yes you do have the right to voice your opinion, not only as a property owner but as a user of the lake, the problem is that like myself you live in St Louis and when all of the opposition is going on say a tuesday eve at 7:30 pm meeting you and i are in St Louis making money so that we can come down to the lake and spend it. so that great area known as loto can thrive and become a greater place. and in return the full time residents (retire'es) enjoy the lake in the middle of the week they want it to be that way all weekend long, so their family and friends can enjoy what they do. problem is that dont relize that without the weekend crowd loto will die the people pumping millions of dollars into that economy are not the locals but the weekenders, i wander how many millions of dollars are floating on that lake and only get used less than 52 times a year.
later

I'm surprised Nort didn't chime in yet!?!

When I was growing up and boating on Silver Bay in Toms River, N.J. there was a large house on the cove owned by a local contractor named Jimmy Johnson. He would drive down to the waters edge with his tractor and chase people off "his beach" and any boats anchored to the beach he'd force them to move. He claimed he owned the beach and the bottom under water for something like 25' out. He even went so far as to hire security guards to patrol "his beach" seven days a week.
Talk about extreme.

BTW Mr. Johnson is long deceased and the land is now a county park. Part of the Cattus Island reserve.

The cove at Porto Cima now is home to about 4 large docks for use by the uppety residents.

Organization is the key, that is what we lack

The writing was on the wall as far as the Porto Cima cove goes. That is bad, the trend is that eventually there will be nothing but trolling motors on the boats at the lake, no stopping and no wakes.

Well, that is far in the future, but, somebody has got to take a practical look at the no anchoring in coves. Every cove is going to have houses so something is going to give.

Water Patrol panel approves no-wake, no-anchor requests

Agency chief must approve before process is final

By Joyce L. Miller

LAKE OF THE OZARKS - A panel of Missouri Water Patrol captains has recommended three of the busiest areas on Lake of the Ozarks be restricted to idle speed.

That decision was handed down in Jefferson City on Monday following a review of controversial buoy requests from the Lake of the Ozarks. The buoy hearing was moved to Jefferson City from the lake on the orders of Missouri Water Patrol Colonel Jerry Adams.

Their recommendations included buoy permits for Backwater Jack's Cove at the 17-mile marker, the cove at Porta Cima Golf Course at the 16-mile marker, and additional restrictions on the Grand Glaize Arm near the mouth to the Grand Glaize Bridge. The two coves and the Glaize have been identified by the Water Patrol as the busiest and most congested areas on the lake.

The committee is made up of Captains Gary Haupt, Charles Bent, Joe Hughes, William Cox, Dale Sluhand and Jim Marlin. At least three of the captains have worked on Lake of the Ozarks.

According to testimony of residents and business owners in favor of the buoys, at any given time there may be several hundred boats congregated in the coves and twice as many coming and going to and from Party Cove on the Grand Glaize Arm.

The final decision on the buoy permits lies with Adams. The general consensus of the committee members was that because of the amount of traffic during the boating season, the requests were justified.

Lets see in the past 6 months I have seen

Speed laws introduced
More No wake zones
No anchor zones
Higher Insurance
Boat ramps with restricted hours for day time boating only


In a few more years we may see insurance company's refusing to write policy's for certin boats, putting them out of buisness. Face it! The boating world is changing and changing FAST! We are losing our rights and privilages almost day by day without any input from us the boating consumer, and most of these laws are put in place by NON boating people.


We need to start organizing a group of lawyers to defend our waters.

I'm a little hesitant to say anything, but we are still "free" in Texas!

On Lake Travis (near Austin) the county parks are open 24 hours a day (all year long). The ramp by the dam is four lanes wide and has lights at night. Although there is a speed limit at night (and rightly so), there is none during the day.

The "water cops" are only concerned with boater safety. Although they will "come down hard" on unsafe boaters, they allow just about anything else. This included naked women in "party cove" and plenty of "open containers" while you are rafted-up in the cove.

As long as you are safe while underway, they will leave you alone.

I am hesitant to say all of this because a Texan is only afraid of one thing... a Yankee with a U-Haul!

I dont quite grasp the assumption that a group of tethered/anchored boats are more dangerous than those same boats moving individually in the channel.

Nousance issue, OK, but whose right to existence is a higher ranking, the people on the lake, or the people next to the lake?

Anyone know of an easy means to contact the people making the decision? email addy? I have been watching the LSL online and the headlines they include on their web site are always about some remote area that is having plumbing problems or some other lame topic.