There is a long waiting list for the trailer sites at Big River Campground in Prairie du Chien, and even the 22 tent sites are usually booked in advance. It is not difficult to see why. The entire west side of the campground fronts the river, with large, mature trees arching over the water. The campground is neat and quiet. Unless there Is flooding, the trailers stay in place year around (the owners have a contract with Prairie Camper Sales to move the campers in case of flooding), and many people have planted perennial gardens and erected bird houses and porches. There are showers and laundry facilities and a boat ramp. There’s a basketball court and a playground and a huge shoreline for fishing. But perhaps the biggest reason is that, to the owners of the campground, it isn’t just a business but a labor of love. It is their home and their legacy from their parents.

Big River Campground, which celebrated its 40th year of operation last year, is now owned and operated by the second generation of Olsons. Olson siblings Kristie Wagner and husband Bob of Lancaster, Tom Olson and wife Cheryl of Eastman and Becki Radloff and her husband Darren (who live on site) took over operation of the campground when their mother passed away two years ago. They, in turn, intend to pass it on to their children as it was left to them by their parents, Lorraine and Gordie Olson.

Lorraine and Gordie purchased the property in the early 1960s from the Wainwright family, and in 1967 opened the campground with 54 sites for tent camping. Today the campground has 108 sites, and 86 of those are seasonal sites, equipped with sewer and water for trailer hookup.

Some of the campers have been coming almost since the camp was opened, and in many cases the grown children of those early campers have campsites as well. Among the long-term campers are Dan and Jackie Witcraft, who came for the first time July 4, 1971, and have been coming back ever since. Dan was born at Liberty Pole, Wis., but the couple now lives in Davenport, Iowa. They stay for most of the summer, returning home only for such things as doctor appointments and family gatherings. Their yard at the campground is filled with birds and flowers, and even a couple of tomato plants trained carefully to a trellis. Dan feeds finches, orioles and hummingbirds, and the hummingbirds are so tame they will land on his finger.

Bob Mezera, formerly of Prairie du Chien and now a resident of Jesup, Iowa, is another long-term camper. "We love it here," he said. "I don’t know of any other campground where we have this much room and people are so friendly."

As a matter of fact, the entire campground is almost like a big family, say Kristie and Becki. "Some of these people saw us grow up, said Kristie, "and now they’re seeing our kids grow up. It’s like having extra aunts and uncles." In addition, most of the campers know each other and watch out for each other. Big River sponsors cookouts and potlucks as well as seasonal or special events. There is, for example, Halloween trick or treating and a prize for the ‘scariest’ decorated site. This weekend will be "Christmas in July" with festive trees and other holiday decorations at many sites. A beanbag tournament is in the offing. One regular camper plays in a band, and used to entertain at his campsite. Last year, for the 40th anniversary of the campground, he and his band played on a flatbed truck parked on the basketball court. This will now be part of the annual Customer Appreciation Weekend.

Kristie and Becki reminisced recently about their parents, especially their mother, who ran the campground by herself from 1978, when their dad died, until her death in 2006. "All the campers liked her, said Becki, "they all called her by her nickname of ‘Honey.’ She had a little electric golf cart called Car 54, with ‘Honey Patrol’ painted on the back. It was so quiet she could sneak up on people violating the 11 p.m. quiet time."

Honey, the former Lorraine Kapinus, grew up only about a block away. The farm was rented from Campion College. A road went across to an island where they grew vegetables for Campion and ran cattle. The road, said the women, is still there but under water. They can walk across when the water is low.

They remember, too, all the people from the Prairie du Chien area who helped their mother. There is Gerry Gilbertson, a retired teacher who built picnic tables, cleared trees and helped build a deck. Paul Povarznik, also a retired teacher, made signs for the campground, and the McCoy family helped in many ways. The police made regular trips through the campground to make sure all was in order. "The whole community has been good to us," said Kristie.

As children, all three of them had campground chores to perform, and Tom actually won a trip to Europe because of the campground. A 1989 graduate of Prairie du Chien High School, he entered and won an FFA competition based on campground management at the urging of his teacher, Mark Pedretti.

"I have no idea," was the response of Dick Hartig, owner Prairie du Chien’s Hartig Drug Store, to a question about the store’s future. If the proposed roundabouts on Marquette Road are built, most of the Hartig Drug parking lot will be acquired for the roundabouts. Hartig spoke at the July 15 meeting of the Prairie du Chien Common Council, and expressed his frustration again in a later telephone interview.

Hartig said that in Sept. of 2005 he was invited to a meeting with the mayor, the city administrator and the city planner to discuss the possibility of opening a drug store in the city. Rifkin said he felt the current pharmacists, Jim Boldt and Jan Ashby who ran their own drugstores in town, should have been offered the opportunity, so he contacted them. They agreed to sell their businesses to him and merge their practices in a new Hartig Drug Store.

Hartig said he then made an offer on the northwest corner of Blackhawk and Marquette Rd., but the lot was sold to Walgreen’s. He said that during the course of discussing that property with the developer, Marty Rifkin, roundabouts came up, but were explained merely as something the city was talking about.

He is also bitter about how the purchase of that property was handled. He said he shook hands with Rifkin and agreed to purchase the property. The next day, he received an email from Rifkin notifying him that Walgreen’s had purchased it at a higher price. "I feel as if I was just brought in to drive the price up," he said.

A copy of the email exchange confirms Hartig’s statement about his offer. In an email dated Oct. 21, 2005 Hartig wrote to Rifkin : "I’ll take the acre and a half and deal with the curb cut/layout etc. later."

A return email Oct. 22 from Rifkin states, "As of last Friday, I signed an agreement with a Walgreen’s to build at the site you and I are discussing. I raised the price on the site and the developer accepted without question."

However, that same email mentions roundabouts with the statement, "this developer was very responsive in that he accepted the larger site as designed, allowed me to keep the roundabout piece without question and has provided a timeline that works well with my purchase agreements."

Following that exchange, Hartig purchased the property across the street, where Hartig Drug is presently located. Hartig is angry about that, too. "I was able to purchase the property and applied for permits, and no one said I couldn’t get a permit because of the roundabouts. " He said that in most cities when there is even discussion of such a project there is usually a moratorium on development in the area.

One of the people who sat in on the early discussions with Hartig said that, although there was no moratorium, roundabouts and their possible impact on that corner were discussed as Hartig debated whether to erect a new building or renovate the existing one; however there is no paper trail to confirm that.

In November, 2006, a letter was sent from the DOT to Hartig Realty in Dubuque, shortly before the roundabout contract was signed, explaining that preliminary surveys were beginning, and the proposed work consisted of realigning the roadways as needed to construct roundabout intersections at the intersections of Marquette Road with Blackhawk, Wisconsin and Iowa Streets. It also states that the purchase of right-of-way along the route would be required. That would have been about the time Hartig Drug was opening.

Hartig said he has nothing against the concept of roundabouts, and agrees that something has to be done to improve Marquette Road, but he favors turning lanes.

Hartig owns the lot across the alley from the drug store, and at one time he wanted to have the alley vacated, but Mediacom, which is next door, objected. Whether or not he could turn that lot into a parking lot has not yet been discussed.

"I have 12 employees working in a 20-month old business who are feeling abandoned," he said. "Jim and Jan are the nicest guys and the best pharmacists. They are personally hurt. These are people who spent their life in the city."

As Hartig sees it, "There is no consistency from administration to administration; one group tires to recruit us; the other tries to put us out of business."

By Ted Pennekamp

Long days of family fun fishing may be coming to an end for a longtime popular Prairie du Chien area icon. On July 31, Hubbard’s Fishing Float and Cafe may have to move by order of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"This is killing me, man," said Bill Hubbard Jr., the owner of Hubbard’s Fishing Float since 2003. Hubbard said that he doesn’t know what he will do when July 31 arrives. "I hope it’s not going to be a big blowout," he said.

The fishing float that Hubbard owns has been located below the Lynxville Dam since it was first established in 1939.

Hubbard said that the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has been trying to get his business to move off of FWS land for the past few years, even though he has attempted in good faith to comply with all FWS requirements for fishing floats.

Tim Yager, the director of the McGregor District of the FWS, said that Hubbard has done some work to meet the requirements but has not done all of the work to meet the requirements, and therefore, Hubbard’s Fishing Float must move off of FWS land and out of FWS jurisdiction.

"He (Hubbard) has had ongoing issues since 2003," said Yager, who noted that Hubbard’s permit was suspended in 2003. Yager said that Hubbard has had ample time to meet all of the FWS requirements.

Yager said that FWS personnel and all of the fishing float operators in the district met between April and June of 2007 in order to come up with reasonable requirements that floats need to meet for the safety of their customers. Yager said that Hubbard was issued a permit for his float in May of 2007 under the condition that all requirements were met by November of 2007.

Yager said that Hubbard had problems with his decking, tripping hazards, unsafe railings, storage issues and sewage pumping issues. He said that the FWS inspected the float in October and found that some work had been done but that other areas still needed to be addressed. Yager said that Hubbard didn’t provide the required information to the FWS until January of 2008. Yager said that the FWS told Hubbard in February that he would not be receiving a new permit because he had failed to meet the requirements.

Hubbard then filed an appeal and the FWS gave him an extension until July 31, citing extenuating financial circumstances.

"I’m trying to get off of their land," said Hubbard. "But I need them to tell me where their land ends."

In fact, Hubbard said that he may not be on FWS land. He said that there is a high river stage of 11.5 feet that is called a "meandering line," which defines the difference between water and land. Anything below 11.5 feet is considered water, and therefore, would not be FWS land. Hubbard’s Fishing Float is all in the water except the cafe, which is barely up on shore. The cafe is well below the 11.5-foot marker, however. The float is held in place with cables attached to trees onshore. Hubbard said that he went to the Allamakee County Courthouse and could find no records of who owns the land.

"If he has compelling evidence, he needs to provide that evidence to us," said Yager. Yager said that according to the FWS real estate specialist, Hubbard is on FWS land.

Hubbard said that the FWS gave him a colored map that falsely shows the cafe much further inland than it really is. "They need to give me something better than a small, colored map," he said.

"All these people around here just can’t believe what’s going on," said Hubbard. "All of these floats should be grandfathered in. They’re a great asset to the public, to people without boats." Hubbard said that his float serves area anglers as well as people from throughout the United States and those traveling from other countries. He has had anglers from Germany, Japan, Norway, Zimbabwe and France to name a few.

"Financially, I did what I could last year," said Hubbard about attempts to meet the safety requirements. "It’s hard for all of these floats. They need to make the rules where people can reasonably do something with them."

Hubbard said that he has replaced nails that had been sticking up and he has repaired his railings to meet the standards. He also said that he is the only person operating the float seven days a week and that there were some medical issues with a family member that took up more time. Also, he runs his float on a relatively small budget and can’t afford to do repairs all at once. He does have a pile of lumber on the float, but he said he will wait to see what will happen to the float before he uses the lumber for further improvements.

Yager said that all of the other float operators have met their requirements. He said that one float was sold, but has since met all requirements.

Hubbard said that the FWS was not even-handed in dealing with all of the floats. "There was another float that they gave until April for the same requirements that I had to meet by November," he said.

"It’s been just one thing after another," said Hubbard. "I’m sick and tired of it. They need to let a person run his business."

Hubbard said that he has contacted U.S. Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl as well as U.S. Representative Ron Kind, and State Representatives Dale Shultz and Lee Nerison. He said that these elected officials have tried to help by asking the FWS to work with Hubbard in an effort to keep his business, which is good for the local economy.

"If the FWS has their way, it’s going to put a helluva hurtin’ on a lot of our businesses," said Leonard Howard, co-owner of Pool 10 Tackle and Bait (formerly the Falling Rock Bar and Bait). Howard said that 50 percent of his business is generated from Hubbard’s Fishing Float. He also said that many of his and Hubbard’s customers are from out-of-state, therefore the motels, hotels, restaurants and bars would also suffer if the float goes out of business.

"This is not one of the wealthiest counties in the state," said Howard. "We should not be closing businesses. We should be trying to make things better for businesses. It really makes no sense to me."

Hubbard said that he will gladly move but the FWS needs to tell him where their land ends. "I will move off, it’s not a problem," he said. "I don’t want to deal with these people (the FWS) anymore."

Yager said that Hubbard would need to move to an area out of FWS jurisdiction, such as private land, or perhaps U.S. Army Corps of Engineers holdings, or a railroad right-of-way.

Hubbard had some questions about the FWS jurisdiction. He said that his cafe was broken into on Nov. 16, 2007 and that when he called the FWS to investigate, he was told that they didn’t have jurisdiction in the matter. Hubbard said that he wonders how the FWS doesn’t have law enforcement jurisdiction but they do have jurisdiction over the requirements and permits for his float.

Yager said that he doesn’t know about the break-in, and therefore he couldn’t comment on that aspect. He said that the FWS keeps careful records of all of Hubbard’s complaints, but that he didn’t see any information about a break-in.

Hubbard also accused the FWS of telling personnel from other agencies such as the Iowa DNR that his float is closed. Hubbard said that he wants everyone to know that he is still open for business.

"I think that he (Yager) has got a vendetta against me," said Hubbard.

Yager said that he as no vendetta, and that he doesn’t like the whole conflict.

"It hasn’t been the funnest process," he said. "I get a knot in my stomach every time I have to deal with it. I feel bad about it. But, there has been plenty of opportunities for him to make the changes he needed to make."

Hubbard said that if people are concerned and would like to help that they could contact government officials such as Kohl, Feingold, Kind, Nerison and others. They could also call him at (608) 732-1084.