Larger Portions of Lake Frozen This Winter, Lake Hopatcong Commission Says

Dan McCarthy was riding his snowmobile with his children on a frozen Lake Hopatcong Tuesday afternoon when he realized his message had finally gotten through.

McCarthy, the Lake Hopatcong Commission's Hopatcong representative, had spent the last year speaking out against ice-eaters. He said at Tuesday night's meeting at the Mount Arlington Municipal Building there there may have been less use of the machines this winter.

"It looks pretty good," McCarthy said. "There are a few places that looked like they're close—it's a judgement call—but nothing like we saw last year."

McCarthy said ice eaters, which melt ice from docks, prevented large portions of the lake from freezing over last year.

"This was a very big issue to me, this whole ice eater thing," McCarthy said. "Last year was a disaster. This year, I was really pleased with the public education component."

Chairman Russell Felter, Jefferson's mayor, called McCarthy "the driving force" behind the drop in ice-eater usage.

LHC Administrator Donna Macalle-Holly said Jefferson sent residents misusing ice eaters warnings, but didn't issue any fines. She said she didn't know if Hopatcong or Mount Arlington issued either.

"We have a lot more solid ice out there than we did last year," Macalle-Holly said. "There's pockets of open water by docks and that but the main body of the lake has frozen over. This Friday, with a beautiful 60-degree day, there was a little ice opening up more around the bridges and that. But the municipalities—Hopatcong and Jefferson, I know—did respond to inquires from the public to send people out."