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Toledo Bend Bi-State Alliance
Minutes April 28, 2008
Maurice Patterson called the meeting to order. Jim Binns gave the opening prayer.
Cliff Hunt presented the flag and joined Maurice in leading the Pledge of Allegiance.
Maurice announced a change to the Agenda to allow Vicky Ostrom to speak about a problem of noise pollution in the central area of Toledo Bend Lake. Recently, airboats have been running in the middle of night, creating a lot of noise and shining bright lights while spear-fishing. The game warden has been called, but says he has no way of enforcing the airboats to stop. Other than a Noise Control Act of Congress in 1972, there are no laws to stop them. Bill Ostrom said Game Warden Randy Button told him if the problem occurs again to call the Non Emergency number at the Sabine County Sheriff's office and have him paged, to report the noise. Maurice said he talked with the Sabine River Authority of Texas and was told there is no law against airboats on the lake. More discussion followed. Vicky said she would do more research to see what can be done about it.
Maurice thanked Vicky and Bill Ostrom for presenting the problem.
Minutes of the March 24, 2008 TBBSA Meeting were approved as written. Janna thanked Susan Cowgill for contributing her notes.
Janna Lehman gave the Treasurer's Report. There are 21 organizations and 172 associate members paid for 2008. The account balance is $9,239.64 all bills are paid. Janna brought a few copies of the 'Bass & Bucks & Other Stuff' where our ads have been placed. Report was approved as given.
Old Business:
GRANDPARENT-GRANDCHILD FISHING TOURNAMENT - 2008: Janna said the previous phone number given for Glenn & Kay Taylor was incorrect. To volunteer to help with the 2008 fishing tournament, call Glenn & Kay at 409-579-3369.
GRANDPARENT-GRANDCHILD FISHING TOURNAMENT - 2009: Janna reported she, Maurice and Cara Martin met about the tournament for 2009 and decided to not have any more meetings until after this year's tournament.
TEXAS FOREST COUNTRY BANQUET: Maurice asked Jim Binns to tell the members about the Texas Forest Country Banquet. Jim said the banquet was great, but didn't feel TBBSA got as big a representation as hoped. He was able to update Representative Wayne Christian on the Giant Salvinia at the meeting. The part of the meeting that was most impressive to him was the guest speaker, 'Mattress Mac', a 57 year old man from Houston. Jim said 'Mattress Mac' told his story about how he was as down and out as a man could be, stocking groceries in a convenience store in Dallas, TX with no money, no car, and then got fired for his own good. The guy then got a job selling furniture in Dallas. The story goes on with his move to Houston and other life-changing events. 'Mattress Mac' sold $200 Million worth of furniture this year.
GIANT SALVINIA: Jim Binns was also asked to talk about the Giant Salvinia. He said he has a feature coming out on Giant Salvinia, so wanted to call to mind the Federal Agency (NISC), that he talked about previously. The Federal Agency told Jim he needed to contact the state representative of their council, Dr. Earl Chilton, head of Texas Parks and Wildlife. Jim did contact and speak with Dr. Chilton. TPWD has three sources for funding, one of which is the State of Texas Aquatic Fund, but there is no money in the fund, and that is the fund matched by federal funds. Mr. Jim Pratt of the SRA-LA supplied Jim with a couple of articles announcing a $ 2 Million state allocation for their Aquatic Plant Control Program, which Jim found interesting. Jim went on to explain how Louisiana obtains some of their funding. He also mentioned a sort of awareness day, boat-gathering of Salvinia contest being planned in the Caddo Lake area to make people aware of the problem. TPWD has opened the bidding for the herbicide contract, and as soon as the bid is accepted they will start spraying. Jim says the herbicide is in short supply right now because one of the constituents comes from China and the company just went out of business. Galeon is a new chemical being used in Louisiana, but it is pricey and can only be used once every three years. Weevils are still in use and being moved about. Jim says the bright spot is TPWD has just received a letter approving $379,500 in federal funds and $126,000 in state funds that will go into the Texas Aquatic Fund. Jim wants to suggest asking about a portion of the SRA's leaseback money going into the Aquatic Fund to help pay a team trained to spray the herbicide. Maurice suggested Jim write his suggestions in a form that can be presented to the SRA Board of Directors.
TOLEDO BEND SYMPOSIUM: Janna Lehman reported on the Toledo Bend Symposium held in Jasper on April 12th. Janna said the event was very nice, but poorly attended. It included a catered continental breakfast and a great lunch. She had a list of some of the 'Did You Know' facts about the history of Toledo Bend Project, and reviewed them with the group. Janna noted if the people who were instrumental in putting in Toledo Bend had not been 30 years ahead of their time, this project would not have been built. Janna wrote down a comment from Jerry Clark that caught her attention. He said, 'Water will flow uphill for NEED or MONEY', and that is proving to be true.
GAME WARDEN ON WAKE ZONES: Janna has been unable to reach the game warden that was going to speak. She plans to go to the Sheriff's Department and talk with one of the game wardens there. She hope's to find a game warden that frequents Sabine County who might know the laws about Wake Zones, and would perhaps be a speaker for us.
New Business:
EAST TEXAS REGION I PLANNING GROUP: Bill Huegel, representative for TBBSA, shared some of the things covered at the April 9th meeting of the planning group. One of the things covered was the Dead Zone in Mississippi, and one of the questions asked was where does all the nitrogen come from that is there, and does any come from air. Bill said as it turns out, 16% of the nitrogen comes from water/air interface. 70% of the run-off comes from 7 states up the Mississippi River, those being corn and soybean producers. There is a website you can visit to see what things are being done about the problems. It is www.texwaterplanning.org .
Bill said key members of the planning group have met with key members of the Dallas group about moving the 600,000 gallons of water uphill. 100,000 gallons will go to Dallas, and the rest to other entities.
Another topic discussed, Bill said, was about small water companies, many of which do not meet state requirements. There were 286 looked at. Of those, 56 had problems meeting the state requirements, and 7 of those 56 were located in Sabine County. Bill said the data needs to be looked at carefully, because some of the rules are real and some are imaginary. The planning group will meet with these small companies to see if they can be helped by regionalizing.
Bill announced the Water Planning Board will be having a Public Meeting on June 4th. The location has not been announced yet. No food will be served at this meeting. The Water Board has a defined program that is approved, but now will be trying to get state money to do extra studies, and will be presenting this information for comments. Conservation groups are defining conservation laws for us as individuals, and these will be put on all the regional water areas and companies. Bill talked about a news article in today's Beaumont Enterprise that listed major water users such as agriculture and industry, who use 80% of the water. Bill said the large open canals lose water through the ground and evaporation, with the major loss being in the ground.
Studies have shown that leveling the rice fields (for flooding), and lining the open canals can save a major amount of water.
Bill said there was one other interesting issue at the meeting. The Rusk County Ground Water Control District (and Sabine is not part of a district) has come up with a model to 'Define Future Condition'. All Ground Water Control Districts are required to have a plan to Define Future Condition, which means target levels are set for what they should be 50 years from now.
Bill says Rusk County is busy collecting information and identifying aquifers so that levels can be set.
Maurice thanked Bill for his report.
DATES & LOCATIONS OF TEXAS SRA MEETINGS: Meetings will start at 9 or 10 A.M., actual site & times may vary but dates and cities shouldn't.
7/10 Hilton Hotel on Lake Ray Hubbard, 2055 Summer Lee Drive, Rockwall, TX 75032
10/16 Music Hall of Fame, Carthage, TX
12/11 Marshall Chamber of Commerce, Marshall, TX
Janna said perhaps those wishing to go could carpool, since the meetings are so far away.
TEXAS INSTREAM PROGRAM: Janna reminded people of the Texas Instream Flow Program scheduled for May 6th and May 7th in Orange. Food will be served so a reservation is needed.
The meeting will be in the evening on May 6th, and that is the one Janna & Jerry will be attending, if anyone cares to ride with them. The meeting on May 7th is scheduled for noontime.
Closing Comments: Maurice welcomed back a member, Tom Trussell, who was known to have had an accident with a lady in a SUV. This is his first meeting since September.
In response to a question about the next regular meeting falling on the Memorial Day Holiday, Maurice and Janna explained we still meet that day because more people seem to be around because of the holiday. Also, our attendance dropped off when we changed the date.
Meeting Adjourned.
Next Meeting Date: May 26, 2008 @ 6:30 P.M.
Respectfully Submitted,
Betty Griffin, Secretary
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