I wish I had saved this newspaper myself. A dog sitting customer of mine has it framed in his house, and I had to share it with everyone.
These headlines were the start of a very huge problem for our community. It reached 128 degrees (and I had an outdoor job then) and the beaches had a poor water-quality reading because of an e.coli pollutant up river. When the water heated up at the beach areas (it doesn't circulate like the rest of the water in the lake) it made the e.coli worse. So our main attraction for tourists, the beaches, had to be closed.
Up river, we have casinos, Indian housing, and all sorts of industry that was likely dumping waste water into the river. The exact source was never publicized although I truly believe the authorities knew who it was.
The horrible heat persisted, so the beaches stayed closed.
And then came CNN. It made national news, that the waters of Lake Havasu were unsafe to swim in.
Tourists cancelled reservations at the hotels, the boat launches were empty, and everyone suddenly had no job. Who buys houses? Visitors from elsewhere. And locals who had jobs. So the realtors and construction workers were on unemployment along with the rest of us. We only had one major manufacturing company and it opted to move to Mexico to take advantage of cheap labor. So there went a BUNCH of jobs.
It was a busy time at the unemployment office.
This persisted for a while, and our little town basically shut down for several months. The weather cooled off in the winter and the lower water temperatures did away with the e.coli problem. Oh and I'm sure whoever was dumping in the river figured they'd better stop doing that.
The following March, Mtv showed up to do their Spring Break series of shows from one of the very beaches that was shut down due to the pollutants in the water. They only joked once that the water was unsafe, but other than that they showed people having a good time. They held free concerts for anyone who wanted to come, and I enjoyed quite a few great shows. It was an alcohol-free environment, and everyone had a great time. Guess what happened then?
Tourists and boaters came back. We all had jobs again. Houses began selling, and construction picked up.
With everyone making money once again, it was apparently forgotten that Mtv was the reason for our re-birth. When it was proposed that Mtv come back the following year for spring break, the older more vocal citizens said, "No way, that's trash tv!!"
Mtv kept trying. The very loud older folks in our community fought back, including our stupid newspaper and City Council, making it impossible for the spring break show to happen again.
So they went to Florida.
And here we are again, no tourists and no Mtv.
