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After reading your articles on the dredging of our pond I have some comment I would like
to share with you. Let me start by saying your coverage of the dredging project has been very informative and I'm happy to see that Crofton Online has a forum for such issues. I do have some facts and issues I would like to address with you at this time. First is the mention of botulism. The duck that died to the best of my knowledge was never actually tested for botulism. I think the conclusion was arrived at through emotions not facts. The duck may have died from many other things including being traumatized by the capture or from an illness it may have already had. In any case saying the pond has botulism is unfounded at this time. The second issue I would like to address is whether or not the remaining ducks will leave the pond on their own. According to everyone I have contacted including biologists, conservationists, environmentalists, the DNR and waterfowl experts the ducks will fly out on their own when the food and water (which is their food source) are gone. Don't get me wrong, I believe the relocation of the domestics and other fowl that can't fly out on their own was necessary. But now for the good of the remaining ducks I believe they will find a new home on their own as long as we stop feeding them and making them comfortable here. It might sound cruel but it would be for their own well being for them to leave the pond. I understand that in the original contract a safety fence was to be installed around the pond but this was eliminated to save money. Since the incident with the little girl getting stuck in the muck, and this did happen I was one of the persons who pulled her out, and since we have had a lot of children around the pond the fence was put back in and has since been installed. The contractor hired to do the dredging was hired to do just that and nothing more. It is not their responsibility to do anything with the ducks, turtles and fish. It should have been up to the HOA to take any measures to protect the wildlife. Let me add that the workers doing the pumping have been stopping their work to pluck turtles out of the mud and put them in buckets for relocation. This is something they don't have to do and they should be thanked for their efforts. On the subject of policing the pond, the county police have much more important things to do then chase kids who harass the ducks, but they will and their response time may be slow but they will be there. The HOA has hired two officers and is paying them to patrol the pond as much as possible and I see them daily doing their job and doing it well. But they are only two people doing the job of many. We need to give them all the help we can by keeping an eye on the pond and the people who visit it. As far as having a pond caretaker, everyone in the community should be one. We as a community should have no need to pay someone to take care of something we should all be responsible for. If we can't do it ourselves because we don't care, don't have time or don't want to get involved I would suggest paying our resident "duck lady" Joyce Yore a good salary to do what she's been doing for years, watching over our pond. There is a concern about people coming from other communities and even other states to enjoy our fishing pond, well we can't expect to keep all outsiders from using the pond but we can put up signs stating the pond is for residents only and is closed from dusk till dawn and any other rules we may need. This may keep our visitors down to a minimum and keep our own people in line to some extent. I also believe we should beautify our pond with a nice paved path, benches and fountains, It's our community shouldn't we be proud of it? I would like to see people enjoying the pond, having picnics, walking, enjoying the wildlife and even having kids fishing tournaments like we used to have. We are putting a lot of effort into the future of the pond. We need to restock it with fish and the proper vegetation to keep the pond healthy so that it can survive on it's own or we will have a sick pond again in a few years. It all boils down to the people in our own neighborhood taking care of what's ours, The Aberdeen Drive Pond. Jeff Wagner Tiderunner Bassmasters Crofton I would like to say your coverage of the Aberdeen pond dredging has been excellent. Please don't stop now, work is still being done and fish and wildlife still rescued. I have been involved in the rescue project from the beginning and have spent countless days and hours rescuing the wildlife. I also am involved in the planning for the future of the pond as far as the fishing goes. I am a member of the Tiderunner Bassmasters fishing club which has stocked this pond for over 6 years. Our club has also done several cleanups around the pond over the same period. We also sponsored and put on the youth fishing tournaments over the last 4 years, (Last years tournament had to be canceled because of the condition of the pond). We plan on having more kid's tournaments when the project is completed and the pond restocked. Our plan is to work with the DNR, conservationists, and biologist to bring this pond back to life and keep it healthy. Tiderunner Bassmasters has a home page with more articles and pictures of the dredging project. Please add a link to us and at the same time I will be adding a link to your page on our dredging update page. Thanks, Jeff Wagner 1748 Remington Drive Crofton, Md jeffwagner@usa.net |