Paul meets with area leaders
By Chris Harris
Oct 4, 2016
Water, water everywhere, nor any question to be asked.
U.S. Senator Rand Paul stopped by Somerset for a town hall-type meeting in the city council chambers at the new Energy Center downtown, and was joined by plenty of recognizable names at the table. Officials from numerous cities around Lake Cumberland as well as state leaders like Rep. Tommy Turner and Rep. David Meade and Senator-Elect Rick Girdler flanked the guest of honor from Bowling Green, Ky., and a healthy number of people were out in the audience.
But after Paul and his governmental colleagues were done discussing the topic du jour —the senator’s efforts to turn back the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in its plan to charge fees for using lake water — the chance for those in attendance to ask questions was scarcely taken up, with the microphone only passed a few times amid many calls for queries.
That doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty to be said, however. Paul was thanked vociferously by local officials for his role in protecting cities that regularly take from the lake from experiencing a financial drain.
“We’ve listened to all the mayors around Lake Cumberland sympathetically and said, ‘How can we fix this?’” said Paul. “When I first heard about this, I thought it was unfair, because the Corps was saying, ‘Well, the local community needs to pay for the repair of the dam. You’re going to have a one-time fee. And it’s like, well, doesn’t the dam and the power benefit other people than just the people who live here?
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