CECC News

Delores Reeves Madere passed peacefully in her home while sleeping on September 8th, 2008.

As many of you know, the boat landing was dedicated and named "Madere's Landing" a year ago for Fred Madere. Fred passed away on Sept. 30th, 2007, He was Treasurer and "Keeper of the Landing" for many years and invested untold hours and preserved many things we now take for granted.

Fred and Delores were one of the first families to move into Cooper Estates, when it was one of Mount Pleasant's first, brand new sub-divisions over 40 years ago. Fred worked for IBM in the Charleston Area and installed and maintained computer mainframes. Delores was a nurse and worked at area hospitals. They had one daughter, three sons and six grandchildren.

I was very lucky to have married their daughter Rebecca and for the 23+ years we have been married. We have three beautiful children who brought much joy to their "Papa" and "MeMa" and we are so grateful for the truly wonderful lives Fred & Delores enjoyed.

Thanks to everyone for your support, especially for the support you showed Rebecca, you helped her get through one of the toughest times in her life. I'm sorry that I was not able to contact everyone like I wish I could have, but you can be assured we know and appreciate the love and support from everyone who is part of the Cooper Estate's "Family".

Thank you from the bottom of my Heart,
Rick

People have heard me refer to Madere's Landing as "MY Boat Landing"...

That's Right! it is MY Boat Landing and it's YOUR Boat Landing TOO! That applies to all Members of Cooper Estates Civic Club.

When we all start viewing Madere's Landing as "My Landing" then something wonderful happens... we start caring for and protecting the most valuable asset we have in Cooper Estates, second only to our homes!

That results in a cleaner, safer and more desirable place to take our family, friends and relatives. We pick up that piece of trash someone else left behind, we don't look the other way when when others create an unsafe environment or any situation that would cause caring parents to have to leave the landing with their children.

The automatic gate and fence have been in operation for almost 2 1/2 years now. This has all but eliminated the rampant vandalism that once existed. I believe it has also created a much safer place by greatly decreasing the percentage of vehicles and people who are not CECC Members or accompanied by a CECC Member.

A year ago in the Summer of 2007, on more than one occasion, we had a man who was very large in stature & very intimidating, who upon returning to the landing after a day of boating and excessive drinking, used extremely foul language and behaved in a very disorderly fashion. He did this not only in the presence of ladies who he did not know, but directed it towards them. It took a few days to determine who the individual was and it turned out that he did not even live in Cooper Estates. He had paid a legitimate resident to purchase a membership and give him the access card which we deactivated immediately.  and when he was returning to landing and saw , he went to the public ramp across the creek to take his boat out. The Police were called and we placed a trespass notice on him.

So far in 2008, we have had only 2 major concerns and both have all been resolved...

At the beginning of the year, before the new sod was installed, we had an instance where someone entered the landing at 1AM and did spin outs tearing up the grass in the parking area. Using pictures from the camera at the gate (which automatically records vehicles & pedestrians that enter or leave the landing), we were able to identify the individual (who who was surprisingly was a grown man in his 30's) and confront him. His gate card was deactivated and I can assure you he is very unlikely to make the same mistake again.

Last month, we had an event with a individual who lives in the townhouses on Cottingham Drive and he did not have a membership with CECC. He was launching his rather large boat at the public landing across the creek and would come to our dock and tie his boat up. He would then take his bike out of the boat and ride home. He not only docked his boat where he shouldn't have, but he tied it up right in the middle of the floating dock on the channel side which prevented anyone from using the dock at all! He did not leave his boat for an hour or two, he left the it there overnight on Labor Day Weekend! The Police were called to place him on a trespass notice and I moved his boat and left notices telling him to remove his boat and that he was on a trespass notice. Guess What? He was back in a week and luckily a member called to report the situation, I went down and confronted the man, verified that he did not have a membership or even knew a member and told him to immediately remove his boat or we would call the Police. He complied and we have not seen him since.

Sounds a lot like "The Police Blotter" in Moultrie News? ;)

We do not want to ever get to a state where we have to worry or watch for the "Boat Landing Nazis"... that's not going to happen if I have any say... But, it's YOUR landing, if you witness events similar to the ones above, at a minimum please make a phone call to one of the committee members...

We have a wonderful, beautiful and a safe landing but we all have to be involved to keep it that way!

Well the weather was lousy... windy, rain, etc... BUT WOW WHAT A GOOD TIME!
We had about 160 people show up, good food, great oysters and a ton of good fellowship allowing people to see their friends and neighbors they had not seen in years AND a lot of new friendships were started! You can't ask for much more than that.

Be sure to view the complete slideshow if you have not already done so.

The CECC Oyster Roast & Open House is almost here...

We are expecting somewhere between 100 - 200 CECC Members and Cooper Estate Residents. It should be a really good time. It's not too late if you are not registered. Just click on the "Meetings & Event Calendar" link to the left to register.

RECENT IMPROVEMENTS TO MADERE's LANDING...

Two weekends ago we finished spreading the crush & run in the pot holes and spread the shell sand around the drive in the center parking area.

Last weekend many volunteers showed up to help tidy things up for the party. We put some final touches on the roadway, worked on the "Park" area under the trees where the picnic table is now located, and started major improvements around the front gate.

At the front gate we hauled many loads of dirt to create graded berms where we will be putting shrubs & plants in the future. We also leveled and put in a nice path through the pedestrian entrance, lined with a brick edge and finished the new path with shell sand.

The 5500 s/f of sod that was installed in the center parking area and around the shelter is starting to root and is just now coming out of being dormant and is starting to green up.

If you are interested in helping with future landscaping or other projects, click on the "Contact Us" link to the left and let us know!

We have completed installing the French Drain at the wash pad, have leveled and graded the 4 dump truck loads of topsoil. We have graded the roadway and had crush-n-run delivered with more on the way next week.

The new grass sod is scheduled to be installed on Monday.

Final surfacing on portions of the roadway will be completed in the next couple of weeks.

The Landing will be closed to vehicle traffic starting around 12 Noon on Friday, 3/7/08 and will reopen late Saturday evening.

This is because we will resurfacing the roadway and installing new sod.

Members will have to use the public ramp across the creek or at Remley's Point.

Comments or Questions can be directed to:
Rick Stanton
CECC Treasurer
442-7050

6 dump truck loads of dirt was delivered to Madere's Landing today. 4 loads were dumped in the center parking area and will be spread & leveled on Sat. 3/1/08. WE REALLY NEED A FEW VOLUNTEERS! The other 2 loads are for future use.

For details and to volunteer...
Click on "Major Work going on at the landing" on the left hand side of this web page

The following week we will have 7/8/9 Slag material delivered to finish the roadway down at the landing. The material will be spread along the drive on Friday and on Saturday 3/9/08 we will be finishing and compacting the new roadway. WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!

For details and to volunteer on this date...
Click on "Major Work going on at the landing" on the left hand side of this web page

Sod will also be laid in the center parking area!

Annual membership dues are due on March 1st. Members have a grace period until April 1st to pay their dues. Gate Access Cards will be deactivated after April 1st on all unpaid memberships.

There will be a Membership Drive on March 29th at Madere's Landing for those who wish to pay in person.

Committee Members and Boat Landing Chairman Denis Blyth have been communicating via email to improve the parking area at Madere'sa Landing.

Arrangements are being made to bring in fill dirt to raise the center portion of the parking area and seeding or sodding the area. This project is scheduled to be completed before the busy Memorial Day Weekend.

Volunteers during the different stages will be needed, watch for more information to come.

Cooper Estates Civic Club recently had a sign dedication ceremony renaming their boat landing to "Madere's Landing"

The landing is named in recoginition of Fred Madere who devoted much time and effort in preserving the boat landing located on Shem Creek.

Fred was the CECC Treasurer until his recent death on Sept. 30, 2007.

YOU CAN SEE THE ARTICLE THAT APPEARED IN THE MOULTRIE NEWS BY SLICKING ON THE FOLLOWING LINK:  http://cooperestatescivicclub.onefireplace.com/Admin/Default.aspx