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92_HR0770
LRB9216503BHbh
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives are proud to recognize organizations in
4 Illinois that contribute to the improvement and maintenance
5 of our natural resources; and
6 WHEREAS, It has come to our attention that the Shabbona
7 Lake Sportsman Club is celebrating its 20th anniversary on
8 May 4, 2002; and
9 WHEREAS, The Sportsman Club has received numerous awards
10 and citations over the last twenty years, including twice
11 being recognized by the Illinois Department of Natural
12 Resources for special projects; the Club has also been
13 featured in many newspaper and fishing magazine articles; and
14 WHEREAS, Shabbona Lake was built in the early 1970s; it
15 is a 318 acre manmade impoundment located halfway between
16 Rockford and Chicago; Shabbona Lake draws about 400,000
17 visitors a year and has produced 4 State of Illinois Record
18 Muskie, giving the lake its nickname, "Muskie Capitol of
19 Illinois"; and
20 WHEREAS, The Shabbona Lake Sportsman Club is the only
21 fishing and hunting Club in the United States that was formed
22 for the sole purpose of helping a State Park; in May, 1982,
23 the superintendent at Shabbona Lake State Park asked local
24 fishermen to meet with him to discuss volunteerism to keep
25 the park open during a time of financial crisis in Illinois;
26 and
27 WHEREAS, From the approximately thirty fisherman and
28 hunters that originally formed the Shabbona Lake Sportsman
29 Club, a membership of about 100 has held steady over the past
30 twenty years; and
31 WHEREAS, The members of the Shabbona Lake Sportsman Club
-2- LRB9216503BHbh
1 have volunteered their time and effort to make Shabbona Lake
2 a better fishery not only for themselves, but also for the
3 thousands of visitors to the park; some of their many
4 accomplishments include building a Walleye Rearing pond on
5 site, which was duplicated by many other state parks later,
6 establishing a Reward program to report poachers or violators
7 of fish and game laws, another concept duplicated in
8 Illinois, called "Poacher's Hotline", and coordinating youth
9 fishing clinics, which led to the first ever Youth Fishing
10 League, complete with teams, trophies, and prizes; the
11 Sportsman Club also assisted with handicapped fisherman, both
12 young and old; and
13 WHEREAS, The Shabbona Lake Sportsman Club has raised
14 several thousand dollars and received various grants to fund
15 improvements on the lake; the members have coordinated and
16 volunteered much of their time to ensure that there will
17 always be good fishing at Shabbona Lake; and
18 WHEREAS, For their exceptional volunteer efforts, the
19 members of the Shabbona Lake Sportsman Club were recognized
20 by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and received
21 the "Outstanding Volunteers of the Year Award" in 1999 and
22 2001; therefore, be it
23 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
24 NINETY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
25 we congratulate the members of the Shabbona Lake Sportsman
26 Club for their outstanding volunteer services and the fine
27 examples they have set for sportsmen and communities across
28 Illinois; and be it further
29 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
30 presented to the Shabbona Lake Sportsman Club as an
31 expression of our esteem.