Hands UP, Don’t Run Me Over!
Lake Safety Committee
By: Bruce C. Bower
The title of this article is to draw your attention to what you should preach to your family and guests when they are in the water after being towed. As soon possible, they should put their hands up, over their heads, to draw attention of their presence to other boaters. If they have just fallen out of their skis, hold the ski or skis up vertically. Wave their arms so show where they are, not necessarily for you, but to any other boaters coming your way. One human head bobbing in the water is difficult to see, especially when there is a choppy surface. AND, get that flag up ASAP!
The Boat Patrol asked me to inform everyone to mark or paint your lot number on all your water toys, floats, skis, paddle boards, paddles, tubes, trampolines, and anything else that you want back if it gets lost. The Patrol finds things floating in the lake and wants a way to get the equipment back to the owners.
I have seen three different pontoon boats, at cruising speed, with people sitting outside the “playpen” of the boat. This is not only unbelievably dangerous, but against state law. Don’t do it!
There appears to be some question about “slow towing”. You can legally tow people on a tube in the no wake zones, at NO WAKE speed. Now there is something to get cleared by ODNR about slow tows in the designated NO-SKI zone at the south end. My interpretation is that you can slow-tow in this area, but once more at NO WAKE speed. I will have the official answer in the next article.
The lot number or address signs are still NOT on all waterfront docks or seawalls. It’s not expensive, it could be a life-saving item and it is a Village ordinance. What is so difficult about this procedure? If you can’t install the sign, call me, I’ll come over and mount it for you. Leave me a message. Oh, there are still boats that do not have their lot numbers in the correct location or position on their crafts. You get a packet of the rules every year with your boat tags. In there is the correct positions for mounting your address and your annual RRA sticker. Please get these errors corrected.
As always, call me with your thoughts or if you want to holler back at 216.906.2301. Think SAFETY Bower out.
Promotion Club Wine & Cheese Social
This Saturday, join the Promotion Club as we sample wines from some of our local wineries! Light appetizers will be provided.
Please feel free to bring an appetizer to share or your own wine to sample.
Date: Saturday, August 27th
Time: 7pm
Location: Clubhouse
Mini Triathlon Gives Back
Thank you to all who came out for our 1st Annual Mini Triathlon, Givin’ it a Tri in the Shores! The event was a great success and we couldn’t have done it without your support! We had 75 total participants. 38 racers competed individually with 37 making up 14 teams.
Our event was able to raise over $400 which we donated to our local Safety Services who helped keep everyone safe during the event. See pictures below! You can catch all of the pictures from the Mini Tri here: http://www.roamingshores.org/RRA1/photo-gallery/?album=6304632632648319697
Mark your calendars! We will be holding the Mini Triathlon again next year on Sunday, July 2nd, 2017!
Mini Triathlon Committee member Jan Hurwitz presents a donation to RSPD Chief Tim DiPadova and Sgt. Dan Bennett
SCAD Chief Koziol accepts a donation from Mini Tri Committee member Joy Weimer. Chief Koziol also accepted donations for Morgan and Rome Fire Departments who were out on call.
Couples Fishing Tournament
The Fishing Club is sponsoring a mixed couples pan fish contest. Husband – wife, mother – son, grandfather – granddaughter, boyfriend – girlfriend, etc.
Anyone interested should be at the Clubhouse dock at 9am on August 13th. There will be a $20 signup fee per boat. All of the entry money will be going towards to the winner plus $100 donated by the Club. This is a pan fish only event – Blue gill, perch, crappie, and rock bass. Any size fish will do. All the fish will be donated to the club for our next Fish Fry.
Got Weeds?
By Dick Hurwitz – Lake Management Committee
You look out at the lake or cove near your dock, beach, shoreline or seawall and see some, or maybe a lot of weeds and lily pads. You wonder what you should do about them. Should you try to get rid of them? The answer is “maybe.” Consider the following:
- Where they are growing, the weeds help to control or reduce the algae in the water. After all, the weeds need nutrients to grow—many of the same nutrients needed by algae to thrive.
- Unless they get too thick, weeds are good for fish and fishing. They provide shelter, oxygen, ambush points, and a smorgasbord of baitfish for the fish you might be “angling” for.
- But maybe you really need to clear the weeds so you, your family, and your guests can swim, or so you can dock and use your watercraft.
- Or maybe you just don’t like the way the weeds look.
So it’s really up to you to decide whether to leave the weeds, try to reduce them, or try to get rid of as many as possible. And if you do decide to go after the weeds, consider using one or more tools designed for the purpose and listed below. Be sure that whichever tool or tools you may decide to use, it is important to gather and remove weeds cut from the lake so as not to contribute additional nutrients (decomposing weeds) into the lake. Also, uncollected cuttings may root elsewhere and compound your weed problem. Collected weeds can go into your compost bin or be disposed of at the Village compost site. Suggested tools include:
- Weed rakes: these are designed to pull loose or growing weeds toward you so they may be removed.
- Weed cutters: these are designed to cut the weeds near the water bottom so they may be raked or gathered.
- Combo tools: these are designed to both cut the weeds and gather* them in one step.
An Internet search using key words such as “lake weed rakes” or “lake weed cutters” will yield many different tools at various price levels, but most will cost from about $70 to $200. Your Lake Management Committee has no specific product recommendations, but you can check out the following YouTube videos to get an idea of the different types of products and how to use them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-B2YFXrB-M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ZvFXVbjiA
Decisions, decisions. Ultimately, the choice is yours. Hopefully this brief article will lead you to the answers that are best for you.
BE LAKE RESPONSIBLE
Spiders – Creepy, Crawly and Lake Friendly
By Tim Langer – Lake Management Committee
Summer is upon us and those eight-legged creatures quickly found your house, dock and boat. Now what? Well the answer isn’t always easy. Spiders are very beneficial as they consume many other insects and an important component of the ecosystem. But having cobwebs and spider droppings all over your house, dock and boat can be unsightly. Brushing the cobwebs off and washing your boat and dock frequently with fresh water (yep water alone) is one of the easiest and most lake friendly ways of control.
Pest control products for around your home typically use one of the following active ingredients, Bifenthrin – Ortho home Defense MAX, Gamma-Cyhalothrin – Spectracide Bug Stop, Cyfluthrin – Bayer Home Pest and there are many others. They work well around your home but are extremely toxic to fish and aquatic organisms and should never be used on your dock or boat near the water. Remember to always read the product label for application guidelines and precautions.
So what are we to do? Here are a few tips and tricks… Did you know, spiders smell and taste with their feet? So a home mixture of some essential oils sprayed on a surface will kill or deter spiders. Some of the essential oils to use are lavender, citronella, peppermint, tea tree oil, thyme and rosemary. You’ll be controlling spiders and adding fragrance to your home all at the same time. Be aware, you may have to apply this type of all natural control method more often to remain effective.
If you’ve tried the at home methods and a commercial product is what you are looking for then here a few alternatives. As times have changed so has the products available to consumers. Here are a few commercial products made with essential oils, making them completely eco-friendly, safe for your guests, your pets, children, and our environment. They are Essentria® IC3, EcoVia™ EC, Nature’s Element® Web Out® and Star brite® Spider Away. As with the home mixtures, you may need to apply more often since these are natural based products as compared to synthetic pesticides, but they are a much safer alternative for people, pets and the lake.
Remember to always spot test to ensure nothing happens to the surface you want to apply a product to and as always, remember to follow the product’s label.
We hope this article provides valuable insight into existing products and alternatives, which can help you, make informed choices for your own use and that of hired contractors.
BE LAKE RESPONSIBLE
Fishing Club News – July 2016
June and July were very busy months for the Fishing Club. We had the Kids Fishing Day, a 50th Anniversary Bass Contest, an All Species Fish Tournament, a Fish Fry, and a Garage Sale!
The Kids Fishing Day was a great success. We had 29 kids participate, they caught 91 fish. Following the contest, there was a hotdog and pizza lunch. The Club gave out 45 prizes and 2 kayaks were given out as grand prizes. We would like to thank our 21 sponsors who donated money to make it a great success.
The 50th Anniversary Bass Contest had 7 boats enter. After 3 hours of fishing, Al Rubosky took 1st place with a 4.18lb bass, Nathan Kristoff took 2nd place with a 3lb bass and Jon Klein took 3rd place with a 2.38lb bass.
July 9th was our Jack Cone All Species Contest.
The Winners were:
- Large Mouth Bass – 5.12lb – Joshua Baitt
- Small Mouth Bass – .90lb – Ed Plant
- Blue Gill – .52lb – Joe Baitt
- Crappie – .94lb – Del Christofferson
- Perch – .56lb – Ed Baitt Jr
- Catfish 1.24lb – Ed Baitt Sr
Josh Baitt with his 5.12lb Large Mouth Bass
The Big Fish of the Month for June was caught by David Ray, a large mouth bass 21.5” long.
The Club would like to thank anyone who donated items for the Garage Sale, we made $811!
We had a Fish Fry July 15th. 60 people attended and consumed 150 fish donated by the Club members.
Our next event will be a mixed Couples Tournament on Saturday, August 13th at 9am at the Clubhouse. The weigh-in will be at 12pm at the Marina followed by a hotdog lunch.
Observations from My Deck, Fireworks Saturday
Lake Safety Committee
By: Bruce C. Bower
I was again shocked at the unbelievable number of dangerous violations that I saw in only a couple of hours in one day.
So, here are some of the new and unique antics of our neighbors:
Drive your jet ski very fast in a very tight circle about six times to get up momentum, then floor it so you can stand the ski up on end, as in an aquatic wheelie. Two kids and an adult on a two person ski, but have about a ten year old steering, then a four or five year old , lastly the “adult”. The “adult” is the one in charge, the teacher, the protector. How about a boatload of people on a pontoon boat with two youngsters sitting outside the playpen on the bow? Consider that if you fall into the water, you have more than a 50-50 chance of going between the toons and meeting up with Mr. Propeller. These are all new unbelievably reckless and stupid acts to me. I am always amazed.
Now for the repeat acts of recklessness, but without the creative first time uniqueness: Speeding after dark, way after dark. No wake speed after 8:00 PM on fireworks night, but ignore that and fly. Driving with the dock lights on, blinding everyone coming in the other direction. Of course, the usual speeding way inside the 75 foot no wake zone. People following too close to other boats, especially boats towing kids. Jet skis going between cruising boats and the shoreline, way too close to shore. Jet skis obviously going way over 50 MPH.
Now the disappointment of my fireworks night was observing the unbelievable number of boats, at anchor, with their running lights on. Some had the anchor light on and others didn’t. It seems easy to me that whilst moving you put on your red, green and white lights. While standing still, only the white should be on, and NOT your dock lights the other white one.
Here’s a new topic that I was asked to speak about. A brand new shiny boat was seen trying to anchor near the dam. They were not successful on several attempts to set the anchor off the stern (the back). First you never anchor off the stern for you can get swamped from a wave. You tie your anchor to the bow (the front). You should have done your investigating to find out what type of anchor to use, how long the line (rope) should be for the depth of the water, and how much chain you should use between the anchor and the line (rope) to weigh down the line (rope). A plan that may work would be to take a boating class, either on-line or in person, read a book or ring up ODNR and see what they have to offer. Maybe even pull something up on your Google machine. Do you detect any cynicism here? Depending on the year there are between 800 and 1100 boat tags sold each season. None of these watercraft are equipped with: brakes, bumpers, roll-bars, air bags or turn signals. That is a lot of very fast and potentially unsafe vehicles that have truly only one safety feature, YOUR common sense, personal responsibility, and knowledge of boating.
Once again this article is basically the same as the last July report. This is a tough thing to have to say about our Community. So, are we making any progress and what can we do about it? As always, call me with your thoughts or if you want to holler back on 216.906.2301.
Think SAFETY
Bower out.
Telecommunications Survey
The Village of Roaming Shores is considering bringing access to underground fiber optic telecommunications services to the village to provide Internet speeds up to 1Gigabit.
To assist the Village in understanding the need for this service, please complete the following survey.
Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R7LRZR2
Question and Answers about the Lawsuit
By The RomeRock Association Board of Directors.
Who were the parties to the Lawsuit?
Lawsuit was filed by Plaintiffs: Neighbors for a Better Roaming Shores Inc., Barry O’Connell, Pat Long, and Joseph W Petraus. The suit was filed against Defendants: RomeRock Association, Dell Rogers, Rick Gainar, Ed Baitt, John Martin, and Tom Sopko. Date filed: March 20, 2014.
What was the Lawsuit About?
The Lawsuit was about how a Bylaw change was implemented. The Plaintiffs claimed a Bylaw was incorrectly implemented. The Bylaw was believed to be implemented as any other Bylaw. The Bylaw in question was Article 2. Section 16. This Article/Section essentially requires the Board of Directors to seek Member approval for borrowing or assessing over $500,000. This amendment is about borrowing and assessing, not about the dollar size or scope of a project.
Why wasn’t the Amendment just done again?
The Board believed the implementation of this Bylaw to be no different than any other Bylaw implementation including Bylaws done by O’Connell, Long and Petraus when they were Directors. The Board did not want other Bylaws to come into question if this Amendment had to be done over. Our legal counsel recommended not doing the Amendment over.
Can I see copies of the lawsuit and settlement documents?
Yes. These items have always been available through the Ashtabula Clerk of Courts. These items are now posted on the Association Website with this Q & A. The Bylaws and Rules can also be found on the Website.
Isn’t Mediation required by the Bylaws as a first step to an objection?
Yes. The “Mediation Bylaw”, which was implemented when Barry O’Connell was Board President, was not the first step chosen by the Plaintiffs. The Lawsuit was chosen as their first step. Mediation, as stipulated in the Bylaws, was subsequently ordered by the Judge.
What were the costs of this Lawsuit?
The defense costs which are the Association costs, were approximately $40,000; this is actual out of pocket costs, and does not include the time of the Board, time of office personnel, or the cost of the lead Attorney provided by our Insurance Company under Directors and Officers Insurance. This equates to approximately $36 per dues paying Active Member. The costs of the Attorney provided by our Insurance Company are estimated to be in the range of $18,000 to $20,000, and are in addition to the Association costs. All these costs were accumulated over a 27 month period. The Plaintiff’s costs are unknown to the Association.
Why was there a $25 One-Time Legal Assessment?
The Board believed that the reduction in maintenance of amenities caused by the Lawsuit was not fair to the general Active Members. As it is, the Legal Assessment only covered about $27,000 of the Lawsuit costs.
Why was it necessary to sue Board Members personally?
It is not understood why Neighbors for a Better Roaming Shores Inc, Barry O’Connell, Pat Long, and Joseph W. Petraus found it necessary to personally sue unpaid volunteer Board members. Nor it is not understood why other Board Members at the time, Gary Stamm and Rick Rumbaugh, were not part of the suit.
Why was there a Settlement Agreement and a Referendum Ballot?
As part of the court ordered Mediation, the Board agreed to the Settlement Agreement. We had three independent estimates that to take the Lawsuit to conclusion in the Courts, would cost the Association an additional $60,000 to $100,000. Total cost to the Association would then be in the neighborhood of $100,000 to $140,000. Although the Board believed it was on solid ground, the Board did not want to spend 10% or more of an annual budget for the Lawsuit. Hence, we reluctantly agreed to the Settlement that included the Referendum Ballot. The Referendum Ballot was a vote on whether to keep or do away with Article 2, Section 16. If Article 2, Section 16 were removed, the Board of Directors could bind the Members to unlimited amounts of money borrowing or assessing.
What was the result of the Referendum Ballot?
The results were 80 Yes votes and 426 No votes. This means that Article 2. Section 16 remains as a Bylaw. This means that the Board of Directors must seek Member approval for borrowing or assessing over $500,000. A simple majority of Yes votes cast could have removed this Bylaw.
Is it over?
The current Board believes that the Lawsuit is over and hopes that the Association can move ahead with the business of being a lake recreational home owners association.
The Board of Directors thanks you for your support and patience.
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