Good bye 2021! For some of us the year 2021 seemed to never end. Covid shots, masks, hard Northeaster driving water up around owner’s homes and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) trying to slip a land grab of our beaches through the legislature on the sly. Some of us can’t believe 2022 is just around the corner. I hope that you and your family have stayed safe and healthy. For most of the summer we were able to enjoy our beaches and I want to send out a big thank you to the SOS membership. Your support of this year’s membership and yearly dues drive was outstanding!
It really energized the volunteer board. It reassures us that we are on the right course. When we needed you to reach out to your senators and representatives in Lansing you did that in a big way. We have heard nothing on Senate bill 61. I think your letters got their attention. We must not let EGLE have any control over our beaches! Water levels have dropped on all the Lakes. Lake Huron and Michigan water levels are 16 inches below where it was at this time last year but still 17 inches above the average for this time of the year. Lake Superior is 11 inches below where it was at this time last year and actually 2 inches below its long term average for this time of the year. That is good news! A cold winter with a lot of snow will hold levels constant. A dry winter with above average temperatures will continue the drop we have experienced this year. There are efforts by our Canadian friends, Restore Our Water International (ROWI) to control the amount of water going out the St. Clair River. It would be nice if we did not have to experience such radical changes in water levels year to year. They are working with the International Joint Commission on these important issues. We support their efforts, but at the same time we are realistic that this is not an easy problem to solve. Your SOS board of directors is all volunteers and we meet monthly. We appreciate questions that you may have and try to respond in a timely manner. In addition, Brian and Christine Bachman have provided ongoing updates to our membership records and take care of all of our SOS PAC reporting with the State of Michigan. Their efforts are very helpful to the board and the organization. We would like to welcome a new board member from the Bay County area, Pete Janner. Pete joined the board in October and we are so happy to bring aboard members who are younger than most of us. It insures that the mission will be carried forward. We will be working to bring our web site up to date in the next few months and will keep everyone informed as we make changes and additions. We hope in the future that the SOS website will become the regular vehicle for sharing information with the SOS membership. In the meantime we wish that all of our SOS members have a very Merry Christmas. This year more than ever, have a safe and healthy 2022.
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