LAKE GIRARDEAU DESERVES MORE ATTENTION

While fishermen and conservation officials may disagree on the quality of fishing in Lake Girardeau, they do agree to the obvious: The facilities around the 162-acre lake generally have fallen into a state of disrepair.

The fishing issue aside, anyone who recently has visited the lake near Crump can see that maintenance has not been a priority of the Missouri Department of Conservation for a long time. Other than mowing around the public-access areas of the lake -- a task that is performed under contract -- the department has done little if anything to take care of the place.

The department has boarded up the handicapped restrooms and turned off the water. The floating fishing dock, designed to be handicapped accessible, is in need of repair. And a concrete slab is missing from a walkway that extends out to the dock. A number of wooden picnic tables are in bad shape, and the barbecue grills in the campground are crumbling. The concrete boat ramp no longer is lighted, and all of the trash containers have been removed.

Lake Girardeau, which was among the first lakes to be built by the department under its community lake program, got off to a rocky start. After being built in 1964, a combination of problems forced a delay in opening it to fishing until early in the next decade when a healthy fish population was established. Then in 1984, the concession building, which offered boat rentals, food, drinks, snacks and bait, was destroyed by fire. It was replaced by a log-cabin style building in 1985, but the building was sold and removed in 1991 when the department go out of the concession contracting business.

It seems maintenance deteriorated rapidly after the department no longer permitted a concession to operate at the lake.

The department's regional supervisor, Joe Garvey, said he regrets the appearance of the area and called the situation frustrating to department employees who have the daily responsibility of caring for the lake. He said a number of items have been on the repair list for years, including an asphalt overlay of the parking lot, a picnic shelter where the concession once stood and additional privies.

But all the department has budgeted this fiscal year is $7,500 for the mowing contract and another $800 for maintenance items, and that won't go very far.

The lake is a popular spot for fishermen, campers and outdoors people, and the Department of Conservation owes it to users to keep all of the facilities up to snuff. It is time some attention be given to and money be spent at Lake Girardeau.