NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – Property owners on Lake Dunlap in New Braunfels are in the midst of an intense battle among themselves and with the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority.
The big issue is stumps. The lake has been lowered four feet to accommodate repair work on the dam, revealing dozens of tree stumps.
Boater Michael Calta said they are hazards. "It can stop you just like hitting the car in front of you," Calta said. "It's just boom and those kids can get thrown back and forth."
Calta said he has lost three propellers from hitting submerged stumps. Homeowners like Darline and Bernie Raabe say they are tired of rescuing boaters.
"They're stranded and you have to help them," Darline Raabe said. "They'll come rowing over to your property and we give them a hand and get them out."
"The thing I'm concerned about is the safety of somebody getting hurt," said Bernie Raabe.
They said it is a common occurrence in the summer. "We just place bets to see who is going to bang one next," said Darline Raabe.
The Guadalupe Blanco River Authority runs the lake and recently removed some stumps.
Someone else came in after that and removed dozens more, raising a cheer from some homeowners.
But the GBRA said it has to take all uses of the lake into consideration and that stumps are fish habitat.
General Manager Bill West also said the cutting of those stumps was illegal.
"When you fall off a jet ski or a ski and you go in the water, you go in the water more than four feet," West said.
He said when the water level is raised back up it will be more hazardous. "Before, you could see the stumps, they were obvious," West said. "And we had buoys so you could see it. Now for the novice that hasn't been on the lake before it's even more dangerous than it was before."
The lake is now closed to boaters while the GBRA mulls what to do about the stump cutting. Other homeowners on the lake like the stumps being there because it slows down speeding boats.