First of all, I wish to express my appreciation to all of those members who have read and commented on my columns in this newspaper. Harold Mitts will be taking this responsibility over starting with the next issue. I have had the privilege for almost eight years to try and bridge the communication gap between the Association and the members. At times it has been successful and other times maybe not so much. I have always held the belief that the sender carries the burden of clearly communicating the message. For those receivers who didn’t get all of it, I take full responsibility.
That being said, I would like to take one final trip up onto my soapbox. Most of us use Facebook. There are several good community Facebook pages, including one that the Association manages. When I started this adventure, the only way to communicate to everyone at once was through this bi-weekly column. Today, Facebook sends immediate information to those who use it. We have and will continue to post when time sensitive information is required such as weather related temporary “no wake” periods and updates on the fireworks shows. A typical post on our Facebook page averages about 1000 “reaches” rather quickly. That is a powerful communication tool. If you are not using it, I highly recommend it as a means of keeping informed. Most of the staff also looks at some of the other community Facebook pages. I personally rarely engage on them for a variety of reasons. Once I am fully retired and my opinions are purely my own and not as a representative of the Association that is liable to change. I would like to make a broad general suggestion, however. Rather than use Facebook to complain about happenings on the Lake and the roads, take more decisive action. If someone is concerned about safety issues, would it not be more effective to call Water Patrol (for safety violations on the water) and the Lotawana P.D. for things like speeding on the roads or stolen gas? Everyone should have the Water Patrol phone number programmed into their phones (816-564-8250) or written down somewhere in your boat or on your dock. No one is more concerned about safety on the water than Ron DesCombes and we would all like to get back to using our Facebook time to enjoy all of the political posts (just kidding.)
Finally, one last plea to everyone to secure their stuff. Last week’s storms initiated another “scavenger hunt” around the Lake to collect a variety of boats, docks and water toys. No one likes to close the Lake when the water comes up, yet most of the time when we do this it is because there is too much debris in the water (if you can call a $60,000 boat debris.) Tie your boats up, even if they’re on a lift, please.
Submitted by: Jan T. Olson – Co-Executive Director