Post by An Bradon Charters on Jun 30, 2011 9:49:48 GMT -5
Plantstone, I think the pictures of your fish and Daughter are great and they do show a wonderful family activity any time of the year. Great memories for kids that never go away.
last year we discussed the LCI a lot, it you notice the 12,000 hits or so. its got to be a record. For me at least I think the thrust of it was discovering that the LCI does not do any boots on the ground projects that help to clean up the lake, target phosphorous, attack Lamprey, or support financially with cash any state or local effort, or any effort physically to do something hands on to reduce any pollution in the Champlain watershed. I felt and I think a lot of others did that the LCI through the image it creates, was out there doing hard projects. to find out that was not true , was shocking to me at least. that is still not confirmed on this forum by the LCI which is something that I don't understand.
We discovered through their non profit filings with the IRS that they essentially use the margin of profit (cash margin earned) from the LCI derby and other derbies to fund their staff, not fix up the lake. No cash flowing to the lake. They support small amounts to Bobber Bob and the Howard foundation, that is like trickle down money. And they do other promotional things in not big ways.
the only time this forum got a response it was from their lawyer who was not nice and he vaguely insisted that they did do (hard ) projects, none of which where ever documented to this forum. He was going to provide an allocation of funds to show what they do, but that never made it to this forum. This forum was ignored by the LCI and that is not going to change. No offense to them but I think they see this forum as a nuisance that cannot benefit them and they have better things to do than contend with opinionated fishermen that have no clout.
Former skeptics, we had a couple on this forum I know about, went to the LCI and came back born again to swear up and down the LCI was golden, but could not put that in measurable words about what it is the LCi produces directly for the lake.
They do keep an eye on things related to the lake, pay the staff well, lobby for the lake (provide encouragement to our Congressional Delegation for Grants and so forth) , stay abreast of developments and post them, go to a lot of meetings. I'm sure they do more but I cant tell you. Sad part is when we asked them to explain what they do , they would not explain it on the forum. they had a surrogate who at one time was going to explain things , Burlington Boatyard but he quit doing anything without explanation. He didn't say goodbye.
ON the other hand , James Elhers , the director if you go to see him I have no doubt he would tell you anything you asked about what they do, about finances, their goals, their accomplishments, etc.
You can join the membership but you cant vote. So, the group of directors as they are, is it. Its not a democratic group. I think they are primarily a paperwork entity that lobbies for the lake is a fair way to put it. Doing good things but not hard projects directly themselves, and not paying for or sponsoring others to do hard projects. they may help get funds into the state for clean up and they support things that fishermen need.
So in sum the significant interest in this topic came about from the difference in their image of what they do, to what they actually do . And their failure to respond on this forum. Had they explained it in the beginning, the LCi thread would have been average in responses, I believe.
The Derby (s) itself is fun to me, if you like to gamble. I like the idea its a stimulant to business around the lake.
this is just my opinion, my two cents.
MikeP
Well said Mikep
Capt. Tony
www.anbradoncharters.com