LADONIA — Tempers flared and competing opinions surfaced this week when landowners and others with an interest in southeast Fannin County packed the Fannindel ISD gym. Many took the opportunity to voice their objections to the proposed Ralph Hall Lake. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has issued formal notice that it will begin considering whether or not to grant a permit for Upper Trinity Regional Water District to build the lake.

Upper Trinity wants to flood 8,500 acres of farmland and move families off their land, contenders say. The reservoir would flood the North Sulphur River from northeast of Ladonia almost to Gober and 80 percent the water would be piped to Denton County and surrounding counties for use by cities outside Fannin County.

Fannin County would bear all the impact while the area north of Dallas-Fort Worth would get all the benefit, rival Chester Debord said Friday. However, Ladonia Mayor Leon Hurse said the lake is the best thing that ever happened to Ladonia.

“I don’t know if we accomplished anything (at the meeting),” Debord said. “It seems like the deck is stacked against us. For one reason, these people are more powerful than us. Also, there are some people who just belatedly learned of this just a couple of weeks ago. Upper Trinity and the city of Ladonia would just as soon people not hear about it until it’s too late. They want to control the water and that means money. Somebody is going to make millions out of this.”

The people crowding the bleachers wore stick-on signs that said, “Say No to Ralph Hall Lake,” Debord said. “They want to take our property and our homes. They look for places where we’re few in number.”

Crystal Smith spoke about a cemetery that would be displaced and expressed her concern for friends and loved ones buried there. “I can’t hardly stand the thought of those graves being flooded,” she said.

“They say there are no cemeteries to be impacted but we don’t believe that,” Debord said. “There is opposition to this lake and I’m not speaking just for me. It’s still in the permitting process, but they told us at a meeting in Bonham, Upper Trinity could be acquiring land for about eight years. It’s a slow process but that just means that many more restless nights and queasy stomachs.”

Those against the lake say it will not be a constant level lake. Instead, it will resemble Cooper Lake. “Most of the time they keep (Cooper Lake) drawn down 13 feet prior to the rain,” Debord said. “There are no usable boat ramps. They’re high and dry.

“Tell the people who have decided they’re for this lake to put themselves in our positions,” he said.

As one of the 20 homeowners to be affected by the lake, Debord added. “I can still laugh but I’m not as happy a person as I once was. As I walk through my land I say, well this will be gone soon. I won’t be able to take this walk. I haven’t given up but it’s not looking good.”

Ladonia Mayor Leon Hurse went over the benefits of Ralph Hall Lake, saying it will boost the local economy and supply the water needed for the area up to the year 2060. “We’re economically depressed here and anything we can get is going to benefit our area.

“The negative people are making the noise but property owners are for it,” Hurse said. “The lake can’t be anything but a positive thing for the city of Ladonia and surrounding area. An outside entity is going to spend $200 million to build it and that would be a benefit.”

According to the Texas Committee on Natural Resources, Ralph Hall Lake will cover 8,500 surface acres at a location 4.8 miles northeast of Ladonia and 22.5 miles southeast of Bonham on the North Sulphur River. More than 45,000 acre-feet of water will be diverted per year. That water will be piped to Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Denton, Fannin, Grayson and Wise Counties.

Hurse thinks there will be three more public meetings regarding Ralph Hall Lake. He’s predicting that the project will be finished in the year 2015, if all goes well, he said.

“The lake can be built real quick once we get past this permitting stage.

“We don’t have any way to go but up and any public improvement in this part of the country will benefit city of Ladonia. This lake is being proposed in one of the best areas they could do it —where there’s cheaper land, fewer people to be relocated, a huge erosion problem and no major power lines. It’s just a plus-plus deal all the way.”