Administrators at several area lakes are nervously eyeing the potential fallout from the banning of personal watercraft at Lake Meredith.

Web posted Wednesday, April 23, 2003
2:14 a.m. CT

Fearing a rush of enthusiasts looking for a new place to operate their PWCs - more commonly known by the trade name Jet-Skis - officials from at least one lake have decided to follow Lake Meredith's lead and ban PWCs.

Lake Pryor at Wolf Creek Park near Perryton took that step, closing the lake to PWCs altogether.

Ochiltree County Judge Kenneth Donahue said the county commission enacted the ban, which took effect Friday, because a lake full of PWCs is too risky.

"Primarily, we did it because of safety," Donahue said. "Our little lake is small, and we've had times where we had four or five boats and 20 Jet-Skis out there at the same time.

"With other lakes around banning them, you couldn't expect anything but us being overrun with even more of them."

Several PWC enthusiasts spoke against the resolution, Donahue said, but the commission voted in the interest of safety for all.

"We don't want to regulate all our citizens to death," Donahue said. "We want them to be able to enjoy themselves, but we have to think of safety first."

Officials at Greenbelt Lake near Clarendon also are taking action against a potential increase in PWCs, although they went the route of regulating PWCs, rather than banning them.

PWC users no longer will be able to purchase a weekend use permit, but instead will have to pay $100 for a yearly permit to operate on the lake. Use of PWCs is also limited to Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Lake officials instituted the restrictions for safety reasons and because high numbers of PWCs increase the lake's insurance bill, a lake spokeswoman said.

Lake Mackenzie east of Tulia does not have any restrictions, but officials say they are keeping an eye on the PWC situation.

"Right now, we're in a wait-and-see pattern," lake Superintendent Emmett Tomlin said. "If we start getting overrun with personal watercraft, we'll address that as it comes."

If the reception for PWCs seems a bit chilly in the Texas Panhandle, the Land of Enchantment is laying out a much warmer welcome.

"Bring them on," said Tara Carter, park administrator at Ute Lake near Logan, N.M. "We're happy to have them over here."

Carter said last year when word of the Lake Meredith ban surfaced, the state parks got together to put out the word that PWCs were welcome in New Mexico. That word is still good this year, with PWCs welcome at Ute Lake and nearby Conchas Lake, both within a two-hour drive of Amarillo.

Carter said attracting PWC users is crucial to sustaining the state's park system through fees income.

"They bring people to our lake," Carter said. "That brings us our revenue, and that's how we survive."

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