Save Lake Venita

This may be one of the last times I write about our beloved Lake Venita.  Or the lake bottom of Lake Venita.

Due to lack of participation, the difficulty in finding funds in these economic times, and personal commitments of the committee members that limit our time, the decision has been made to dissolve the Save Lake Venita committee.

After many calls for help and attendance at meetings, it became clear that while many love and support the lake cause, busy schedules and former commitments in this busy world we live in were preventing all but our core members from being able to actually help do the work. We simply could no longer bear all the weight of the cause on so few backs. Combined with our own personal commitments and the economics of today, the decision was made to terminate the group.

We are so thankful for and wish to acknowledge those many people in the community who supported the cause and helped out in any way, including those that supported but were unable to be involved.

Additionally, much effort was mustered by our small core team over the past year or so. To them I am wholly indebted and in awe of their servant's hearts.

I contacted Mayor Justin Murry on July 5th, relaying to him the committee's decision to shut down the organization.

A few days later he responded and was very gracious, stating that Marcella McCoy would be contacting me soon to discuss taking over the collected money for placement into a restricted account so that the money could only be used for the lake restoration, just as those of you who so generously gave of your time and money expect. I have spoken with Marcella and this task is in process.

It's a myth that the lake was to be fixed for free, but it is true that to re-engineer the whole thing it is going to cost a whole lot of money. Seeking middle ground, I spoke with the excavation company and to the former engineering company over several occasions. In response, the last quote we received (if re-engineering was skipped) was for $12,000.00, and it did not include restocking fish or reseeding the banks, etc. It was anticipated that the amount would be higher now that time has passed.

The girl scouts were willing to help rake and reseed the banks when that time came about... and we were working toward 501c3 status so that larger companies such as the railroads and Bass Pro would give larger donations. We all felt that the lake could be restored for approximately $25,000.00.

However, there are many political rules and regulations that the city must follow in order to reach restoration including wage laws, the bid process, and more that were pumping up the costs tremendously. We understood that was no fault of the city but is just the way government operates these days.

Another point that we felt strongly about is that the city of Odessa place a permanent line in the budget for maintenance of the lake/dam, once restored, with a written policy or ordinance that requires that a qualified city employee inspect the dam once a month, and that once a year an engineering company is hired to do an in-depth inspection. We feel this would go a long way toward keeping the dam in working condition for a very long time.

Now these are all dreams that didn't come true -- yet. We remain hopeful that the muddy overgrown sore that we see now will someday be restored to the beautiful lake so many of us remember and enjoyed.

We are proud of the work we accomplished and the awareness that began to grow from a ground-zero start.

It is with sincerity that we wish the best of luck to the next set of dream-keepers, be it the city or some other group of strong people who can make it work.


Christine Frye
Amy Begemann
Vickie Trigg
Elliot Bentsen


For more detailed information about the history of this now dissolved organization or about Lake Venita, please visit the website, www.savelakevenita.org.