RALPH PIERCE

The Fire Department Flags are at "half mast" in respect for Ralph Pierce who passed on Friday, December 27th. Ralph was a "giver" who chopped and delivered firewood to poor families in Brown County, volunteered on the CSCD Fire Department,

operated and drove for Brown County Triad, and most recently drove the Access Van in Nashville for people in need of transportation. I had lunch with Ralph at the Nashville McDonalds just a week or so ago after he had just finished a shift on the Access Van. Services are set for Monday, December 30th.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Warm weather brought out the water skiers on December 18th. Cordry resident Bryan Dougherty and Sweetwater Resident Tony Elmes along with yours truly enjoyed the smooth water on Cordry Lake. Happy New Year to all.

NEW CONSTRUCTIN II

Additional construction is occurring on the north end of Sweetwater Lake. G P Construction is building this structure on Sweetwater Drive.

NEW CONSTRUCTION

It might be winter but that doesn't stop construction workers. Pictured is a new home being built by Hogue Construction on Flounder Drive on Cordry Lake.

NATURE TRAILS

Some sections of the Nature Trails located near the Sweetwater Beach have suffered wind damage. The same "straight line winds" that damaged a home located at 6814 Sunset Drive continued on across the street into the section of the woods where the nature trails are located. Many trees, predominately tall pines, have been blown over across some of the trails.

HIGH WATER!

I had visions of June 2008 on Saturday as the rains continued all day and into the night. I have a rain gauge that registered 4.5 inches. I think the only thing that saved us from more serious flooding was that it was a more gentle rain and spread over a longer period of time. I watched and expected the water to go over the docks today but it seems to have held steady at 3-4 inches from the

top of local docks. The north end of Sweetwater is muddy appearing...all roads to Nashville were impassable on Saturday night. Thanks to neighbors who moved other neighbor's dockside belongings to higher ground. It's been "interesting" in recent weeks.....straight line winds, ice, snow, flooding, etc......what's next?!

NEW OFFICE/MAINTENANCE BUILDING PROGRESS

The new CSCD office/maintenance building is taking shape. The exterior appears to be close to completion while the interior is now being dry-walled and finished. The employees are looking forward to their new "digs." Projected completion date is February.

ICE!

All of the ice is in the wrong place! Side roads are still pretty ice but there is little ice on the lakes. Only some of the coves have a thin layer while the main bodies are completely open. Neighbor's holiday lights look festive. Several homes in my end of the lake are lit up.

WINTER WONDERLAND!

Mother Nature dumped about 1 foot of snow on Brown County and the Lakes. Roads were treacherous all day Friday. Our road crew worked non-stop beginning Thursday night, Friday, and into Saturday.

DECEMBER SKIING

Salmon Drive resident Doug Thompson is pictured water skiing on Sunday, December 1st. Doug and several friends took advantage of the 55 degree sunny day and water skied several laps around Cordry Lake.

NEW CSCD WEBSITE

The "official" website of the Cordry Sweetwater Conservancy District is up and running. It's brand new with a minimum of information on it. Watch it as it grows. www.cscd-in.org

STORM DAMAGE

A home on Sunset Drive near Sweetwater Beach was completely leveled by severe winds. Interestingly, the homes on either side of the home were completely untouched. Some trees and limbs around the lakes were toppled and power was out in some areas of the lakes for several hours.

WATER CLARITY TESTING

Each summer for water clarity testing is done every few weeks with the results being sent to the Indiana Clean Lakes program at Indiana University. The test is simply dropping a black and white disc into the water and recording how deep it goes before it disappears. Frequent depth readings are usually around the 20 foot mark in the spring and fall and less that 20 feet in mid sum

mer.

NEW MAINTENANCE/OFFICE BUILDING

The new CSCD Maintenance/Office Building is looking nearly complete on the exterior.

THE FIRST SNOW!

November 12th, 2013 the first snow of the coming winter season. Hard to believe that we were water skiing on Saturday, November 9th!

DREDGER DONE!

The dredging for Cordry Lake has ended. The dredger packed up his barges and hauled them off on Saturday, November 10th. More coves and areas on Cordry got dredged than was originally intended. The survey overestimated the amount of material in some of the coves allowing the dredger to encompass more coves.

CELEBRATE AND CONNECT

Community Resource Fair and Ribbon Cutting on Friday, November 8th, 2013 from 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM. Enjoy the Brown County Color Show and connect with your community resources, take advantage of free health screenings, learn about volunteer opportunities, and have fun. Be a part of the ribbon cutting ceremony and dedication of the new Salt Creek Trail, a 3/4 mile asphalt trail connecting downtown Nashville with the YMCA complex. Walk to CVS and receive a special treat! Food, entertainment, prizes! Ribbon Cutting @ 4:00 PM at the Brown County YMCA, 105 Willow Street, Nashville, In. For booth Information contact Kim Robinson at: kimrobinson@browncountyymca.org

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Predicted high winds and rains prompted the locals to concel the annual hayride/trick or treat for the children in the area. The CSCD Fire Department opened up their building and moved their equipement outside and a Halloween Trick or Treat Party was conducted inside. Trick or Treaters traveled from table to table to collect their goodies.

SWEETWATER BOAT RAMP RE-WORKED

The Sweetwater Lake boat ramp was "re-worked" today to reduce the angle of the approach to the water's edge.

HEADIN' SOUTH

Came upon a group of Coots today. They must of stopped by on their way south.

HANTS LAKE DAM

The Hants Lake Dam in Prince's Lakes has nearly completely been rebuilt over the summer with installation of a new spillway system. The final touches are now being tended to including the reconfiguration of the bottom of the lake. Workers are revamping some of the shallow areas to make them deeper. Hants lake was the original Nineveh "swimming" hole in the 1920's....1930's. Then Howard Prince came along in the late 1940's

and raised the dam to make the lake larger and sold off lots around the lake.

HAUNTED FOREST HAYRIDE

The Cordry Sweetwater Fire Department will present their annual haunted forest and Hayride fundraiser on October 25th and 26th from 8:00 PM until Midnight each day. The event is located at the Sweetwater Lake Beach House. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 FOR CHILDREN 3-11. Food and refreshments available. Bring a non-perishable food item and receive $1 off your admission ticket.

CLUB HOUSE NEW LOOK

The Cordry Sweetwater Lot Owner's Association club house at the entrance has a new fresh look. New siding and new plantings earlier this summer make the entrance to the lakes more appealing.

CORDRY RAMP UPDATE

The construction company in charge of installing new launch ramps has had difficulties with the Cordry ramp. Each time they install huge sand bags for pumping out the ramp area, the sandbag dam caves in. As of today, they have installed "pilings" and a metal dam along with sandbags and are attempting to pump the area dry.

CORDRY LAUNCH RAMP

The Cordry Lake launch ramp is now under construction. The area is being dammed with sand bags to be pumped dry for work to continued.

CONSTRUCTION FRENZY

If a new Maintenance/Office Building and new boat ramps at Sweetwater and Cordry weren't enough, The Cordry Sweetwater Lot Owners have decided to have new siding installed on the clubhouse at the entrance to the lakes. The vinyl siding was brittle to the touch and had faded badly. This improvement is not a taxpayer expense but the funds come from memberships and fundraisers. If you haven't joined for next year....the fee is $75.00 and covers any fire runs and ambulance runs.....a great deal!

Contact Frank Green at 317-933-2172

FIRE DEPARTMENT OPEN HOUSE

Don't miss the Fire Department Open House on October 5th from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Come visit the firehouse and meet some of the community's firefighters and EMT personnel. Complimentary hot dogs and snacks plus fire packets for the kids and opportunity to spray the water hose! Free smoke alarms for Conservancy District residents.

ONLY IN NINEVEH

Drive up window at Mutual Savings Bank in Nineveh. Don't forget the Nineveh Festival on Saturday, October 5th, 2013.

SWEETWATER LAUNCH RAMP NEAR COMPLETION

The Sweetwater Lake launch ramp is in! The workers tell me that they need to finish some details on Thursday and remove the sandbags on Friday allowing use of the ramp for the coming weekend. They will then move over to Cordry Lake next week for work on that launch ramp.

SWEETWATER RAMP PLAN B

The construction company selected to redo the launch ramps encounter difficulty in putting in the gravel layers that serve as foundation for the interlocking concrete panels. They are now installing sandbags and intend to pump water out of the ramp area to complete the process.

SWEETWATER LAUNCH RAMP GONE!

Construction has begun on the Sweetwater Lake launch ramp. The old ramp is in the dump truck and new underlayment is already in place on day #1!

CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS UPDATE

The new office/maintenance building is finally taking shape with the erection of the steel skeleton. Boat launch ramp re-construction is scheduled for this week (Sept 16-19) on the Sweetwater Ramp and the Cordry launch ramp the following week. Boat retrieval will not be possible during work on those two launch ramps.

CORDRY DREDGING UPDATE

The dredger on Cordry Lake stated that he is approximately 55% finished. Since the north end of Cordry is smaller and required less dredging than Sweetwater last year, he is now doing numerous coves to complete his contracted amount of material to be removed.

NEW CONSTRUCTION

Hard to believe that there are five new homes being constructed in the area. Three are waterfront homes on Sweetwater and one is a large family home on Grey Wolf Drive and one is a waterfront home on Cordry Lake.

LABOR DAY FUN

Ox Roast is over....time to have fun in the lake. Summer is too short!

OX ROAST

Don't forget the Annual Ox Roast this weekend at the CSLOA Clubhouse at the entrance to the lakes. Features include a silent auction, bird man, live music, angler's booth, craft sales, real estate displays, hay ride,

and plenty to eat. Also take the opportunity to renew memberships in the Cordry Sweetwater Lot Owners Association so....bring your checkbook! ($75) The event begins at 11:00 AM and continues to 8:00 PM

WE'VE BEEN LINED!

The three main roads in the Conservancy District were "lined" last week. The white lines on the edges will certainly help this winter on those dark rainy nights.

BLUE RIVIER DAM LEAK

For those of us who travel to Edinburg, we often watch/look at the Blue River Dam as we enter the town limits. A leak in the dam appeared last week and it has the town residents concerned. The landmark dam was built in 1884 to run a water-powered grain mill. The leak appears to be about 10' long and poses no dangers downstream. For the first time in a century, water is not pouring over the top of the dam.

DNR officials have recommended that the town hire an engineer to survey damage and estimate repairs.

WATERFRONT CONSTRUCTION HALTED

In business at the monthly CSCD meeting, the board voted to post a "moratorium" on all waterfront permits/construction. All permits for docks, boat shelters, etc. will not be granted until a more detailed "checklist" of requirements is authored and approved by the board. The building compliance officer, Mr. Lee, resigned his position on August 21st.

CSCD UPDATES

Several newsworthy items were discussed at the August 20th CSCD monthly meeting. Construction on the new office/maintenance building has begun, boat launch ramp construction is scheduled for September 15th, the annual deer reduction hunt may not happen in 2013, Cordry Lake dredging is 45% complete, fishing tournament for Atterbury military was approved and more.

PADDLE POWER

IT is amazing to see the increase of paddle powered craft on the lakes. Kayaks and Paddleboards have certainly increased in popularity. One young gal passed my house on Saturday night with a goal of making it completely around the lake before dark.

CORDRY DREDGING

Dredging is in operation at the north end of Cordry Lake. A road down to waterfront has been installed and the dredger is at work on both the north end and a cove between Alder and Aspen Drives.

NEW BARBER IN TOWN

Visit PJ's Barbershop at the entrance to Prince's Lakes. Open Tuesday through Saturday. PJ is a youngster who learned his trade in the military. Regular haircuts are $10. I especially enjoyed the hot lather shave on the back of the neck!

FIREWORKS

'Twas a beautiful night on Sweetwater Lake July 13th. The Fireworks show was outstanding!

CLUB HOUSE LANDSCAPING

On July 5th, eleven members of "Teens For God" gathered and worked to improve the appearance of the front of the CSLOA Club House and the side of the Library building. They arrived with shovels, rakes, wheel-barrows, and lots of enthusiasm. Cleaning out the old shrubbery, spreading pea gravel, putting down landscape material, and adding mulch were part of the process. Thanks to the "Teens for God" group.

DREDGING BEGINS

The Cordry Lake dredging project has begun. The company is installing a road off of Alder Drive down the hill to the waterfront. It appears that they are preparing the area where the spoils will be brought to the dump trucks and then the trucks will deposit the spoils in the field across from Sweetwater Beach.

GEORGENE SETTLES READING ROOM

The Cordry Sweetwater satellite office of the Brown County Library will be dedicating the Georgene Settles Reading Room on July 9th, 2013 at 3:30 PM. Georgene who was in charge of the local library for many years passed away in Dececmber of 2012. A memorial plaque will be unveiled at the ceremony. The reading room has been remodeled and several donations have been given including a beautiful table from Jim Babcock of Badger Drive.

Any and all are encouraged to attend.

GROUNDBREAKING

The Cordry Sweetwater Conservancy District board of directors, office workers, security officer, and maintenance workers gathered on July 1st, 2013 for the formal groundbreaking ceremony for the new office/maintenance building.

DOWN SHE COMES!

The old CSCD Maintenance building came down today, June 26th, 2013. This will make room for the new maintenance/office building soon to be started.

CORDRY LAKE KAYAK POKER RUN

Approximately 20 "paddlers" participated in the first Cordry Lake Kayak Poker run. Mostly kayaks, some canoes, and a paddle board made up the "fleet" of crafts. Beverly Dougherty of Nettle Drive won the adult $100 bill and boat patrol Sandra Taylor's grandson won the under 21 $100 bill.