Fresh catfish fillets and warm hush puppies provided more than a tasty meal Saturday at the Coosa River Basin Initiative’s annual fundraiser.
To Ben Harrison, a longtime CRBI member and catfish lover, the offering was a wonderful way to try to help conserve Rome’s water. “I came out here to cook and to eat,” said Harrison, after cleaning his plate. “And it is one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.”
The dinner of catfish, hush puppies, cheese grits, coleslaw and sweet tea, provided at First United Methodist Church of Rome, encouraged participants to think about conservation of the Coosa River.
“They are wanting people to write both Georgia’s and Alabama’s governors to stop interbasin transfer of Rome’s rivers into Metro Atlanta,” said Harrison. “I already have written them in the past, but I plan on doing it again. It’s our source of water, and we need water desperately.”
A few came strictly for the food. “I really liked the batter. I guess it was the texture. It was crunchy but not too crunchy,” said Sondra Lumpkin. “And they aren’t greasy. These fish are swimmin’.”
Joe Cook, CRBI executive director, said the dinner was to make people more aware of the dangers in the Coosa River, including run-off PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls.
“We can’t serve catfish from the Coosa because there is a fishing advisory that says you have to limit the intake of certain species in the river,” said Cook. “There are PCBs in the river, which are cancer causing. General Electric plant’s transformer cylinders provided the PCBs, which eventually got in our rivers and contaminated them. However, the PCB level has been declining over the past 30 years, which is a great thing.”
Overall, the fish fry was described as a success.
“We probably served around 600 to 800 people, and we usually raise around $8,000,” added Cook. “It’s our third fundraiser of the year, which helps pay for educational, restoration and water monitoring projects we do.”
