Editor, Times-Union: The Christian Bass Association held a tournament at Chapman Lake, in Warsaw, Ind., this past Saturday evening. I am sure many of the participants also participant in tournaments sponsored by B.A.S.S.
I was visiting some friends at Chapman Lake. I was very disappointed in many of the anglers participating in the tournament. They had absolutely no respect for residents' personal property, the lake or others using the lake. The anglers are guests when they participate in tournaments. Just because they have bass boats and pay to fish in tournaments does not give them reason to disrespect the lake and residents' properties.
The following are just a few examples of their poor sportsmanship and lack of respect:
n Use of private property to wait until the tournament started - parking their boats on lake residents' seawalls without asking; walking and laying is someone's yard without asking
n Having their prop all the way down while trying to unload their boats from the landing and stirring up black dirt and tearing up the channel
n Running their boats into the cat tails and reeds, damaging them, to wait until the tournament started
n Running their boats through the millfoil, stirring it up to cause it to reseed and grow thicker
n Driving within 3 feet of people's bobbers who had been fishing since before the tournament had started.
It is not that I oppose tournaments or bass fisherman - they need to respect the lake and think before they do things. Would you go hunting on someone's land before asking? No, that should be the same thoughts before using anyone's seawall and yards.
How can the residents who live on the lakes work on lake enhancement projects, to improve the lakes, when the guests who come to use them nullify their efforts?
I hope that this is shared among the anglers and they think of how they would like their lake properties and lakes treated by visitors the next time they visit a lake. Truly disappointed!
Heather Luchetti Warsaw via e-mail
Philharmonic Says Thanks
Editor, Times-Union: A 21-cannon salute to Winona Restoration Company for their presentation and partial sponsorship of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Patriotic Pops Concert at Winona Lake. We are also grateful to those individuals who contributed.
The hillside amphitheater provided a beautiful setting on which to perform. What beauty surrounded us, and what an asset the restoration of Winona Lake is to your community. We compliment the Winona Restoration Company for its vision in seeing beyond the disrepair and restoring your lovely community.
Applause also to the wonderful audience of approximately 2,000 people who were so appreciative of our concert; Brent Wilcoxson and Diane Snow, who administered all of the details relating to the concert; Charles Turner and Harvey Miller, WRSW, for radio promotion of the concert; Wilcoxson for narrating the "Gettysburg Address"; and the Kosciusko County Convention and Visitors Bureau for promotion, advertising and poster distribution. We sincerely thank you all, without whom this concert would not have happened.
Our gratitude to all of you. See you in 2001.
Colleen Benninghoff Regional Touring Development
Fort Wayne Philharmonic
Special Interests
Editor, Times-Union: Tim Roemer says he'll keep accepting money from special interest groups. Not only that, he'll accept lots of it. He's already accepted almost a million and a half dollars. How can his focus be in representing us when he has a responsibility to all the special interest groups who keep sending him to Washington?
And how can he claim to be taking money from hardworking Americans when he doesn't support paycheck protection legislation, which would allow members of unions to decide whether or not they want their union dues going to support candidates?
Tim Roemer, you can't be everything to everybody all the time. Only a politician thinks that he can pull that trick off.
