Lake Yuchi scratched from state budget
Stable funds cut
By Elizabeth Billips Associate Editor

Plans for Lake Yuchi have been drained.

For the second time in eight years, state lawmakers pulled the plug on the proposed 110-acre public fishing area along the northeast shoulder of Burke County.

"I've been pushing this project for nearly 14 years, and I'm not sure whether to keep trying or not," said county commissioner Jimmy Dixon, one of its most active proponents. "Our main problem is that no one from Burke County is in the Senate or House."

According to Jennifer Wolfard, deputy director of the senate budget office, the project was sent to the conference committee following a disagreement between the House of Representatives, which supported it, and the Senate, which did not.

The committee, which is made up of three members from each, killed the project.

Dixon said the news surprised him, especially considering the project was backed by the governor, the Department of Natural Resources and the House.

"No matter what you do or who you talk to, it all boils down to the last two or three days of the session," he said. "It's all politics."

The state has already invested more than a quarter million dollars in groundwork for Lake Yuchi, and DNR officials hoped that anglers would be trolling its waters by 2010.

Had the $2.5 million remained in the state budget, construction of a 48-foot high dam to flood the wetlands at Yuchi Wildlife Management Area (WMA) would have begun this fall.

Beyond the actual lake, plans included a double boat ramp and pier, restrooms and a heavily stocked children's fishing pond.

According to estimates at least five years old, the lake would have had an economic impact on Burke County to the tune of $4.2 million a year.

Among the disappointed was DNR's assistant chief of fisheries, Michael Spencer, who hopes the project will make its way back to the house and senate on the next go-round.

"A lot of money, effort and time were put into it," he said. "We were really looking forward to that lake."

Another local project survived the final budget, though not completely intact.

The state will partially fund a smaller project to build horse stables and a small clubhouse at Burke County's largest WMA, Di-Lane Plantation.

Although $400,000 was appropriated, Gov. Sonny Perdue reduced it to $100,000 on May 30.

"In the governor's statement, he said 'the need does not require such appropriation,'" special assistant Marshall Guest said, pointing out that DNR commissioner Noel Holcomb will be charged with spending the remaining $300,000 however he sees fit. "He could choose to put it back into the stables."

Wolfard said an additional $20,000 will be distributed as a local assistance grant through the Department of Community Affairs

The proposed project had a great deal of local backing, including a $15,000 commitment from both the county commission and the Georgia Field Trail Association, and another $5,000 from the City of Waynesboro.

"I'm happy for any amount of money, but I'm naturally disappointed that we didn't get what we need," said Nell Mobley, secretary for the Georgia Field Trial Association. "That'll be enough to start, but not nearly enough to finish."