Golf course cleanup set for this weekend

There's a fever sweeping over the coulee area that comes about the same time each year, not the kind that the clinic can deal with.

It's golf time at Banks Lake Golf Course!

The official opening is April 1; however, when the sun is out and the grass is starting to green, golf balls will be on the fly. Already some eager beavers are hitting the 18-hole course, well ahead of the opening date.

This week, Port District 7 commissioners were on hand to paint the interior of the golf office, but a bigger problem looms: getting rid of the debris from the cottonwood trees that were cut down in late fall.

Port District President James Keene said last week that they had been waiting for the golf course to dry sufficiently to move heavy equipment in so trees and limbs could be loaded onto trucks and hauled away.

That time has come, and commissioners are planning a work weekend to tackle the task this Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; they've put a call out for volunteers to help.

Several cottonwoods were taken down last fall in a course improvement effort, but a long, harsh winter prevented further work until now, just as the course season opening approaches.

The port district owns and manages the 18-hole layout. Last year, the golf course ended the season in the black, the first positive year since the district took over the management three years ago.

The port district plans to use its own equipment to do the cleanup work.