Adventures of Winderman and James Ottis

Well crew,

Feast your eyes on these tasty nuggets of central California! Winderman and Ottis are out there enjoying all that is a coastal California winter. Nice work dudes, keep the photos coming to all of us back here stuck in the blizzard.

North Shore Bowl Mission

Dudes,
Due to our little SAMAita (Ava) we were not able to join you crazy fools at Rosy Mound last night but instead found ourselves in the middle of a police stake out equipt with snowboards. If you havn't seen the news there were 3 idiot armed burglars on the north shore last night with the whole west coast police force in pursuit. Paralel pathing their mission, my SAMA family and fellow SAMA friends Pieter and Dayle were in search of Ferrysturd Pow! We had a few great runs, but as we reached the summit we spotted police searching our vehicles and flashing spotlights and assault rifles up at the dunes. We shredded the hill in front of us to find out what was going on by our cars when we were quickly told to evacuated from the area. I proceeded to ask the armed officer if snowboarding and having clean SAMA fun was a crime. We left the area but were held by armed police for a good 2 hours not letting us leave the area. Crazy story and in the end we didn't get Ava to bed on time and should of joined you guys at Rosy Mound instead.

PJ Hoffmaster SAMA session

Tuesdays session at PJ Hoffmaster was killer, and tonight we hit it again. We bring our SAMA style to the back and more protected bowls of the sand company. Power to the Powder Poachers! Under the cover of darkness the secret SAMA agents will hike and destroy the freshies waiting for us illuminated by the glow of our LED headlamps. Once again I praise all the men and women of SAMA who show the rest of the world inching along in their tin cans, hiding from the cold and complaining about life in the Midwest, that the human spirit is still alive! We embody the idea that allowed our ancestors to progress. Where others see nothing worth chasing, we see only possibilites, and epic little stashes. Keep it real Samainians!! Power to the Poachers....

Please help Indiana

Indiana Proposes to Delete Waters From Its Impaired Waters List
Due to Missing Data on Mercury and PCB Pollution

Deadline for Group Sign on: Noon, Wednesday January 30, 2008

Alliance for the Great Lakes Comment Letter attached and below in this email

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management plans to delete many rivers and streams from its statewide list of impaired waters, including several tributaries to Lake Michigan. Under Indiana’s proposed new methodology, many waters that formerly were listed as impaired will be deleted from the list even though Indiana advises the public that it is unsafe to eat fish from these waters because of mercury and PCB contamination. Many of these waters will be removed even though Indiana has no data on mercury and PCB contamination levels for the waters. As a result, Indiana will not be required to create plans to restore these waters since they will no longer be listed as impaired.

The federal Clean Water Act requires Indiana to update its impaired water list every two years. Indiana must develop plans called TMDLs to improve water quality in the listed impaired waters that are unable to achieve water quality standards. The Alliance has developed the attached comment letter on Indiana’s proposal and is seeking support for our concerns by inviting groups throughout the state to sign onto the letter. Our concerns include:

· Indiana must develop TMDLs or specify alternative measures to restore waters impaired by mercury or PCBs;
· Impaired waters must not be delisted because IDEM lacks data using new methods for evaluating contamination; and
· Indiana’s new method for evaluating water impairment from fish tissue data must not be less protective for mercury and PCB pollution.

Indiana must receive all public comments on its impaired water list by January 31, 2008. More information on Indiana’s proposal can be found on Indiana’s website at:
http://www.in.gov/idem/programs/water/303d/index.html

To join the Alliance comment letter: Contact Lyman Welch by Noon, Wednesday January 30, at LWelch@greatlakes.org or 312-939-0838 ext. 230. Please include in your message: Your name, your title and the group you represent.

Last Call...

Hey bros,

Here's a "last call" for anyone wanting to head up with the crew next week for Mount Bohemia...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf9VXkCpRjk

If you can't make it, we will all promise not to make too big of a deal out of it...who am I kidding? We're gonna razz the shit outa' ya!

Johnson

Surfrider Lake Michigan Chapter at it again!

Great job everyone who wrote letters to the EPA to tell US Steel that more dumping of toxic chemicals is unacceptable! Here is a little info from the Alliance for the Great Lakes Website. Nice photo of the South End guys and girls as well!

The Alliance is part of a growing chorus registering concern about a state-proposed water pollution permit for a U.S. Steel plant in Indiana, its concerns among more than 300 comments submitted to federal regulators at the end of 2007.

Earlier, an estimated 300 people braved a December snowstorm in Gary to attend an EPA hearing on the proposed water quality discharge permit for U.S. Steel's Gary Works Plant along Lake Michigan.

The hearing was a response to numerous requests from environmental groups, the public and public officials critical of the proposed permit issued by Indiana's Department of Environmental Management. The same agency came under fire last summer for issuing a draft water pollution permit to oil giant BP for discharges into Lake Michigan.

Testifying at the Gary hearing, Alliance Board member Tina Rongers and Water Quality Program Manager Lyman Welch called for tighter pollution controls in the U.S. Steel permit. The permit governs how much pollution the plant - the country's largest fully integrated steel mill - can discharge into Lake Michigan, the Grand Calumet River and Stockton Pond.

"This flawed permit would reverse years of restoration efforts to improve Lake Michigan," said Welch. "Strong pollution limits need to be written into the permit now, so that we're not faced with a cleanup situation later."

Rongers called on EPA to protect the region's progress and investments toward environmental remediation and restoration along the Grand Calumet River and Lake Michigan shoreline, including U.S. Steel's own remediation and improvement work.

Noting the Alliance agrees with EPA's finding that the draft permit violates various aspects of the federal Clean Water Act, Rongers said, "It is everyone's duty to protect human health and the environment as required by law."

"Achieving balance between environmental quality and economic vitality requires us to recognize the importance and value of regional assets, whether it's a competitive firm -- like U.S. Steel -- or the Great Lakes," she said.

Welch objected to Indiana's proposal to grant U.S. Steel five more years to comply with federal water quality standards, and said the permit requires substantial reductions in allowable discharges of cyanide, chromium, oil, grease and thermal pollution to the Grand Calumet River.

EPA Region 5 spokeswoman Phillipa Cannon said the agency will prepare a response to some of the comments received during the comment period that closed Dec. 28, posting it on EPA's website once available. The agency is still exploring whether to post all of the public comments online, she said.

In the meantime, the public comments can be viewed in person at the Gary Public Library, 220 W. 5th St., Gary, Ind. For more information, visit the EPA's website at: http://www.epa.gov/region5/sites/ussteel/.

Yoga Today

OK, I'm going ''granola" on ya...this site has daily yoga sessions for free dollars:)

Yoga Today

Snow Sessions on Mt. bikes

Coop and I raged on some North Country Trail action today. We tried to go to Owasippe, but it was still closed for some reason. So, we decided to call Sunny and see if she could give us some directions to the nearest section of the N.T.C. She hooked us up and we found it! To our surprise a few other Samaistas had already ridden the section and left us a nice cut trail through the snow. It was a killer session, and it felt good to get back the mt. bike. The snow was wet and packed the trail down quite well. I wish I had a photo of the creek crossing we had to make. It was definitely SAMA style!

Surfrider Foundation Meeting Tonight 7pm

Hey crew,

Just a reminder that tonight we are having are second official Surfrider Lake Michigan Chapter meeting at 7pm. It will take place at Vince and Marc Hoeksema's gallery on the East side of Grand Haven. We will be discussing water quality issues, water withdrawl from the Great Lakes Basin, and event planning. We hope to schedule some fundraising events and recuiting events for the chapter. It should be a good time, and we always adjourn to my house for some pool shootin. You are all welcome to stop by and take part in the idea phase. Hope to see everyone tonight!

Call me if you need directions to the building.
(616) 638-3313

Mt. Bohemia reminder

Hey bros! Just a reminder – the Mt. Bohemia mission (yes, I said mission) is just 3 weeks away. I don’t know if we need a formal get-together / gear check before we leave as we are not prepping to camp out this year. However, if anyone would like to set up a “stoke-session” (to make travel plans, talk shit, BS, tell lies, etc.), please feel free to hook it up!

Here’s a quote from some stoked Bohemian:

Pat solar (Livonia Mi .U.S.A., 26 Nov, 2005): This place is not for beginners. It is, however, for advanced and experts who don't like commercial resorts but enjoy natural settings, awesome bumps, thick glades, off piste runs, (ungroomed ),plentiful powder(yes they have real powder),and steeps. It's a place like no other. People are sleeping in cars, waiting for first tracks and returning to party after last run. This is real skiing/boarding. It is back country skiing/boarding at its finest. I’ve been to the right and left side of this country and the only difference is the length of the runs. The people boarding and skiing are very talented and nice. It’s worth the long scenic drive. While standing on top of the mountain, looking over Loc la Bell and Lake Superior, hearing coyotes sing, inhaling cedar scented purified air, the only thing that stands between you and heaven is a mile and a half of pure powder. If you are looking for an adventure you won’t forget, check it out and rip it up. You won’t be disappointed.

Alright bruddahs – see you soon,

Johnson

Finally some surf pics

Hey samaritans here is a few shots I took of Brennon In Texas. They are not great pics but it saddend me to have the whole first page of the great SAMSA web site with no surf pics.

Wow, check out this dude! I have been super sick for the past four or five days. Recovering from another Boyne sickness. However, I did happen to capture this dude sitting on my arbor in the backyard. Sickness sessions are a huge bummer.

I might actually get in the water and surf some small waves tomorrow if there is anything left. It looked fun out there today.