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March 8, 2006

St. Pat's Royalty named, parade to be held this Saturday

The Prairie du Chien Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce the 2006 St. Patrick's Day Parade royalty. Parade Grand Marshall is Bill Fillbach and King & Queen are Butch and Bonnie Boland.

The Annual St. Patrick's Day parade will be held this Saturday (Mar. 11) at 10 a.m. in downtown Prairie du Chien. The after-parade party will be held at the National Guard Armory.

Grand Marshall- Bill Fillbach

Bill Fillbach is proud of his German and Irish heritage. His father, Carson, was of German ancestry; but his mother, Margaret (Crowley) Fillbach, was all Irish and very proud of it. Bill was lucky enough to marry a true "Irish Lassie" from Gays Mills, Jan McDonald, whose mother's maiden name was McCormick. Bill and Jan are blessed with two daughters, Leah (Jamie) Lenzendorf and Trisha Fillbach; and two wonderful grandsons, Jared and Garett Lenzendorf. Their children and grandchildren all reside in Des Moines, Iowa.

Bill was born in Prairie du Chien and grew up in rural Wauzeka. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps before starting a career in Law Enforcement. In 1966, he became a Crawford County Deputy Sheriff. He was elected Sheriff in 1974 and continued to be re-elected until 1998. He served the second longest tenure as Sheriff in the State of Wisconsin. In 1999, Bill was hired as a Court Security Officer for the Western District of Wisconsin, performing duties as required by the U.S. Marshals. He commuted to Madison until his retirement in 2004.

For many years, Bill was very active in the Kiwanis and Lions Club, and is currently a member of the Knights of Columbus and Eagles Club. He and Jan are members of St. John's Catholic Church.

King and Queen: Butch and Bonnie Boland

Butch and Bonnie Boland have been residents of Prairie du Chien since 1968. The Bolands have two children. Their son, Bob, and his wife, Marcie Boland, have two daughters, Bailey and Brenna. Daughter, Rhonda, and husband, Brian Kazda, have three children, Bryce, Bridget, and Brock.

Butch and Bonnie are originally from Seneca. Butch is the second oldest in a family of 14 children born to Dan and Rita (Finley) Boland. Bonnie has always been the main support behind Butch and his Irish heritage, though she is Norwegian, one of eight children of Junior and Judy (Grimsled) Payne.

Ancestors of Butch's parents emigrated from Ireland, with many settling directly to Crawford County. Parental great grandfather and grandmother were Daniel Kane (Gaelic O Cathain) and Katherian Hardy from Cork County. Maternal great grandfather(s) and grandmother(s) were Timothy Finley (Gaelic Fennelly) and Mary O Neil from Queens County; John Denning and Anne Fuery from Longfors County ; Maurice Joy and Mary Layde from County Kerry; and Dennis Enright and Bridget Vaughn from an unknown county in Ireland. Butch's "Irish Blarney" has afforded him a long, successful career in sales with many local businesses, the latest being Holiday Wholesale Distributors.

City Council discusses controversial zoning issues

Roughly 35 citizens showed up at last night's regular meeting of the Prairie du Chien Common Council to voice their concerns over rezoning issues for the city.

A public hearing was held on the application from the Eagles Club to rezone lots on areas of 200 and 206 South Beaumont Road from R-3 "High Density Residential District" to B-1 "Central Business District."

Eagles representative Tom Stram began the conversation by explaining the Eagles' current situation to the council. He said that the club has been looking at options to expand for a number of years. Their first option was to re-locate to the northern area of Prairie du Chien, but many members felt they did not want to leave their current location in the downtown area. Stram explained that later, when the house directly south of the Eagles Club came up for sale, the club purchased it for their use. Stram said that the Eagles are not looking to remove the house, but are searching for a way to make a small addition to their club, and also create a larger parking area.

Several citizens voiced their concerns to the council, asking that the area not be zoned for businesses. Several people's concerns included the threat of ruining the very historical aspects and architectural character that exist in that neighborhood. Many people also sited the local children's safety and property values of their houses as main concerns of a business and large parking area being built in that location.

After hearing all comments from the public, no decision was made and the public hearing was adjourned until a later date.

Other rezoning ordinances were also on last night's agenda, including the application from Walgreen's developers to rezone lots on Block 43, Union Plat from B-2 "Highway Commercial to B-1 "Central Business."

Also on the agenda was a resolution in support of the application for Prairie du Chien to host the Traveling Smithsonian Exhibition, "Between Fences." This exhibition would appear at Fort Crawford Museum in 2007-2008.

PdC man finally charged with damaging Blackhawk sculpture

Several months after the statue of Chief Blackhawk was damaged at the Sculpture Park on St. Feriole Island in Prairie du Chien, a 24-year-old Prairie du Chien man has been charged with criminal damage to property in the incident.

Henry D. Langdon faces up to a $10,000 fine and nine months in jail if convicted of intentionally causing damage to the statue on or about Friday, Oct. 21, 2005. Langdon was charged in Crawford County Circuit Court on March 6, 2006.

According to the criminal complaint, a Prairie du Chien police officer was patrolling on St. Feriole Island on Oct 21, 2005 when he noticed that the statue of Chief Blackhawk, which had recently been donated to the city, had been damaged.

The officer noted that the sculpture had been pushed off its pedestal, breaking the mountings on the bottom of the sculpture. The officer observed vehicle tracks which indicated that a vehicle had run into the sculpture, breaking its mountings and knocking it over.

According to the complaint, Langdon was interviewed on Oct. 25 and again on Oct. 28 in connection with the damage to the sculpture. Langdon admitted to police that he was the one who knocked over the sculpture, the complaint said.

Langdon stated that he had been drinking heavily that evening, but that he knew what he was doing, the complaint said. Langdon said that he pulled his truck into the area where the sculpture was and hit the sculpture with his truck and drove away without getting out to look at the damage he caused, according to the complaint.

The sculpture of Chief Blackhawk has since been repaired and restored to its rightful place in the Sculpture Park.

March 6, 2006

Keeping the Yellow River running clear

The Yellow River is considered one of the gems of Northeast Iowa. It is a scenic canoe route and popular trout stream. But the Yellow River also drains an area encompassing Winnesheik, Allamakee and Clayton counties, several small cities and about 154,500 acres. The Yellow River and its tributaries stretch for 154 miles. And those tributaries and the river itself are impacted by human activities that sometimes damage the river. But the Yellow River is getting some help over the past several years.

Attention was focused on the Yellow River a few years ago by the Yellow River Initiative, a unique partnership of federal, state and local government agencies focused on natural resources. The initiative was conceptualized at meetings in 2001 of the Midwest Natural Resources Group (MNRG), which is made up of regional federal natural resource agencies. The purpose of the MNRG is to "bring focus and excellence to federal activities supporting the health, vitality and sustainability of natural resources and the environment. "Members of the MNRG were looking for a watershed to use for a demonstration project in which watershed monitoring data and conservation resources could be linked and readily accessible to the public through the creation of a web site. The Yellow seemed to fit the bill since it was a relatively small watershed in which there was already significant public and federal interest. Effigy Mounds National Monument, which owns land at the mouth of the Yellow, became the lead federal agency on the project in 2002. Other federal agencies involved included: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Geological Survey. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Allamakee and Winnesheik Soil and Water Conservation Districts were also involved.

This alphabet soup of government agencies each contributed assistance, primarily by contributing data, to set in motion the objectives of the initiative. The objectives were to provide for the rapid ecological assessment of the Yellow, and analyze the data to identify pollution problems. The primary focus was to create a web site that would act as a public "toolbox," by providing water quality data and links to state and federal resources that can be used to clean up the stream. Fast forward to 2006, and the Initiative seems to have accomplished its objectives. The web site is recognized as a useful tool.

Since 2004, the momentum to clean up the Yellow has returned to the local level. The Allamakee County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) and Northeast Iowa Resource Conservation and Development, Inc., in Postville work together to conduct water sampling and monitoring, GIS (geographic information systems) monitoring, grant writing and web site maintenance for the river.

Paul Berland serves as watershed coordinator from the Postville office. Berland says that thorough water sampling at 12 sites on the Yellow or on tributaries began in 2004 and continued in 2005. "It's pretty comprehensive, intense monitoring going on. We'll be able to identify changes in the water quality, "Berland said. The water is checked weekly through the growing season and monthly in the winter. It is evaluated for a number pollutants, such as coliform bacteria from manure, turbidity and ammonia. Water quality data is posted on the web site of the Yellow River Initiative. The water quality data allows the staff of SWCD, and the public, to identify problem areas on the Yellow where conservation projects could help clean up the river.

Several such conservation projects are in the works for this year as a result of the data collected on the Yellow and successful grants applications submitted by Berland. A $229,000 grant from the Watershed Improvement Review Board of Iowa could fund five manure systems for watershed farms and 36 bank stabilization projects. According to LuAnn Rolling of Allamakee SWCD, it's not yet clear just how the money will be spent. A ranking system helps conservation staff identify locations were conservation work will be the most useful. She says that her office will evaluate where the greatest need is, and focus the money there. A $10,000 grant from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship will be focused on an unnamed tributary creek in the upper reaches of the river. One aspect of the development grant will be to solicit a name for the creek, which is in need of some attention. Rolling says that she has the support of area land owners to clean up the Yellow and its tributaries, but people often don't have the money to do needed projects. "As long as we are able to do cost share, people are more than willing, "Rolling noted.

While the accomplishments of the Yellow River Initiative and the work of local conservation agencies represent a fair amount of work, Rolling, Berland and others hope that it is just the beginning. "We're hoping that this is just seed money...we hope to expand and continue. It will take eight to 10 years of accelerated funding to clean up the Yellow," Rolling said.

More information about the Yellow River Initiative can be found on the Web at: http://www.northeastiowarcd.org/yrw/index.html

Developer to get deed to Fort Crawford Hotel

The impending renovation of the historic Fort Crawford Hotel in Prairie du Chien continues to move closer. The city fulfilled its obligation of removing the asbestos and lead from the building in late November and is now ready to turn the deed over to the developer so that he can proceed with the project.

The deed should be secured within the next week, said Dale Klemme of Community Development. Once the deed is secured, The Crawford Preservation Group, headed by developer Mark Ihm of Ihm Construction of Platteville, will be able to submit architectural plans to the state for approval. Once the architectural plans are approved, the renovation of the Fort Crawford Hotel can begin.

The plans need to be approved by the state so as to ensure that the hotel is renovated "correctly" in accordance with preserving the historical integrity of the building, said Klemme. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Buildings a few years ago, and coupled with the fact that it will be renovated so as to preserve its historic integrity allows for the developer to obtain Historic Tax Credits.

Klemme explained that Historic Tax Credits are an incentive for this type of renovation because they, in effect, pay for one-fourth of the cost of the project. The cost of renovating the Fort Crawford Hotel is $1.6 million.

"The Historic Tax Credits will assist with nearly $400,000 of that cost," said Klemme. "The renovation of the Fort Crawford Hotel would not be financially feasible without the Historic Tax Credits."

Klemme said that the plans for the renovation should be approved in about a month. Some demolition work can be done prior to the approval of the plans, he said.

"We hope that the bar, the restaurant and the retail areas will be open by March of 2007,"Klemme said. "We hope that the hotel and lodging will be open in May of 2007."

Klemme noted that the intent from the beginning was to renovate the building as an historic building and to hopefully encourage the owners of other old buildings in downtown Prairie du Chien to do the same in order to give the downtown a look and feel that will attract people.

"Hopefully, the Fort Crawford Hotel will lead the way to the establishment of an historic district, "Klemme said.