Jack, my question about the toxic algae causing the dog deaths is why, if that were the case, we haven't seen more dog deaths since? I mean, this draining is proof that the problem hasn't gone away, right? We were neighbors with one of the families who lost their dog to the poisonings. My recollection, slightly faded (and thus possibly incorrect) is that some of the dogs vomited up the tainted meat products, or had the contents revealed via autopsy. I think there is substantial proof that it was actually an intended poisoning.

I never read anything about vomiting up. All I saw was that there were *traces* of paraquat in *some* of their systems in an autopsy.

Once the toxic algae was identified in 2006, warning signs went up, and even a fence, at least for a while.

If they had recovered even one uneaten poisoned bait, I might be a lot more inclined to accept the crazed killer story. But you raise a point that is obviously worth considering.

Jack--not to get too heavy into the speculation, but one reason they might not have recovered any is that the killer went back and removed them that night, or the next day, etc. I think the speculation is that the guy worked for the Parks Dept., and thus would have been very familiar with the park.

Also, I did find the attached link:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/18/national/main564005.shtml

which includes the following:

"Autopsies indicated that someone laced the meat with the herbicide paraquat, veterinarians say."

It would have been quite simple for a microbiologist to test the water, identify algae present and determine if sufficient quantities of any toxic species existed. I remember when people were selling blue green algae concentrate from Klamath Lake as a naturopathic cure for what ails ya only to learn that it was contaminated with a toxic strain. The business promptly ceased.

That all depends. Dallas's White Rock Lake went through the same sort of dredging, and that dredging took nearly five years. If there's lots of money to be made off claiming that it's full of toxic sediment, such as if it would expedite getting the park "donated" to developers, then expect to hear about the raw plutonium being shoveled up next week. However, if the discovery of toxic sediment were to depress current values, as with White Rock Lake, prepare to be amazed at the "surprisingly pristine" analysis. Either way, the company hauling out said sediment is going to make out like bandits.