Facts are not things one "believes in"

On Great Lakes, Winter Is Served Straight Up

For the first time that anyone in Put-in-Bay could remember, the Great Lakes were ice-free in the middle of winter. Even Lake Erie, the shallowest of the five lakes and usually the first to freeze over, was clear.

"There's essentially no ice at all," said George Leshkevich, a scientist who has studied Great Lakes ice for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, since 1973. "I've never seen that."

The unusually warm weather has upset the routine for hundreds of people who live year-round on islands in Lake Erie.

You know that argument that says cutting pollution will harm the economy? Seems like the economy is hurt by global warming.

This year, the unusually warm weather wiped out the ice-fishing trade. Many guides tried boat fishing, but strong winds whipped up sediment and clouded the water so the walleyes could not see the lures. "I'm down $40,000," said Bud Gehring, another guide. "It's hurt everybody."

With no ice fishing, 1,200 cases of beer sat unsold, stacked to the ceiling inside Niese's Island General Store. A bed-and-breakfast owner, Jean Burgess, has not rented a room all winter.

For the first time in its 100-year history, Miller Boat Lines ran a ferry across Lake Erie through the month of January. "We're not making money here," Mr. Market says. "It's our duty to do this."

The ferry costs $12, and that means less work for airplane pilots, who charge $80 to fly round-trip to the islands.

"This has knocked a big hole out of our business," said Melodie Griffing-Taylor, who has helped run Griffing Airlines since 1962. "I've never seen anything like it."

As the late God of the right, Reagan says, "Facts are stupid things."