Water-Skiing Fee Waived for Blind Youths

A dozen blind youths will get to go water-skiing at Castaic Lake after all, thanks to a fee waiver approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The supervisors voted unanimously without discussion to waive the $500 fee after the nonprofit sponsor of the outing called the cost prohibitive and appealed to Supervisor Mike Antonovich for leniency.

The Van Nuys Airport Optimist Club has been taking youths from the Braille Institute water-skiing at the lake for the past 11 years without paying any fees. But the county imposed the $500 fee this year--the fee covers the rental of a cove at the lake--to help make up for budget shortfalls, forcing the club to postpone its July 28 trip.

The group now plans to hold the event Aug. 18.

“It’s terrific of them,” said John Romano, who organized the outing. “They should waive the fee whenever a group doesn’t have funds available and it’s a good cause.”

Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke agreed, saying she plans to ask the board to waive a similar fee for the Black Family Reunion, a nonprofit group that holds an event this month at Exposition Park.

“Granted, the county needs the money,” Burke said. “But in a recession like this, people are just unable to pay the fees, and if a supervisor really believes it’s a good cause, then we should waive them.”