Efforts to reopen the Vermilion River for recreational use are generating "very little movement," Oglesby Mayor Tony Torres told the La Salle County Board's Tourism Committee Monday morning.

Randy Freeman, R-Lostant, said the committee's goal should be to get the river reopened by spring in time for use by white water rafters and other recreational users.

In the wake of drownings last summer on the river near Oglesby, Buzzi Unicem cement plant officials barred public use on a stretch of the entire width of the river that passes through their land.

Torres, who has proposed ways to reduce risk to recreational users, said Buzzi officials have told him the ban was to prevent further incidents at the company's low-rise dam and to prevent employees from trying to rescue people in harm's way.

Boaters, swimmers and others who go over the deceptively small dropoff of a low-head dam can find themselves locked into a dangerous hydraulic backwash current.

The current forces victims underwater and then pushes them away from the dam. But when they resurface, the recirculating water action can draw the victims back to the dam, where they are sucked under again.

Torres told the committee that Buzzi said it wants permission from the state to mine 30 acres of nearby Matthiessen State Park and indicated that could be linked to reopening the river.

Torres said the site, now known as "Frisbee land," is "presently planted with sunflowers for the dove hunters.

"They said when they were finished they would restore it as (the Illinois Department of Natural Resources) specifies, with a prairie or a lake or whatever.

"My response was that they have Bailey Falls and nothing has been done with that, so I question their intent."

Bailey Falls, a scenic spot where Bailey Creek would tumble into the Vermilion River south of Oglesby, was altered decades ago by Buzzi's predecessors to facilitate their quarry operations and has yet to be restored, Torres said.

Freeman scoffed at the Matthiessen proposal.

"I see the handwriting on the wall: This is all a leverage play. They want that land, so they're going to shut the river down to get something that they want. It's just a power game."

Freeman called for the state to take the liability responsibility for river use.

The committee discussed organizing a broad coalition of organizations that support recreational use of the Vermilion River in order to bring about its reopening.

Hardball tactics also were proposed.

"Since they claim they can have ownership of the river I would suggest somewhere up the line somebody build a dam and shut their water off," said Freeman. "We'll see how they operate with no water. That water is free-flowing and nobody can shut that water off."

Torres said he was disappointed that a diplomatic approach with Buzzi had produced such little results.

"My intent from the very beginning was not to go in and spout law, because I thought that in doing that we would back them into a corner, they would dig their heels in and it would be years before a solution was reached.

"I tried to appeal to their sense of fair play. But it doesn't seem to work, I am sorry to say."