I've spent a great deal of time reading through the BLHA's legacy documents that have been handed down through the years and I can say with great certainty that there have always been a few recurring themes which never seem to change: Our lake has always attracted wildlife, it has always provided a means for boaters to speed unnecessarily and it has always been maintained by the hearts, minds and wallets of volunteers.

One event that has not occurred, and I'm thankful to be able to say this, is that the lake has never claimed one of its own. That thought raced through my mind when I saw the police cars, fire truck, water rescue vehicles and crime-scene tape cordoning off the Chapel late on the night of July 15th . I learned that someone was missing and, even though a major search-and-rescue effort was underway, that person was not to be found that night. I went to bed with a most-heavy heart and prayed the person would be found alive. We learned the next morning the missing person was found safe, dry and unharmed.

I wanted to tell you this because we have had an increase in boater safety violations, some of which occur late at night when many of us are sleeping. We are taking steps to identify these boats and hopefully prevent any injury, or worse, that might transpire. If you see any violation, please get the registration number or description of the boat and where it's parked, and we will use our powers, which includes using any necessary law enforcement agency, to ensure the regulations are enforced.

I spent many years in the Navy and I've lost friends to the sea. It happens in the blink of an eye. There is no getting them back. Please know your boat, its limitations, who is operating it and when, and the rules governing its operation. There have been some significant events since our last Reflections.

Membership: I would like to personally thank all of you who have joined BLHA for 2006. Our membership is about 50 members lower than this time last year and, as you know, it is only through our membership dues that we finance the health of the lake, maintain the beach, picnic grounds, pay our taxes, insurance and various other expenses. I ask those who have not yet joined for 2006, to please do so now.

By the way, there are some who think their dues go towards social events, but this is not the case. The admission fee to each event, which of course requires your participation, pays for our major events. So, if this has been a problem for you in the past, hopefully this will change your mind.

As an inducement to become a BLHA member, I'd like to invite any resident of the City of Berkeley Lake to attend our Fall BBQ September 16, provided that you RSVP prior to attending and pay the admission fee, as the rest of the BLHA members do. We had a tremendous turnout for the Spring party and I'm looking forward to an even larger turnout for the always-popular Fall BBQ.

Surrounding Development: I had the opportunity to work with City government, as well as other members and leaders in the surrounding communities, in stopping or delaying two commercial developments that would have a negative impact on our City. This was a coordinated effort among BLHA members, HOAs and the City government, whereby we stopped the issuance of a Special Use Permit for a metal salvage yard (i.e. scrap yard) which would have been located very near our City and would have increased the cut-through traffic of heavy trucks on our roads.

The other commercial development is an ongoing project that has a very real possibility of causing damage to homeowner property and, eventually, could result in the siltation of Lake Berkeley. A developer is very close to receiving a permit to develop several acres of privately owned land on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, which is directly behind a member's house that is downstream and has a detention pond on their property. The development plan is to raise the grade approximately thirty feet, which the developer has estimated will take approximately 120,000 cubic yards, or 12,000 dump-truck loads, of fill dirt. Once again, a coordinated effort between members, HOA, and the City has proven to be a most effective means when working with Gwinnett County Planning and Development and we are continuing to closely monitor this activity.

Waterfowl: Many of you have had strong opinions on this issue and there are some points that need to be made. For starters, Canadian Geese are a federally protected species and the Humane Society of the United States has certified the City of Berkeley Lake as an Urban Wildlife Sanctuary. This certainly complicates the issue when trying to manage the delicate balance between human and wildlife interaction.

The BLHA Board decided to solicit the help of Michael Ellis, founder of AWARE (Atlanta Wild Animal Rescue Effort) to help us understand more about these rather invasive creatures. To cut to the chase, I feel that a localized, spot removal of geese is costly and ineffective considering that there are hundreds of other geese living and migrating within a ten-mile radius. Contrary to popular belief, they will not migrate back to Canada.

Mayor Salter and I had many conversations concerning the best methods to deal with this issue. She was gracious enough to take our concerns, as well as other wildlife issues within the City, to the Executive Meeting of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) where other mayors and community leaders attended. In short, to effectively manage geese, we will need to do it at the county or region level with the cooperation of surrounding cities. Otherwise, we are simply throwing money at the problem, not to mention that I have yet to find a removal solution that honors the fact that we are, in fact, a wildlife sanctuary.

The good news is that there has not been a dramatic increase in the number of geese, so we may be at population cap. We have also isolated the beach area with a temporary fence that is deployed at night and removed each morning so that the geese cannot trespass at will. This has helped keep acceptable water quality levels in the swimming area. I would like to give a special thanks to Kay and Scott Lee for their commitment to this effort.

Lastly, if you feed the geese and ducks, you are creating an artificial food source beyond what nature provides. Besides, geese were not raised on the food that we eat and do not need your potato chips, stale bread or hamburger buns. Please do not feed them! If you would like to read more about this complex issue, please refer to: