To the Readers' Forum:
Enough with all the studies on the lake. Money has been wasted o that for years and they conclude - there are weeds out there.
There are 14,000 square acres of lake. Out of that, there were approximately 350 acres sprayed. I know because I sprayed them - I had a New York State certified license.
The weeds themselves are full of nitrogen and phosphorus, which means the lake fertilizes itself. It is not all the blame of lawns, farmers and as someone said, ''dog poop.''
The state allows the spray, to go 200 feet from shore, with t he chemical ''Diquat or Aquathol K.'' It does not kill fish or any other aquatic critter.
The baby fries (fish) hang around in those close to shore weeds so when it's sprayed, the weeds drop slowly and the fries go out to the weeds that didn't get the spray, for their safety.
Where it hasn't been sprayed, the cutters pick up thousands of those fries and they carted off to a dump site.
When only the cutters are used, it's like trimming your bushes - the weeds get stronger and healthier.
Floating weeds are caused by boat props. Many people get upset because the cutters only cut about two feer down, maybe three feet. The reason is because there are so many obstacles under the water and when one of them gets hit, it is very costly and the machine gets tied up until repaired. They are not meant to eliminate the weeds but to let boats get through without getting weeded up.
Another annoying problem for me was that people took over almost all the right of ways. So when the cutters or transfer barges get loaded, they have to waste time and gas to go pretty far to be dumped.
People gripe about the CLA all the time and it really upsets me. They can only do what they are allowed to according to the state and your wonderful (?) EPA.
I had the most hard working crew between the years of 1970 to 1980. I don't know what the effort is now, but my kids were great.
Diane Francis
Jamestown