|
A
Word from the Editor: Welcome to the tenth edition of the Lake St. Clair Network Newsletter.
Please visit these new additions and or updates to The
Lake St. Clair Network:
We
at The Lake St. Clair Network would also like to take a
moment to welcome our new
sponsors to the Network. It is because of these fine
businesses that we are
able to bring the Lake St. Clair Network to you, the
community, for free.
We encourage you to support our sponsors and visit
their web sites to find
out more information about them.
Welcome "Great Lakes
Boatworks Magazine!"
Great Lakes Boatworks is a "Freshwater Boating
Marketplace" available on-line
at www.glboat.com, or as a free, printed, bi-monthly
boat sales publication
available at many marine related businesses throughout
the Great Lakes
region.
Our FREE business directory
is now completely automated. To add your business,
just fill out the on-line form and select submit.
Enjoy the site and remember to spread the
word.
Visit
our parent company home page at Advanced
Media Solutions.
Help wanted! We
are always looking for content. Content provided can
result in free advertising for your company or
organization. Please E-mail me with suggestions or
proposals. If you are interested in becoming a
Bulletin Board moderator, contact webmaster@lakestclair.net
for more details.
Wishing
you calm waters
and sunny skies....
Captain
Rob
___________________________________________________________________________
|
Winner for February - Steve Chappel
|
|
|
Win
a Lake St. Clair Network Cap!
Complete
a Lake St. Clair Network survey
and win a free cap. One winner will be
selected each month and announced in our next
news letter. Winner will be notified by
e-mail.
Click
here to complete a survey! |
 |
___________________________________________________________________________
Enjoy
these free services:
 
Attention Business Owners: Take
advantage of our free services!! Use the Bulletin
Board as a forum to discuss upcoming sales or specials
you may be running. Post an event on our calendar
letting our visitors know when something special is
going on with your business. Dealers are welcome
to create unlimited classified ads with sound and
pictures, so we encourage you to take advantage of
this great free advertising opportunity.
|
|
____________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
1985 -
28' Wellcraft Monte Carlo
Power - TWIN I/O
Price - $24,900.00 w/slip
Tel (810) 206-6580 - Rob
Options:
Twin 205 Mercs, 450 hours, Depth Finder, Loran, refrigerator,
microwave, coffee maker, full head, Mooring Cover,
Camper Cover, Mac&Ray 2001 -
30' slip included.
|
Advertise your boat here
sales@lakestclair.net
|
|
___________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
Click on calendar for
more info.
| Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
| 1 |
April Fool's Day
Daylight Savings Time
begins
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 13 |
Port
Huron Royal Hannaford Circus -
McMorran - 3 Big Shows!
|
|
| 14 |
Port
Huron Royal Hannaford Circus -
McMorran - 3 Big Shows!
|
|
|
|
| 16 |
Federal income taxes
due
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 27 |
Arbor Day
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
___________________________________________________________________________
|
| Source
- By:
Tom Watts Macomb
Daily |
|
Water
levels rise in spring, fall in summer.
The
Garwood Bayview Lodge sits on
picturesque Belvidere Bay near the end
of North River Road in Harrison
Township. Restaurant customers are
treated to a spectacular view of Lake
St. Clair.
That's the good news.
The bad news is marinas and water-side
restaurants like Garwood's are bracing
for another summer of low water in
lakes, rivers and canals.
"I'm praying the water will go up
this summer," said Paul Kopitzke, a
partner at Garwood's, "but I also
believe it might not. I think we're just
in a low cycle right now. Now if the
water hasn't come up in four or five
years, then I'll worry."
Spring rains could raise water levels on
the Great Lakes about a foot this
spring, but by summer, levels will again
drop below the long-term average, a
scientist with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers said.
"We're looking at water levels 8
inches below Lake St. Clair's long-term
average," said Adam Fox, a physical
scientist. "Even if we get a normal
rise in levels this spring, by June or
July we should be 8 to 10 inches below
the long-term average for that time of
year."
Tom Havey, a partner at Boca Grande
Marina in Harrison Township, said the
more water recedes, the less business he
sees.
"When the water's low, people don't
boat," Havey said. "And when
people don't boat, they don't buy
gas."
Havey said low water usually translates
into layoffs.
"You have to cut back on help to
cut costs," he said. "I may
have to let go of some help. I may have
to close two or three days - Tuesday and
Wednesday, and maybe Mondays, too."
Havey, who runs a party store and gas
dock with full boat service near the
mouth of the Clinton River, said
successive years of low water is "a
cycle."
"We'll see if it comes back up in
four years," he said. "We've
reached our low. It has to start going
up."
The expected lower water levels could
mean navigational trouble for recreation
boaters who utilize Havey's marina and
commercial shipping vessels using the
Great Lakes system.
"My canal at home (in Harrison
Township) is completely dried up,"
he said. "Dredging does no good
because the sea walls will cave
in."
Scientists concede that "Mother
Nature" determines whether boating
business and recreation needs are served
in the summer.
"If we get an average rise this
year we still will be on order of being
8 to 10 inches below last summer's peak
in July," Fox said.
Currently, Lake St. Clair is 8 inches
below the long-term water level average.
By comparison, Lake Huron is 23 inches
below average.
"Lake St. Clair water levels are as
dependent on flows coming from Lake
Huron as any precipitation across the
Great Lakes basin," Fox noted.
Lake Erie is running about 5 inches low
and Lake Ontario is about 2 inches below
long-term average, Fox said.
"Lake Ontario has the greatest
flows coming in and they have more
control over levels," Fox said.
"Lake Superior is regulated, but
only to a minor extent."
Fox said the Army Corps of Engineers
does not determine water levels in Lake
St. Clair or any of the other Great
Lakes. He said Lake Superior uses a lock
system known as 'control gate.'
"When Lake Superior is as low as it
is, then the flows coming out of
Superior are minor," Fox said.
"You have to have water to get
water.
"If we can finish up spring with
some good amounts of precipitation on
the upper Great Lakes, maybe get 6
months of above average precipitation,
then we'll see a response," Fox
said. "If we can get a few more
snowstorms and wet springs and summers
(in Canada), that will certainly
help."
Scientists with the Detroit Branch of
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it
was a "challenge tracking Lake St.
Clair water levels because of the amount
of water that gets to it."
"A heavy rainfall causes quick
rises," he said. "Lake St.
Clair is a flashy lake. It fills quickly
and runs out quickly."
Overall, the Great Lakes basin has not
seen consistent low water levels on the
Great Lakes since the mid-1960s. Lake
Michigan, for example, is experiencing
its lowest water levels since 1965, but
the big lake is suffering the most.
"Water levels have not been this
low on Lake Superior at this time of
year since 1927," Fox noted.
"Right now, Superior is 13 inches
below the average."
Lake Superior is 600.16 feet above sea
level, but add the 13 inches on top of
that and the levels should be at 601.20
feet.
Lake St. Clair, meanwhile, is 573.16
feet above sea level. But add 8 inches
on the top and the long term average for
Lake St. Clair for March is 574.00 feet
above sea level.
"It's safe to say we don't
anticipate record low water levels on
the Great Lakes through summer,"
Fox said. "That's a good point.
Although we don't anticipate getting
back to long-term averages, we expect
above-record lows but below long-term
average."
On the plus side, Fox called low water
levels "good for
biodiversity."
"This is a rebuilding process that
goes on," he said. "We do
notice biodiversity when we go through
these periods of low water and that can
be good. Maybe not for boaters, but for
many others."
Others like Bernard Joseph of Clinton
Township, say all-time low water levels
don't mean much to him nor should they
to anyone else considering statistics
have been kept for just a century.
"The lake has been much
lower," Joseph said. "A
thousand feet or so off the lake shore
at 14 Mile Road are the remains of a
Catholic church and grave yard. It now
is beneath 4 to 5 feet of water.
Obviously, it was built on dry
land."
Joseph said a Case-Western college
professor who has been studying ancient
beaches in the Great Lakes told him that
'We have crossed the top of a 160-year
cycle.'
"The lake can drop down the
slope," said Joseph, who noted that
a "growing number of scientists and
citizens believe we are just emerging
from the last Ice Age."
"That means things will get warmer
and the lakes will probably drop from
lack of percipitation," Joseph
said. "Perhaps in a short
time."
Weather forecasters predict near-normal
temperatures and above- normal
precipitation for the remaining days of
March.
Meanwhile, Kopitzke said while business
was off last summer at the lodge, he
expects a rise in profits to begin after
the outside patio opens on May 17.
"Father Martin of Notre Dame High
School will give the blessing of the
fleet," said Kopitzke, who co-owns
Garwood's with Tom LeFevre. "But
who knows what's up with the water? It's
just a cycle.
"But just pray." |
|
___________________________________________________________________________
| Source
- Chad
Selweski, Macomb Daily Staff Writer |
County
commissioners say state, federal
officials ignore Lake St. Clair
pollution
Concerns about water quality reached the
boiling point Wednesday as county
commissioners lashed out at state and
federal officials, as well as the
public, in their frustration over the
pollution in Lake St. Clair. |
The
Board of Commissioners expressed anger
over a state Senate vote Tuesday
rejecting funds for a Macomb County
water monitoring program. The
commissioners also denounced the lack of
federal assistance, and they took steps
to impose new regulations on homes with
septic tanks.
Board Chairman John Hertel said the lack
of support for the county's Lake St.
Clair cleanup effort can be traced to
public indifference over beach closings
and threats to the drinking water
supply.
"This is not a priority at other
levels of government. What concerns me a
great deal is the average citizen
doesn't seem to care very much,"
said Hertel, a Lenox Township Democrat.
"The thinking that's going on is,
'I don't have to worry. I can go to a
swimming pool, and I can buy a bottle of
water.'"
Several new developments arose Wednesday
related to the county's ongoing
pollution problems:
- The
commissioners adopted a resolution
demanding a meeting with Canadian
officials to discuss ongoing
chemical spills into the St. Clair
River, upstream from Macomb County's
drinking water facilities.
- County
officials vowed a lobbying effort to
push for House approval of the
defeated Senate amendment. The
amendment calls for a 3-year pilot
program in Macomb County to place
round-the-clock water monitoring
equipment in Lake St. Clair, the
Clinton River and its tributaries.
- The
commissioners took another step
toward a mandatory inspection
program aimed at eliminating the
"extremely serious"
problem of leaking septic systems.
Under the proposed health department
program, when a home is put up for
sale the seller would be required to
pay $175 for a septic inspection. If
septic repairs are needed, they
would be required within 180 days.
- The
county health department reported
that the newest water tests from the
East Pond Creek in Romeo show
pollution levels that are 662 times
higher than safe levels. Romeo
officials continue to inject the
village sewer system with smoke and
dye to trace the source of the
sewage that's fouling the creek. So
far, five homes and one business
have been singled out as the
culprits.
The commissioners' resolution, authored
by Commissioner Peggy Kennard, a
Harrison Township Democrat, calls for
the creation of a U.S.-Canadian
notification system that warns when
contaminants endanger water supplies.
According to a report released last
month, Canadian companies in the Sarnia
area spilled chemicals into the St.
Clair River 748 times over the past 15
years. The contaminants ranged from oil
and gasoline to cancer-causing toxins
such as benzene and xylene.
Some officials said the spills are small
and the contaminants are quickly
diluted, presenting no danger to the
public. But a report released Wednesday
in Lansing concluded that one quart of
oil can contaminate up to 2 million
gallons of drinking water, and four
quarts can cause an oil slick spanning
eight acres.
On the issue of state funding, some
commissioners suggested a delegation be
sent to Lansing to address a perceived
"anti-Macomb bias" in the
state capital.
Lake St. Clair was used as the
"poster child" to successfully
sell the $675 million environmental bond
issue to Michigan voters in 1998,
officials said. So far, the county has
had virtually no luck getting any of
that money for the lake.
Hertel said the state Auditor General
singled out Macomb's water testing
program as a model for the rest of
Michigan, but the state won't pay for an
upgrade in the program.
Hertel said he's also frustrated that
surrounding counties have not taken
steps to deal with the region's
pollution problems. Macomb remains the
only county in Michigan with a water
quality board, a team of environmental
investigators and a special prosecutor
to handle pollution cases.
"We may have to do something
drastic to mobilize the public,"
Hertel said
|
|
|
|
___________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
Deep-Fried
Catfish
INGREDIENTS:
| 4
catfish fillets, 8 ounces each |
| 1
cup milk |
| 1/8
teaspoon salt |
| 1/8
teaspoon black pepper |
| 1/8
teaspoon paprika |
| 1
cup cornmeal vegetable oil |
|
COOKING
1.
Rinse and pat catfish dry.
2.
In a shallow dish, mix milk, salt, pepper and paprika.
3.
Dip pieces of fish in mixture then roll fish in
cornmeal. Set aside on waxed paper to dry.
4.
Heat 1 1/2 inches vegetable oil to 350 degrees. Deep fry
fish, turning once, until golden brown. Drain on paper
towels
Source: Coastal
Living, Nov./Dec. 2000
|
|
___________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
The 'D' List Maintenance
Tips
|
|
Electrical
Wiring: Make sure all boat wiring is properly
secured with clamps spaced
no more than 18 inches apart. There should be
grommets, sleeves or protective
collars where wires and wiring harnesses pass through
metal or fiberglass.
Test terminal screws and mounting lugs on bus bars and
junction boxes to
make certain they are tight. Clean off all connections
and spray with
moisture-displacing protective coating.
Electronics Gear: Test
each piece of equipment by letting it run for several
hours before you leave
the dock for the first time. See: radios, radar,
depth finders.
Engine Block: Replace all
the drain plugs after first coating the threads
with anti-seize compound
to facilitate removal during fall layup.
Engine Filters: You
should have changed the filter when you changed the
oil in the fall.
If you didn't, do it now. If you added VCI oil in the
fall, instan a
new filter when you switch to conventional lubricant.
Engine Room Vents: If
these were sealed off or covered during fall layup,
uncover them now.
Replace Dorade vents on deck if they were removed in
the fall and face
at least one of them toward the prevailing wind.
Exhausts: Remove plastic
covers and tape from all exhausts and turbochargers.
Use mineral spirits (being careful to vent fumes
sufficiently to
avoid a fire hazard) to remove glue deposits left by
tape before reassembling
exhaust components.
__________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
Q: What should you
file prior to sailing on a trip?
Q:
How many pictures can you upload in the LSCnet
classifieds?
Q. Which Great Lake is
the deepest?
A: Superior
Q.
Which Great Lake is the largest?
A: Superior
Answers will appear
in next month's Newsletter.
|
|
|
If
you would like to advertise on the
Lake St. Clair Newsletter, click here!
|
|
|
