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Looking back 2006: Low lake levels hurt businesses
By Josh Hixson, Staff Writer
There is no question that the summer of 2006 was hot and arid in North Texas. The business owners on Lewisville Lake experienced the drought first hand, as much of their income depends on the lake levels.
“The lake levels are low and it has taken away a quarter of our business. The financial loss is big,” Carl Burmeister, manager of Aloha Hydropsorts, said at the height of the problem. “There is nothing we can do. We are just riding it out.”
Aloha HydroSports rents boats, wave runners and personal water craft to the patrons of Lake Lewisville. The low lake levels have forced them to reduce rental times for their boats and water craft. Aloha HydroSports wasn’t the only lake business hurt by the drought.
During the summer, the low lake levels closed seven boat ramps on Lewisville Lake .
“There are some boats that can’t get in right now. We are right there,” Henderson said. “It’s close. The deep boats are not able to get in. If it gets down another two feet I won’t be able to use my boat ramp at all.”
The lack of water wasn’t the only thing deterring people from heading to the water to beat the heat. Hundred degree and higher temperatures experienced throughout most of the summer took some of the fun out of a day at the lake. Henderson explained that the heat, along with the low water levels, meant less business for them.
Even some at the Army Corps of Engineers, in charge of water management, warned lake goers need to be cautious because of low lake levels.
“People need to be extremely careful out there. This lake was filled with trees and some of them are coming to the surface now,” said Morris Faulkbenberry, with the Army Corps of Engineers.
While the city of Lewisville kept a watchful eye on the lake levels, Director of Public Services Carroll Basinger said the only thing they could really do was watch and wait.
“The Army Corps of Engineers owns the lake and the city of Dallas owns the water rights. [Lewisville residents] understand that we don’t control that,” Basinger said during the summer. “Basically, we are 10 and a half feet down. It’s really taking its toll on everything.”
While the summer began to wind down and gave way to cooler, wetter days, business owners are left to ride out the winter hoping that the summer of 2007 is much more mild than the last.
The Leader continues counting down the top 10 stories for the city of Lewisville for 2006.
2. Deaths on lake bring up safety
For the men who watch Lewisville Lake, it was not only a long, hot summer, it was a deadly one.
The lake was the site of five deaths this year, bringing up safety issues.
Among the biggest concerns is the use, or lack of use, of lifejackets, which has been an issue in some of the deaths. The failure to wear a lifejacket was the primary contributor to drownings on the lake.
State law requires lifejackets to be “immediately available on a boat,” but the law does not define exactly what that means. The result is that lifejackets might be on a person’s body, or might be crammed somewhere difficult to get to in an emergency.
The drownings can also be attributed to a failure of people knowing what to do in case of an emergency. For example, the main boat operator goes out to swim. The wind picks up and the boat drifts away. The person left to tend to the boat does not know how to operate the boat, and the person drowns while waiting.
There are some areas of the lake that are particularly dangerous. Some areas have old tree stumps that make it dangerous. Another area is near a dam where skiers like to congregate.
The number of deaths on Lewisville Lake can also be attributed to the large population that surrounds it. Many times someone wading in from the shore gets into trouble.
3.S.H. 121 opens early
A six-mile portion of the new State Highway 121 toll road that runs from Coppell to The Colony opened in early July, providing relief to frustrated motorists caught in stop-and-go traffic on the service roads.
The six-lane highway opened months earlier than originally planned, thanks to unusually dry weather and minimal construction delays. Tolls were planned to begin Sept. 1, but Gov. Rick Perry announced they would be pushed back even further at the road’s dedication in Coppell in August. Commuters had a free ride until Dec. 1, when all of the toll equipment was fully operational.
The road is designed to collect tolls through an entirely electronic system, meaning there is no cash collection or slowing for booths. Commuters can use the North Texas Tollway Authority TollTag, TxDOT’s TxTag, the Harris County Toll Road Authority’s EZ TAG or receive a bill via license plate identification.
4. Lewisville soldier killed in Iraq
Major Matthew Ward Worrell, a 1990 graduate of Lewisville High School, was one of two soldiers killed 12 miles south of Baghdad when his Little Bird helicopter was believed to have been shot down by al-Qaeda insurgents.
Worrell was killed along with Chief Warrant Officer Jamie Dunbar Weeks in Yousifiyah, Iraq where he was serving as an aviator with the “Night Stalkers” of the First Battalion of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment based in Fort Campbell, Ken.
The SOAR division, in which Worrell served as an aviation specialist, is an operations division that supports ground forces in nighttime military missions. Prided in professionalism, the division has been active in operation since Vietnam and also served in Grenada, the Persian Gulf, Panama, Kuwait and Somalia.
Worrell attended high school in Lewisville and graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s of science in 1995 when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. In 1996, he completed the Aviation Officer Basic Course and the Initial Entry Rotary Wing. By 1997, Worrell received his Aviator Qualification and served at Fort Hood before being deployed to Bosnia.
Worrell is described by his family as “a true hero… a devoted husband, a loving father, son and uncle, and a dedicated Night Stalker,” in a publicly released written statement.
5. Lewisville doctor indicted
Thu Anh Hoang, M.D., 38, of Lewisville, a physician practicing at the Lifetime Medical Group in Flower Mound, along with four doctors across the country and two others were indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta, on charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
The charges stem from the crackdown of what federal authorities are calling a $75 million illegal prescription drug ring.
Troy Sobert, of Anderson, S.C., and Christopher Stoufflet, of Woodstock, Ga., were two of the owners of businesses including excripts-md.com, myemd.com, Lifespan and Virtual Wellness Networks, based in Marietta, Ga. According to United States Attorney David Nahmias and the documents and information presented in court, these businesses attracted customers that wanted specific controlled substances and prescription drugs. Drugs included in the indictment are Phentermine, Adipex-P, Meridia, Bontril and Viagra.
The requests then got forwarded over the Internet to doctors who would click electronic prescriptions causing the drugs to be sent to the customers. According to the indictment, the doctors didn’t meet the customers or even speak with them over the telephone.
Through these businesses customers were able to purchase controlled substances and prescription drugs without any genuine medical need.
Dr. Hoang allegedly dispensed at least 16,500 prescriptions in a six-month period, according to the indictment. This includes 7,000 prescriptions for controlled substances.
6. CCA president steps aside, Orr steps in
Christian Community Action president and CEO Walter E. Johnson stepped down from his position to become a board member of CCA. Scott Orr was appointed to fill his position.
Johnson’s initial involvement with CCA began as a financial donor. He attended church with founders of the ministry and liked what they were doing and wanted to support them. Ten years later, he found himself a member of the board in the CCA organization. With experience as an entrepreneur in the restaurant and retail business, Johnson contributed much in the way of improving planning and developing and as well as the growth of CCA. He chaired the campaign to raise the money which has allowed CCA to move into its current facility.
Orr’s passion for the type of work that is typical of nonprofit organizations like CCA, in addition to his extensive background in business and nonprofit experience.
Six years ago, Orr decided he was in a position in his life where he could give back all the blessings given in his own life.
Prior to accepting his position at CCA, Orr has been associated with Metrocrest Social Services, a nonprofit adoption agency, as a board member, Christian Works for Children and spent time at Fidelity Investments after finishing school at Harvard.
7. LFD pins highest ranking officer
Lewisville Fire Department brought in Daisy, a Golden Labrador trained to identify explosive odors.
Division Chief Terry McGrath and Daisy spent 10 weeks in training in Virginia with the United State Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
ATF canines are certified in 19 odors that make up more than 19,000 explosive compound combinations.
The training Daisy underwent in Virginia was to help her handler, McGrath, understand how to work with and care for her and how to properly utilize her skills to best benefit the community.
For several years, the Dallas office of the ATF was in search of a handler to work with a canine like Daisy who would help with responses by the North Texas Bomb Group. Dallas’ ATF office eventually approached McGrath with the opportunity and he jumped at the chance to take them up on their offer.
The work McGrath and Daisy did allowed the Lewisville Fire Department to better assist businesses, citizens and emergency responders in the area.
At just 2 years old, Daisy will be able to work for the city for about another seven years. Each year, she will be evaluated by the ATF and be re-certified annually after being examined by a veterinarian.
8. A newly-expanded Lewisville Library opens
Lewisville brought its public library into the wireless information age with the new $11 million renovation.
The Lewisville Public Library unveiled the 60,000-square-foot expansion that features radio frequency identification check-out, wireless Internet, a computer instruction classroom and additional computers throughout the building.
The renovations were designed for ease of use and customer convenience. The express check-out with RFID, wireless Internet throughout the building, laptop power plug-ins and added entrances were all designed with this in mind.
The second part of the renovation, the renovation of the old library to be completed in February, will feature a new children’s section.
There is also a computer instruction classroom on the first floor where patrons can take advantage of the library’s free computer classes.
The renovations were made to keep up with the growing number of library consumers in Lewisville.
9. YMCA celebrates 20 years
The Greater Lewisville YMCA celebrated 20 years of community involvement in April.
The Lewisville YMCA hosted Healthy Kids Day which served as a multi-purpose function for the community.
The event was intended to celebrate healthy living by helping families participate in a more active lifestyle. Many of the day’s events were scheduled as part of YMCA’s Activate America, a national long-term initiative focused on developing and implementing community-based solutions to help all Americans improve their health and wellness. The day also marked the grand re-opening of the newly remolded YMCA facility.
The $75,000 building project provided the area YMCA with amenities like new workout and play equipment and lockers. It also marked the beginning of a new project scheduled to begin in the summer.
Greater Lewisville YMCA completed renovations in the Child and Youth areas in order to serve more families. Those renovations include new children’s equipment, a computer center, and additional toys and activities for the children. The service and lunge areas were also updated, along with changes made to the outer parameters of the facility to increase its visual appeal.
10. Lucky winner
Like a scene out of the movie “It Could Happen to You,” Joyce Pearce, a local waitress at Mama’s Daughters’ Diner, hit the jackpot on a scratch off lottery ticket this year. Now, $50,000 later, Pearce became the talk of the town.
Pearce admitted she played the lottery regularly but never expected to win the jackpot.
“I play scratch offs and Pick 3 quite a bit, but never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen. I had to look at the scratch off at least five times,” Pearce said.
With more than five million Golden Spin tickets in play, Pearce purchased one of only seven winning tickets. Joyce Pearce has been a resident of Lewisville for about 35 years and has worked as a waitress for 30 of those years.
After winning the jackpot, she was encouraged to take a week or two off to enjoy her spoils. “…but I only wanted three days off,” Pearce said. She wanted to get back to her customers, who are more like friends now.
“I know it wasn’t the lotto, but I’ve never had that much money at one time. It was like hitting the lotto for me,” Pearce said.
Pearce said she was going to save as much money as she could, but also spent some on home improvements.
“I want to fix my house up, get some new furniture and a new lawn mower,” Pearce said after winning. “I want to leave as much money as I can in the bank and hopefully I’ll have some left after I’m done, but either way I’m better off now than I was.”
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