Name:   dogleg - Subject:   Rude Boaters Date:   5/11/2018 7:25:40 AM

We’ve had a cabin on Turner Slough since '61. A LOT has changed sine then. Much of it for the worse, not all. To me, the big slide toward Lake Sinclair status began in about 1994 when a slew of hurricanes hit Florida. Many retirees had second thoughts about beach dwellings. Several leading retirement/vacation publications touted Lake Martin as the number one retirement destination in the southeast. Demand and property values soared. McMansions and boats surely bought with the Gulf of Mexico in mind began to supplant the pontoon and fishing boats......when I was young, my grandad would tout the propaganda from Alabama Power/Russel Lands about keeping the Lake pristine, maintaining over 50% undeveloped shoreline, clamping down tightly on multi-family dwellings (condos). ALL of that went out the window at that time. Per 100’ of water frontage, a house or cabin may put two boats on the lake on average. Per the same water frontage, a condo complex may put 10 or 15 boats on the lake, driven, at times, by yahoos with little experience and no investment in this lake. Ride around the Blue Creek/ Stillwater end of our lake and do the math. You can thank APCO and Russel for our woes.