The 2015 4^th of July festivities at Pretty Lake were spectacular!! The weather was amazing, the festivities were fun and entertaining, and the fireworks were spectacular. THANK YOU to all the volunteers and to all who participated in this year’s events. We appreciate your support of the annual fund raisers and thank you for buying the Nelson’s Chicken and the flares, and for joining us for bingo & root beer floats, and for purchasing a chance to win in the new 5-Card game. A great big thank you those who made donations to support the amazing fireworks display. In addition, we’d like to thank all the sponsors who donated prizes for the Kid’s Fish-a-rama. The sponsors who deserve recognition are: Ace Hardware in Lagrange, Dairy Queen, Dick’s Sporting Goods, McDonalds, Meijer in Angola, Jim & Sue Mertz, Schlemmer’s Hardware in Lagrange, and Walmart in Angola.

Here are the results of the Flotilla: (Enjoy all of the 2015  4^th of July photos in the slideshow in the Photo Gallery)

1st Place went to The Goodman Family & crew:   “The Pirates”

2nd Place went to The Tadych Family & crew:   “Happy Birthday USA”

3rd Place went to The Schnorr Family & crew:   “Gilligan’s Island”

Congratulations to this year’s winners!!! And thank you to all the participants. It was great entertainment.

The results for the Kid’s Fish-a-rama are as follows:

Group 6 years old and Under – 1st place was Carrington Ktizmiller, 2nd place was Kalob Hensch, & 3rd place was Mannix O’Connor.

Group 7 to 11 years old – 1st place was Matthew Kleeberg, 2nd place was Jacob Oltman, & 3rd place was Lance Speck.

Group 11 to 15 years old –  1st place was Gage Barron, 2nd place was Dorane Beiswanger, and 3rd place was Hanley Fowler.

Congratulations to all 46 kids who participated in this year’s event.

See the Fish-a-rama photos in this year’s slide show in the photo gallery. A special thank you to Sue Mertz for the photos of the Kid’s Fish-a-rama, and to Sue Crawford and Dave Kern for the flotilla and 4th of July Fun photos… Thanks for putting together a great slideshow!!!

And finally…. A big congratulations to Jo Bergstedt, winner of the $300.00 prize from the new 5-card game. Thank you to all of you who bought a chance to win.

Sediment removal project

Today is Thursday December 11^th.

I know many of you are wondering or have heard rumors about the sediment removal project. So as of today this is what I know.

I talk to the contractor on the average twice per week. About every other week we meet to review the project. We met this past Tuesday and these are some of my questions and the answers.

1.  Why so long (6) weeks in one spot. Answer – Do to freezing and thawing their dump truck has been stuck many times at the dump site. This requires other equipment to get it out causing lost time. They have also had some employee and equipment problems. Also the channel they have been working at had not more than 4” inches of water on top with the rest all sediment.

2.  What is your current plan? Answer – We will start dumping just off the road at Millers and as needed will push the sediment down into ravine. Two barges are now available from another site. In the next few days they will be trucked from southern Indiana to Pretty Lake. At that time we will start on the north shore. We will at that time have another dump truck working. In regards to the dump truck we are using a smaller one at Pretty Lake so as not to cause problems on the very narrow lake roads.

3.  Are you still planning to complete this year? Answer – Yes that is our plan, but some of that depends on the weather.

From working with this contractor whose name is Heath Davis, I can also tell you he has five or six other lake projects in process. From a business stand point I understand the reasons. Also Heath has chosen to manage and work at the Pretty Lake project. If for some reason we cannot finish before the lake is frozen solid, our grant and lake permits are good for 24 months.

We will try to give you a monthly update on the Pretty Lake web site.

Merry Christmas

James Mertz

The residents On Pretty Lake are in control of their own destiny in regards to treatment costs of the lake in future years.  The main ingredient that causes algae to grow is phosphorous.  The residents need to stop phosphorous from getting into the lake.  They also need to remember that once phosphorous gets into the lake it does not leave – it just continues to build up.  The higher the rate of phosphorus in the lake the faster (frequency of growth) the algae and submersed weeds will grow in the lake.

Sources of Phosphorous are:

Lawn Fertilizer

Decaying grass clippings and leaves.

Soaps from car wash soaps that drain into the street drains.

How to keep phosphorous out of the water. 

1.    Keep grass clippings off the road so they do not drain into the lake.

2.    When fertilizing the yard have the lawn care companies and homeowners keep the white fertilizer pellets off the road.

3.    When washing cars – keep the soap from draining into the street drain.

4.    Limit fertilization of the yard to 3 times per year versus five.

5.    Use lakeside fertilizer that has no phosphorus in it to fertilize the yard.

The residents are the Caretakers of the lake – the aquatic company  is treating only the symptoms of phosphorus in the water.  PLEASE be aware and help us control the amount of phosphorous that gets into our Pretty Lake.

Wow!!! What a wonderful 4^th of July weekend at Pretty Lake!! The weather was perfection, the festivities were fun and exciting, and the fireworks were spectacular. THANK YOU to all the volunteers and to all who participated in this year’s events. We appreciate your support of the annual fund raisers and thank you for buying the Nelson’s Chicken and the flares, and for joining us for bingo & root beer floats. Special thanks to those of you who made donations to support the amazing fireworks display. In addition, this year we had sponsors who donated all the prizes for the Kid’s Fisherama. Everyone came away with something!! The sponsors who deserve recognition are: Meijer, the Kantorak Family, Wal-Mart, Schlemmer Hardware in LaGrange, Ace Hardware in LaGrange, L&K Outdoor Sports in Shipshewana, FLW Outdoors, PLCC, and The Angler.  

Here are the results of the Flotilla:

(Enjoy all of the 2014  4^th of July photos in the slideshow in the Photo Gallery)

1st Place went to Joe Wetli & crew:     Pretty Lake Ark

1st Place!

2nd Place went to Rob Goodman & crew:   Turtle Dynasty

2nd Place

3rd Place went to Katie Todd & crew:  Paparazzi

3rd Place

Congratulations!! And thanks again to those of you who participated in this year’s flotilla. It is always great entertainment!!

There were 42 children who participated in this year’s Kid’s Fisherama!! Here are the results:

Group 6 yrs & under (16 children participated) –  1^st Place: Noah Hayes (9.3 oz.), 2^nd Place: Griffin Kantorak (8.7 oz.), & 3^rd Place: Owen Havens (8.6 oz.).  Congratulations!!!

7-10 yrs (21 children participated) –  1^st Place: Katie Jones (8.7 oz. & 8 3/8”), 2^nd Place: Drake Russell (8.7 oz. & 8 1/8”), & 3^rd Place: Beckham Russell (8.3 oz.). Congratulations!!

11-15 yrs (5 children participated) –  1^st Place: Hanley Fowler (9.3 oz.), 2^nd Place: Carter Mertz (8.9 oz.). Congratulations!!

Ken & Karlene Abram, and their lab, Ruby, moved to 9115 E 480 S in late summer 2013 from Noblesville, IN where they lived for 20 years.  Their first ‘real’ jobs were as teachers and then both entered sales and moved to Illinois with daughters, Dawn & Karna.  Karna graduated from Indiana University on a basketball scholarship. Fortunately, Ken’s job took him to Indiana so they could enjoy college basketball.  They have six grandchildren & two step-grandchildren who live in the Chicago & Noblesville area. Having grown up in Minnesota, lake living is in their blood so they are looking forward to being on Pretty Lake.

Rod Bergstedt was born and raised in Fort Wayne.  Graduated from South Side High School and Purdue University as an electrical engineer.  He worked at Magnavox and the various companies that purchased that company for 42 years, retiring finally from Raytheon in 2001.  He worked in medical research, on sonobuoys, Program Management and in the Office of Research and Development during those years.

Rod was involved in starting a bank and serving on its board for several years.  He also served as president of the homeowners association in Forest Canyon in Fort Wayne, where he and Jo presently live.

Rod and Jonell were married in 1967 and have two boys, Greg and Jeff, who both graduated from Purdue University.  They have four grandchildren–two grandsons who live in Camel, Indiana, and two granddaughters who live in Centreville, Virginia.

Rod and Jo bought a cottage at Pretty Lake in 2001  They spent nine months remodeling and enjoying lake living. They are now considering making Pretty Lake their full-time home.

During the last two years Rod has become a member of the Pretty Lake Conservation Club Board.  His projects have been working with the Department of Natural Resources to control the Eurasian Milfoil that has invaded our lake and chairing the Nelson Chicken Sale on the 4th of July as a money making activity for the Club.

“Thank You” seems too small of an expression of our appreciation for all the cards, prayers, and delicious food we received since my “ladder escapade”, resulting in a broken leg.  We have the best neighbors and friends here in our community at Pretty Lake. What a blessing you all are, and how wonderful it is that we live here. Thanks to all of you for everything!  Jerry & Joyce

Ron and Cathy Kantorak have been full time residents at Pretty Lake in cottage 227 since 2009.  Their first visit to Pretty Lake was in 1986 when they rented a cottage at the Redwood Resort (with Cathy’s brother and family) from Anita and Harold Cooper.  After 13 years of renting, they purchased half of the Redwood Resort in 1998.  After years of renovating and redecorating they decided to tear down the resort when Cathy’s brother (Tom Syndram) purchased the other half. 

Cathy is from Fort Wayne.  Ron is from Cleveland, OH but went to college at Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne where they met in 1968 and were married in 1970.  After moving to Connecticut and Alabama, they settled in Ohio in 1974 and lived there until 2009.  Ron worked for First Energy and Cathy worked for Westway Management while living in Westlake, OH.  They are both retired.  They have two sons.  Christopher and his wife Sandy live in New Braunfels, Texas and they have three sons:  Gabriel, Gavin and Griffin.  Timothy lives in North Olmsted, Ohio and has two sons:  Larry and James.  Tim is currently in the Air Force Reserves out of Youngstown, Ohio. 

Cathy has been on the Pretty Lake board for three years.  She is the current PLCC property manager so if you want to rent out the clubhouse she is the one to call.   Ron serves on the Board of Trustees of the LaGrange County Regional Utility District, is a Science Central member of the Exhibits and Facilities Committee and is a volunteer lecturer to Indiana Tech engineering students on “The Engineering Design Process”.

Ron loves to play golf and fish.  Ron will also from time to time, weather permitting, drag out his telescope and view the night sky.  Cathy has been recording her family history for over 30 years and is an avid reader.  They both enjoy boating and spending time with their five grandsons.

Leroy & Barbara Carcione live full time on Pretty Lake at 4910 S 930 E, the burnt orange brick home, # 138, on the south east side of the lake.  We purchased our year round home from the Hootman’s in 1999 and we moved here permanently from Fort Wayne in 2001.  

Leroy and Barbara have one son, Mike and his family in who live in Fort Wayne and a  daughter and her family who live in Spencerville, IN.  We have a total of 7 grandchildren and they range in ages from 5 to 24.  Two are out of college, two in college, one in high school and 2 in grade school. All of them love to come to Grandma and Grandpa’s for grandma’s cooking, lake fun and a place to bring their friends.  When needed for weekend babysitting for the 2 youngest it is always their desire to come to the lake.  Family gatherings for all the holidays with extended family and friends are a must at our place on Pretty Lake.   

Barbara is from Fort Wayne, spent numerous family summer vacations on Pretty Lake in the 1940’s at cottage #8 and has always had fond memories of the time spent here, especially the rides down that BIG slide.  It was the highlight of our family vacations to spend a day at the beach with a picnic lunch and each of us having numerous turns going down the slide.  Barbara  retired 5 years ago from Lutheran Hospital after 43 years, 19 of those as a surgical nurse and the last 24 years in Education, Information Systems and then as a Divisional Director for many departments.  Retirement has been very busy with more exciting challenges.  Barbara is involved in numerous organizations & activities at St. Mary’s of the Angels Catholic Church, goes to the Cole YMCA for water aerobics 3 times a week and is a part time water aerobics instructor.  She served on the PL board in 2001 then again joined the board in 2010 and is currently the 2013 President of the PLCC.  She is also on the board for the LaGrange County Lake Council.  For over 30 years Barbara organized high school class reunions and now only does the family reunions.  Barbara has played in the same bridge club for 50 years and that group still meets monthly and has now since we have all retired, we added playing Rummikub once a month.   

Leroy is also from Fort Wayne, born, raised and always worked there.  For 50 years Lee’s Barber shop was on N. Clinton Street, but in 2011 his landlord had other plans for that spot so he closed the shop and moved to Baker’s Hideaway on State Street.  He still works full time, barbering but when at home enjoys gardening, fishing, watching IRL auto races, football games and playing cards, particularly Euchre tournaments. In the fall he volunteers to work the chains at the Bishop Dwenger home football games.  Leroy’s brother Jim lived on Pretty Lake for 30 plus years and Leroy always liked this lake, so when we found a home here it was an easy decision.  Leroy also participates in church functions when his wife volunteers his services.  He does help her on a weekly basis with church cleaning and maintenance.  Leroy has a separate garage as his wood workshop and when he retires he has plenty of woodworking projects on his “To Do” list for his family.  When time allows or demand is intense, he has custom made some beautiful pieces of furniture for family.  Retirement will afford more time for this hobby.    

Leroy and Barbara like to travel, entertain family and friends, relax and enjoy living at the “best & prettiest lake” in the world.  Stop in and see us any time, we would love to meet you.