Editor: The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District Board voted to tear down Atwood Lake Lodge. This has been a premier lodging facility serving the people of Ohio since 1965. It has been losing money for the past few years because of poor operation and management. This action will greatly affect the economic status of Carroll and surrounding counties. The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) is an anomaly of the Ohio Legislators in the early 1930's. The district was created for the purpose of flood control not developing recreational facilities. The operation of the dams in the whole district was eventually given to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The MWCD is considered a quasi-government entity (quasi meaning act like). How they have morphed themselves into anything else can only be attributed to them spending a lot of money on lobbyists to convince the legislators of their need for continued existence. MWCD did not build Atwood Resorts. It was constructed with federal and state monies supplied by tax payers. Much of the work and upgrades over the years of its existence has been done mostly with grant money from various government sources. MWCD has received grant after grant over the years leveraging very little of their money into piles of taxpayer's money. Most recently over $200,000 of stimulus money was used to do an overhaul of their existing water tower located on the Atwood Lodge property although the water treatment plant is antiquated. MWCD has taken money from all sources possible (oil, gas, timber, etc.). They have leased ground for farming in flood prone areas and flood insurance paid damages after being flooded. They have raped the 54,000 thousand acres they control which is mostly all tax exempt to fill their coffers. They put very little back into any maintenance of the reservoirs or properties. Then when things got really bad, they needed an assessment (tax) from all property and business owners to further leverage state and federal money into work they failed to do. The land where the Atwood Lodge is sitting was acquired by eminent domain from the Truman family. Eminent domain is used to acquire property that is needed for "public use", Atwood Resort is a Public Property. You can bet MWCD has plans for the lodge property once it is torn down. They are leaving very little time for opposing action. It is time for the Ohio Legislature to exercise its power and correct this travesty of the Ohio Revised Code. The MWCD should be dissolved and all of the assets taken over by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources which now operates eight state lodges. Potential profits of millions of dollars from leasing of Marcellus and/or Utica oil and gas rights on this 54,000 acres and royalty interest would go a long way in solving the state's budget crisis. We do not need an agency in Ohio that acts like a government agency when we have an existing legitimate government agency that can perform better the functions needed. Maybe a federal and state investigation of MWCD fund expenditures over the last 50 to 75 years is needed to account for all of the grants that have been received by the MWCD and how these funds and other funds have been spent. Sincerely, Gary L. Hall, Dellroy, Ohio
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