Word: lac
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Situated on the southern shore of beautiful Lake Winnebago, the Wisconsin city of Fond du Lac (pop. 34,400) appears to be a pleasant haven far removed from the poverty and pain of the nation's recession-struck cities. Peopled mainly by second-and third-generation descendants of German immigrants, the city prides itself on being the home of the thrifty, the hard working and the tidy. Houses are neatly painted, lawns well kept, streets clean. Main Street is currently being resurfaced, and the perky detour sign reads: PARDON OUR PROGRESS...
Appearances deceive. The translation of the town's French name seems to have a hidden significance: bottom of the lake. Beneath the well-groomed composure, Fond du Lac is a scared city. Its unemployment rate has already risen above the national average of 7.8% to 10.5%. Because three of the town's main industries-outboard motors, auto parts and home-building materials-have been among the hardest hit by the current recession, the rate continues to rise. Mercury Marine, the nation's second largest outboard-engine maker (after Outboard Marine of Waukegan, Ill.), has fired or furloughed...
...effects spread beyond the lakes. In some areas, humans may also be affected. In the Lac la Croix lake system of Ontario, where the Ojibway Indians fish for their livelihood, catches are showing high levels of mercury. Reason: the toxic metal, ordinarily concentrated in sediment, changes into an organic form, methyl mercury, in acid water and is then easily absorbed by the fish. While the threat to plants is not as well understood, acid rain can eat away at leaves, leach nutrients from the soil, interfere with photosynthesis, and affect the nitrogen-fixing capabilities of such plants as peas...
...that the companies have leased altogether from private landowners hoping for a big payday--few knowing about the dangers of uranium mining and the nuclear fuel cycle. The area involved is about 100 miles north of the Twin Cities area, and about 20 miles south of the Fond du Lac Reservation. So far there has been no leasing of reservation land...
Marvin F. Diedrich Fond du Lac...