{"id":936,"date":"2023-08-02T13:55:20","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T17:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/?p=936"},"modified":"2023-08-02T13:55:20","modified_gmt":"2023-08-02T17:55:20","slug":"solid-support-at-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/?p=936","title":{"rendered":"Solid Support at Hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Last night&#8217;s hearing on the wake boat rule was a solid success for Responsible Wakes for Vermont Lakes. With 100 people in attendance at the Richmond Free Library, the Department of Environmental Conservation heard 44 speakers, 38 of whom supported a strong rule with an offset of 1000 feet or more. Four favored no rule at all, and only two spoke in favor of the 500-foot offset proposed by DEC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"450\" src=\"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_9089-1-1024x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-942\" srcset=\"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_9089-1-1024x450.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_9089-1-300x132.jpg 300w, http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_9089-1-768x337.jpg 768w, http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_9089-1-1536x674.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_9089-1-1320x579.jpg 1320w, http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_9089-1.jpg 2016w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Sixty of your fellow supporters gathered at the library before the hearing to share stories and exchange ideas. They came from lakes all around Vermont: from Holland Pond to Lake Raponda, from Willoughby to Fairlee, from Elmore to Iroquois, from Shadow to Sunset, from Joe&#8217;s Pond to Parker Lake. Surveying the scene was a large inflated loon contributed by Jamie Longtin of Sunset Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We need you now to <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.office.com\/pages\/responsepage.aspx?id=O5O0IK26PEOcAnDtzHVZxpbCK3RL5zlDlDY1I2uFoxZURjNRV0JNTE4wNkhMUkhGMUE4Q0lSNjhYUi4u\">sign up to speak at the last hearing on Thursday, August 3<\/a>.<\/strong> You may participate from the comfort of your home or camp since <a href=\"https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com\/l\/meetup-join\/19%3ameeting_MGFmODRiYjMtMDljNi00ZDE0LTgxY2MtMTMyZGVmNzU3YTRl%40thread.v2\/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2220b4933b-baad-433c-9c02-70edcc7559c6%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2266ee0aaa-5f78-4d6d-90e6-749594bfe9d1%22%7d\">it will be held online from 5 to 7:30 pm.<\/a> Even if you have spoken at previous hearings, or have sent a letter of support to the Agency of Natural Resources, please sign up to speak. <a href=\"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/#comment\">Just a short piece, <em>less than two minutes<\/em> <\/a>on why a strong, 1000-foot (or more) rule is necessary. You may use a comment you&#8217;ve submitted already. The more speaking slots that we fill, the more the count of public support tallies in our favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We need you now to <a href=\"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/#comment\">send a public comment to the Agency.<\/a> <\/strong>Again, the more comments for a strong rule, the likelier it will come to pass. Even if you have sent in a comment during previous rounds, you need to re-send it now for it to count in the official record. These must be submitted before August 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the rally, we heard from&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dan Sharpe of Lake Iroquois on the importance of our mission.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Thierry Guerlain from Joe&#8217;s Pond on the damage caused by wake surfers there.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Joanne Hanowski of Caspian Lake on the science that documents the dangers of wakesports.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Will Melton of Lake Raponda on how nobody wants wakesports on the lake.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Jim Lengel of Lake Elmore on how a strong rule will benefit Vermont&#8217;s economy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Chris Owen from Holland Pond on the dangers to fish and wildlife.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Kim Mackey, from Averill Pond, who owns a wake boat in Wisconsin, on why most Vermont lakes are too small for wakesports.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Jack Widness from Lake Raponda on how our work here is part of Vermont&#8217;s proud tradition of environmental leadership.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tom Ward and Katherine Babbott from Lake Fairlee on why a 500-foot buffer is inadequate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Meg Handler from Lake Iroquois on how a strong rule will benefit many and restrict but a few.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"945\" src=\"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_4718-1024x945.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-946\" srcset=\"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_4718-1024x945.jpeg 1024w, http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_4718-300x277.jpeg 300w, http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_4718-768x709.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_4718-1536x1418.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_4718-2048x1890.jpeg 2048w, http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_4718-1320x1218.jpeg 1320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last night&#8217;s hearing on the wake boat rule was a solid success for Responsible Wakes for Vermont Lakes. With 100 people in attendance at the Richmond Free Library, the Department of Environmental Conservation heard 44 speakers, 38 of whom supported a strong rule with an offset of 1000 feet or more. Four favored no rule [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=936"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":948,"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936\/revisions\/948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}