(The
portion originally found in this posting regarding an option to the
situation and made by Ottawa County Sheriff Stephen J. Levorchick has
been moved. This was done to build a more comprehensive, stand-alone
story addressing Levorchick’s idea to cease for the moment all
sales of angling licenses to non-residents.)
MARBLEHEAD
- Ohio’s Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Natural
Resources Director Mary Mertz are either oblivious to or are in
denial of how Lake Erie walleye anglers are behaving in regards to
stemming the rising tide of the cornoavirus (COVID-19) in the state.
That
lack of understanding came into sharp focus today (Saturday April 4)
on a trip to three of the Natural Resources Department’s most
popular public boat launch sites in Ottawa County: Catawba State
Park, East Harbor State Park, and the Mazurik State Access site.
Each
of these locations were swollen with boating anglers who eagerly were
on a placid Lake Erie in search of walleye. Those anglers who
responded to shouts leaving through the driver’s side window of my
Jeep all said the same thing, using different words: “Fantastic.”
“Great. “Easy,” and “we were done in two hours.”
That
the trailer-tow vehicle parking lots were either filled to capacity
or very nearly so demonstrated how much the anglers wanted their
share of Lake Erie’s horde of 116 million walleye.
In
fact, at Mazurik, no fewer than four Natural Resources vehicles and
several agency officials were kept busy directing traffic into and
out of the park. The officers would hold back a parade of towed boats
until a like number departed after their crews left with their
walleye.
By
their selfish action the fishers were more than willing to cut
against President Trump’s plea and DeWine’s stay-at-home order.
Really,
it was comical when during his daily news conference a few days ago
and pointed out how anglers were crowding boat launches, DeWine
incredulously dismissed it all. He did so by saying anglers don’t
like to cluster themselves when angling.
Partially
true, though with a loophole large enough to pilot a fully rigged
Ranger boat through at high speed. The Governor failed to acknowledge
that before and after fishers enjoy Lake Erie’s expansive Western
Basin they often congregate in groups where rubbing elbows becomes
much more likely.
Case
in point: More than a few of these observed parties consisted of
adults (usually males) that numbered from two to four.
It
is ludicrous to believe the observed anglers were same-household
family members, too. As a result, each person violated DeWine’s
lawful order to avoid inter-personal, non-household contact during
the on-going COVID-19 crisis.
Much
more troubling was an up-dated game of name-the-license-plate we all
played as kids while on a long-haul family trip.
Here,
Bev – my wife – and I saw trailers and their tow vehicles from
Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and as far away
as South Dakota. And one Natural Resources official working the Mazurik launch area March 4th estimated that 20 percent of the boat trailer slots were being used by non-residents.
Insightful
is that the current COVID-19 toll in Illinois stands at 9,266 case
and 210 deaths. In Pennsylvania, the respective numbers are 8,570
and 102.
Meanwhile,
Michigan is being acknowledged by both President Trump and Governor
DeWine as a so-called “hot bed” of COVID-19; currently ranking
third in the nation with 12,744 cases and 479 deaths.
Even
in Indiana, there are currently 3,437 COVID-19 cases with 102 deaths,
each figure almost identical to those in Ohio but with a much smaller
population.
If
it is incredulous for DeWine – and by extension, Mertz – to say
that anglers are observing “social distancing, it is absurd to
think these traveling anglers have obeyed demands for a 14-day
quarantine when entering Ohio, let alone accepting the fishers will
do the same when they return to their home states.
However
and again, it’s not just out-of-state anglers that pose a threat
for the spreading of COVID-19. An angler traveling from Ohio’s
Seneca County, or Morrow County, or Cuyahoga County can just as
easily import the disease into Ottawa County or export it back into
the angler’s home county as a fisher from Detroit, Madison,
Wisconsin or Muncie, Indiana.
Consequently,
DeWine and Mertz are playing Russian roulette with the lives of all
Ohioans as well as the citizens of other states by keeping these Lake
Erie public boat launches open.
The
boat ramps need to be closed. Now. Today. Before the COVID-19 threat
becomes even more dangerously difficult to extinguish.
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
JFrischk4@gmail.com
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