Eelpout Festival plan accepted

WALKER - International Eelpout Festival organizer Jim Gerchy has agreed to increase the number of portable restrooms and refuse collection containers for the event this year, with the additional services to be provided on Leech Lake, not just on shore in Walker where main events take place.

Cass County commissioners accepted Gerchy's plan, for the Feb. 19-21 event.

"We have always pulled all the permits required and met all the requirements in them," Gerchy said in a telephone interview late Tuesday. "We will continue to do that."

The board also voted Tuesday to have Commissioners Jim Demgen and Jim Dowson meet as a subcommittee of the board to recommend whether the board should make the county's Lawful Assembly Ordinance apply to events held on a lake.

County Attorney Christopher Strandlie has told the board he believes the ordinance is unclear whether it applies to events such as the Eelpout Festival where main events are staged on land, but those attending fish and camp over an adjacent lake.

The issue arose this year after members of the sheriff's department raised concerns about sanitation services on Leech Lake during earlier Eelpout Festivals.