The Leflore County Board of Supervisors is considering methods for eliminating the water weeds crowding Blue Lake and causing headaches for Lakeview and Lakebend subdivisions residents.
District 5 Supervisor Larry "Kite" Johnson told the board Monday that it needs to take action because the state Department of Health says the situation is creating a health hazard.
"I wanted to make sure that whatever potential health hazard exists is remedied. The plants stagnate and spread mosquitoes. There's a chance of West Nile virus, and we have to take care of it," said Johnson.
Supervisors voted to give the board attorney, Willie Perkins Sr., authority to review and move forward on the project. "The lake has already been declared a health hazard. I'm going to find out what the next appropriate step will be," said Perkins.
Johnson asked the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to recommend a solution. A biologist who reviewed the lake suggested the use of 2,4-D herbicide.
After the meeting, Cliff Aldridge, warehouse manager at Farmers Supply Cooperative, was asked about the safety of 2, 4-D.
"This a standard herbicide for broad-leaf water plants. It's not restricted use, and it's not going to kill the fish," said Aldridge.
If the herbicide is sprayed, explains Aldridge, what doesn't make contact with the plant volatilizes, or evaporates. Most of the herbicide will stay out of the water.
Johnson has been receiving complaints from people who live around Blue Lake. One of them is Charley Estes.
He has lived for 12 years with Blue Lake in his back yard. He said there was no evidence of the plants when he first moved in, but over the past four or five years the plants have rapidly multiplied.
"I've been asking for help on this for some time, but there's been no remedy. There's been times I've considered putting my house up for sale, just because I can't take these weeds anymore," said Estes.
Estes, 65, is a retired postal worker who moved from Chicago to his native Greenwood. He said he moved into the subdivision for the peace and quiet, but especially because he liked the lake. He used to sit on his pier and watch the water, but now he's afraid of the water moccasins he says abound in the infested waters.
During the summer, he says, the plant decay smells terrible, and the mosquitoes are everywhere. "I can't take out my grandkids in my boat during the summer because of all this stuff," said Estes.
His neighbor, Booker Moore, 71, is another retiree from Chicago. Moore has similar complaints. "We pay to have a house on a lake. Whoever wants to come onto my property to rid the lake of all these weeds is more than welcome. I think that would apply to everyone on the lake," said Moore.
Other business at the supervisors' meeting included the board's decision to sell six of Leflore County's 10 motor graders during an auction in May with Deanco Auction Co. The company guaranteed at least $149,574 for the equipment.
The board plans to purchase five new motor graders for $870,050.
Road Manager Lennon Powell will use the nine motor graders in rotation around the county to save time.
Chancery Clerk Sam Abraham, county administrator, said the proceeds from the sale will be enough to pay off the lease on the old motor graders.
According to Abraham, the monthly cost on the new lease purchase will be about $1,500 more than they paid on the old lease. But, "the cost is justified in the efficiency of the new graders. There will be no down time repairing them," said Abraham.
