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Special to the Daily Journal/Messenger

Herb Burnham, right, president of the Lake Hartwell Association, presents The Bait Shop owner Tim Marchbanks, with a check for $2,000 to assist in a project to extend closed boat ramps along Lake Hartwell.

CLEMSON — Tim Marchbanks, an avid fisherman and owner of The Bait Shop, has teamed up with another Hartwell fisherman, Larry Browning of K & L Electronics, to help extend boat ramps on the lake that are currently closed due to drought conditions.

The Lake Hartwell Ramp Project, as the effort has come to be known, is now being endorsed by the Lake Hartwell Association (LHA), which recently presented Marchbanks with a check for $2,000 toward the project.

Marchbanks, Browning and others recently met with the Army Corps of Engineers and reached agreement on what the Corps calls a "challenge cost-sharing agreement." Under this arrangement, Corps personnel will actually perform the labor to extend the boat ramps, if Marchbanks and his group will provide the required concrete.

Thomas Concrete has already agreed to provide the material at $84/yard, a considerably reduced price, and now the Lake Hartwell Ramp Project is looking for additional donations to purchase concrete.

On Saturday, Herb Burnham, president-elect of the LHA, gave Marchbanks that organization's contribution.

“It’s always nice to meet someone who sees a problem and takes the bull by the horns to create a solution," Burnham said.

The Corps has indicated it would be able to extend three to five ramps this season. Those will be, in order of priority, Broyles Landing, Big Oaks, Friendship Landing, Hatton’s Ford and then either Green Pond or River Fork. Work is currently being done at Broyles Landing.

There have been other donations from businesses and individuals, but more is needed. For more information, including pictures of progress and who to contact to donate, go to Web site www.klelectronix.com.