Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Star Party At DeGray Aug. 6,7

DeGray Lake Resort State Park will be hosting its annual August astronomy weekend on August 6 and 7.

Glenn Good of Arkadelphia will present slide presentations each night at 8:30 at the amphitheater dealing with the planets and the moon. A star party will also be held at the visitor information center at 9:15 each night.

A few scopes will be available for viewing. Bring your own telescopes and binoculars for better viewing.

DeGray Lake Resort State Park is located on Highway 7, six miles north of Interstate 30 from exit 78.

For more information, call 501-865-2801.

Campers at Lakes Ouachita, Greeson and DeGray will be glad to learn that the future is rapidly changing back to the past.

The new campsite reservation system instituted this year by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible of management of the lakes, has met with strong objection among long-time campers.

In response, Colonel Robert Crear, district engineer for the Corps' Vicksburg District has decided to modify use of the system to provide better service to campers.

The system, originally set to require reservations at least three days in advance of arrival at a campsite, is being changed to accommodate spur of the moment campers and those who prefer a local reservation system to get a local campsite.

The lake personnel are installing computers at the campground entrance stations, so that campers can immediately find out about campsite availability, chose a site from among those that are not reserved or occupied, and make reservations for future stays.

About half the campsites in each campground have been designated as non-reservable, making them available to campers arriving without reservations.

The remaining campsites will continue to be available for reservations that can be made by calling Reserve America toll-free at 1-800-280-2267 or 1-877-444-6777.

The quickest way to make a reservation is through the Internet at reserveusa.com. You can click through the site very quickly by selecting the state, then the campground, and then the campsite number.

Lake names have been added to the internet site.

Although the new half-and-half designation of reservable and non-reservable sites has been implemented, Crear emphasized that existing reservations on all sites will be honored until those sites are free of reservations at which time some will become non-reservable.

You can obtain more information about the campsite reservation system and Lakes Ouachita, Greeson and DeGray by calling the Corps of Engineers Ouachita Project Office at 501-767-4844.