Talk of the Town: "Life’s not a beach thanks to council naysayers"

Earl Burden gets in a massive whine because the City isn't buying into his wacky dream of artificial beaches on our lakes. Oy.

A few years ago, when the water was almost entirely drained from Watson Lake, I hiked with a pal across the center of it. It's an impressive landscape, ringed with weird rocks, dotted with the ghostly white heads of still-rooted trees draped in lost fishing gear, all buried dozens of feet deep in stinking black muck. Why anyone would think it safe to swim in that cesspool is utterly beyond me.

Then there's Willow Lake, nothing more than a marshy floodplain, more fit for grazing pronghorn and cattle than swimming -- well, wading, really. A beach on the edge of this puddle makes about as much sense as socks on a chicken.

Thanks to the Courier for showing us just how out of touch some of our neighbors are.