great lake save

OAKLAND -- Mike Guarino called it a one in a million chance that a pontoon boat set adrift from its moorings on Messalonskee Lake by 50 mph gusts would be recovered undamaged.

But that's what happened Wednesday morning.

Guarino, a neighbor to the family that owns the pontoon boat, said the incident is a testament to the power of the wind, which managed to blow the vessel off the ledge it was moored on for what turned out to be about a 4-mile trip on Messalonskee Lake.

"It never came unattached to its mooring weights," he said of the two 250 pound weights. "So what happened is those moorings continued to bounce as the boat bounced."

Guarino said boats usually end up crashing ashore when they go adrift.

But the pontoon boat, he said, somehow managed to steer clear of obstacles until the mooring got caught in a sandbar.

That's when Messalonskee Lake resident Edward Pearl spotted the vessel with fishing rods hanging from its sides.

"All I could think of at first," Pearl said, "is it is kind of cold to be fishing."

When Pearl saw no signs of activity onboard, he became concerned that somebody might have fallen overboard or suffered a heart attack or stroke.

A call to Oakland police, however, brought relief from that fear.

The pontoon boat owners had called police early that morning to report that the boat had drifted off.

Guarino used his fishing boat to ferry his neighbors to their pontoon boat.

He said they were able to start the vessel and motor home without a problem.

Guarino said he was relieved that nobody had tried to recover the boat via canoe or by trying to swim from the lakefront.

"That's how accidents happen this time of year," he said, noting that the water temperature has dipped to about 50 degrees

Mike is the lake assoc.board of directors newest member.

Mike owns and operates Maine wilderness tours in Belgrade Maine

contact him at ... info@mainewildernesstours.com

or 207-465-4333

Great work mike

interesting pontoon design

this is wrong on so many levels
good to see the has provided for the inevitable with
a life ring on the upper deck

morning rain

BRCA Aquafest

We’re Throwing a Party, and YOU’RE Invited!

The big Do is AQUAFEST, a family festival celebrating the seven beautiful Belgrade Lakes on August 29 and 30, 2008. Consider yourself cordially asked to round up the gang and join your neighbors for summer’s fun finale on Labor Day weekend.

AQUAFEST offers something for all ages … a timed 5K Race for the Lakes, a Kids Corner Challenge (ages 1 to 12), a Fun Run, Walk, Crawl or Creep (in which dogs with securely leashed owners may compete), Kayak Races, GPS and kayak lessons, music, art, a Farmer’s Market, a yummy Family Barbecue, an Art Mart, and much, much, more!

Festivities kick off with a cocktail party from 5 to 7 pm on Friday evening at the Village Inn in Belgrade Lakes. You’ll be off to the races at 8 am the following morning when the 5K sprints out and back from Camp Runoia on Point Road in Belgrade. Then the Kids Corner Challenge with T-shirt painting, games, prizes and a Lake Event Course runs from 9 to 11 at the Belgrade Center for All Seasons, with the Fun Run following-on close behind. Awards for all events and the Fishing Derby winner take place before the noontime Chicken Barbecue in the Rec Center picnic grove; then Canoes and Kayaks Race off from the waterfront at 2 pm.

If that isn’t enough to occupy family and friends, your gang can take boat and float plane rides, visit the Farmers’ Market, snag a Labor Day bargain, find a summer keepsake at village stores or the Art Mart, or munch on AQUAFEST Specials at village food emporia.

There’s more to tell, but we’ve run out of room. No problem! All details can be found in the AQUAFEST flyer (at random watershed locations) and on the BRCA website www.belgradelakes.org

Days'Store turns 50

Days Store, Belgrade Lakes Icon, Celebrates 50 Years

July 16, 2008 - BELGRADE LAKES -- Summer in Maine, particularly in the Belgrade Lakes region, is for vacationers. A time to travel through a mosquito-studded wonderland of nostalgia, back to the days of one's youth where eternal summers were spent with a parent in a canoe, or on rainy days, crowded around a Coleman stove, popping corn.

Driving through Belgrade Lakes, many visitors will pull their cars off Route 27 and into the packed parking lot of Days General Store, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Drawn in by its neon sign surrounded by a wreath of golden stars and a big paper "50," this writer entered the general store to the familiar faces of former high-school classmates, bustling around the counter, pulling fresh pizzas from the ovens, and dealing with customers.

The store sells bait and tackle, sandwiches and baked goods, homemade fudge. You can pick up libations, newspapers, clothing, fishing gear and a fishing license, and use its ATM machine.

Three of the girls working there represent the fourth generation of the family-owned and-operated general store, established by the grandparents of the current owner.

"We draw from all over New England," said store owner Diane Oliver.

"Just this week we had some folks from England and Germany."

Despite its reputation as one-stop general store among the Belgrade Lakes holidaymakers, from near and away, the store maintains its true small-town feel, providing a refuge for a host of regulars.

"The family keeps the store running all winter," said Oliver, providing year-round service to other local families who have been coming here for generations, and not particularly catering to vacationers. When you're here, you're just one of the family."

This philosophy can most likely trace its origins to Jim and Mae Day, the couple who established the store with the intent of creating a family business in 1958.

It's uncertain if they envisioned their great grandchildren tending the till, but they would no doubt swell with pride at the golden stars ringing the window of the store they created all those years ago.

BY JOHN AYOTTE, Kennebec Journal,

D E P codes violation in new Sharon

Town of New Sharon Takes Land Owners to Court

August 06, 2008 - NEW SHARON -- A couple from Massachusetts who own property on a rural road in New Sharon violated environmental laws when they bulldozed a stream bed, built barrier dams and constructed a road near the water without a permit, town officials say.

Violations against Melissa and Richard Deleskey, who own property at 255 Swan Road in New Sharon and also in Salem, Mass., date to the summer of 2006.

A phone call this week to Melissa Deleskey was not returned.

In 2006, an inspector from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection determined approximately 150 feet of Kinney Brook had been cleared and an area within 75 feet of the stream had been graded. Also, heavy equipment was used to build a road near the water, according to a complaint filed by the town of New Sharon in Farmington District Court.

"The Deleskeys implemented no erosion controls and no permit or approval was obtained by them from the town," said New Sharon's municipal attorney, Frank Underkuffler.

Underkuffler said he has been in contact with the family and is drafting a consent agreement that includes a fine and also an order for a professionally-prepared restoration plan showing how the disturbed shoreland will be returned to its previous condition.

The agreement will be negotiated with the Deleskeys and selectmen will vote on it later this month.

He anticipates the Deleskeys will make a good faith effort to comply with the town's shoreland zoning ordinance.

"A lot of people are unaware that they cannot alter a brook or stream," Underkuffler said.

A town's shoreland zoning ordinance regulates the removal or clearing of vegetation along a waterway and also filling or earth-moving within a Stream Protection District. The state's Natural Resource Protection Act, overseen by the DEP, covers dredging, bulldozing, removing or displacing soil, sand, vegetation or other material in and adjacent to a river, stream or brook.

According to the New Sharon complaint, the Deleskeys were ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $400 to cover the cost of attorney's fees and enforcement. They were also ordered to install adequate erosion controls including a silt fence, to mulch all exposed soil, and submit a restoration plan.

The plan was to be reviewed and approved by Code Enforcement Officer James Fleming and the Planning Board.

"The Deleskeys failed to take any of the ordered actions," the suit states.

Minimal remedial actions taken by the Deleskeys "have not abated the environmental problems caused by (their) shoreland zoning violations," according to the complaint.

New violations this year include barrier dams in the streambed that pooled and slowed the flow of water. The complaint also states that a woods road adjacent to the stream had material removed.

In 2006, DEP issued a notice of violation to the Deleskeys for the stream and shoreland disturbances.

After lengthy negotiations, the Deleskeys signed a consent agreement and paid a $3,000 fine, according to DEP spokesman Scott Cowger.

A restoration plan was submitted to the DEP that included replanting of trees and some work was done. However, many of the trees have since died, he said.

New violations found during a DEP compliance inspection in May included the small rock dams. A second Notice of Violation was issued to the Deleskeys on June 9.

The agency is pursuing a second consent agreement that could have more stringent penalties including submission of a professionally-prepared restoration plan and additional fines.

"Consent agreements have to go before the Board of Environmental Protection to be approved. Clearly, having a second (Notice of Violation) may impact the board's decision," Cowger said.

BY BETTY JESPERSEN
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal Friday, August 01, 2008

Jet Skis, opinions

Maine Lakefront Real Estate - Jetskis, the New Controversy

When it comes to Jetskis, or “personal watercraft ” as the manufacturers like to call them, ninety percent of lakefront homeowner opinions I’ve heard fall into two extreme positions.

Extreme Position #1: OUTLAW THEM COMPLETELY – Many believe that unlike powerboats, which are designed to take one from point A to point B, jetskis are not designed for that peaceful and benign purpose. Folks seeking thrills, excitement and a rather noisy kind of fun are drawn to jetskis like moths to a flame. To some, jetskis are to boats as “funny car” hot rods are to automobiles. A virulent strain.Most jetski owners are not oblivious to the fact that many people hate jetskis. Strangely, this does not deter them from buying jetskis. In gentler times, irritating the neighbors would be considered bad form, or at least unneighborly. Not any more. They seem to feel that “the right to own jetskis should not be infringed upon”. Their sentiment seems to be that folks who come from hundreds of miles away to enjoy the peace and tranquilty of the lake or pond are, well, just going to have to put up with us jetski owners.

Many in the “peace and quiet” crowd who yearn to commune with nature from their kayaks and canoes, generally favor the outlawing of jetskis, especially on smaller lakes and ponds.

Extreme Position #2: NO RESTRICTIONS ON JETSKIS ON ANY LAKE OR POND AT ANY TIME - Folks who hate the government interfering with our personal liberties decry the oncoming “nanny state”. “Where in the constitiution does it say that the government can abridge or eliminate the right to use one’s jetski whenever and wherever one wants?” is the hue and cry.Although only a tiny percntage of Maines lakes and ponds have prohibited jetski use, a fight is brewing. It was reported this week that a jetski owner is questioning the legality of the state to allow lakefront homeowners to prohibit jetskis on their lake (SEE FULL STORY). This jetski owner may be kicking a sleeping dog that just might bite him. Ever since the horrendous power boat accident on Long Lake attitudes are hardening.

The “Silent Majority” position - Allow jetski use on most lakes and ponds excepting the very smallest in size. Those jetskiers who become a problem or a nuisance would lose their right to operate a jetski on the lake. This position, however reasonable, is an enforcement nightmare for the harbormaster, the warden service and the local authorities. But the irresponsible and careless actions of a few should not bar the responsible use and enjoyment of jetskis by many lovers of Maine lakes and ponds.