Full articles are linked, cliffs notes are in between.
Campground is given permission to open
June 14, 2002 - Fayette County Planning Commission votes 3-2 to allow Leon Shal to open Indian Creek Camplands w/162 primitive campsites on 100 acres. Several weeks before on June 3, 2002, supervisors agreed to turn over control of the road to Leon Shal, without asking anybody or advertising the meeting. Neighboring residents raise protests, illegal activity is complained about.
Supervisors consider turning road over to resident
June 29, 2002 - Since they had no right to vacate the road just like that, they then 'considered' closing the road, with lots of comments for and against.
Residents oppose limiting access
July 2, 2002 - A public comment meeting was held, with over 40 residents in attendance, most for keeping it open. Attorney Richard Bower represented several adjacent property owners, and submitted a petition with several hundred names, for keeping public access open.
Township supervisors say no to gate request
August 6, 2002 - "Every person in attendance - besides Shal, his lawyer and two other township residents - supported the supervisors' decision to keep the road open. "If this is about property being vandalized, you can't stop that," said one lady in attendance. "I live in a borough, and I get that. It happens anywhere. It's life."
Others stated that it was a beautiful place for families on a low income to go enjoy their vacation.
Still others claimed that they take bags down with them and actually clean up garbage that others leave."
2003 - The planning comission's ruling is appealed by those same adjacent property owners. The planning comission ruled that Shal had to amend his development plans, which called the road 'private' to public.
MAWC beefs up security at reservoir
May 14, 2004 - The MAWC hired 10 county sheriffs to 'stop the trespassing before it gets started.' Complaints (by guess whom?), led to the MAWC being cited for running a campground and a junkyard on the property. Since they acted proactively, authorities put off the complaint and citation for the time being. MAWC expressed concern over the $10-20K annual expense of 'water police' but said it pales in comparison to fencing off the whole 1600 acres.
Party's over at Fayette reservoir site
June 11, 2004 - MAWC reports great success patrolling before and during Memorial Day weekend with no major problems to speak of. MAWC officials also noted receiving emails from from people upset that actions of a few have kept everyone from enjoying the land. The zoning office could not comment on 'withdrawing the court case' as of yet.
Springfield residents should band together
April 20, 2004 - Neighboring resident Paul Mulligan makes excellent points in his letter to the editor. "In my 30 years (going there), I've never encountered any of the unsavory biker gangs or terrorists mentioned in your article. I frequently ride my trail bike to Indian Creek, so I suppose I could be called a biker. The water company is being made a scapegoat by interests that would take this public treasure for private commercial purposes."
I didn't come across the Feb 13 article he cites, but iirc it was overly dramatic in referring to the arsonists, drug users and terrorists.
2005, 2006 - Leon Shal is curiously absent from causing problems at Hawkins Hollow briefly. It is discovered by state investigators that he had billed the state (150K) for youth counseling work, but was not qualified to do so with a diploma-mill diploma with two misspellings on it. He receives ARD and eventually gets back to his mission of charging people to enter Hawkins Hollow via Indian Creek Road.
Hawkins Hollow property not for sale
June 15, 2007 - Indian Creek Camplands owner Leon Shal has apparently been pestering the MAWC to purchase some of their property, in order to 'keep unwanted visitors out.' "We've done a good job of cleaning up the property. We've told him (Shal) we're not interested in selling the property," said authority Manager Chris Kerr.
He wants to keep the public out, yet to run a successful campland in such a remote location, these are exactly the people he should be advertising to. People will pay to camp at a campground, they just don't want to pay each and every time they ride down into the hollow for a few hours. Fight to block public access while at the same time you are hoping to court the public to come patronize your business???
Dangerous road
October 3, 2007 - Supervisors once again are considering closing the road permanently. A hearing is tentatively scheduled for November 13, 2007. The 2002 meetings were held in the fire hall in Mill Run. When an exact location and date is announced, I'll post them up.