So how can you tell the difference between the imposters and the true lovers of Geneva Lake?

By their actions, of course. It’s not what they say, but what they do. The failsafe test that is guaranteed to separate the loyal from the faux Geneva Lake Devotee is to ask for help or to make some sacrifice for the health and future of the Lake. It’s then you discover that there are some greedy, selfish, insensitive and hardhearted neighbors you once thought were good, caring human beings. They want to help, but just not now—maybe later. For the past 9 months, Geneva Lake has been in a “crisis mode” because the “lake killer” and death-defying invasive species Starry Stonewort was discovered in the lagoons of Trinke Estates. Warning alarms were sounded and the public alerted, so what did the Trinke Leadership Group do to protect their association and prevent this lake killer from spreading out into the entire lake? Remember this Trinke Leadership Group is a team of very successful and influential professionals known for taking control and as men of action with prestigious awards and bank accounts to prove it—so did they organize and jump into action mode to get the facts from the DNR and make the critical decisions for controlling the threat? No, good pretenders that they are they went silent and into hiding –some to their hiding places in Florida and one to his hideout resort high up in Colorado’s ski country– without ever informing their association members of the SSW crisis.

This is the group that the Geneva Lake Environmental Agency (GLEA), Ted Peters and the folks at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) met with via Skype on February 16thto discuss the DNR’s well-organized plans for eradicating this extremely dangerous invasive species SSW. It was a simple and direct plan. The one Lagoon containing SSW would be hydraulically dredged and the sediment slurry collected in large geotex tubes placed right next to the Trinke lagoons tucked into a corner of Trinke’s large 6+ acre open park space, fenced in and camouflaged. All the plan needed was permits and permission from Trinke. In a typical survival of the fittest strategy where only the strong and artful pretenders survive, the zombies took total control of the DNR Plan and told Ted Peters where to put it: in somebody else’s yard, but not the zombies had just one problem with the DNR Plan: the location of those. The artful Pretenders from Trinke have an upper-class rule they seem to live by, “if there’s a problem, find a way to give it to someone else or stonewall ‘til the problem goes away! So, when Ted Peters asked to use Trinke’s property to help solve their problem with SSW, they very politely invoked their rule to find somebody else to take on their responsibility and have been stonewalling the ever since.-Then, by the time Jim Weiss and Alex Palmer discovered a hidden spot owned by the Town of Linn where the collection could take place, it was too far away and too late in the season for the dredging company, Bruceskimarine, that Ted Peters hired months prior to do the job before Memorial Day. So, the new plan by Ted Peters and the GLEA is to allow the opening of the Trinke Lagoons on Memorial Day just hoping the oldest and greatest lake killing Algae on the planet will not do what it has done forever—spread out and kill everything in its path. Playing Russian Roulette with a loaded gun.

Dick Malmin, Town of Linn resident and Lake Geneva activist 

The number of people in this small area close to triples during the summer. That number is expected to grow even more within the next few years due to the great advertising and marketing the City and Visit Lake Geneva is getting and creating. Traffic issues are par for the course in any resort city. Main Street is the biggest problem for traffic to be congested and slow. When intentional issues are added to the problem frustration rises for everyone. This summer season could be one of the more frustrating seasons in years when trying to drive through downtown Lake Geneva. The horse and buggy rides have recently been approved to return to Lake Geneva. This is not the same company that left in 2014 nor is it the same route that was used, but it is the same concept.

The approved path covers two blocks on Main Street in front of the Library and lake then the carriage ride will travel south of Main Street through the Historic Maple District. The Horse and Buggy concession is sure to hold up and block traffic every time it travels this two-block section of their journey. This 800 and 900 blocks of Main Street are the same two blocks that had to be completely reconstructed right as the busy season was starting last spring, because of a crumbling foundation in the road.  The horse and buggy need to be off the main roads. Period

Hanna Wilson, attorney and Lake Geneva landowner