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Fourth-Grader Petitions To 'Open Lake Denton'

Jim Konkoly/Highlands Today

Michael Stone, left, is supporting the petition drive of his 9-year-old son, Mike, regarding Lake Denton, where the father taught his son how to swim in a lake. They visited the lake Sunday morning to talk about the boy's petition drive.

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By Jim  Konkoly | Highlands Today

Published: January 8, 2008

SEBRING — Like other Americans, from George Washington and Patrick Henry to Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King, fourth-grade student Michael Stone has a dream.

Because he says his dream is being stepped on by government, Stone is doing what the Constitution says he can do: petition the government for redress of a grievance of the people.

He's spearheading a petition asking that county government reopen Lake Denton to the public, and without the expensive user's fees and restricted hours and parking that will keep some people from using the public lake.

And his petition is taking off not only with his fellow students but with adults, too.

"For such a young mind to be thinking along those lines –– and taking action –– I think is not just just good, it's awesome," said Lorie Davis, the dean of students at Cracker Trail Elementary.

"I think that for such a young man to take such aggressive action, politically, is just great," she added.

Davis signed Stone's petition, as did Stone's teacher, Connie Hogue.

With Hogue's permission, Stone addressed his class, explained the wrongs he felt were being done by the Highlands County commissioners at Lake Denton, then asked his classmates if they wanted to sign the petition.

All 23 of his classmates signed the petition.

"I signed it (petition)," Hogue said, "because I moved to Highlands County when I was four years old, back in 1959."

With decent outdoor-recreation opportunities already limited to middle- and low-income families, Hogue said, "to close a good lake and not have it available to the public is not a good thing."

Closure Part OfLong-Term Trend?

Stone began his petition drive in late October, a few weeks after county commissioners closed Lake Denton to public access. Since then, commissioners have voted to reopen it in March with "restrictions" on public access, including $25 weekend users fees for scuba divers and boaters, no more than eight families allowed there at any time, and restrictive hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Stone and his father, Michael Stone, who encouraged his son, said the restrictions amount to keeping Lake Denton closed to everybody except the privileged and well-off.

"This lake is crystal clear, and it's the best lake to snorkel or to swim in," the young Mike Stone said at the edge of Lake Denton on Sunday morning at Lake Denton Camp.

This private, faith-based camp, located right next to the closed public access to Lake Denton, was hosting a Christian Sunday morning worship service as the 9-year-old boy spoke about his petition.
Both Michael Stones, the father and son, spend lots of time together in the out-of-doors. Swimming and snorkeling are at the top of their list, but they also enjoy biking, fishing, riding four-wheelers and hiking.

Mike Stone the elder said he is most proud of his son's petition drive because his son is not just thinking about himself. The boy is also thinking of children who are not as fortunate and can't afford to pay big user's fees to use a public lake, the father said.

The elder Michael Stone said he's lived in Highlands County for 25 years and he's appalled at the lack of public outdoor recreation opportunities.

Most of the county's 134 lakes either already are, or will become, closed to the public as they become private lakes, restricted to the enjoyment only of people rich enough to own lakefront homes, Stone said.

"Growing up in Lake Placid," Stone said, "I know that most of my black and Hispanic friends couldn't afford to go to Lake Denton now " due to the weekend user's fees and the restricted week-day hours.

Stone said his family can afford to enjoy water sports elsewhere, but "if we didn't have (good incomes) we could never afford to use Lake Denton" under the county's current user-fee charges and restrictions.

"In my 25 years here in Highlands County," Stone added, "they (government) have already closed two beautiful public lakes and made them private lakes. That took away two great places to swim and now they're gone. And I don't want to see it happen a third time with Lake Denton."

How many people have signed the Lake Denton petition so far?

"I don't know," young Michael Stone said. "But it's a lot, and there's more all the time."

The elder Mike Stone said he can't answer that question, either, because the petition is still circulating.

Stone said anybody who wants to sign the petition, or obtain copies so that they can circulate it, can call him at his home: 863-471-2147.

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