Carol Zink: 2 conflicting ideas: When will we care about the lake?

To The Daily Sun,

On page 6 of Saturday's paper you post an article casting the fourth annual wakesurf event in a very positive light. On page 25 there's an article about how to respect our lakes and treat them well, advising wake boats to operate at least 500' from the shore and in water at least 20' deep. I'm on Little Squam, and it is not possible to be 500' from the shore as the lake is not very wide. Yet we have wake boats here, to the detriment of the lake bottom, shoreline, and kayakers. I got soaked last week by a wake boat's waves flooding my kayak. Kids in kayaks have been flipped out. The shoreline is being eroded, and docked boats are being damaged. A few years ago the state legislature tried and failed to pass a bill that would mandate wake boats be at least 300' from the shore. No doubt the marina lobby is very powerful, and favors wake boats as they are quite expensive so their sales generate higher profit/income for the marinas.

When will we begin to take the long view about what a precious resource we have in our lakes, and take steps to preserve them?

Carol Zink

Holderness