Like the calm appearance of a water body on a still day hiding the dramatic forces of nature that exist below, a lake is beautiful to behold and incredibly challenging to properly manage. The Town of Lake Lure is fortunate to have a dedicated group of administrators, elected officials, emergency/enforcement personnel and volunteers who are willing to look beyond the surface and extend a higher level of stewardship as caretakers of the centerpiece of their community.

REGULAR MEETING: The regular town council meeting was held on Tuesday, May 10, 2005, 7:00 p.m., in the meeting room of the Lake Lure Municipal Center.

Under the "consent agenda," Council:

* approved the minutes of April 12, 2005 (regular meeting), and April 28, 2005 (special workshop meeting).

* held a public hearing and adopted Ordinance No. 05-05-10 amending the Town of Lake Lure Zoning Regulations, Title IX, Chapter 92, relating to signs in commercial centers;

* heard a report from the Town Auditor Robert C. Koone for fiscal year 2004-2005;

* rejected the bid offered by Bill and Nancy McNary to purchase town property located adjacent to Sunset Cove;

* adopted Resolution No. 05-05-10 approving a grant application to be submitted to the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund for Financial Assistance for a town project;

* tabled approval of a fabric structure permit for Main Street Festivals;

* approved a request from the Edneyville Boy Scout Troop 605 to waive boat permit fees for two motorized boats and two non-motorized boats; additional boat permits purchased by the Edneyville Boy Scouts will be charged at a resident rate;

* scheduled a public hearing on Tuesday, June 14, 2005, at 7:00 p.m. or thereafter, in the council meeting room of the Lake Lure Municipal Center, to consider a 90 day extension on the moratorium for the development of any new planned unit development (as defined by Lake Lure’s zoning regulations) on land equal to or greater than ten acres in size within the town limits; this temporary moratorium shall not apply to any conditional use permit applications for planned unit developments received and under construction by the Town of Lake Lure prior to February 15, 2005;

* authorized the town manager to enter into an agreement with Club Car golf carts effective immediately, to lease electric golf carts to replace the gas models and authorized the expenditure of $11,000.00 to be paid out of the current budget for fiscal year 2004-2005 toward the new lease (old lease expires on June 1, 2005);

* scheduled a special budget workshop meeting on Friday, May 27, 2005, 9:30 a.m. in the council meeting room of the Lake Lure Municipal Center to discuss preliminary budget items for fiscal year 2005-2006; and

* held a closed session meeting to discuss legal matters and attorney client privilege regarding litigation between the Town of Lake Lure, Mike McPherson, Tom Dixon, and Faye Resnick (Dixon).

SPECIAL WORKSHOP MEETINGS: Town council held workshop meetings on Thursday, April 28, 2005, at 10:30 a.m. and Tuesday, May 10, 2005, at 9:30 a.m., in the council meeting room of the Lake Lure Municipal Center for the purpose of reviewing a draft Capital Improvements Program for fiscal year 2005-2011 with town staff members.

By Mark Pobanz

A friendly reminder to our water customers – water meters are the property of Lake Lure and are not to be tampered with in any way. This includes turning on and off the meter. If the meter is damaged, the customer will be held liable for damages.

If you have the need to turn your water on and off occasionally you can have a personal turn off valve installed on your side of the meter. This can be done by your own plumber or you may contact the water department to have them install a valve for a fee. Contact Linda Ward at 625-9983 ext. 129.

As many of you have noticed, all Lake Lure police officers have been trained and issued Tasers to enhance the performance of their duties. These devices add a less-than-lethal component to their equipment that allow pioneering agencies to better protect themselves and individuals they confront.

When weapons are required, not deploying less-lethal devices may put officers and suspects in harm’s way. The National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund reports that out of 154 line-of-duty deaths in 2004, 57 officers were shot and one was beaten to death across the country. Some of these deaths may have been prevented by the use of less-lethal force. Without deploying less-lethal technologies, a standoff between police and an armed suspect may also result in the suspect being killed. Tasers offer the officers and additional option.

Each of our officers have actually personally experienced the effect of this new technology, including the chief. I must say that this new addition is quite effective and will enable officers to control noncompliant individuals in a safe manner. It has been said that any department who uses less-lethal weapons is saving the lives of suspects and preventing officer injuries, and in turn saving the community millions of dollars in litigation costs.

It should also be noted here that when I described to my wife that the Taser felt like someone unleashed a bucking bull inside me and that it felt as though the bull was trying to get out in every direction at once. My wife responded with, "Praise the Lord, you finally understand what is like to have a child!"

The Lake Lure Police Department will be participating in the statewide "Click It or Ticket" campaign beginning may 23 and continuing through June 12. The campaign will focus on passenger vehicles, pickup truck drivers and passengers not buckling up across the state. Nearly 150 unbelted pickup truck occupants died last year in North Carolina.

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As you have heard in the local media, clandestine drug production laboratories have sprung up all over western North Carolina, and particularly in our county of Rutherford. Most are called "Mom and Pop" labs

because they are relatively small and moved from place to place frequently to stay ahead of law enforcement. In fact, no setting appears immune to the presence of these labs - illegal labs have been found in city, suburban and rural locations in everything from private residences, motel rooms, barns, garages, businesses, storage facilities, vacant buildings and even vehicles of every kind.

While the physical location may vary, clandestine labs share a variety of common identifying characteristics. Windows will be blacked out or boarded up from the inside, or blinds may be continually closed even in daytime. Bright lights may show through gaps in blocked windows indicating ongoing activity, especially late at night. Strange and unpleasant odors may be emitted around the building or vehicle, or there may be complaints from neighbors about noxious odors. Hoses and pipes for ventilation and exhaust of fumes may be seen sticking out under windows or through holes in the outside walls. Vents for clothes dryers, stove hoods or other appliances may be used for this purpose. To mask and minimize odors, operators may pump exhaust air through a bed of kitty litter or tape scented fabric softener sheets over the end of a vent so that the released air picks up a perfumed smell. Garden hoses or other pipes may be run through windows to bring additional water into the lab area.

The yard or area around the location may be littered with empty chemical containers or containers full of waste material. These could be gallon jugs, fiberboard, plastic or metal containers that range in size from one to thirty gallons. There also may be large numbers of discarded boxes from pseudoephedrine-containing cold tablets or cough syrups, wooden match boxes, fuel additives as HEET, and drain cleaners. Disturbed ground or lawns may indicate the burying of chemical wastes. Stained soil and open burn pits may also be present. Dead grass or vegetation may indicate the presence of improperly disposed waste material. Likewise, dead plants or bushes around windows or vents may point to the release of toxic fumes. In many cases, illegal lab operators will simply wash waste materials down drains or toilets in the building or they pour them into storm sewers or local creeks. Reports of unexplained solvent or chemical waste discharge to sanitary or storm sewers should be investigated to determine if the source is a lab.

An additional sign that drug activity and potential lab operation are ongoing is observation of excessive traffic to the location, particularly at night. Visitors who stay for a short period of time then leave in a hurry are an indicator.

If you observe these signs or combinations thereof, please contact your local community police officer. He will keep your report confidential and advise you of our findings. Please don’t worry about your report being incorrect. We would much rather check and find nothing than to have these explosive and hazardous sites in our area! Remember, each of these illegal labs are classified as a hazardous materials site, and that one of every five are discovered when they explode!

GOLF COURSE NEWS

We have had another staff change here at the golf course. Golf course manager Chris Shute has resigned so that he can devote more time to a small business he has started. Chris did a wonderful job of getting the golf course in the excellent shape it is in. We thank him for all his hard work and wish him well. Jeff Hine, Chris’ assistant manager, has accepted the position of golf course superintendent. As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, Jeff has an extensive background in golf and will have no problem continuing the quality work Chris has done.

The town council has approved the bid for electric carts submitted by Club Car. We have decided to switch to electric carts for several reasons, the main one being safety. Electric carts have more safety features, which are important on a rolling course like we have, than the gas carts can offer. The electric carts will also be more cost efficient to run. The new carts should be here by mid June.

In May, Michael Dann with the Carolinas Golf Association came out and measured the course for our new course and slope ratings. The old course rating we had was no longer accurate and we did not have a slope rating. These ratings are necessary for determining handicaps. Handicaps are a service we would like to provide for our members and this measuring was the first step in the process.

I have had a couple of women ask about a women’s league. This is something that we would like to start. It is just in the planning stage at this time, but if anyone is interested, give me a call at the golf course.

Quote of the month: "Actually, the Lord answers my prayers everywhere except on the golf course." Billy Graham

UPPER BROAD RIVER WATERSHED

Well, here we are getting closer to the summer months. We have already had a few afternoon thunderstorms which is typical of this time of year. Those short afternoon storms are the triggers for many of our sedimentation problems in the Upper Broad River Watershed. Something that many folks probably don’t realize is that a lot of the sediment that gets moved from these storms comes from driveways and access roads.

Access roads come in all shapes and sizes. Some are graveled, some are paved, some are long, some are short, etc., etc. More often than not however, they are usually not constructed properly and are not properly maintained. A good access road should disturb as little land as possible, should blend with the topography of the land, and should be done in such a way as to reduce cutting and filling. In the mountains, road building is a difficult task. Very often we build roads where we really shouldn’t and the costs for such mistakes can be extremely high. Before building a road or a driveway, it is important to know the basics of road design before trying to locate or position a road on the land.

Most access roads and driveways around our area are gravel. The maximum sustained grade for a gravel driveway should never exceed 10% (equivalent to 10 feet vertical rise for 100 feet of horizontal run). A large percentage of gravel driveways and access roads here in our watershed exceed 10%, often exceeding 20%. To put that into perspective, a paved driveway should not exceed a slope of 15%. In most cases, the steepness of a driveway is related to design and positioning of the road bed in relation to topography. Some might argue that they don’t have a choice because of lot sizes and limited access points, which is a good argument to say the least, but let me put it to you in a rather blunt fashion. If you can’t get a properly designed and properly built road into the property, then you don’t need to build on it either. That’s not what people generally want to hear, but a majority of the problems that people have when it comes to their property, have to do with poor location and site selection.

In order to build a road in the mountains, there usually always has to be some cutting and filling in order to get the road wide enough and to get a stable base. Cut slopes (where the grader cuts into the uphill slope of the mountain) should not be steeper than 1½ to 1 (for every 1 foot vertical, cut back 1½ feet horizontal). Fill slopes (where material is placed on the downhill part of the slope to build up the road) should be no steeper than 2 to 1. Both sides of the road should be re-vegetated in order to stabilize the slopes. Failure to properly cut and fill could result in a landslide or washout of the road.

Something that is just as important as any other aspect of road building is surface drainage. Surface water must be conveyed from the roadway in order to control erosion, maintain a stable road surface, and reduce future maintenance and repairs. Surface water can be conveyed through sloping of the road surface so that water sheds to the sides of the road. Drainage ditches help to capture the water and can be conveyed underneath the road surface through culverts which should be sized appropriately (anything under 15" should be considered useless in most cases in the mountains). Broad-based dips are another technique for capturing and removing water from the road surface. All of these techniques should be analyzed carefully during the design phase of the road.

There is much more that I could say about road design but it would require a much longer article. The bottom line is to have a good plan before you begin construction. Make sure your design is good and once your road is built, maintain it. This will save you a lot of money in the long run.

If you would like more information about access roads and how to build them, I would suggest checking out the following web address:

www.dfr.state.nc.us/stewardship/pdf/laymans_road_guide.pdf.

You can also find this link on the Upper Broad River Watershed Protection Program website at www.upperbroadriver.org. If you have an erosion problem or if you know somebody else that does, please call me anytime at (828)625-9983 Ext. 123 or e-mail me at clintcalhoun@blueridge.net for details.

NEWS AROUND LAKE LURE

Lake Lure Newcomers invite those who are new residents in Lake Lure (24 months or less) to join them in various activities which include: potluck, gourmet, out’n about, theater, bridge/poker, book club, and hiking. Anyone interested in becoming a member, call Rod or Yvonne Anderson at 828-625-0464.

Lake Lure Lakefront Owners Association (LLLOA).If you are interested in Lake issues and concerns and own lakefront property on the shores of beautiful Lake Lure, the LLLOA invites you to become a regular member. Associate memberships are also encouraged for those who are interested in our Lake. Each year members receive a directory of members, informative Muse Letters, and a first class mailed subscription to the Town of Lake Lure monthly newsletter, The Lake Lure Tribute. Members meet at the Town Community Center socially at least annually to meet neighbors and discuss issues. Annual dues are currently a modest $17.00. You may pick up an application for membership at the Municipal Center or call Bob Keith, Pres. at 828-625-2874 or Sue Forsyth , Treas. at 828-625-0885 for an application or any questions you may have.

Lake Lure Garden Club News Our June event is part of 2005 Rutherford County Garden Tour.

* The garden tour is scheduled for June 4^th (10:00 am to 4:00 pm) and June 5^th (1:00 pm to 6:00 pm)

* This tour is to benefit Rutherford Housing Partnership, a non profit organization that assists low income families.

* The tour consists of ten beautiful gardens in Spindale, Rutherfordton & Lake Lure

* The tickets are only $15 for both days. ( The money goes for great cause!)

* The tickets are available on event days at the Firehouse Inn, 125 W. 1^st, Rutherfordton.

* Also on Friday, June 3^rd there is a kick off party at Green River Plantation with dinner and entertainment. Cost: $45 ( including the tour tickets)

* Contact Latha Narayan at 625-1422 or tnarayan@bellsouth.net for advance tickets.

July event:

Chimney Rock Baptist Church will be working with the Billy Graham Crusade in New York, June 24 - 26, 2005. Be on the look out for more fund-raising events so you can help, the youth are trying to pay their own way.

Vacation Bible School will be held at the church Monday, June 13 to Friday, June 17 from 9:00 am until 11:30. The theme this year is Kingdom of the Son. Don’t let your child miss out. All children ages 3 to 12 are welcome.

Chimney Rock Parks remarkable Reptiles Nature Program will be held on Saturday, June 25^th from 10 am until noon.. Kids will learn all about reptiles and get to see LIVE snakes and turtles. Call 1-800-277-9611 to register (limited space available).

We would also like to say Happy Father’s Day to all the Father’s. On June 18 & 19 father’s will receive a complimentary day park ticket with the purchase of one regularly priced adult ticket.

June 13^th kids of all ages are invited to join our Reptiles and Amphibians educational program for $8.00 which will cover park admission for the whole day.

For comments about the operations of the Lake Lure Tours, call 828-625-4651.