You will receive the maximum legal tax deductions and possibly a partial cash payment.  For more information about your potential donation, please contact Action Donation Services directly.  You can receive a ‘no obligation’ evaluation by completing the form on their Web site or by calling them toll-free at 866-244-8464.  Action Donation Services will handle the donation including completing the paperwork and picking up the boat or vehicle, and your donation will benefit the Lake Lanier Association’s active representation of Lake Lanier in the Tri-States lawsuits and help us implement our other programs.

We appreciated the detailed responses and the photos you sent us. Thank you very much.For details of how your donation will be handled and for basic tax information, please read the donor section on Action Donation Services’ Web site. For additional tax information, please consult your tax professional.

• Wednesday-Friday, January 13-1511am – 8pm
• Saturday, January 1610am – 8pm
• Sunday, January 1710a m – 6pm

The motion challenges the Corps of Engineers’ Revised Interim Operations Plan for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF). That plan, originally implemented in 2006, eventually lead to Lanier’s being drawn down to its lowest level in history on the day after Christmas two years ago.  The Association’s goal is to prevent a recurrence of that disastrous depletion.

After conclusion of all motions and briefing, we expect a decision from Judge Magnuson sometime in the spring of 2010.  We will issue a more complete description of the proceedings in the next newsletter and will keep you abreast of important events in the interim.  The text of the motion and the Fact Appendix filed with it are viewable at the following links:

Read the motion for:  Lake Lanier Association and Georgia parties file motion for summary judgment on Tri-States litigation Phase 2 claims

• Click here to read the appendix

Below for your information is a link to an article in today’s AJC about the Lake Lanier Association’s (LLA) involvement in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) Stakeholders.  The LLA’s involvement is in addition to our intervention in the Tri-States litigation assuring that we are participating in the legal process.

To join the Lake Lanier Association or to donate to our legal fund, please visit our Web site, www.lakelanier.org

AJC article by Jeremy Redmon

Lake Lanier Association has been involved in the formation of the ACF Stakeholders from the very beginning when Val Perry and I attended an exploratory meeting in LaGrange last year. The sole purpose of the first meeting was to see if there was enough optimism to schedule a second meeting. Through a process that involved multiple meetings in the ACF Basin to explore the potential support for the group to a series of Steering Committee meetings that developed an agreed upon charter and bylaws with mission and goals, a cohesive group has emerged.

This is the first group with a goal to speak as a unified voice for the interests of the stakeholders on the ACF Basin. How persuasive this voice will be remains to be seen. But with power companies, cities, counties, businesses, water suppliers, advocacy groups and environmental groups from Apalachicola to Lake Lanier already as members, there is room for optimism that the federal and state will want to hear what this group has to say.

A major milestone will occur on December 10th when the first Governing Board will meet in Albany, GA after a selection process that begins on December 1st. At that point, there will be an official body empowered to make decisions regarding issues to be tackled and positions to be taken. Do not expect overnight announcements. Just as it took months for the group to coalesce around a common set of mission and goals and organizational structure, it will take time for the group to arrive at consensus decisions. Keep in mind that the political and legal structures have been at this for 18 years.

Visit www.acfstakeholders.org for details on the history of the group and to stay abreast of the status. An application is on the website for those wishing to join.

Wilton Rooks,
Vice President, Technology, LLA

Because of the recent rains, we expect the Lake may reach 1073 within the next 24 hours.  If you live on the lake, we want your input on whether, and how, the current raised level is impacting you.  Please reply with your comments and, if you are experiencing any negative repercussions, please be sure to include the date and time at which you make your physical observation (so we can correlate the problem with the exact level of the lake).  Photographs of problems are welcome.

If you have no negative impact and like the higher level, please let us know that as well.

Your Association is working for you to preserve a clean and full LakeLanier.

Thank you for your response.Impact

Dear List Members, We have received an email from the Lake Lanier Community Preservation Association, which is a newly formed group of neighbors committed to sustained involvement in matters impacting North Hall and Lake Lanier. They have asked us to share information on this upcoming meeting about proposed northern connector routes in North Hall which could negatively impact Lake Lanier. Below is an excerpt from their email with a link to their Web site.

Vicki Barnhorst The Lake Lanier Association

www.stopthebridges.com

The GHMPO Policy meeting is so important that we want to be sure that everyone knows it is this coming Tuesday, November 10th.
Nov. 10th GHMPO Policy Meeting: We need you there .. and bring a friend!!

Next Tuesday, Nov. 10th, the GHMPO Policy Committee will meet at 10 a.m. at the GA Mountains Center.  This is the meeting where final action could be taken on the routes that we want withdrawn from the Northern Connector. We really need to have a strong showing to reinforce the action that we want the committee to take.  The impact on elected officials of looking a large number of voters in the eye (especially when making a decision about destroying homes, neighborhoods, etc.) is not to be underestimated.

Remember, there is only one member of the Policy Committee who is appointed by Hall County.  We do anticipate that some action, hopefully a formal motion, will be made for the committee to follow the Commissioners’ recommendation and drop the routes, yet, it is not a given that they will.

Our intent is to solicit concerned citizens, like yourself, to be on hand to encourage them to disregard these routes now and in the future.  So come if at all possible; if you absolutely cannot – find someone to come in your place.

Petition: We need more signatures… yours and your friends !!

Just like the meeting – numbers speak volumes to elected officials.  We are targeting Tuesday’s meeting to deliver the petition to the Policy Committee.  If you have not signed – please do.  It takes less than a minute.  Just go to www.stopthebridges.com, click the red button “sign the petition” and all you need to enter is your name and zip code and check a box to submit.  There is a comment field as well if you want to say why you are opposed to the routes.

If you have signed already, please take a minute to either forward this email or send the link to the web site to friends, family, neighbors or others.  The more signatures the louder the message we send.

We will keep you updated on this issue.
——————————————————————————————————————
We understand from an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today that you will be meeting with the Congressional delegations from Florida and Alabama tomorrow morning to discuss the Water Wars.  We are writing to ensure that you understand why it is imperative that recreation be included in any Congressional re-authorization.

In his July 17 Memorandum and Order, Judge Magnuson ruled that, “Because of the Court’s resolution of the water-supply issue, it is not necessary to reach the issue of whether recreation is indeed an authorized project purpose.”  (see footnote 9 on page 34 of his Memorandum and Order).  While this ruling left the status quo in place regarding recreation, it also left in question how the Corps will manage Lanier’s levels in the absence of re-authorization that includes recreation.  However, one thing is clear: Florida and Alabama have attacked recreation directly and repeatedly throughout the litigation, and are determined to eliminate recreational considerations from the Corps’ management of the lake.  If they are successful, the economic impact to Georgia will be devastating.

As parties to the Tri-State Water Rights Litigation, the Lake Lanier Association believes that recreation is an authorized purpose of LakeLanier.   Unlike water supply, recreation benefits were included in the Corps’ original cost/benefit analysis, and historical project costs were allocated to recreation as well as to the other authorized purposes.  The Corps was expressly authorized under the Flood Control Act of 1944 to build, maintain, and operate recreational facilities at Lanier, and for the last 50 years, Congress has appropriated funds for those purposes.

Regardless of recreation’s current status, it is absolutely crucial that Congressional re-authorization include recreation.  If Congress acts to re-authorize the Lake and does not include recreation, then it may effectively negate recreation as an authorized purpose.  As a result, we are urgently asking for a meeting to speak with you about this so that we can work together to secure protection for this vital Georgia economic engine.

We look forward to meeting with you at your earliest opportunity.

Volunteers in Dawson County collected 9 tons of trash, and they began their efforts of locating and transporting the debris and foam two weeks before Shore Sweep.

Capt Rick Marton and his crew, along with Marine Specialties, also collected 9 tons of trash which were taken to the dumpsters on Young Deer.

We would like to thank all the volunteers who collected trash in the pouring rain, the site volunteers who were on duty from 8 am until 1 pm, and all the sponsors without whose support Shore Sweep would be not be possible.

Our deepest appreciation also goes to the following for making this event so successful:

• Dawson County for trash pick up and disposal;
• Hall and Forsyth counties for free landfill service;
• Marine Specialties for three barges with staff who collected large trash from boaters and from the shore and transported this debris to lakeside dumpsters;
• Martin Docks for styrofoam removal from marinas in Hall County;
• J & J Disposal for discounted dumpster use;
• the marinas and Lake Lanier islands who gave us the use of their dumpsters during Shore Sweep.

Thank you to our 2009 Lake Lanier Shore Sweep Sponsors!

• Marine Trade Association of Metro Atlanta
• Starbucks Foundation
• American Proteins
• Aqualand Marina
• Bald Ridge Marina
• Diamond Car Lube
• Gainesville Marina
• Habersham Marina
• Lanier Harbor Marina
• Mincey Marble
• Port Royale Marina
• Sunrise Cove Marina
• vitaminwater
• Publix
• Chick-fil-A at Stonebridge Village, Flowery Branch
• Norman’s Landing
• BB& T

The Lake Lanier Association is involved with the newly formed Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint  (ACF) stakeholder group, ACF Stakeholders, Inc. which recently  incorporated in the state of Georgia.

The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, an independent federal agency established by Congress to assist parties in resolving environmental, natural resource, and public lands issue, has assisted the group in its formation. Brian Manwaring, Program Manager with the institute, has provided facilitation services to the group over the last year.

Board members of this group include the Lake Lanier Association’s vice president of technology, Wilton Rooks, who is a member of the Executive Committee of the group.   Other board members and members comprise diverse interests and representatives from the entire ACF basin.  The group’s mission is to change the operation and management of the ACF Basin to achieve equitable solutions among stakeholders that balance economic, ecological and social values and to achieve viable solutions which ensure that the entire basin is a sustainable resource for current and future generations.  The organization will be consensus-based.

The group now has a website, www.acfstakeholders.org, which includes the application for membership, the charter/bylaws, organizational chart and presentation material that explains the purposes and history of the organization. Membership is open to any individual, non-profit, business or governmental agency living within the ACF boundaries. For additional information visit the website or send an email to info@acfstakeholders.org.

Final date for dock permit applications approaching

The Corps sent out a press release yesterday reminding the public that October 13, 2009 is the final date for the remaining dock permit applications.  Details on the process can be read in this release.