Andy wrote: Gloomy on Lake George

For Chronicle Issue 100 in September 1984, Mark Frost sought an interview with Andy Rooney,
star commentator on CBS’s 60 Minutes on CBS and former seasonal resident on the east side of Lake George. Here’s his reply. (He died in 2011 at the age of 92.)

Dear Mark,

We don’t get to The Lake much any more. We still own the place…but my sister’s in it and we’re more comfortable at a place we own in Rensselaerville. Anyway, I always find The Lake sad. From day to day you probably don’t notice it but the inevitability of its demise is so painful for me to see that I’d rather not look at it.

It’s my theory that the natives usually have more to do with ruining a lovely place than the visitors. The visitors come because they appreciate the beauty. The natives look on it as their living. So they dump a quart of oil in the Lake, they build too many units too close to the water, they do anything that will make a buck without much regard for its effect on what supports them.

I hate to call attention to Lake George. Seeing a VISIT LAKE GEORGE bumper sticker on a New York City street ruins my day.

I like your paper and the enthusiasm with which you write but an interview with me in it falls in my category of calling unnecessary attention to The Lake.

— Sincerely, Andy Rooney

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