LAKES: Response to Ron Dayton

All three boat launch sites on Spirit Lake are FREE for the public to use. Sportsman Launch (the largest and closest to town) is operated by the Idaho Fish and Game. The people who fish, hunt and trap in Idaho fund around 400 such sites. If you don’t purchase a IDF&G license and use any of these FREE locations, you are a freeloader.

The other 2 sites (Maiden Rock and Bronze Bay) are run by Kootenai Co. They are funded by user fees and federal and state accounts and grants. The county operates 21 total launch locations (10-pay fee, 11-are free). I pay $50 per year. 

Out-of-state pay $150. Do you buy your annual pass Ron? Should the state and the county start charging user fees to access Spirit Lake? What do the “taxpayers deserve” Ron? To keep paying for those that DON’T?

If the launch is closed for a day or 2, for proper repair, people would complain. Major dock/launch repair is done during the off season. We should take responsibility and initiative. I will bring a bucket of gravel for the potholes. You do the same. It may catch on. Who knows?

PS: More than half of the boat trailers parked at Sportsman Launch are from Washington. Just saying.

MIKE WEAVER

Coeur d’Alene