In a meeting yesterday it became apparent that Wendell Wisenhunt, director of Parks and Recreation, will reccommend to the OKC City Council in 2 weeks to close the fish hatchery. This is part of a 12% across the board cost cutting measure by the City due to a drop in sales taxes revenues. The OKC Game and Fish Commission voted unanimously to oppose the closing. It did not seem to matter to Wendell he just sat there and arrogantly texted on his phone during a good portion of the meeting.

The ODWC has 2 fish hatcheries that are undergoing renovations this year and if the H.B. Parsonds Hatchery closes then ODWC does not have the capability to raise and supply the OKC area lakes with fish. This includes Lakes Hefner,Overholser,Draper and all the close to home fisheries lakes. ODWC needs the OKC hatchery to remain open otherwise the metroplex fisheries will deteriorate. The fishing clinics put on by Bob Martin for the children will all but stop depriving the innercity children the opportunity to learn to fish. The economic impact to Academy,Bass Pro, Lucky Lure Co and other retailers will be felt and in some cases severly.

Rest assured that if the hatchery is closed it WILL NOT reopen when the sales revenues rebound.

City of OKC has been advised by ODWC that they cannot and will not supply fish to area lakes. I am repeating myself intentionally to emphasize the seriousness of the situation. If the hatchery closes the fishing will deteriorate in area lakes quickly starting with the close to home fishery lakes. These specific lakes have so much fishing pressure that they will be fished out or fished down in a season.

ODWC is paying the electric bill for OKC for the aeration system in Dolese Park and the system will be turned off in the event that the Hatchery closes.

There are additional issues at stake here in addition that I will not go into due to time.

If you fish the area lakes at all, even just once or twice a year, and you want to keep enjoying outstanding fishing then you must call your councilman and tell him NOT to close the hatchery. Some of you may not fully realize how blessed we are to have the quality of fishing we do in the City lakes. My eyes were really opened yesterday in the OKC Fish & Game Commission meeting as to what we have compared to Cities around the country. WE ARE BLESSED AND IF YOU DO NOT THINK SO THEN DONT CALL YOUR COUNCILMAN, LET THE HATCHERY CLOSE, WATCH THE FISHERY DECLINE AND DON'T COMPLAIN. If I have p***%d someone off by coming on too strong I am sorry but I will not apologize. I believe this strongly on this issue.

Call your councilman and tell him to not close the hatchery. You have 2 weeks before the next council meeting when the reccomendation will be made to close the hatchery. The future of quality fishing lies in the hatchery remaining open. The fate of many many people lies in the tip of your finger. Please punch the numbers and call your councilman today or pay the price.

There will be an article(s) in the Sunday Oklahoman in the coming 2 weeks about this.