Dog

I'm a native that grew up swimming and floating on Dog river, annewakee creek, sweetwater creek. I'm from Winston near the powerlines that cross I-20 west of post road exit. There's a tunnel under I-20 and the powerlines to allow a small but crystal clean creek to cross. A smaller creek that started from a spring behind the house I grew up in joined the tunnel creek. Together they go south east toward the backside of the Clinton estate where they turn into a large, natural, shallow swamp like wetland. Then the waters drain from the wetland and soon drain into dog river.

Before there was a Douglas county Water AUTHORITY....every creek in the county was accessible. The large, older, reservoir called Bear creek was open to the public to fish. Hard to get to, but held the biggest bluegill and shellcracker I've caught. It was loaded in big bass too, but it was big enough to require a boat to reach them. The concrete spillway on the dam end was loaded in big bluegill. There was a 2 story pump house on the dam that some would jump off of. Nobody ever died.

That spillway flows into Annewakee creek which crosses 166 then drains into the hooch. You could hike from the 166 bridge in or drive in the headwater end if you had 4 wheel drive and some clearance.Just west of this spot off a dirt road was the trail down to the old 'beach' part of dog river. Some rapids...sand beach...and a deep fishing hole. The reservoir(Built by taxpayer funds), Annewakee creek, dog river, and the tract of woods around it make up some of the most beautiful landscape in the county.

Thing is....the landowners surrounding that whole area were composed of Old money Douglas county power brokers....Judges, DA, Dr's, etc and they were all from the original group of families that settled the county. This same group also owned the Douglas county hunt club property a few miles west on 166, the same group that permitted a wealthy, female, property owner to get the permits so she could rescue unwanted big cats from zoos. Lions, Tigers, pumas, panthers numbering in the hundreds. I saw them with my own eyes. She spent millions for the fencing and the insurance etc...did everything the county asked. Then, after the downturn in the deer population started in the late 90's, and the prestigious DC hunt club had several slack harvests in a row, they decided the woman and her cats were to blame. She was forced to shutdown for some BS violation, but to the chagrin of hunt club, she had the money to stall in court by appeal long enough to turn loose a few here and there, about 15-20 yearlings that had been born in her care that she raised to like squirrel, two breeder adult females, and one adult male...all American cougars...a species that use to roam Douglas county woods before the white man came.

Anyway, when the idea of building dog river reservoir first came up, and citizens heard the initial proposal of fee structure...folks went off. They were higher than they are now to begin with. Folks went off because like me, they had been around long enough to know who benefited from owning the land around the area, they knew their water bills and tax bills financed the reservoir, they knew that several old money landowners made a killing selling property that was worth little(!,000 acre) but was bought for much more (10,000 acre) because they acted like they didn't want to sell. The flooded reservoir made the land they didn't sell but bordered the reservoir worth much more. And the county would save millions from the water the reservoir provided.

All this funded by tax payer money. If they hadn't gotten so greedy from the get go with the proposed fees, which they lowered but are still high, nobody would've cared. When angry residents let the county know they wouldn;t spend one dime at the new reservoir, they quietly shut off access to the older reservoir at bear creek. For years I fished there getting checked once or twice a year by DNR, It was a real muddy drive down there....Then one year, down on the spillway end, I saw what looked like a DNR truck but as it drew closer I realized it said 'Water Authority Law Enforcement'. Had ANY part of my mind knew I was no longer legal there when I first saw the truck on the headwater end, I had a thirty minute head start to make the 10 minute run into the woods following Annewakee creek out to 166. They never would've stood a chance of catching me, even if they started out right behind me. Nope...I stood right there and two armed 'WATER POLICE' came out of their truck and informed me I was tresspassing, that I was going to jail, and my fishing gear would be confiscated. They thought they had me when he called DCSD over the radio asking for a deputy to meet them at the road because their authority ends there. The dispatcher said gimme a min to find a deputy. In that wait I told them that they had no power to arrest me physically untill the deputy got there. I told them that If I so choose, I could break for the woods and would be on 166 before they even got to kings hwy on the other end. And I also told them that I wanted to talk to the sheriff himself over the radio or I would not go along peacefully to meet the deputy at the road and any physical contact on their part would expose the county to a nice lawsuit and prolly cost them their jobs. I also expressed my disdain for the sneaky way the county suddenly changed the rules without saying anything all so the big wigs in the county could have a taxpayer funded private hunting and fishing preserve. I was let go with a summons to appear in court.
I went before Judge James(Who owned property bordering bear creek) and David Mcdade. I got a lecture about trespassing laws and was fined $50.

That's why things are like they are now. It's a crime that the citizens of this county are held back from enjoying the beautiful, wild, creeks and rivers that we grew up enjoying and were stopped from using because of dog river reservoir. Actually, had someone dropped a dime to Dale Russel..this would blowed slap up.Since the days of Earl Lee and his magical escape from some sure fire ugly charges the atlanta media has been itching to get dirt on old Douglas county power broker families.