Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
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Thursday, September 17, 2009
By DEBBIE HALL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Friends of Philpott Inc. is hoping to attract new members in Henry, Patrick and Franklin counties to help protect Philpott Lake and assist with several projects, including a marina, a handicapped accessible park and a documentary.
The 120-member nonprofit organization works with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is intent on helping generate tourism in communities surrounding Philpott Lake and enhancing community involvement through education.
The group formed a few years ago when there were plans to close Jamison Mill Recreation Area on the Franklin County side of Philpott Lake, according to Craig “Rocky” Rockwell, operations manager at Philpott.
The group was successful in preventing that closure, and it has undertaken several other projects and has plans in place for more.
Ernie Shepherd, a corps park ranger, hit on the idea of having Philpott totally compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) after watching an elderly, physically handicapped gentleman who was fishing at Bowens Creek Recreation Area.
“His wife had to push him everywhere,” Shepherd told the Friends group at its meeting Tuesday. “I asked him how he was enjoying it, and he said, ‘Pretty good, but it’s sort of difficult to get around.’”
Shepherd added assessments are under way to measure ADA compliance at all Philpott facilities.
Rockwell said all of the recreational facilities at Philpott are somewhat accessible to those with physical challenges.
“What we’re trying to do” at Bowens Creek “is make it totally accessible,” Rockwell said of the area selected as the first to upgrade.
Plans call for a less elevated fishing pier, boat ramp/launch, trails, bridges and rest rooms and a lift for those in wheelchairs or with other disabilities, Shepherd said. The corps will build new ADA compliant rest rooms and the Friends group is exploring funding sources and grants to pay for other parts of the project.
When those projects are completed in about two years, Bowens Creek will be totally ADA compliant, Shepherd said.
Then, a physically challenged person could “go on your own and enjoy the picnic area, the fishing pier, the beach” and other amenities, he said.
However, the area will not be exclusively used by those with disabilities.
A new playground “that is not for the physically challenged” also is on the drawing board, Shepherd said. “We don’t want to isolate” anyone.
To help raise funds for the project, Friends president Linda Drage said letters of support for the project are needed from local government officials and others. Petitions also are online at www.friendsofphilpott.com.
The group also is working on a documentary film called “Philpott Lake Heritage” to tell the stories of residents who were in the area before or during the time Philpott Dam was being built, Drage said.
Several interviews have been conducted and more are scheduled, Drage said. She is hopeful other residents will contact her and share their stories.
With federal stimulus money tapped to fund several projects under way at Philpott, Rockwell said there has been little time to work on a proposed marina project.
However, based on public input, it was “scaled way, way down .... The vast majority of people who love Philpott are glad about that.”
Research also has shown that a marina built by a private business is not in the best interests of Philpott and the majority of people who use it, Rockwell said. County administrators in Henry, Patrick and Franklin counties also are “in fairly strong agreement that the direction we need to go (with the marina) is public instead of private” construction, he said.
Before the marina project can move forward, funding sources must be identified, Rockwell said. “We can’t build it if we don’t fund it.”
For the time being, the project is “on the right track” albeit “just not too far down that track,” he said.
For more information about these projects or others, or to become a member of the Friends, contact Drage at 681-6805 or e-mail ldrage@comcast.net. |
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