33°State ponders Lonz future
Jul 01
2010
MIDDLE BASS ISLAND
When then-Gov. Bob Taft announced plans to purchase Lonz Winery in May 2000, he envisioned great things for the state's 74th park.
With nearly a mile of Lake Erie shoreline, historic significance, natural beauty and a marina, the 124 acres made up one of the largest and most significant stretches of lakefront property to hit the market in years.
A decade later, the state now operates a new marina at the park and curates a primitive campground there.
Read the full story in Thursday's Register, and read more about the July 1, 2000 Lonz Winery tragedy in the coming days ... Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
- The victims remember and state officials ponder the property's future
- Emergency response and lessons learned
- What went wrong? Who had to pay?
- Tragedy echoes in island's life and business
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Comments
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02:29 PM
6079 Smith W says
@ hussein membrane:
Do you pay state income tax? Then the parks ain't "free." You're just paying indirectly.
Ya read like a typical ignorant lib.
06:31 PM
hussein membrane says
You could move to Florida, and we could keep our parks free.
05:32 PM
6079 Smith W says
@ hussein membrane:
As you are probably aware, FL has no state income or estate taxes. The state relies on user fees and sales taxes for revenue.
If you don't use it or buy it, you don't pay the tax - what's wrong with that?
If you enjoy the parks you're more than welcome to pay for their upkeep.
BTW: Due to budget problems several states are closing parks and therefore nobody can enjoy them.
03:34 PM
hussein membrane says
One of the best things about living in Ohio is our free and abundant state parks.
Just got back from Florida, and you pay both to be admitted to state parks and to park, and I hope Ohio never becomes that way. Furthermore, if you recall, there was a move in 2004-05 to charge for parking at state parks and the wave of outrage convinced a far more conservative state legislature to back off.
The previous comments seem to be made by people with an extremely short sighted view of political/economic reality and/or those who spend far too much time indoors. There are no quick fixes for Ohio's problems.
I would also argue that the state having done nothing with that island is a good thing. I do not know what "reporter" Sarah Weber would like to see happen to the remote wilderness of the island? Another Put-in-Bay?
Would other commentators like a highway built out to the island so a Wal-Mart might be built there? Maybe Lebron James could buy it? How about a casino? Do you think any amount of development on our small park will remotely decrease Ohio's budget short fall?
09:31 AM
MiddleRight says
disablededamerican53: those other countries are in Europe, and if you haven't noticed, they're going broke. We should privatize all retirement accounts, and they you can retire when you think you have enough in your account to live off of.
Stop waiting for the gov't to sweep in and rescue you.
None of our local or state gov'ts would be broke if they'd start selling all of their tax-payer funded land and turn in into tax generating assets.
09:17 AM
Salvatore says
Common sense would dictate to sell this property. Ohio is broke.
07:12 AM
Pete says
What they should do is charge an admission fee to get in. For a small amount of $'s each person they could go a long way towards helping fund the parks. I really don't want to see strip malls or housing developments everywhere
Dunno what they would have to charge to make the ODNR self supporting, but even if they could get to 50% would go a long way
06:44 AM
6079 Smith W says
The state owns 74 parks?
Why is so much valuable real estate on the public non-taxpaying rolls?
The state is running a huge budget deficit; it's spending more than it's taking in.
Sell some of these parks to private concerns, take the money and help fund the state's bloated budget.
05:23 AM
disabledamerican53 says
Besides, your spelling his name wrong, it's Bob Tax.
05:23 AM
disabledamerican53 says
Raise the retirement age?GOP Leader OHIO REPUBLICAN JOHN BOEHNER wants privatize Social Security and RAISE RETIREMENT AGE to 70 for you and your children. Other countries they retire at 55. And they do just fine.