GUYS ON ICE

I’m jealous. I’m not part of the ice-fishing crowd, and they seem to be having a really good time. Trucks gather, flags fly, Packer banners wave, dogs frolic, and the blow-up Michelin Tire Man joins in the fun! But, Rock Lake Guys-on-Ice (is it only guys?), when you are forced, by the advent of soft water, to give up the good times on hard water, what legacy will you leave behind? Will you be admired as heroes who braved the elements to hunt and gather food? Or will you be looked down on as litter bugs who contribute to the Rock Lake Junk-on-Ice, most of which gets washed up on shore in spring? Those white Styrofoam bait containers blend in nicely with the snow but not with the spring shoreline.

Please—if you take it out on the ice, take it off. The young people that participate in RLIA’s spring clean-up will thank you. The whole community will thank you. And the Michelin Tire Man thanks you for already having taken him in from his cold perch on the ladder.

MAKING WAVES

Johanna Chworowsky

February 22, 2005