By Mike Morrison
Georgia Times-Union
ST. MARYS, Ga. — James Daniel Holloway of Jacksonville, Fla., sat under a picnic shelter Wednesday at Crooked River State Park.
Spread on the ground in front of him were several slices of torn and crumpled white bread. He comes to the park regularly, particularly on Wednesdays when admission fees are waived at Georgia State Parks, to feed the birds.
Blind for most of his life, the 44-year-old Holloway likes to feel the rush of air off the birds’ wings as they swoop in for a free meal; he listens for the rustle of feathers and imagines what it must look like when his visitors snatch up a morsel and take flight.
‘I don’t stick my hand out — they might peck it — but I know the birds are there,” he said.
Living on a fixed income, Holloway is concerned about a recent proposal by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to eliminate free Wednesdays, the single day each week when the $5 cost of admission per car, actually a parking fee, is not assessed.
HOW TO COMMENT
The DNR board is accepting public comment on ending free Wednesdays the following ways:
* In person at the board’s Oct. 27 meeting, 9 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Express, 199 East Bay Street, Savannah
* On ine by Oct. 22 at http://www.gastat...>
* By mail to Sherry Crew-Jay, Confidential Secretary, Parks and Historic Sites Division, Suite 1352 East, 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Atlanta, GA 30334.
Along with caretaker Lorraine Allen, Holloway visits parks all over Southeast Georgia and Northeast Florida, but Crooked River is their favorite because it is so spacious.
Situated along the river, the park features spectacular scenery, fishing, walking trails, a miniature golf course, and, of particular interest to Holloway, plenty of noisy birds.
“Every now and then, we come up here on another day, but it’s mostly on Wednesdays,” Allen said. “We might have to cut back our visits if they start charging us to get in.”
According to a department release, “the proposal is in response to the state’s budget crisis and the Georgia General Assembly’s direction for the state park system to become more self-sufficient and less reliant on state general funds.”
The department’s board will vote on the proposal at its Oct. 27 meeting in Savannah.
The practice of waiving the $5 fee has been in effect since 1992, the year the DNR started selling annual passes, which now cost $50.
The Department of Natural Resources has estimated that free Wednesdays cost the state $400,000 annually.
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