Harwood Perseveres! Meetings with FERC Loom?

Over the past forty-five days, as Grand Lake has been enduring another annual draw-down of the lake to the 741’ elevation, Joe Harwood has been orchestrating a crusade to gain the attention of our elected officials regarding this ill-advised practice. His plan was to conduct a very simple vote addressing a very simple question to both state and federal elected representatives, both state and federal candidates for office in the upcoming election, local mayors in the Grand Lake area and the GRDA board of directors and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Easley. The question read, “Are you in favor of lowering Grand Lake’s level before Labor Day Weekend?”

Initially, none of those receiving their ballots, with the lone exception of State Representative Doug Cox, seemed willing to mark their ballots and return them to be counted. But they evidently underestimated the perseverance of Joe “The Duck Creek Bulldog” Harwood. He fired off two more follow up requests asking that they at least confirm they had received their ballots. The dominos began to fall when U.S. Senator Tom Coburn returned his ballot, with no associated comments, with the NO box marked accordingly. It wasn’t long before the votes started rolling in via e-mail, U.S. mail and the Duck Creek Bulldog got a call or two. Well Grand Lakers the results are in.

In our lead story this week, Harwood not only reveals the results of his Grand Lake specific election, but also offers some editorial comments of his own. In last week’s comments in this space I indicated the votes were rolling in, but I didn’t reveal how they were voting. That was intentional and this is the week for letting the cat outta’ the bag. There’s no need to be redundant in this space as Joe has done a great job of revealing how they voted, where we go from here and some of the mysteries surrounding this issue in the lead story. The most important thing from the whole process has been the commitment from both Dan Boren and Jim Inhofe to start the wheels in motion for a meeting with FERC following the November elections. Some long overdue attention is being paid to this issue and we’ll keep ya’ posted.

When the ‘Good Ol Days’ Really Were ‘Good Ol Days’!

It was a simpler time on Grand Lake in the spring of 1977. I was a rookie laker, who had closed on that dream waterfront property the previous Labor Day. In those days, I was yet to become lake savvy and when the dock builder told me “not to worry about the dock permit,” I had no reason not to believe him. When I found out nothing had been done on the permit request to GRDA, I was almost as surprised as when the redwood decking I thought would be on my dock turned out to be Ash. I was about to make the acquaintance of Lake Patrol Chief Harold Page.

I was saddened a few days ago to learn of Harold’s death. He had retired from GRDA in 1995, and as I reflect back on it now, that seems appropriate. The authority had just recently completed their relicensing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and life as Harold Page had known it on Grand Lake was about to go up in a cloud of administrative and bureaucratic smoke. This genuinely nice guy, with a background in county law enforcement before joining the authority, was better suited to a career in public relations than becoming “Chief No.” He wouldn’t have been a fit in the new GRDA.

Harold was just like every other Grand Laker, he loved the lake. At his retirement, which was at Martin Landing as opposed to the GRDA headquarters or some fancy hotel, he was asked about the lake. “I love it. Some weeks I would work five days on it and spend the other two days fishing on it,” said Page. And as for his first boat he described it like this, “The boat I started in was an old Chris Craft. When you would drive it across the lake and hit a wave or a wake, water would seep in through the floorboards.”

Page was a local's local. He was born and raised in the Drowning Creek area east of Disney. His family moved off their farm when he was about 9, about the time dam construction started. He recalled at his retirement party, “It finally forced us to move. We could see the water coming up about a quarter of a mile away. Today that place is probably under about 80 feet of water.” But the most revealing comment Harold made on that day was this, “The people around the lake have just been super to support me all these years and I will certainly miss them.”

But back to that first time I met Harold Page. I was pretty sure my dock builder had me in jam with GRDA. I had learned all was not well when I arrived on a Friday night to find a dock application, as simple as they were in those days, tacked to my door with a number to call. Even though the horror stories we hear today were a rarity back then, I was apprehensive about making that call. Harold instantly put me at ease and we set an appointment on a Saturday morning for him to do what we hear described today as a site review. That site review consisted of a cup of coffee, talking about where I was from and how I had come to know about Grand Lake and the signing of a couple of forms. As he left he said, “You’ll need to get a release signed by your neighbor on the South since you’re cabled to one of his trees.” Done-deal in less than thirty minutes.

Unfortunately, the Harold Pages of the world are hard to find these days, but it was a privilege to have known him over the past thirty-five years. I’m sure he’s slaying the crappie in the intimately brushed dock as we speak. A simpler time, when a man’s word was his bond. Rest in peace Harold Page.

See Ya’ Around the Pond!