Staples folks rise to the defense of Dower pier
A KSTP television report on the 612-foot Dower Lake fishing pier has created a stir in Staples - even at the daily coffee klatch among retirees that's known as the "Table of Knowledge."
The news report, which aired last week as part of a series titled "Tracking Your Money," cited internal DNR e-mails that said the state agency staff repeatedly tried to kill the project because of environmental and financial concerns. A written report on KSTP's Web site quoted DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten as saying the Legislature is to blame for the controversial pier.
"I'm not taking a bullet for this one," Holsten said in the KSTP report.
Holsten told KSTP the pier ended up costing $667,000, compared to the $540,000 figure most Staples area residents thought was the cost.
Critics of the 612-foot pier also said it was longer than regulations allowed and forced other communities to wait longer for their public fishing piers because of its expense.
A sign at the 2009 Dower Lake Fishing Pier described it as a cooperative project between the city of Staples and the DNR, but a KSTP television report last week indicated the spirit of cooperation has been tested.
Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
The KSTP report prompted a spirited discussion at the coffee group that meets each day at the Staples Burger King and the result was a letter addressed to KSTP reporters by four of the group's regulars.
The letter writers were Thomas Kajer, Staples Historical Society vice president; Duane Lund, former Staples School District superintendent; Lee Jenkins, Staples Chamber president; and Pat Miller, retired Central Lakes College instructor.
The Staples area writers accused KSTP of "misrepresenting the facts" and offering a "one-sided" report.
The news story also raised the ire of Rep. Mary Ellen Otremba, DFL-Long Prairie, who represents the Staples area in the House. She said in a news release the report had many of its facts wrong and didn't bother to include others.
Otremba said the project was a renovation of an existing pier that already extended more than 600 feet. She noted that the bill authorizing it passed under House Speaker Steve Sviggum, a Republican and was signed by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
"You may agree or disagree with the project itself, but the fact is that residents of the district supported and fought vigorously for it," she said in her statement.
Bob McNaney, the KSTP reporter, said Tuesday the $667,000 cost figure came directly from the commissioner of the DNR. He said he couldn't respond to the criticism in the letter from the Staples area residents because he hadn't seen it.
"We stand by our story," he said.
The fishing pier, completed in the summer of 2009, follows the footprint of a pier that was built around 1906 by the Northern Pacific Railroad. The original pier, which had fallen into disrepair, had been used to service a water pipeline that went out into the lake to retrieve water for the railroad.
The pier is part of the Dower Lakes Recreational Area, located two miles west of Staples. The site also has a boat access, beach, playground, horseshoe pits, two softball fields, a 45-unit campsite with 20 electric sites and a sewer dump for recreational vehicles.
"It's provided a place where kids can come and fish - and they do, all summer long," Miller, a retired CLC instructor, said. "It's a place where adults teach kids to fish. It ties in beautifully with that park. It's just a wonderful addition to the community."
"From our standpoint it was restoring a historic structure that was already there," Kajer, who's also a retired CLC instructor, said.
Chamber President Lee Jenkins said he was surprised to hear of the $667,000 price tag. He said it was placed on top of the pilings of the old pier. That original pier, he said, extended a long way so that the railroad could get clear water for its steam engines. The new pier, he estimated, was only about 12 feet longer than the old one, which had been there since the early 1900s.
"It wasn't a mindless squandering of taxpayers' dollars," Jenkins said. "I just think the way it was reported ... I think they portrayed something that was really, really bad."
Lund, the retired school superintendent, said he had never heard of any DNR objections when the project was being pursued.
"It certainly is used an awful lot," Lund said. "Nursing homes and other places like that. It's handicapped-accessible and the fishing's good."
Kevin Grondahl, parks and recreation director for Staples, said the news story contained a cost figure that differed from what area residents knew and lacked the human element. The pier, he said, is used by schools and by an adult group home in Clarissa.
"I really have never heard a sour word about it, other than 'why don't you get it fixed?' (before the renovation)," Grondahl said.
Grondahl said when he initially approached the DNR officials they told them their budget for such piers was small and they suggested he contact his legislators.
Regarding the length of the pier, Grondahl said that nothing had really changed since the early 1900s.
"The footprint in the lake has been the same ever since," Grondahl said. "It's built right over the top (of the old pier). Better to keep it in the same spot."
MIKE O'ROURKE may be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.