Frank Reid wrote:
Hmm, I know Lefty has intrests in at least two of those four spots. I
just wish the article would say that.
I just heard about a study of "news commercials." Items that are
touted as news items, but are in reality marketing ploys. Many news
organizations are passing these bits off as real news, even addressing
the marketing droids as "reporters." Sounds like this article is of
that vein.
Frank Reid

I know Lefty's an honorary member of the Spring Ridge Club, and I think
another Pennsylvania fly fishing author is an honorary member. They
shill for it. The guy who runs it, Donny Beaver, is supposed to be a
great guy in person and does lots of charity fishing events, but he's
made the locals mad with a particular bit of the Little Juniata called
the Espy property he leased the fishing rights for. He claims the water
is non-navigable, thus his lease makes it off-limits to the public. The
locals claim the water is navigable, thus they can fish it by staying
in the riparian zone. The crux of the issue is the definition
"navigable" under a particular subset of very old Pennsylvania
commonwealth law. It has gone to the court system for resolution. In
the mean time, Donny's guides act pretty nasty to the public on the
water with anecdotal examples of very bad behavior. Their bad behavior
is part of the outrage of the locals, along with an insinuation that
the lease was predatory to the landowner and the fact that many of them
have been fishing it as a de facto public stream for years. It does
have property rights and water usage implications for the whole state.

I think he also has a stretch of Spruce Creek down by Penns. For the
quantity and quality of the water, I don't see the club membership as
such a good deal.