Lake deaths pose marketing problems for area businesses

By Julia Hockenberry • Daily Tribune Staff

HIGHLAND LAKES - Two bizarre deaths from a rare, water-borne bacteria have posed unusual challenges for the local tourism industry, leading to a marketing campaign highlighting area shopping and dining instead of lake sports, officials say.

Local officials said they have also fielded questions from potential visitors about whether the region is back on its feet after the disastrous June 26-27 floods, which closed roads, stranded motorists and shut down the Marble Falls water system for a week.

As temperatures slowly begin to cool in the Hill Country, some business owners are breathing a sigh of relief, eager to put these last few hot months and the calamities behind them.

But what really seems to be on tourists’ minds is whether it’s safe to swim in the lakes after two vacationers died from amoebic meningitis.

Christian Fletcher, executive director of the Marble Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce, said that although summer is officially over, the persistent residual impact of the amoebic meningitis scare on the image of Marble Falls may not be.

Fletcher noted that as a result of a barrage of high-profile stories, especially in the more distant news markets, the town’s reputation as a sought-after tourist destination has been bruised, at least temporarily.

“For example, I spent most of (a recent) conference in Houston and about half of everybody who wanted to talk about Marble Falls wanted to talk about the meningitis,” Fletcher said. “Certainly, the Austin news coverage has not helped much. Even though we’re beyond a lot of this, (the story) still is out there.”

The victims of the two fatal cases of amoebic meningitis are 12-year-old John Patrick Herrera of Round Rock and Colby Sawyer, 22, of Lubbock. Both are believed to have been infected after taking part in water activities on Lake LBJ.

Herrera died Aug. 16 in Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas in Austin. Authorities believe the child may have contracted the disease after swimming in Lake LBJ while attending a summer camp. Sawyer died of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis Sept. 4. The Lubbock resident may have contracted the disease while wakeboarding in Lake LBJ in August.

Fletcher said the tragedies have prompted his organization to revamp a marketing campaign designed to promote the area as an attraction for water recreation.

“We’ve had some concerns because we were positioned to spend a lot of money to promote people coming to Marble Falls to spend time on the water while it’s still warm. We have backed off of that,” he said. “We don’t want to be part of trying to bring people here when there are still some questions about safety of the water. We’ve shifted the focus of the campaign to our great dining and shopping, especially in the (Marble Falls) Main Street district.”

At Lake LBJ Resort and Marina in Sunrise Beach, owner Georg Pengg said the negative media attention has certainly taken a toll on the amount of potential customers the final weeks of summer.

“Business has been slow. It did affect business quite significantly,” said Pengg, whose waterfront business is located on Lake LBJ and features a marina, resort, boat and water sports equipment rentals as well as a waterfront restaurant called Boaters Bistro.

Pengg agreed that widespread news coverage may have scared more people away from the area than the actual incidents themselves.

“Nobody ever suggested to close down I-35 because there are accidents. (This amoeba) is in water across the world,” he said. “These things happen. It was one big media scare. That’s really what it comes down to.”

Health officials say the bacteria live in almost all fresh water where the temperature is 80 degrees or above. The disease is extremely rare. Less than 40 cases have been reported in Texas since 1972, all of them fatal.

To protect against infection, officials say swimmers should keep water from going into their nostrils, since the amoeba travels to the brain and then causes swelling.

While some merchants have had to wrestle with a public relations hangover following the deaths, other business owners said concerns about the safety of the water has not affected them much.

“It’s been just about normal for us,” said Stan Barnes, director of recreational business for Horseshoe Bay Resort.

Barnes oversees Horseshoe Bay Resort Marina, which provides luxury boat and personal watercraft rentals as well as recreational equipment and guides. Barnes noted that even this late in the season, the demand for watersports including water skiing is holding steady.

Daphne Still, office manager at Lake Buchanan Boat Rentals, said that the same is true from her vantage point.

“It’s been great here, and this year is still going strong,” she said.

One way to assess the impact of this summer’s unfortunate turn of events on local commerce could be to evaluate state sales tax collections.

According to sales tax rebates distributed by the Texas Comptroller’s office, rebates grew by 7.5 percent this July, compared to July of 2006. However, July 2006 sales tax rebates grew by 13 percent, compared to July of 2005.

The information for August is not available until later this month.

As far as water quality goes, the Lower Colorado River Authority reports that most local waterways are in good or excellent condition.

However data collected by the agency for the month of September indicated that Lake Marble Falls had a rating of “fair.”

The rating is attributed to an elevated bacteria reading, which heightens concern about contact recreation, according to information posted on the LCRA Web site.

The authority also started putting up signs reminding swimmers they enter the lakes at their own risk.

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Lake deaths pose marketing
problems for area businesses