Lake Texoma is officially open for business and ready for visitors. On Friday, the Stakeholders of Lake Texoma hosted a Season’s Opening Party at the lake. The weather was nice and the water was calm as attendees enjoyed food and beverage on the lake.
During the party, several dignitaries spoke on behalf of tourism on the lake.
Senator Josh Brecheen told the audience, “The current public notice system in use is alarming and needs to be tweaked.”
Brecheen is involved with writing legislation that would change how the blue-green algae are measured in the state of Oklahoma.
Currently, the algae are measured by volume, not toxicity.
“We must fully inform the public,” he said. “We’d like to put together an all-inclusive website that gives notice when someone gets sick or an animal dies due to the algae.”
Senator Brecheen said he is hoping to move forward with the state adopting a new scale “sometime in the next three weeks.”
Representative Dustin Roberts said, “Lake Texoma is great. I love this place and I’m going to fight for it.”
Joe Hill, a field representative for U.S. Representative Dan Boren, told the audience he had went fishing earlier that morning and fishing on the lake is great.
“The fish seem to be doing very well in Lake Texoma,” he said.
Scott Hayward of the Lake Texoma Association said, “Our mission statement is to protect and promote. We’re going to give positive promotion and education to the general public.”
John Teel, director of Grayson County Health Department, spoke about the current rating system.
“It is the worst risk scale system I have seen,” he said.
The Durant Chamber, along with Roberts and Brecheen, recently spoke with the governor about Lake Texoma and the development at Pointe Vista.
“The topic of the meeting was the blue-green algae situation and the development of Pointe Vista,” said Chamber Executive Director Janet Reed. “We focused on advisories that would reflect the toxicity levels, which are the ones that can affect human health.”
“We spoke about future development for Pointe Vista and we were assured by the governor that she was as concerned about moving the project forward as we are. We were also assured by the director of the Department of Tourism, Deborah Snodgrass, that the blue-green algae situation is being addressed,” she said.
Tourism is Oklahoma’s third largest industry and Reed said business at Lake Texoma is extremely crucial to the area. She wants people to realize that the lake is not dangerous and hopes to see many visitors at Lake Texoma this summer.
“I want people to know the lake is open for business and we want people to utilize it as a full recreational resource and feel safe while they’re doing it,” she said.
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