Fish gotta swim, but not here

The dam can either be rebuilt or breached, a councilman said.
GIRARD -- With Lower Girard Lake reduced to a mud hole, fish were thrashing about in the tiny stream that snakes through the former lake bed.
Several large fish lay dead Tuesday afternoon in muddy water a few feet from the outflow pipe on the downstream side of the deteriorated dam.
In Tuesday's hot weather, the air was permeated with the smell of rotting fish, and tree stumps were visible across the lake bottom. A great blue heron flew over the dam at the city-owned lake.
"It's unfortunate, but we're doing what we're expected to do to ensure the safety of our citizens [by draining the lake]," said City Councilman Joe Lambert, D-at-large, chairman of council's finance committee and former chairman of its recreation committee.
Ups and downs
The city began draining the lake more than a year ago to reduce pressure on the 80-year-old concrete dam, but the lake filled up again after heavy rains, and still could fill up once again if more heavy rains come, he said.
The city now has two choices regarding the dam, which is off Tibbetts-Wick Road, Lambert said. Either it can rebuild the dam or it can breach the dam and restore the normal flow of Squaw Creek, he said.
The Army Corps of Engineers has given the city until the end of the year to determine what alternative it wants to take because of issues concerning the safety of the dam.
XCONTRIBUTORS: Vindicator staff writers Tim Yovich and Peter H. Milliken.