I commented on this article already but I wanted to add there are several comments on here about trailer place and there are alot of them at White Lake and most of them do need cleaning up around (some even removed completely) but I do have to say that there are a few camp grounds that that do a wonderful job at keeping thing clean and beautiful. I would like to mention Regal Resort----I think they do a wonderful job at keeping there RESORT amazingly clean. Also Whitelake Campground and Motel also does a wonderful job. The campers are close but not as close as some down there but they also do a really good job keeping there area up and clean.

There are several camp grounds that I found when I was looking for a place to put mine, that I wouldn't stayed there even if it was a temperary weekend thing.

Regarding Watson's comments, I think the writer of the letter was saying simply that White Lake has too many trailer parks with too many trailers. Numerous White Lake residents voice the same complaint.

As for Charles5's remarks, it's true that there are eyesores along the highways that need to be cleaned up, but county agencies are slow to even recognize the problem of rural blight. In my opinion, if the county wants to attract business and industry, it should require derelect property owners to clean up their land, residences, or businesses.

Hesterville says in her comments that White Lake and Bladen County should show more civic pride. I am all for civic pride, and evidently so are many other readers, since this piece has gotten far more thumbs up than any letter I have ever seen posted on Bladen Journal's site, and I am a regular reader.

It's time for the people of Bladen County to make a concerted effort to reverse creeping rural blight before it gets too far out of control.

I think the lady from Wilmington has made some very good points. I have lived at White Lake since the early 90s and the conditions of the area have gone down hill since I moved here. The major problem, as I see it, is that there are too many people around here who are just concerned about making money off tourists. They don't care what they do to the lake, the environment, or the general beauty of the area. The only thing they care about is making money. At the rate things are going in twenty years White Lake will be little more than a nasty, over crowded, mud puddle. It will not look anything like it did in the 70s, 80s, or 90s. Who do we have to thank? The business people who set up shop at White Lake. Thank you for destroying our town and one of our state's finest lakes.

Sometimes the truth is not fun.

I would like to say that I am 37 years old and from the time I was born until I was a teenager White Lake is the only place we vacationed. It holds wonderful memories for me, I can envision my childhood when I am there. I now have a camper at a campground that is kept up very well and it is very clean there. I do think there are a lot of areas that need to be cleaned up some, but I think Camp Clearwater has taken their campground to the extreme and the fence around it is awful. I think Goldston's PUBLIC beach is the worst thing to happen to White Lake. Over the years you come in from the lake you take your towels and bathing suits hang them over the rail of line and you didn't have to worry about anyone bothering anything. This past year I was there and I watched day in and day out for over a week, (weekends being the worst) the people from the public pier wandering to private piers and picking up stuff that was not theirs (especially floats and towels). But what bothered me the most is the trash they would leave behind. I feel like if you can't afford to come in and get a motel room or a camp ground for a few nights then you really shouldn't be allowed to wander around during the day and preying on people who are on vacation and are there to relax (not have to watch their belonging every minute).

One more item I would like to mention, will someone please bring up that the water is as clear and the sand isn't as white as it could be because of the seaweed issue. It is not rocket science people PUT SOME CARP IN THE LAKE to eat it. I love White Lake, I want my kids to grow up and enjoy it as much as I have over the years. I want it to be BEAUTIFUL for generations to come.

I, too, vacationed at White Lake when I was a kid, and when I saw the lake back in June of 08, I was disgusted with what I saw. I took a friend with me to see the lake where my family had held reunions over the years, but after seeing the eyesores surrounding the lake, I regretted showing it to him.



But it's not just White Lake that is showing a lot of ugliness, you can see rural blight--adversing billboards, junk car lots, junk in residents' yards-- along the roadsides of Bladen County, especially along Highway 87, that was not there when I was going to the lake. Bladen County and White Lake used to be clean and neat, even scenic. I have this advice for White Lake and Bladen County: It's never too late to clean up your act.

Apparently the visitor from Wilmington is unaware

that the land surrounding the state owned lake is private property. As long as the property owners abide by the zone regulations set by the

city of White Lake, they have rights to do what they will with their property. I invested in property at the lake and placed cabin trailers on it so people like her could come here for a few days. It's likely she stayed in a trailer of sorts when she visited here years of ago. Finally, I've lived in Wilmington years ago and I would have reservations about riding through the neighborhood these days. Guess you could find something negative about any place you visit.

thanks..Bill Watson

I went to White Lake last year, and I thought it looked bad. Even the road from Elizabethtown looked worse than I remember it looking when my husband and I took our children to Goldstons and Crystals for a day of swimming and riding the rides. What has happened to Crystals?

Those were fun days. It looks to me like there could be more civic pride at White lake and for that matter Bladen County. I know there used to be.