Watauga

Please keep your speed down on Tester Road (take-out road)!!! A group of us had a very nasty encounter with Karl Livingston (local homeowner) at the AW take-out parking area. Mr. Livingston was furious (cussing us and almost out of control) because he felt boaters were continuously speeding down the road past his house. He says he has repeatedly told boaters to slow down and he was fed up. He has a 3-year old and he says he is concerned for her safety. When I had come by earlier behind some other vehicles he acted like he was going to throw a rock down on my truck. Mr. Livingston says he wants boaters to not exceed 10 mph in the area of the houses on Tester Road. Mr. Livingston's house is a two story house up hill on the right-side going down Tester Road (~1/3 way down)to the take-out. Joel Northen of Boone and I tried to reason with him but he was livid. A couple of us thought we saw a gun while he was talking to us in his truck but he never raised it. He made threats of getting the Sheriff to haul-off cars that were not AW members. I explained that AW does not restrict non-AW members from using the take-out. AW maintains the access for all boaters' use. We discussed that there are no signs on the road to alert drivers that a low speed is desired by the local landowners. Joel volunteered to make some signs for Tester Road. Mr. Livingston agreed to put them up.

Please slow down on Tester Road. While Mr. Livingston's actions were way over-the-top, we do need to respect the landowners/homeowners and slow down.