Photo by Dave Shaner

(6-28-10) - Over the past several months the world has been looking at the disaster that has happened in the Gulf of Mexico. The disaster was created by man when an oil leak took place on the ocean bottom and is still a problem today. The leak is to far down for a human to actually work on it and methods to fix it continue to fail. Billions of dollars have already been spent to stop this leak and the havoc it is creating is a "human" natural disaster. We see pictures of wildlife covered with oil, we see dead fish floating and we see oil on beaches that tourist use to swim on. How is the disaster going to be stopped, only by man who created it. The question is when and how that will happen, meanwhile blame is going around to everyone and anyone. Still there has been no solution, only talk and promises.

While the world may not care about the "blue algae" that has attacked Grand Lake local residents on all sides of the lake are starting to see the problems and what it can do to everyone associated with it. The Gulf and Grand Lake have a lot in common. The Lake was created by man to serve a purpose with the early days of traveling on the Miami-Erie Canal, it is really amazing what those workers accomplished back in the 1800’s. The Lake did it's job well and accomplished what it was made to do, but looking back now the Lake was not created for what we use it for today. Over the years Grand Lake has developed into a place where tourist travel a long way to enjoy. This includes fishing, camping, boat racing and other outdoor activities to name a few. I even enjoyed a nice ride around the Lake on West Bank Road, it could be very relaxing. I think the problem was we all took the Lake for granted and didn't care about what would happen to it in the future.

The Lake as we all know is very shallow, water does not flow into it from other sources and there has not been many efforts to "filter" it out they way "Mother Nature" does it. The waste that has been dumped into the Lake over the years has probably done more damage than any of us realized. There have been efforts to stop that from being a problem, but it continues to be one and now it seems we are paying for that with the condition of the Lake. Grand Lake now has a lot in common with the Gulf - a man-made problem that could devastate the future of what is use to be. The Lake now has dead wildlife, a terrible smell, a warning from the EPA on the algae and a lot of folks who depend on the Lake for a living wondering what is going to happen next.

Citizens of Celina and St Mary's also need to be concerned. When tourist stop coming because of the current conditions it will hurt the local economy, more than most of us realize. It takes a long time to build a good reputation for tourist to visit a site, but it only takes a short time to ruin it. The current condition is a problem and needs to be corrected very soon .

Man will need to fix this problem. Who needs to do that? Right now it is important for anyone who is concerned to contact any and every source to find a solution. One way might be to make this an issue that politicians at all levels know about and goes up on the list of things to do. Media coverage could help, even at a national level, that seems to wake-up those who can make the calls on fixing it. Grand Lake needs help now and from any source who can give it.

This is a time for everyone in the Grand Lake area to ban together to find a solution, both for the long and short term. It may take a long time to fix, because it has taken a long time to create the problem. The problem is real and it will not go away soon. The time to talk is over, the time for action is now. We hope that politics will be put aside to solve this problem, before it becomes a disaster. Saving Grand Lake is a cause we all need to be involved with!