It sounds like the powers to be, finally decided to make the ramp even less accessable. During the Derby, the ramp was blocked by saw horses, and some of the prizes (two 4-wheelers on a trailer). Once the Derby folks left the area, anyone could have moved the saw horses, and attempted to drive on. With the ice getting safer, in most places, I'd bet thats exactlly what happened.
At which time, someone (fire, PD, or DPW), decided to make sure the ramp was really blocked (for cars and trucks anyways), and then dumped the sand.
Rattlesnake Girl, I'm sure that your friends thoughts were very similar to the authorities on the morning of the Derby. What made that area different than the whole rest of the lake, was the Derby Headquarters. As nasty as the weathy was, people were still walking out on to the ice to check the board, and talk to some of the fishermen in that area. There would have been no problem, if everyone was able to park across from the Rotary trailer. They would have just crossed the road, and had a short, safe walk to the board.
But, as you can imagine, parking was at a premium. A lot of people, myself included, parked in the strip mall lot, on the left of Rt 25, right where it started to bear away from the ice. From that area, it appeared to be much safer to cut across the ice, to get to the board, instead of walking in the road, with the heavy traffic, over to the trailer. Depending on where you stepped on to the ice, off of Rt #25, you may have been unlucky enough to cross the 2 inch black ice, to get to the board. That was the biggest problem, the thin black ice stuck way out into the end of the cove, at least 50% of the way across! To be safe, you really had to walk to the left (west) side, which was away from the trailer, and the fish board. The natural thing would have been to walk the shortest distane, and that would have taken you right across the thin ice.
The one thing I was happy to see as I was leaving, is that the fishermen in the area, were trying to police the thin ice themselves, but that was kind of hit or miss. As long as they were standing around, it wasn't much of a problem. Whenever someone got a flag, thats where everyone in the area's attention was. It was at this time, that people were most at risk of going thru.
I don't know if this thin ice problem behind the fish board will ever happen again, but I hope that we probably got the attention of some of the people who could have made a difference. I just hope it'll be looked at in future years. We could be in for big trouble if this global warming thing continues
