"Since 1990, the Cheney Lake Association has raised more than $5 million to improve facilities at Cheney"
On just about any summer weekend, you'll find a small flotilla of deep-V boats slow trolling off M&M Point at Cheney Reservoir.
And, depending on the number of anglers in his boat "Midway" Gorges will have two to eight long yellow poles rigged for stripers.
Gorges, president of the Cheney Lake Association, leads the pack when it comes to teaching association members to use live-baited, bottom-bouncing rigs to fish for stripers, channel catfish, and walleye.
Bob Winkler, Gorges' sidekick and the association president for eight years, usually is only a short distance away. Each man keeps track of the other's fishing success either by sight or by two-way radio.
The flotilla of Cheney Lake Association anglers represents a lot more than a group of friends who band together on weekends to pursue a mutual interest in camping and fishing.
At the center of the friendship and fishing is a zeal to get things done for the lake and the state park regarded by association members as their home away from home.
Organized in September 1990, the association took root, not because there was a need for a social club, but because a group of concerned lake and park users, led by Winkler, saw problems and decided to walk the walk rather than talk the talk.
The event that was the catalyst for the organization occurred June 19, 1990, when winds at speeds up to 110 mph raked the marina and shore lines at Cheney.
An already weakened and damaged jetty wall, created to protect the marina, was destroyed. The rolling waves also eroded thousands of feet of shore line and caused for concrete picnic facilities to teeter on the edge of becoming one with the lake.
Repairs of the jetty wall, shore line and picnic facilities were not in the cards for Cheney, primarily because the Park Fee Fund lacked the money to make the necessary repairs.
According to Winkler, a small group of Park users, led by Chet and Mary Leidy of Wichita, met with Jerry Schmidt, the park manager, to discuss what needed to by done to repair or improve the facilities.
Schmidt told the group that he had applied for capital improvement funds every year since 1980, but that his requests were either ignored or weren't heard by officials who could make a difference. In a word, Schmidt was frustrated.
"Jerry suggested organizing a constituency group to lobby," Winkler said.
For visual ammunition, Schmidt provided the group with a photo album highlighting the problems within the park.
"They cam to me after that meeting because they knew I was involved with the Kansas Association of Small Business and had done some lobbying," Winkler said. "They asked me if I would help put it together and provide some leadership."
Winkler, a born organizer and an experienced lobbyist, immediately started shoeing the album to city, state and federal officials who could, and would, make a difference. "We bypassed the system for a few years," he said.
After planting the visual seed where it was most likely to sprout funds, Winkler's group chartered the Cheney Lake Association and received non-profit status in September 1990.
"When they gave us our charter, the IRS allowed us to use 25 percent of our income donations for direct lobbying efforts because we do a lot of youth education programs, too," Winkler said.
During the association's organizational meeting, in November 1990, members wrote letters seeking funds to Congressman Dan Glickman, Gov. Mike Hayden, Wichita City Manager Chris Cherches and U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum.
"I got an immediate response from the senator and her staff with some funds before Wildlife and Parks knew what was happening," Winkler said. "The funds ($100,000) were used to rebuild the jetty wall west of the marina and rock the shore lines in other areas."
"They looked at that facility and said we should have done something 10 years ago and we wouldn't have near this much damage," Winkler said. "Then they committed a half a million dollars to shore line stabilization."
What followed the initial success has been an ongoing effort by Winkler and the more than 100 Cheney Lake Association members to knock on any and every door possible to make the reservoir and the state park a better place to visit.
From the 1991 legislative session through 1998 Winkler and other association members have been a constant and persuasive influence in Topeka.
"The Cheney Lake Association was the catalyst to get things going," Schmidt said. "They are the private group that can make the legislature listen to the general public through a lobbying effort. The legislature listened to them and we got about $600,000 within the first two years."
Winkler didn't stop with state legislators. He hit up any organization he could in his quest for funds to improve conditions at the lake and state park.
"Bob's not afraid to call anybody about anything," Schmidt said. "He got people involved and they made some noise."
Because of the association's lobbying efforts, the organization has secured funds from the legislature each of the last eight years save one when Gov. Bill Graves put a cap on spending.
During that year, the organization received approval for federal funds from the Bureau of Reclamation. The association did, however, need matching state money to garner the federal dollars.
"With the Cheney Lake Association taking the point, we've raised almost $5million in eight years," Winkler said. "And that's darn good."
Winkler said that he knows of no other lake organization that has been as aggressive as the Cheney Lake Association.
Steve Williams, secretary of Wildlife and Parks, agrees.
"The Cheney Lake Association, in terms of working with the department and what they accomplish, is very impressive," Williams said. "I've said many times that if we had a Bob Winkler at every state park, we probably couldn't keep up with them because he's always out hustling goods and services for us."
Williams said that when the CLA formed in 1990, its members were aware of the importance of having a presence in the state capitol.
"Bob cam up and lobbied hard for Cheney and it's really paid off because of the high profile Cheney has with the legislature," Williams said.
To show its gratitude to state lawmakers, the association sponsors a Legislative Appreciation Day each September. During the event legislators can meet, talk, eat and fish with association members as well as representatives from Reno and Sedgwick counties.
Although Winkler stepped down as president of the association last year, he has remained active as a lobbyist in Topeka. The thing he would most like to accomplish for Kansas boaters is to convince the lawmakers to remove or significantly lower the personal property tax on water craft."
"Taxes are extremely high here and it's costing this state boat registrations and sales tax," he said.
Even though Winkler is officially retired as the owner of Mid-Continent Manufacturing, everyone who knows him knows that he will continue to be active as an organizer and fund-raiser for the association.
"I really believe that Bob, both awake and asleep, is always thinking about this lake," Schmidt said. "When he accomplishes one thing, then he moves on to something else. One of the main factors that have kept thins going over the years is Bob's persistence and his personality."