Thomasville Times-Enterprise: Tired Creek Permit Received
By Teresa Williams
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
CAIRO, GA — It was a “big deal.”
These are the words Grady County Board of Commissioners Chairman Al Ball used to describe receipt of a “404 Permit” from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Tired Creek Lake.
“This is a big, big deal,” he said to a crowd of approximately 200 people that gathered for the permit presentation in front of the Grady County Courthouse Tuesday afternoon.
Ball said the recreational lake has been a county dream for approximately 80 years.
County Attorney Kevin Cauley kicked off the ceremony by thanking numerous individuals involved in securing the county’s permit and giving a little history of the project, from the 1930s to the 1990s.
“This marks the end of a period of uncertainty,” Cauley said of the permit. “We now know it can be done.”
In the 1960s, plans were under way for a state park with the county’s help, he said, but that idea was abandoned in the 1980s.
In the 1990s, the county got local control of the land and, since 2005, the board and various dignitaries and community members have worked to get the permit.
“It was pending so long because we were told this is a precedent-setting project,” Cauley said. “This lake will improve the quality of life for the entire community.”
Joan Drew, wife of former commissioner Jack Drew, attended the ceremony. She said her husband was one that introduced the idea of getting the deed back from the state in the 1990s.
“This is very well-deserved,” she said of the permit. “I don’t think there are many Grady countians that have not had a part in this. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.”
Consultant Tommy Craig spoke of meeting Commissioner Charles Norton and County Administrator Rusty Moye when they asked him to consider helping them with the project.
“It sounded very difficult,” he said. “I had no idea how difficult it would be.”
Craig said he visited the county, “fell in love” with the people and the community, and has worked alongside Grady County since 2002 as it went through the permit process.
He also introduced U.S. Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, who has supported the project for several years, and handed him the permit to present to the commissioners.
Bishop said the day was a “special” time, a reward for hard work and persistence, and a “great milestone.”
He talked about his support efforts, including an April meeting at Tired Creek with local officials, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Corps, Georgia Environmental Protection Division, and others to discuss the permit.
“It is a great pleasure to be back so soon to celebrate the issuance of this permit,” Bishop said.
The congressman looks forward to seeing the development progress and the lake be successful.
“There is an old proverb that says, ‘Do not cast your nets in rivers where there are no fish,’” he told the crowd. “And I know there were times when it seemed that no permit would be issued, and that seeking the permit was like casting our nets in a river without fish.
“Today, we have proved this wrong — we caught a big fish! And as a result, we’ll soon see a 900-acre residential lake full of fish!”
Bishop then presented the official permit to Ball and fellow commissioners Norton, Charles Renaud and Elwyn Childs.
“This project is environmentally friendly and will be very beneficial to us as well,” Ball said. “We wanted it to be an all-around benefit to everyone.”
He said it should be both an economic and cultural engine, but it will cost money, and should be a partnership between local, state and federal governments, as well as the community.
“Everything costs money and this lake is going to cost a lot of money,” Ball said. “We don’t have a lot of money so we are going to be real serious to get our state and federal governments involved in finding ways to pay for the construction of this dam.”