I guess it must be television ratings time.
One of our local Charlotte stations has been saturating the air with a "tease" about getting to the bottom of a problem Bobby & Judy Allison are having.
Here's a link to the tease:
http://www.wbtv.com/story/19881903/psi-monday-nascar-legends-lost-waterfront
Back in the late 1980s, I did a little work for TransAm sports car racer Tommy Kendall, who was trying to break into NASCAR. Went down and spent a couple of nights at a place he had on a lake in central Florida. Beautiful area. Only problem was there was absolutely not one single drop of water in the lake. Beautiful dock to nowhere. All the lakes in the area at that time had dried up.
We turned lemons into lemonade, though. Found a wonderful backwoods bbq joint. Ceiling so low I had to stoop. Great sauce. Never been back. Ought to have.
I figured you'd pick up on that. Actually brought a couple of gallon plastic containers of sauce back up to Charlotte.
Seems like a million years ago. Tommy had been dating Patty Moise pre-Elton Sawyer.
Aha! Here's the link to the Problem Solver Investigation Video Story Conclusion:
The villain is Lowe's Home Improvement's new corporate headquarters!!! So all you Bobby Allison fans can now start booing Jimmie Johnson!!!
http://www.wbtv.com/story/19944215/psi-nascar-legends-dried-up-wate...
PSI: NASCAR legend's dried up waterfront
Posted: Oct 29, 2012 1:38 PM EDT Updated: Oct 30, 2012 2:29 PM EDT
By Jamie Boll
MOORESVILLE, NC (WBTV) -
It was a mid-September morning. It was sunny, there was just a light breeze and temps were in the low 70's. Another beautiful day around Lake Norman. A perfect day to go fishing, but Bobby Allison couldn't get his boat on the water.
"It's landlocked at the moment," said Allison.
Bobby and his Judy moved to Lake Norman back in 1999.
"This became a source of therapy for us," said Judy Allison.
The Allison story is one of triumph and tragedy. Bobby, a NASCAR Hall of Famer won 84 races and a championship. He also nearly lost his life in a crash at Pocono Raceway in 1988. He did lose nearly all he had earned in racing in his battle to recover. Prize money and insurance wasn't anything like it is now in NASCAR.
Things only got worse for the Allisons in 1992. Their son Clifford died in a racing accident, 11 months later, they lost son Davey in a helicopter crash.
"I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy," said Judy.
Over time Judy and Bobby put their lives back together. Their move from Alabama to Lake Norman helped. Judy loved the lake view. Bobby loved to fish.
"I've always loved to fish," said Bobby as he showed us a picture of a bass he had caught. "It was about 3-and-a-half pounds."
Unfortunately he can't fish as much as he used to. He says he can only launch his boat from his dock a few months out of the year. He says when they moved to the lake he could hit the water year round. Now, all too often, his cove is just dry land.
"We've had to mow this," said Judy. "We've had to mow the lake."
So, what's happened to the cove? The answer may be in what happened about 500 feet to the east of the cove. There's been development. A lot of it. Among the projects, a widened Interstate 77 and construction of a corporate headquarters for Lowe's Home Improvement.
"So, it's a lot of extra runoff," said Catawba Riverkeeper Rick Gaskins.
Gaskins says nature's balance has been uprooted. Trees and brush replaced with roofs and parking lots.
"An acre of trees verses an area of impervious area you get 26,000 gallons of additional runoff per inch of rain," said Gaskins.
The Lowe's complex alone is 228 acres. So, now when it rains hard you see a river of muddy water dumping into the cove.
"It's typical where you have a lot of development," said Gaskins.
Lowe's gave us an emailed response to our questions about whether its office complex is a factor in the cove slowly filling in. The company said it "has focused on the environment since beginning work on the Mooresville campus." The company also said it "met and complied with all requirements" set by the state.
It is true, but state environmental inspectors also tell us there's "no doubt" increased runoff has contributed to the problems now seen in the cove. It's also true the state hit Lowe's with a "Notice of Violation" back in 2009. The state said the company was not maintaining erosion control measures. An inspection found sixteen inches to three feet of sediment in a tributary leading to Lake Norman. Gaskins called that amount, "stunning."
Tougher runoff mitigation rules have been put into effect since the Lowe's construction, too late to further protect the Allisons.
They get by on Social Security and the appearances Bobby makes for a few race sponsors. They don't have the millions of today's race car drivers. They can't afford the costly dredging needed to get their boat back on the water.
"We didn't create (the problem)," said Judy Allison. "Several other people did and several people need to fix it."
Copyright 2012 WBTV. All rights reserved.
\
