’98 in prior newsletters, but it is such an important statewide event that you will hear more about it as the summer goes on. Many of this summer’s activities are part of LakeFEST ‘98. Again, LakeFEST is a week-long statewide event with the purpose of:
1) Raising the level of awareness of the lake community (both lake and town residents) about lake issues and to promote increased involvement.
2) Building rapport between lake residents, lake users, and town residents.
3) Having community fun.
4) Building a foundation on which to begin working on larger issues.
Lake Parker
Association Financial stuff.
The By-Laws of the Lake Parker Association state that the Board of Trustees is empowered to vote expenditures of the Corporation as may be required. These expenditures shall not exceed two hundred dollars per expenditure in any fiscal year. As we all know, $200.00 does not go as far as it did in the early seventies when the By-Laws were written. For example, it took over $230.00 for the modest project of building a picnic table and a flower bed at the boat access (and this was done with volunteer labor provided by LPA members).
In order to support what I interpret as the philosophy and intent of our charter, I have authorized a $250.00 expenditure to have a Dixieland Band as entertainment at a lake-wide family picnic at the end of LakeFEST week. (More about the picnic later) I would welcome your thoughts on this issue and I’ll make a point to bring it up for discussion at our annual meeting on July 11th.
Watershed
Survey - Coffee Hour / Kickoff Meeting.
Saturday, June 6th at 10:00 AM there will be a watershed survey coffee hour / kickoff meeting at the home of Bob Johnson (camp 25). We are committed to completing our survey, as part of the $600.00 grant we received from the Conservation Plate Program. There is a lot of work to do to meet this commitment, and we hope that everyone interested in helping out and everyone interested in the progress of the survey will attend. We will be passing out materials, assigning tasks and giving instructions to volunteers. This probably will be the only meeting this year specific to the watershed survey. Please plan on attending and volunteering some of your time if at all possible.
Instructors
Boating Safety Course
The Lake Parker Association (LPA) is sponsoring a course for all those who would like to become certified as a Boating Safety Instructor. It will be held on Thursday, June 18th, at 7:00 PM at the home of Bob Johnson (camp # 25), on the western side of Lake Parker. The course will last about two hours, and will be presented by Bill Johnson (no relation), from the Vermont Dept of Public Safety, State Police Marine Division. Those who become certified will then be authorized to conduct Boating Safety Courses, (as required to operate any motorized vessel), for all those born after January 1, 1974. We must know how many people will be attending no later than Friday, June 12th. Please call 525-6252 or 525-4078 to sign up.
*** Annual
Meeting and Potluck Supper – Mark your Calendar! ***
Saturday, July 11, 1998 is the date for our annual business meeting and potluck supper! The potluck supper is from 5:30PM to 7:00PM with business meeting following. At the suggestion of our membership, we are starting a little earlier than we have in the past to allow for more time to chat with our neighbors during the potluck supper. Please mark your calendar and plan on attending.
Poster Contest
Notice
HEY, ALL YOU KIDS FROM KINDERGARTEN THROUGH THE 8TH GRADE! Join the fun - enter the LakeFEST '98 Poster Contest and win a prize! All Glover school kids, as well as kids vacationing at Lake Parker, Shadow Lake and Daniels Pond, up through the 8th grade are eligible. Use your talents and design a poster on the theme "Protect Our Lakes". Add your name, age and grade level on the back, and you are on your way! Drawings must be original and can be any size up to a standard 22” X 28” poster board. The theme "Protect Our Lakes" must be printed somewhere on the front of the poster. Deadline for submission - to the Lake Parker Country Store - is Saturday, July 11, 1998. Winners will be announced on "Glover Day", Saturday, July 25th, and all entries will be on display in downtown Glover - location to be announced. There will be first, second and third place winners in each of five grade categories: Kindergarten, Grades 1-2, Grades 3-4, Grades 5-6, and Grades 7-8. So put on your thinking caps and get busy. Questions? Call 525-6252 or 525-4057.
Our LakeFest '98 celebration will conclude the weekend of July 25-26 with several noteworthy events:
1) The winners of the Poster Contest will be chosen and all entries will be on display in downtown Glover, on "Glover Day", Saturday, July 25th. Come see them and congratulate all the talented kids!
2)
*** On Sunday
afternoon, July 26th, the "Maple Leaf 7" Dixieland Band will be
cruising around Lake Parker starting about 1:00 PM and winding up with a
concert at the boat access which will last until 4:00PM. Including our own Ron
Ducham, from camp #66, the band will have you all on your feet! So bring your
outdoor grills to the boat access, or put them along the shoreline, put on the
chicken or ribs or steaks, and lets have a lake-wide family
"grill-out" while you enjoy the toe tapping music. In case of inclement
weather, the band will perform in the West Glover Church.***
Ice-out
Contest Winner
According to the Lake Parker Aquatic Chronometer, the official time that the ice went out of the lake this spring was Friday, April 10th at 9:37:08 AM. Peggy Gibson won with the best guess of 4/10/98 2:00PM! Only 4 1/2 hours off! The next closest guess was 9 1/2 hours off. We only had 27 entries, and at $3.00/entry, we collected $81.00. One-half of which went to Peggy and the other half went to the LPA treasury. We are hoping for much better participation next year. The odds are so much better than the lottery!
Loon Nesting
Platform Installed
Betsy Day and Bernard Urie built a loon nesting platform this spring with materials donated by Randy Williams, Michael Gulick, and Bill Tester. On the day the platform was launched, it was covered with chicken wire and towed to the Southwest corner of the lake by Ernie Lord, Jeff Millette and Randy Williams. Here it was further covered with balsam brush, mud, and cattails. Betsy has since taken Eric Hanson, the State Loon Biologist with the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences, for an inspection of the platform. Eric stated that it was one of the best loon platforms that he has seen and that Lake Parker is perfect habitat for loons. He thought it was only a matter of time before we had a pair of loons using the platform. There have been several loon sightings on the lake so far this year. Betsy has informational handouts on loons and forms that you can use to report loon sightings. Anyone interested in obtaining the handouts and forms can contact Betsy at 525-4051.
Lake Parker’s
Own Ornithologist
Have you ever had trouble identifying an unusual species of bird? Dr. Ray Griffin (camp # 20) has offered to help out! Dr. Griffin and his wife Olive have made a hobby of bird-watching for many years and are probably the leading experts on the subject in this area. They have traveled extensively on birding expeditions and lead bird-watching field trips locally. Dr. Griffin also writes bird-sighting reports for the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences. If you see a bird that you can’t identify, give Dr. Griffin a call at 525-3646. He will gladly try to help you identify the bird from your phone description or he may need to come and observe the bird to properly identify it. Dr. Griffin clearly loves his hobby, and I’m sure that you will enjoy talking to him about your sightings. He has also suggested that if there is enough interest, he would be willing to lead a local bird watching field trip sometime in the future. Any interest?
Deformed Frogs found in 48
Vermont Towns
In the summer of 1995, middle school students on a field trip to a farm pond in southern Minnesota discovered large numbers of frogs with misshapen, extra, or missing limbs. About 50% of the northern leopard frogs they caught that day were malformed. Since then, reports of amphibian malformations from other parts of North America have drawn public attention. Malformed amphibians are not a new phenomenon, but reports were only infrequent until recently. Since 1995, reports have become increasingly common including 48 towns in Vermont in the following counties: Addison -- Chittenden -- Franklin -- Grand Isle -- Rutland -- Washington -- Windham – Windsor. The health of amphibians is considered a good indicator of water quality because they have porous skins that allow absorption of whatever is in the water. Cause of the malformations is so far unknown, and scientists are actively researching the cause(s) because of (amoung other reasons) the possible impact on human health. So far, there hasn’t been any data collected from the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. If we have enough volunteers maybe we can include an informal study of malformed frogs in our Watershed Survey.
The Glover Selectmen remind us that water and electrical lines are not to be run through culverts as this causes problems when cleaning or replacing the culverts. Campers can, however, put lines through a culvert during the summer months as long as all lines are removed in the fall.
Randy’s
LakeFEST ’98 Promotional TV Commercial!
In the last newsletter, we mentioned that Lake Parker’s own Randy Williams (camp 88 - who is also Coordinator of NEK-TV in Newport) was working on a public service announcement (PSA) type TV commercial that could be aired on television to promote LakeFEST ’98 statewide. At that time, funding for completing the work was in question. But now, we are pleased to report, that the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation has decided to fund completion of the project so you should see his work on your favorite TV station prior to LakeFest Week. Randy also hopes to show it at the LPA annual meeting on July 11th.
A principal activity of our association is the operation and maintenance of the weed cutting equipment. Where an excess growth of weeds interferes with boating or swimming, they are cut several feet below the surface. These cut weeds then float ashore, and they must be picked up and deposited on land back from the shoreline. If they are left in the water, they can re-root and defeat our purpose. So, please, when you find cut weeds along the shore, remove them from the water! This is a very important part of our weed control program. Also it is very important that you report the time you spend cutting and raking weeds because we get reimbursed for part of your time by a State of Vermont Aquatic Nuisance Control Grant Program. We received $1135.00 from the state for our weed harvesting efforts in 1997. The weed machine is being stored at the Barton Fairgrounds for the winter. Many thanks to Ernie Lord, Jeff Millette and to all of you who helped with the weed harvesting and equipment maintenance last year.
Two New Milfoil Lakes Found in 1997
The discovery last summer of two new Vermont lakes with Eurasian watermilfoil brings the statewide total to 42. The two newly infested lakes are Star Lake in Belmont and Lake Elligo in Craftsbury / Greensboro. The discovery of milfoil in Lake Elligo is particularly troubling to us because of its close proximity to Lake Parker. If you transport a boat between lakes in this region please be extra careful to wash your boat and prop so that you do not contribute to the spread of milfoil.
Conservation License Plate Grants
Proceeds from the sale of Vermont Conservation License Plates provide funding for local and regional watershed projects in Vermont. Funds are available for water-related projects that:
· Protect or restore fish and wildlife habitats;
· Protect or restore water quality, shorelines, and streambanks;
· Develop or enhance recreational access and trails;
· Identify and protect historic and cultural resources;
· Educate people about watershed resources;
· Monitor fish and wildlife populations and/or water quality.
If you register a vehicle in Vermont, please consider purchasing a Conservation License Plate. Applications can be found at the Lake Parker Country Store.
CPR Courses
Planned
If enough interest is shown, the Glover Ambulance Squad will sponsor two separate CPR courses this summer. One course will be for adult CPR and the other for infant and child CPR. Contact Betsy Day at 525-4051 for details.
This spring, Beryl Adams and Bob
Richards re-wrote a Conservation Plate Grant Application that was not funded
last year, and re-submitted it under the Better Back Roads Program. This is a
grant to help fix the culverts, roads, and ditches on the western side of Lake
Parker. Beryl has also written a grant application to the Dept. of Agriculture
for the repair of the Glover Town Hall foundation, which was damaged in the
1997 flood. As of May, $20,000.00 had been approved for this project.
How to give us Feedback
If you would like to share your ideas on Association matters, please contact Bob Johnson, camp #25, at 525-3458 during the day or 525-4078 evenings, or Glenn Barber, camp #33, at 525-4113. Of course, you can always drop us a line at Lake Parker Association, Inc., PO Box 69, West Glover, VT 05875(or use the comments section on the dues remittance form.)
News About
Dues
The LPA fiscal year starts on July 1st each year. If you paid your dues last year, you do not have to pay dues again until July 1998. However, it seems a shame to have a newsletter that doesn’t include a dues form. So, one is enclosed, just in case you want to pay your dues early or catch up from last year.
Here’s a good deal!
Remember that your ambulance subscription runs from March to March each year. You do not need to subscribe in order to use the services of the ambulance squad. But if you do subscribe, only $20.00 per household, any charges that your insurance doesn’t pay the ambulance squad will absorb. Please use the form below if you wish to subscribe to the ambulance.
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1998 Subscription Form for
Glover Ambulance |
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Name: |
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Names
of members of household: |
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Local
Address: |
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(include
camp #) |
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Please include a check for $20.00 payable to: Glover Ambulance Squad C/O
Marion Woodard Glover, VT 05839 |
A FLATLANDER’S VIEW
by Beryl Adams
Bob and I officially moved to northern Vermont
from southern New Hampshire last summer.
Our survival ability in the Northeast Kingdom has worried a lot of
people. Friends from Nashua and
Manchester speak of a climactic shift across Franconia Notch. Relatives in Ohio and Massachusetts are
anxious over undefined dangers in “permafrost” and ice-induced “vapor lock.” But the true terrorists come from our
relatives to the South, where the land is so flat that the horizon has a curve.
My brother, who lives in Georgia, thinks my
decision to move to Vermont was the result of mid-life crisis, complicated by
raging hormone imbalances, and a decidedly poor sense of direction. He thinks Bob’s decision was driven by a
sense of romance and adventure, a retirement-age urge to return to Nature and
God-given values. I think he likes Bob
better.
From my brother’s point of view, cold is
unnatural. He worries every winter that
our dog will grow a white pelt, and we’ll lose her in the arctic
background. He sincerely believes that
anything north of Virginia is tundra and that thermometers explode below 32
degrees Fahrenheit. He shivers at the
thought of anything north of Atlanta, where life is so uncomfortably cold that
one must wear extreme clothing layers, like sweaters and socks.
Southerners obviously know nothing about the fine
art of wardrobe-layering. In New
Hampshire, we once had a neighbor who moved into the house next door in November. We waved ice-scrapers and hollered muffled
greetings through tightly-wound face-scarves on winter workday mornings. We didn’t discover until the spring thaws
that he was a girl. LL Bean may have
invented unisex clothing. And
interestingly, it’s never white.
Bob and I have visited Georgia both in the summer
(bad idea) and in the winter (not so bad idea.) Several things have struck us as decidedly weird:
1. In
the South, they have a lot more road-kill in the winter than we do. I think ours have the good sense to
hibernate and avoid holiday traffic.
2. In
the South, they have lots of naked, scaly animals, that rustle the bushes
menacingly, and then dart out at unexpected angles. Some of them have eyeballs that roll around in different directions,
confusing your rifle-aim if you try to follow their focus. They taste the air with skinny little
tongues and then home right in on Northerners, probably sensing fear and
cooler, thicker blood. It’s like a bad
movie combo - Honey, I Shrunk Jurassic Park.
3. In
the South, they close whole cities down if something white and fluffy falls
from the sky. Experts from local Air
Force Bases are usually mobilized to identify anything chunkier than rain. The entire snow-removal system of Macon,
Georgia, consists of one plow-head, mounted to the grill-work of an ‘89 Ford
Taurus, driven by a guy named Gus, who claims to have seen snow once.
4. They
only fish in liquid water.
Bob and I chuckle at
my brother’s disbelief that we would move “so far north” and live to tell about
it. I mean, it’s still the United
States. It’s not like Bob’s brother who
somehow lives in Toronto. Come on, how
many sweaters can you wear before you get stuck in doorways, elevators, and
airport sensor gates? I worry about his
cat - she’s got a lot of white fur,
even in the summer. And everybody knows
that thermometers explode at Canadian temperatures because they’re on the
metric system. I hope he’ll be ok.