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By JAMES JORDAN and FOSS FARRAR
The Traveler

An effort by Sedgwick Countians to resuscitate the Grouse Creek lake project has state Sen. Greta Goodwin, D-Winfield, and people around Dexter, upset, again.

"Wichita has got to be stopped," Goodwin said today. "It's kind of like they are ganging up."

The issue was raised Monday night after Goodwin had addressed a candidates forum in Winfield.

Goodwin said a Dexter resident who opposes the lake project posted the following new information from a radio interview of Tim Austin, a civil engineer and lake supporter. The information was posted on a web site entitled "KFDI lake project update."

"Tim Austin of Wichita says he will now talk with members of the Sedgwick County legislative delegation and go to the state commerce department to try to get the study approved."

Austin reportedly said "This isn't over," in the KFDI radio interview.

Austin was not available this morning for comment.

Goodwin said Monday night that her phone had started ringing about 2 p.m. and it was "still ringing at ten minutes till five" when she was getting ready to attend the forum.

She said people are worried that the lake issue is not dead as they had thought after the Kansas Water Authority voted to not support a feasability study.

"People in Dexter are scared, and this is just getting them stirred up again," she said.

Carol Black, a landowner whose land would be covered by the lake, said the developers "are beating a dead dog."

"All of the experts have spoken; all the public officials have spoken; the people here have spoken; and they all oppose the lake. I just don't understand why they won't listen," she said.

Wichita businessman Mike Loveland and Tim Austin, who are supporting a proposed 8,000 acre lake in Cowley County, apparently are trying to resuscitate the project despite the water authority vote.

They will discuss what the future holds concerning the lake this week on KTQW TV-49, according to an article published Monday in the Wichita Business Journal.

They will appear on a show called "House Call," which is a half-hour show about property development and housing. The show will be on Wednesday at 10 a.m. and Thursday at 9:30 p.m.

The show is hosted by Elton Parsons, vice president of Builders Inc. in Wichita.

"I think it's an interesting aspect of our economic development and for our water resource future around here," Parsons says, noting that he has no professional interest in the development of the lake. "I thought it was as a good idea to get this out to people."

The state water authority voted Wednesday not to recommend that the Kansas Water Office spend $300,000 for a feasibility study on the proposed lake.

Loveland, a supporter of the project who attended the meeting, says the mood at the gathering was that the lake was a good idea, but it wasn't the authority's place to sponsor the study.

"They just don't feel they are an economic development agency," he says. "They don't believe that's their job."

There may be other agencies that are more agreeable to undertaking the study, Loveland said.

Supporters of the 8,000-acre lake project, who say it will provide recreational and economic opportunities along with a site for retirees to live, have been running into opposition from land owners at the proposed site.

Loveland says the location, south of Wichita, is the best one he has found in 20 years of looking. He says changing the scale of the project is not the answer.

Loveland could be reached this morning for comment.

Goodwin noted that several Sedgwick County entities had passed similar resolutions backing the lake project and presented the resolutions at the state water authority meeting in Newton. They included the Sedgwick County Commission, Wichita City Commission, that city's chamber of commerce, and city commissions of Mulvane and Derby.