A Sea Of Red

I don't see this ending well for everyone. The question I have is, should LU have done its due diligence before they accepted the property?

http://www.wset.com/story/20974380/libe ... -residents

Lynchburg, VA - It was the President of Liberty University, Jerry Falwell Junior Tuesday, who cautioned all those who live at Ivy Lake that it is up to them to help save it.

At a public meeting at LU, school officials presented to Ivy Lake residents three options for the future of the lake.

Since 2008, the lake has been under the ownership of LU.

In September engineers deemed the dam at the lake, is dangerous.

Tuesday night, one engineer said it was a high-hazard dam that if not taken care of, could kill someone if something went wrong.

Liberty officials have come up with three options for its future: two include changing the spill-way, either enlarging a grass one, or building a concrete one; another option, eliminating the dam, and consequently, the lake.

Falwell spoke directly to the concerned crowd Tuesday, and told them that financially, it was not worth it for Liberty to try and save the lake, siting enlarging the spillway as costing millions.

Here's a more thorough report from the N&A:
http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/a ... f6878.html

Falwell said the dam passed the state inspection in 2006. The issue has come up since then because regulations have changed.

“There’s no way the previous owner could have known,” Falwell said after the meeting. “I’ve got a dam on my farm, and the rules have changed. Every time I’ve gotten it inspected, I have to do something different.”

If you had actually taken the time to read the article, this would've answered your own question. Regulations and policy change constantly, what was fine one day is not fine the next. It is impossible to predict how they will change.

So I would argue that yes, LU did do its due diligence when it acquired the property.

A-TROWNED!

Wow, crabby-pants. Sheesh.

What makes this look bad for Liberty is that within the past year Jerry Jr. has been quoted as saying that they have more money than they know what to do with, not to mention that the lake was donated to Liberty. It seems that the best PR thing to do would be for Liberty to pay to have the dam fixed.

I don't see how Liberty can in any way look bad in this. Somebody gave them a lake. And now engineers tell them it needs a new dam costing millions.

I'm just saying from a public perspective it doesn't look good for Liberty to say "give us some money to help fix this thing or we will take it out and leave you with an empty lake" when the lake was given to Liberty and they have the money to fix it if they wanted to. Liberty has every right to ask the residents there to help pay because they do use the lake, but it probably won't look good to a lot of people. It looks like they are using the possibility of taking out the dam as a threat to try to get some help. I honestly think Liberty will fix the dam either way and has no intentions of taking out the dam.

"So please no one wonder off the dam tour, and feel free to take all the dam pictures you want..now..are there any dam questions??"

can you imagine property values if that lake is no more? I'd be sweating if I was a resident.

I have some reasonable info indicating that a deal will be worked out easily. Most comments come from folks who don't live near the lake. Timberlake dam was repaired by a smaller pool of residents for more than a million dollars, so residents around the lake will find that repairs will not be as severe as it seems, especially with LUs help (which is probably forthcoming) and favorable loan programs from the Dept of Int.

I actually wrote an email to JLFJR after I heard about it, since I was a bit concerned about the situation (the crew team is housed over at Ivy Lake). he emailed me back last night so I figured Id post it here

The minimal use LU makes of the lake doesn't justify Liberty footing 100% of the bill to repair or even 50% but we offered to chip in 50% instead of draining the lake in order to be good neighbors to the folks in Bedford County. If an association is set up similar to Timberlake, the residents can cover their share with a small monthly payment. If they are not willing, LU will have no choice but to drain the lake. It is just not worth $2 million+ to the university, regardless of how much money we have.

HenryGale wrote:"So please no one wonder off the dam tour, and feel free to take all the dam pictures you want..now..are there any dam questions??"

Yeah. Where can I buy some dam bait?

I would also say LU is dammed if they do and dammed if they don't. But it was too easy.

On a serious note, over the last few years, PR has not been LU's strong point. The fact that the lake belongs to LU, they can do what they want. I can totally see JLFJR point and can see how footing half the bill is seen as a gesture of good will. I can also see UVA's point. How much would it have cost the school to buy that property? (Not that they would have). It looks like the lake was actually a 'fixer upper!'
In a perfect PR world LU would foot the bill and not make a big deal about it. But I can understand why they wouldn't.

Purple Haize wrote:
On a serious note, over the last few years, PR has not been LU's strong point. The fact that the lake belongs to LU, they can do what they want. I can totally see JLFJR point and can see how footing half the bill is seen as a gesture of good will. I can also see UVA's point. How much would it have cost the school to buy that property? (Not that they would have). It looks like the lake was actually a 'fixer upper!'
In a perfect PR world LU would foot the bill and not make a big deal about it. But I can understand why they wouldn't.

+1

I had written a similar reply, but felt it was too strongly worded and would be taken out of context. Kudos to UVA and Purple for their replies!

BJWilliams wrote:I actually wrote an email to JLFJR after I heard about it, since I was a bit concerned about the situation (the crew team is housed over at Ivy Lake). he emailed me back last night so I figured Id post it here

The minimal use LU makes of the lake doesn't justify Liberty footing 100% of the bill to repair or even 50% but we offered to chip in 50% instead of draining the lake in order to be good neighbors to the folks in Bedford County. If an association is set up similar to Timberlake, the residents can cover their share with a small monthly payment. If they are not willing, LU will have no choice but to drain the lake. It is just not worth $2 million+ to the university, regardless of how much money we have.

BJ- just ask me next time... After all, it looks like JLFJR simply restated what I had already said!