Posted on 10/06/2006 1:29:37 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
DEAD MAN'S HOLE — When Lance Armstrong, the famous cancer-slayer and Tour de France champion, bought a 200-acre ranch in the Texas Hill Country several years ago, his neighbors didn't expect any trouble.
Despite his fame, they figured they had something in common with the star cyclist, who was drawn to this countryside about 40 miles west of Austin for the same reasons they all were: the breathtaking landscape, the privacy of the hills and, above all, a shimmering emerald pool hidden deep in the embrace of a fern-draped limestone grotto.
Armstrong was so taken with the pool, called Dead Man's Hole, that he began his 2003 book, Every Second Counts, with descriptions of it. He writes that jumping off the 45-foot waterfall into the pool was his "own personal way of checking for vital signs" after cancer, and that facing the fear of the jump was a cleansing, clarifying experience.
But there's nothing clear about Dead Man's Hole now. Three years later, the water has turned from glassy green to pea soup and Armstrong is in hot water with his neighbors, who blame his dam-building project for causing a mess that he has yet to clean up.
"Lance is a spokesman for Don't Mess With Texas," said 52-year-old landowner John Davis, referring to the state's celebrity-studded anti-litter campaign. "He's lent his name to this great cause and then, when it comes to cleaning up his own mess, he won't do it."
Not so, said Armstrong, who maintained he's doing whatever it takes to restore clarity to the creek that he "loves as much, if not more than, anybody else."
"To say that we're not making progress and that we're just stalling is completely and patently false," he said. "I'm really sorry they're upset, but I've done everything I can do and I'm going to continue to ultimately fix it," said Armstrong, who refers to his neighbors as "busybodies with not a lot to do."
He said his attorney, Jerry Webberman, has been meeting with consultants, trying to determine a cleanup method that's best for the environment, a process that takes time.
"It's just not one of those types of problems that has an easy fix or at least not one that's real quick and obvious," Webberman said.
Problem began with dam
Meanwhile, several of the dozen landowners who have access to the pool have refused to swim there and blame Armstrong for robbing them of two summers in the pristine waters they have jealously guarded for years.
The water has cleared some, but the sediment has begun feeding an algae problem, according to experts, and a slimy muck still lines the bottom of a pool that was once clear enough for snorkeling.
The trouble started about a year and a half ago, when Armstrong hired a contractor to dam a stretch of Dead Man's Creek that runs through his property. He planned a recreational pond and watering hole for animals.
But the construction sent sediment rushing into the pool and sent neighbors over the edge, demanding that Armstrong scrap the project and clean up the mess.
Armstrong said he regrets ever starting the project and has spent half a million dollars attempting to restore the creek bed. He said he was unaware that he needed permits to build the dam and abandoned construction immediately when he found out. Neighbors dispute that, saying construction carried on a bit longer.
"We started the project under bad advice. My bad," Armstrong said. "I've proven that I care about the hole. If it's financial or environmental, I'll do whatever it takes to fix what was unfortunately started."
His attorney worked with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to resolve two violations : failure to obtain a proper permit and unauthorized discharge of sediment into state water.
"The matter is resolved as far as we're concerned," TCEQ spokeswoman Andrea Morrow said this week.
She said Armstrong wasn't fined because he took quick corrective action. And she said TCEQ officials have determined that removing the sediment manually, by flushing it downstream in large quantities, could be more dangerous to the environment than allowing it to flow out naturally in a big rain.
But landowners say no one ever suggested the muck should be flushed downstream. Instead, they say, they've researched the matter and come up with a solution that basically amounts to sending scuba divers with vacuums to the bottom of the hole.
The muck would be sucked through a filtering system that would return clean water to the creek, a process that would likely take two weeks and cost $50,000 to $60,000, said Jerry Hill, a 51-year-old woodworker who has lived near the pool for nearly 25 years.
Landowners also point to a study by a city of Austin expert who concluded the best option for combating the algae and restoring clarity is to remove the offending sediment. The report said it could take a 10-year flood to wash it out naturally.
Considering current drought conditions, Hill and other landowners say they don't want to wait that long.
"We've seen half a dozen of those rains in 25 years," said Hill, who stood with his wife, Kathy, examining the milky green water one afternoon this week.
'It's just so aggravating'
Hill said landowners have reached out to Armstrong and tried to solve the problem in a neighborly way, but they have largely been referred to his attorney, who doesn't appear in a hurry to find a solution.
"It's just so aggravating because it's so obvious what's the right thing for a decent person to do," Hill said.
"Well, some people just think they're above it all," his wife said.
Landowners say Armstrong's celebrity status may be contributing to the delay in reaching a solution.
"His lawyer said, 'Oh, everybody just wants to touch Lance,' and it's like, no, we just don't want him to touch us anymore," Kathy Hill said. Webberman denied making the comment.
Landowners said their famous neighbor has stopped returning calls and declined invitations to meet with them, instead sending representatives. And he didn't sign a cleanup agreement proposed in August by 11 landowners.
"If you're going to be downstream from somebody, don't be downstream from somebody famous," Davis said.
Armstrong acknowledges he's busy, especially with his nonprofit foundation that assists cancer patients around the world. He said the ranch is only one of his homes (he also has a house in Austin), and when he's out there he'd rather spend time with his kids than neighbors who are anything but neighborly.
A few landowners have yelled at him, sent him nasty notes, frequently trespassed on his property and one even gave him a bottle of Arrogant Bastard Ale, Armstrong said.
"These people are incredible. I've never seen anything like it. And then they wonder why I don't come and hang out with them," he said.
Still, he has no intentions of selling the ranch. He recently expanded his property to 450 acres and said he plans to do conservation easements on both tracts.
"I'm a guy who drives a hybrid (car)," the cyclist said. "I care about the planet, period."
When you get out into the country, especially in the West, you don't mess with the water. The first time you do that your neighbor comes over and asks you to stop. The second time, he comes over and shoots you.
At least, that's the way it used to be. Maybe it still should be. Then you wouldn't have an arrogant "environmentalist" like Armstrong thinking that they can screw around with a creek that does not belong exclusively to him.
I have two jeeps and care about the Earth too, so what?? Pony up and fix your mess Mr Arrogant.
Pray for W and Our Troops
NY Post wrote last week he's dating Ivanka Trump.
Are you French?
$50-60K doesn't seem like it would break the bank for Lance. Wouldn't it be easier for him just to pay for the scuba clean-up?
This story reminds me of the thread a few days back about the septic tanks on these celebrities' properties leaking into the Pacific, yet they---who care so much about the planet---refuse to do anything about it.
Contractors can be blinded by the light (of celebrity), too.
Hardly surprising for an athlete who spends all his waking hours on a bike (probably in Europe).
There are so many things that can contribute to an algae bloom. There was a drought, right? I've seen lakes, ponds & quarries algae-up after a good rainfall.
Lance, by not "doing it by the numbers", made himself a target on this one.
BTW, the scuba-reclamation project is a joke. They're going to make the situation worse by tearing up the bottom sediment, releasing other toxins that were settled there & encapsulated.
There are things that can be added to the water to clear it. Another poster mentioned grape pectin.
"Is that the only car he owns...?"
You are so right. I would have ponied up the 60 grand immediately. Not just for his neighbors but to also restore what sounds like a great swimming hole.
Well, shoot! That must mean the mess is all cleared up!"
</sarc>
Could it be because you're an a-hole who's screwed up a natural resource, Lance?
Nothing like objective journalism.
Exactly, and any licensed contractor would know that to get that permit, you'd have to have erosion and sediment control measures spelled out in the application and/or depicted on the construction plans. Sounds to me like the eroasion control measures were either non-existent or woefully inadequate.
Which makes me wonder if he even used a licensed contractor to build his dam, or just hired some guy working off the tailgate of his truck who put in a low-ball bid.
Yeah, I can see Texans losing sleep over not hanging out with a "celebrity".
What an arrogant statement. You are not all that, Lancey boy. You stayed away from Texas too long - spending too much time as a Eurotwit - to think you can do whatever you want with a free creek that happens to flow through your property.
I would bet if someone upstream from him had done something like this, he would be at the forefront of the battle leading his "celebrity" friends.
He's too arrogant to be a Texan. We would prefer that he move back to Europe.
Any new or major renovation had a "MEP" number on the property, I guess that is Massachusetts Environmental Protection docket number.
In some towns (my sisters) you can't even cut down a tree without some environmentalist (town employee) wacko having a say in it.
Had he done this in MA without a permit, I shutter to think what they would have done to him.
Not according to a poster on another conservative web site.
Reply 5 - Posted by: BobbyKeith, 10/6/2006 7:10:04 PM
Lance is full of Sh&t!! I work in Austin and see him every Friday pull up in his MASSIVE black Caddy Escalade at the building where his lawyer's office is. First time I saw him, I couldn't fathom how a little white guy could be behind the weel of that decked out pimpmobile, but I was amazed to see him crawl out. Hybrid my a$$!!
Reply 9 - Posted by: BobbyKeith, 10/6/2006 7:34:22 PM
Another little Armstrong anticdote:
Unfortunately this guy and matthew mcconaughey have been elected as the unofficial ambassadors to my alma matter, UT Austin. Well these clowns announced that they were going to tailgate at the Ohio State game in MY SPOT! Tailgating at UT games is like a religion. Everybody knows everybody and many of us have held the same spot for more than a decade. The way the tailgate works is that you have to wait in line to get a spot and sign in on Friday night at 6pm. My tailgate crew got into touch with one of the local fraternities and had them camp out from Wednesday afternoon all the way till sign up time, blocking the clowns and forcing them to get spaces over four blocks southwest of campus. A proud moment in Texas Football history.
"I care about the planet, period."
Too bad he doesn't care so much about his neighbors.
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