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Hi to our ever growing group of membership-

As a follow up to the recent hearing with Natural Resources Commission, the
Indiana Department of Natural Resources website has been modified today to
reflect the recommendation made by the DNR at the September 18th hearing.
The good news is that the DNR statement on their website upholds the
Ordinary High Water Mark as a demarcation between private ownership and
public use and state regulation. The DNR continues to recognize the 581.5
feet as the Ordinary High Water Mark.

While we are encouraged that attorney Knight's request, on behalf of his
anonymous clients, has not been adopted, we remain unsure of what Mr.
Knight and his un-named clients will attempt as a next move now that their
attempt at changing DNR policy has been refuted. As you will see the change
made by the DNR is cosmetic at best.

We remain open to a constructive dialogue with all of our neighbors that
share a commitment to preserving the quality of life in this community.

We are also prepared to defend our stated position and will maintain our
legal support team to that end with the continued financial contributions
of concerned citizens. We need to ask you for your continued support and we
will continue to keep you informed.

www.lbcall.org.

The full update to the DNR website is available at

http://www.in.gov/dnr/water/3658.htm

To help you understand the change please read the text below where the old
and amended language is included.

Lake Michigan is a navigable waterway, but it is the only Great Lake which
is not also an international waterway. The bed of Lake Michigan is owned by
the four states which share its shoreline: Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana,
and Michigan. Indiana holds the portion of Lake Michigan within its borders
in trust for our citizens, but this trust is subject to the federal
navigational servitude. Lake Michigan and its navigable tributaries are
referenced in Navigable Waterways Roster.

Language deleted at this point on page formerly read:
*The dividing line on Lake Michigan between public and private ownership is
ordinary high watermark.*

New language as amended now reads:
*The ordinary high watermark is the line on Lake Michigan and other
navigable waterways used to designate where regulatory jurisdiction lies
and in certain instances to determine where public use and ownership begins
and/or ends. *

In general terms, "ordinary high watermark" (OHW) has been defined to be
the line on the shore of a waterway that is

1. established by the Fluctuations of water; and
2. indicated by physical characteristics such as a clear and natural
line impressed
on the bank, shelving, changes in the character of the soil, the
destruction of terrestrial vegetation, or the presence of litter or debris.

For Lake Michigan, both the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Indiana
Natural Resources Commission have recognized the ordinary high watermark to
be at elevation 581.5 feet, International Great Lakes Datum (1985). The
Commission has established the elevation of the OHW for the Indiana
shoreline of Lake Michigan by rule at 312 IAC 1-1-26.
Although the actual elevation of Lake Michigan fluctuates, the elevation of
the ordinary high watermark is fixed. The OHW is significant to permitting
activities, and in certain respects to questions of ownership, and
commercial and recreational boating usage. Regulatory authority may be
referenced to the OWM, but there are instances when authority extends
outside the OHW. For example, boating laws and fishing laws are enforced
outside the boundaries of the OHW when the lake is high.

Please let us know if you have any comments or questions.
--
Long Beach Community Alliance
P.O. Box 167
Michigan City, IN 46361
www.lbcall.or