Getty's arrival unconnected to Buffalo Lake fix

Getty's arrival unconnected to Buffalo Lake fix The Journal's Dec. 31 editorial, Walking on the water, regarding Buffalo Lake was very misleading. You insinuated that Premier Don Getty changed all planning once he purchased land near it. There is considerable back­ground information that The Journal is evidently not familiar with. The urgent water and drainage problems of the Parlby Creek ba­sin have been grouped under the name of the Buffalo Lake Stabili­zation Project. The name is a mis­nomer; stabilization of Buffalo Lake is a spin- off when addres­sing the serious water supply situ­ations of Alix and Mirror, plus the long- standing flooding problems of hundreds of acres of prime hay land over the entire length of Parlby Creek. I have, for a number of years, been working very closely with officials from Alix, Mirror and " County of Lacombe to address these problems. The channellization part of this project began a few years ago, prior to Getty becoming premier. The next phase is under way • between Mirror and Alix. The fi- .• nal two phases between Alix and Tees, and Tees to Chain Lakes ( the creek headwaters) will be un­dertaken when funding is avail­able. - Stabilization of Buffalo Lake is a side benefit from the govern- : ment addressing two very serious problems that affected a large area of central Alberta for a num­ber of years. Ron Moore ML A, Lacombe I was appalled at an editorial -( Walking on the water) so degrad­ing and so empty of facts. • I have been a resident of the Buffalo Lake area for 59 years. My grandparents settled here in the early 1900s. Previous to that there were two large Indian set­tlements on this lake, complete with a Hudson Bay factor. Buffalo Lake was never a slough. At its normal level it is about 20 miles long and six or seven wide. It has almost 80 miles of shoreline and is the largest lake in central Alberta. In 1980, studies were positive to stabilization of the lake level. Now Premier Don Getty be­came our MLA and chose a spot in the proximity of Buffalo Lake and close to the highway so that he could commute to Edmonton. Now entered the opposition government parties and also the group ( Kill everything the govern­ment does) with the help of the media and a lot of false infor­mation. Our community has had a whole lot of unnecessary delays and pressures, as well as extra costs inflicted on it. Your editorial, and the accusa­tion of the NDP MLA against Getty, are totally out of order. He was not involved when this pro­ject began or when the govern­ment approved it; he is merely acting as our MLA, and so far is doing an excellent job. I have a large fng along the 80 miles of shoreline of Buffalositive article on this project. Angus Braseth Bashaw Chairman, Friends of Buffalo Lake