Water hazard

Let's say your cousin Joe Don, who runs the Duffer's Delite Pitch 'n' Putt over near Jordan Lake, has a problem. It hasn't rained in weeks, it's hot as blazes and the greens on his little layout are about to fry. Couldn't he sort of borrow some water from the lake to help get past the worst of the drought?

Well, if Joe Don had faced that predicament in 2002 and placed a call to the Chatham County commissioners, they might have treated him as well as they treated the high rollers and political insiders who run the exclusive Old Chatham Golf Club.

The club was in fact battling the drought of 2002, and county officials quickly agreed that up to 450,000 gallons a day could be withdrawn from Jordan Lake to keep the club's greens from browning out. The water would come from the county's allocation of 4 million gallons a day, not all of which was being used.

But taking water from the lake isn't that simple. The state has to get involved, and so does the Army Corps of Engineers. As the N&O's J. Andrew Curliss reported on Sunday, the Old Chatham management used those normal channels in following through with its request. At some point, however, someone apparently had this bright idea: Get the governor's office on the case. After all, the governor's a member of the club!

Yes, the summer of 2002 was a time of increasing desperation for North Carolina water users. Drinking water supplies in reservoirs such as Jordan Lake shrank alarmingly. Gov. Mike Easley was in the forefront of trying to convince people to cut back on unnecessary water use.

How convenient for Old Chatham that Easley, a couple years before, had joined up. The club was so glad to have him on its rolls that it even waived the steep monthly dues -- a benefit that saved Easley some $50,000 during his eight years in office.

There's no telling, based on what The N&O has reported, whether Easley had anything to do with or even knew about any contact from the club in hopes of having its pumping request expedited. But according to a state agency memo, the governor's office did take an interest in the Old Chatham situation.

Someone with that office is reported to have contacted Dempsey Benton, then the No. 2 official in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, at about the same time that the club began its pursuit of the pumping idea. Benton in turn contacted river basin manager Tom Fransen.

Fransen had been cool to the golf club's request, coming as it did while the state was urgently calling for water conservation. But the upshot was that since the water was reserved for Chatham County, the state would defer to the county's judgment. Pretty sweet for the golf club, since the county's favorable position was already known.

What this episode illustrates is how a juicy perk accepted by an officeholder can have awkward ramifications, and how well-connected insiders can't resist pulling strings.

As for Joe Don, on the clout-o-meter, he just doesn't rate. By the time the red tape gets straightened out, he can probably kiss his grass goodbye.

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