Making Waves On Lake Zoar

For the past 12 summers, a group of volunteers has been challenging people with physical disabilities to stretch the limits of their experience by getting them up on water skis on Lake Zoar. We have reported regularly on the amazing work of the Leaps of Faith Disabled Water Ski Club. It is an uplifting story that we cannot tell too often. Unfortunately, the group is having to negotiate some additional challenges ever since the Lake Zoar Authority (LZA) started making waves over permits and fees associated with the LZA lake patrols it is requiring for the club’s summertime clinics.

The Department of Environmental Protection, which has jurisdiction over lake authorities in Connecticut, has declared such authorities to be the “sole agent in matters of enforcement of boating law.” Last June the Lake Zoar Authority decided to use its enforcement powers to declare that the Leaps of Faith clinics would require law enforcement patrols, and that the volunteer group should be charged $241 per clinic to underwrite the costs of the patrols. The Leaps of Faith volunteers do most of their extraordinary work using the currency of generosity and good will. So after 12 years of running clinics without incident, this unilateral action by the LZA seemed a bit harsh and abrupt.

What is the lake authority’s rationale for the patrols and new charges? The LZA chairman explained that the authority members were just protecting themselves from legal liability in the event that someone was injured. Evidently the LZA was unaware that state law requires towns to shield its citizen representatives on such authorities and other public agencies from the liabilities of their conduct on behalf of the towns. If avoiding lawsuits is the goal, the lake authority does have a problem, however. Leaps of Faith has indicated that it is prepared to sue to ensure its right to use Lake Zoar without an extra fee like every other private user of this public resource.

Of course, public safety and not liability should be our prime concern on the lakes, and in the context of public safety, the LZA and Leaps of Faith should find some common ground. Officials from the lake authority’s constituent towns — Newtown, Monroe, Oxford, and Southbury — have ordered the LZA to do just that. Let’s hope they follow through on that mandate. It’s time to stop making waves and start smoothing the way for those with disabilities to leave their limitations in their wake next summer and for many summers to come.