Dear J. Birkholm,

It has been a busy week up here on the Au Sable. Many of you have followed our efforts to keep drilling out of the river corridor along the South Branch. After three and a half years of trading grenades with the U.S. Forest Service, Savoy Energy of Traverse City, the lease holder, tried to intervene in the case. Judge hammered them for trying to come to the dance very late in the evening, so to speak.

And the latest, the Government has dropped their appeal filed in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, Cincinnati. Of course we will drop our cross-appeal. I was so looking forward to real Cincinnati chili.

A full press release is on-line at http://www.AuSableAnglers.org

We would like to thank you for your support. Each victory brings us that much closer to keeping our river that special place we know it is.

Look for our "Cheers and Jeers of 2008" on-line soon!

Santa came a tad early to the Au Sable!

Rusty Gates