Lake Loretta Draining Residents

By Karen Cohilas
WALB-TV

The upkeep of Lake Loretta on Dawson Road in Albany is a drain on people who live there.

The popular recreational spot is often used by people who don't live in the area, and don't contribute to the upkeep which costs thousands of dollars each year. Residents are asked to participate in the Recreation club and contribute money, but don't always join up.

In order to allow folks to continue to use the lake without charging them or blocking them access, a huge yard sale is being organized to raise money.

Sam Shugart said, "We have run into some financial trouble where we're having to raise money to pay for a new pump and for the well and so forth."

The yard sale is planned for this Saturday beginning at 7 AM at Covenant Presbyterian Church. Of course, you can also donate money to the recreation club. To find out more, call 407-0972.

Lake Loretta funds dry

Supporters of Albany's Lake Loretta work for funding with a yard sale.

Susan McCord
The Albany Herald

Privately owned but publicly used, 25-acre Lake Loretta has long been a popular place in Albany for boating, fishing, jogging, walking, and even just hanging out.

The owners of Lake Loretta, however, continue to be saddled with the cost of maintaining the lake — keeping vegetation and algae growth down, water levels up and the lake’s shores and walking trail free of trash and other debris.

While use of the lake continues, the 400 or so nearby households eligible to join the Lake Park Recreation Club, which owns and supports the lake, aren’t as interested in caring for it as in the past, said an Albany man who has taken a lead in reviving interest in Lake Loretta.

“Back in the day, from those 400 households we had 350 members at $50 apiece,” said Sam Shugart, whose Edgewater Drive home fronts Lake Loretta. “The people who were pushing this thing have sort of dwindled out.”

The Lake Park Recreation Club has fought over the years to stop widening of Dawson Road and to control late-night parking and loitering, according to Herald reports from the 1980s and 1990s.

Recently, however, when the pump that draws fresh water from deep in the ground into Lake Loretta went out, club directors found they didn’t have the cash to replace it, Shugart said.

An urgent letter sent to residents found the funds needed for the pump, saving the population of fish that live in the lake’s 8-to-9-foot depths. But the cost left club finances sorely depleted, Shugart said.

Since the lake and nearby Lake Cornelia, a dry lake, were deeded to Lake Park Recreation Club in 1959, the club has relied on membership dues to maintain Lake Loretta and even stock it with fish.

Today, about 440 nearby homeowners remain eligible for discounted memberships of $50 each, and nonresidents can buy annual memberships for $100, Shugart said.

Walkers, some 150 each day, walk for free, and memberships aren’t selling fast enough to fund the $10,000-12,000 or more necessary to keep the lake up.

A utility bill alone, to power the pump to refill about 2 feet of water lost when the pump broke during the height of drought conditions, runs more than $1,000 each month, he said.

Shugart and other supporters, including Kevin and Suzanne Hogencamp, who reside in lakefront homes, want to renew interest in and gain community support for the lake.

Few alternatives exist: selling the lake to a private owner, or perhaps selling walking memberships and enlisting city police to enforce them, Shugart said.

Instead, the club is making a further push for funds with a “ginormous” yard sale Saturday beginning at 7 a.m. in the parking lot of Covenant Presbyterian Church.

Yard sale organizer Suzanne Hogencamp said donations for the sale have been pouring in but more still are needed.

Donors can bring items to the church from 5 p.m.-8 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday.
For more information, call (229) 407-0972.

(Staff writer Barbara Rivera Holmes contributed to this report.)

Fund-raiser Yard Sale on July 28

Attention about the efforts of Lake Park residents to replenish Lake Loretta and solidify its maintenance fund has generated thousands of dollars in contributions. But there’s still a long way to go – and you can help. On Saturday, July 28, the Lake Park Recreation Club will have a ginormous (yep, it’s officially a word now, according to Webster) yard sale from 7 a.m. to noon at Covenant Presbyterian Church on Dawson Road. Lake supporters are asked to bring donated items to the church between 5 and 8 p.m. Thursday, July 26, and between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. Friday, July 27. Info: 407-0972.

Lake Loretta Needs Help to Stay Afloat

By Brent Solomon
WALB-TV

A private lake in Albany that many of you use for recreation is having some budget problems. Owners worry if it isn't resolved, the public may no longer be able to use the lake.

The lake has existed for more than 50 years. It's privately owned and operated by the Lake Park community but now there's a huge financial problem and since the city doesn't provide any funding, they say they need the community to help bail them out.

People get exercise here. Families come for quality time. Dave Wright visits for recreation.
"I like to fish, a peace of mind."

Though Lake Loretta is privately owned by the Lake Park Recreation Club, it allows the public to jog or relax here for free. But people who use boats or fish have to pay; $50 if you live in the neighborhood, $100 if you don't.

"The $100 to pay out here don't mean that much to me. I thank God that we can be here to do what I'm doing," Wright says.

For years, that money was enough to help owners with upkeep.

"To keep the grounds up, we've had new signage, some weeping willows, stocking the lake with fish," says Day McGee.

But about a month ago, the pump that keeps water flowing in the lake went out. The community hired a company to re-build it, but that's just a temporary fix.

"We have enough money to run it for about two more weeks," McGee says.

They need 7 to 8 thousand dollars for a brand new pump. Already the water in the lake is 12 inches low.

"It's frightening. We'd have to move out if we had a fish kill," she says.

So they're asking for the community to donate. Especially those the owners usually let take a stroll here for free.

"Or even just the people who don't want to fish who just come here everyday and walk, if they would just help out a little bit."

Wright is hopeful.

"I don't think that would happen...I think the people will keep it going," he says.
But it may take you to make it happen.

The Lake Park Recreation Club is sending out about 400 letters to people in that neighborhood.

Not everyone who lives along the lake pays that $50 to help keep it running. So owners are first asking everyone in the community to do their part. But of course, they're also hoping everyone else will pitch in too.

You can reach McGee at (229) 446-4330.

Lake Loretta Needs Water

Recreation association asking neighbors, community to pitch in to replenish and maintain one of Albany’s wonders

Note: The following information is being sent to residents of the Lake Loretta area in the Lake Park area of Northwest Albany. Donations can be sent to Lake Park Recreation Club, P.O. Box 70924, Albany, GA 31708. A limited number of fishing permits – which are available to the public – are available.

Lake Loretta is drying up – as is the Lake Park Recreation Club’s bank account. The sole hydro-pump that supplies the necessary water to our beautiful neighborhood aesthetic landmark has broken, and we must act fast. We are at a critical time in the history of our local treasure and would appreciate you reading this information and getting involved to help to sustain the lake – and the neighborhood.

Did you know:

• The Lake Park Recreation Club owns Lake Loretta and Lake Cornelia (the dry lake)?
• Your home is one of about 400 properties in the Lake Park Recreation Club geographical area.
• Real estate experts say that property values in the Lake Park Recreation Club area will drastically decrease if Lake Loretta were to dry up – not to mention the other consequences that would result from catastrophic fish kill?
• The Recreation Club spends about $11,000 annually – not including unexpected emergency expenditures -- to maintain and stock Lake Loretta?
• The Recreation Club currently collects about $6,000 annually in donations from its members/fishing permit holders?
• The Recreation Club’s bank account has gradually dwindled from more than $20,000 five years ago to less than $2,000 today?
• The City of Albany has not, does not, and will not contribute any effort or funding to help the Recreation Club maintain the property – despite the entire community enjoying the benefits?
• Less than 10 percent of landowners eligible to join the Recreation Club have made a donation in 2007?

The time to act is now. Please donate to the Lake Park Recreation Club today – and please consider making a contribution beyond the $50 membership fee. If you are already a member of the Recreation Club, will you please consider making an additional donation?

New Flock Coming to Lake Loretta

By Jennifer Emert
WALB-TV

Catching a duck is no easy task. Just ask Marsha Kinnett and her friend Bill Sanford who corral 12 ducks nightly to keep them safe.

Marsha bought and released the six white Peking Ducks enjoyed and fed by many who stop by Lake Loretta to see the birds. Soon they'll be a new flock in town.

"You can't put a single duck out here alone. They will not survive," said Kinnett.

That's why Marsha is waiting for the two smallest ducks to get big enough to release the flock of twelve together. Only then will the ducks will move from Marsha's backyard to their new waterfront home.

"We have some really large fish in the lake and they pull the baby's under and drown them and so they die, and that's why we don't have any baby ducks on the lake," said Kinnett.

They recently lost four babies born earlier this year to Yankee, Doodle, and Dandy, who Marsha released onto the lake last year. There are also other predators that could cause these ducks harm.

"If they're on the shore, cats that run the neighborhood can get them. We have a fox that runs the neighborhood at night. We have owls," said Kinnett.

Many of the ducks are also struck by motorists who drive too quickly around the lake. This pack of twelve doesn't share the same parents. Marsha rescued the one with yellow wings after it was attacked by an animal and is helping the bird to heal.

Other were bought at the store and some were dropped by the lake but may have died if not taken in. But their a family now and will likely stay together when they're released. And like a mother hen, they'll be watched closely by Marsha.

"I have wonderful memories from my childhood with the ducks, and we just want to get about 30 white Peking Ducks out here again for all the kids to enjoy," said Kinnett.

When the 12 ducks are released on the lake the Peking population will be up to twenty. The ducks live to be around 15 years old and Marsha is hoping over the years the population will grow to around 30.