did anyone watch the channel 6 news last night ? well if ya didn’t, the park and rec met yesterday for the first time since the guy from wisconsin drowned and they are gonna propose a better police presence at foster arends along the beach and shore as to try and prevent people from straying from the swimming area by issuing fines for those who don’t stay in the swimming area 
now if we can just get them to to crack down on the garbage out there
Thanks for the heads up Matt. Hopefully this will stop some of the littering also as it is against the law to litter and I’m sure the city is not going to pass up on all the money they could bring in for writing tickets for littering. According to signs I have seen in places the fine for littering is from 300.00 to 700.00 for it. A person can buy one hec of ALOT of tackle at HOF with that money. AND that tells me that its alot smarter to spend that money on tackle then to give it away for a fine.
My suggestion would be to carry a plastic bag along with you when fishing there because a plain clothes officer seeing you standing there with garbage around that area you are at, even if you aren’t the person who put it there, might write you out a 700.00 ticket for littering because YOU were seen at the crime of the littering area/place. Carrying a bag and picking up the garbage not only helps the lake and shorelines that we all like to fish at but also is a 700.00 fine saver. I would much rather go shopping at HOF than throw that kind of money away thats for sure. 
I would like to ask everyone to PLEASE carry a plastic bag with you when fishing there to pick up any garbage you see around the shoreline and put it in the garbage containers when you leave the lake. This way we ALL have a nice shoreline to fish from and it will make our time fishing there seem ALOT nicer too. THANKS.
Thanks, Bill
I feel bad for the officer that has to police all of those bikinis 
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I feel bad for the officer that has to police all of those bikinis
Sounds like you have a new career direction there Chris? 
I was thinking more on the line of the plain clothes officer out there fishing so he blends in with everyone else. After all…we ALL know that a great lookin female has a big gut and scales.
Thanks, Bill
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After all…we ALL know that a great lookin female has a big gut and scales.
Amen Bill
Don’t forget lips, guys. And that would make it [her] a carp.
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I feel bad for the officer that has to police all of those bikinis
i would volunteer for that one
A bikini on a carp??? 
Shes all yours Matt.
yep i loke big mouths too
i guess the city is gonna have police officers/sheriffs out there now. the paper was saying they will be off duety officers and will have for hours shifts and and they will make 55 dollars and hour wouldn’t be nice to make some money like that
Should be no problem getting police officers to fill those shifts. They also will be writing tickets for littering too which will pay for their saleries just fine. Yes Matt, I could sure handle being paid 55.00 per hour to be out there fishing so I would blend in with everyone else. Its a great way for the city to make some needed money while helping to get rid of the littering and the people who litter out there. Its time for fishermen to become fine sportsmen and take care of the lakes, rivers, and shorelines of the bodies of water we have to fish by keeping them clean and nice looking for everyone to enjoy.
Thanks, Bill
Time for a liitle rant on this subject. So the Park and Rec is going to spend money on off duty cops to enforce the no swimming area. I’m sure this will result in a few fines which I’m sure will get plea reduced in court to lesser $$. Any fines collected for this or littering ( like that will really happen) will go to the General fund and be wasted on something by the City. I see a net loss when it comes to the bottom line no matter what. Maybe they can add it to the never ending sales tax platform and have plenty of money.
And for what? To appease a few whining people that think a couple drownings are terrible. Yes it is a tragic deal and loss of life is never a good thing. But why should the gov’t be my protector? If you do stupid things and die it is your own fault. We have a seat belt law and lots of people don’t wear them. They do stupid things and some die. There are people hollering for more seatbelt enforcement. More gun control. More speed limit enforcement. No jaywalking downtown. And on and on. Bottom line is if you do stupid stuff and are careless you can die. Maybe this is just good evolution at work weeding out the weak.
The world is full of careless people and plenty of slobs too. 
Every park in town is littered. Every highway ditch is littered. It’s sad that the few of us that care are probably equal to the few that mess most of it up. But I’m not in favor of the rest of society (those that do nothing) saying please big government, Save Me.
Alright I’m off my soapbox. Some of you will agree with me and some won’t. That’s life. Enjoy yours and try not to do anything stupid. But if you do, it’s your own fault. 
I truly like your insight on this sarge…
I have some questions.
How much of an annual budget does the Rochester Park and Rec department have?
How are these monies distributed?
Aren’t some of these monies ear marked for maintenance, such as cleanup?
Aren’t there salaried Park and Rec employees that are expected to do just that, maintain and keep the parks clean?
After the intial land purchase and developement of a park, baseball diamonds, soccer fields and playground equipment, what are the expenses for maintaining parks?
Mowing, trimming and raking maybe, then what?
It is not like these properties are serviced by expensive utilities or billion dollar skyscrapers have been erected.
As well intended as some of us are in taking personal time, orgainizing groups, meeting and cleanup projects, why aren’t our tax dollars in this instance, paying for the cleanups?
The loss of a life is tragic.
However, as individuals, are we not responsible and accountable for ourselves. Can’t always depend on others or big brother to watch over and protect us. That is our own job to survive.
In so many instances, death can be avoided by thinking first.
The instinct to survive and take care of one’s selve dates back to the caveman days. Some wehere smart enough to make it and some, well, not quite so fortunate.
Play with fire, you might get burned.
Flirt with death, you may die.
Don’t we teach our children and loved ones of the dangers that exsist?
Common sense prevails.
why do they call it gun control when really alls there doing is making harder for law abiding citizens such as ourselves to own and carry weapons if a crimanil wants a gun he can get it and will use and carry no what the law say why don’t they just call it good guy gun control
Every summer, or at least use to, the City/Park and Rec hire extra employees for mowing, clean up etc of our parks. These are mostly teenagers and college students needing summer jobs and the City needing grass mowed in parks etc. The law enforcement/judges use to, and maybe still do, sentence people to ”community service” to serve as their sentence for laws they broke which would include working in parks and nursing homes etc. These are ways that we can get parks picked up also. Unfortunately we have people who break laws and litter and do many other things that aren’t right. Some of correcting these things cost us money and some gets taken care of through community serve and paying off fines etc. I see where Brian is coming from but unfortunately the world isn’t the way its suppoase to be so thats why we have the laws and expenses we do.
Thanks, Bill
Lots of solid thought here, especially in the camps of Sgt.Rock and RHW. Its been said before: “there are no easy answers”. Many have alluded to that.
What gets lost in the verbal shuffle regarding what can/should be done is the fact that this is a very big part of our local fishing landscape and that those who control it are hair triggered to do stupid things as a method of resolution….ie; lets dump waste silt from one watershed into this nice clean one so dorks don’t drown. And it takes but one a year to heat things up again.
It should be noted here that when the first clean-up was done a couple weeks ago, one of the crew took on the beach area and he has a very small sack of debris. The real mess came from areas that anglers use. This is what needs the policing by concerned anglers. I’m sorry, but those a-holes who call themselves fishermen and leave that kind of mess are NOT in the same league as what I spend my time in.
My thoughts are leaning toward the idea that where there is evidence of gross neglect of the environment [angler trash,slop boozers], so too will there be gross problems outside of that arena….such as drownings outside of LEGAL swimming areas. In that light, any help in monitoring lawbreakers should be appreciated. As Sarge said, pay him a few bucks and he’d go write tickets. While the city isn’t quite smart enough to impliment such a force, it would certainly be a great one to have. Even if there was a rapid responce number to call if violators were witnessed doing something outside of park policy….including littering.
I truely believe that the more involved good anglers stay involved in this matter, the better the chances are for changes being made that will leave a lasting positive effect on the park and the invironment directly tied to it.
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