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Oct. 23, 2002

Crawford County Board approves budget: county tax rate increases
The Crawford County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to approve 2003 budget appropriations of $16.97 million at its regular meeting Tuesday. Total appropriations for 2002 were $7.8 million. The biggest jump in appropriations occurred in the Health and Human Services Department, which showed expenditures of $1.2 million in 2002, compared to $7.8 million in 2003. The property owners of the county will help support the budget with a total property tax levy of $4.3 million. The tax rate for county purposes will be $6.15 per $1,000 of equalized valuation, an increase from the $5.85 per $1,000 of 2002. The tax rate of $6.15 means that the owners of a home valued at $100,000 would pay $615 in property taxes for county purposes in 2003. Before the budget hearing began, County Board Chairman Robert Dillman said that board members should keep in mind the state budget deficit problems. "Next year is going to be a crucial year for Crawford County," Dillman said. "We may need to bite the bullet and terminate some jobs." In other action Tuesday, the County Board: *Unanimously approved the appropriation of $130,275 for the construction or repair of culverts and bridges. *Unanimously approved the appropriation of $1.48 million for maintenance of the County Trunk Highway System. *Unanimously voted to support the Mississippi River Regional Planning Commission's economic development planning efforts and concurs with the 2002 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Report. A copy of the resolution will be sent to the office of the Mississippi River Regional Planning Commission to document Crawford County's desire to cooperate with the eight other counties in the Mississippi River Regional Planning Commission. *Unanimously approved the filing of an application to the state of Wisconsin to provide low interest loan funds to Country Hardwoods, Inc. for the purchase of equipment necessary to establish a hardwood treatment manufacturing facility in the village of Wauzeka. Country Hardwoods is expected to create 15 jobs in Wauzeka. A number of board members stated that they would have liked to have known what the starting wages of the employees of Country Hardwoods would be before approving the measure. On further business: *Legal counsel Mark Peterson advised the board that the county's purchase of the 3M Plant 1 property for approximately $400,000 should be completed by Thursday, Oct. 24.

The Wisconsin Room - Get your history here!
PdC Memorial Library has more than 1,000 historical volumes
Want to know who's listed in the 1964 Prairie du Chien City Directory? Looking for information on a great-grandparent who passed away in March of 1944? Interested in poetry about Prairie du Chien from the early 1900s? Want to learn more about Chief Blackhawk? The Wisconsin Room at Prairie du Chien Memorial Library may have what you are looking for. There are more than 1,000 individual items in the library's Wisconsin Room to help local residents learn more about the area's and the state's history. There is the 1,308 page "History of Crawford and Richland Counties Wisconsin 1884," "Along Blackhawk's Trail" and "On Wisconsin Women," not to mention "The Valley of the God-Almighty Joneses - Reminiscences of Frank Lloyd Wright's Sister." Other items of interest include: * Wisconsin and local history * Genealogical records * Wisconsin volunteers in the Civil War * Cemetery records * Accounts from early settlers and travelers * Writings by and about Wisconsin authors and poets * Maps, atlases and plat books * School yearbooks * Census for Crawford County 1850-1930 (1890 was destroyed in a fire) * Microfilm for seven local newspapers including the Courier Press (formerly The Courier) from 1876 - 1998. Library Director Nancy Ashmore says some of her favorite items in the collection are the family histories and scrapbooks, and she says they are always looking for more. At a recent inventory, these items were discovered missing from the Wisconsin Room collection: *Memories of Wisconsin and other poems by Harry Lathrop. *A Western Pioneer: Or Incidents of the Life and Times of Rev. Alfred Brunson ... embracing a period of over seven years. Written by himself. *Searching for Your Wisconsin Ancestors in the Wisconsin Libraries by Carol Ward Ryan. *The Wisconsin Valley: a Students' Guide to Localized History by August Derleth. *Historical Sketch of the Park Region about McGregor, Iowa and Prairie du Chien by Althea R. Sherman *Wisconsin Domesday Book: Two Studies (1924) *Prehistoric Indians of Wisconsin by Robert E. Ritzenthaler. "If anyone has copies that they would care to donate to the library, or any other materials which would be suitable for this collection, they will be gratefully received," says Ashmore. In addition to seeking more information for the Wisconsin Room collection, the library is also seeking volunteers to help index their "pamphlet file," so that it can be accessed by the public. Most of the items in the room are not permitted to leave the library, but photocopies can be made for a nominal fee. There are also two microfilm machines capable of making copies. There are a few hard-to-come-by items which are kept "behind the desk" at the library and can be accessed by asking a library staff member - such as the 20 volume set of the Wisconsin Historical Collection, printed by the Wisconsin Historical Society, or a copy of "Old Prairie du Chien" by Laura Sherry. Only 425 copies of this book containing poetry about Prairie du Chien were printed, and the library has two copies of it. It contains poems of local interest, such as "Jean Joseph Rolette," "Louis des Chiens," and "Little Rosie of Picadee." Library staff members are willing to help locate specific information for folks, provided the request is specific. For example they can look up an obituary from March of 1944. If anyone is not sure of the year someone died in and they are looking for an obituary, they will have to research the materials available themselves. The Wisconsin Room has been in existence since the mid 1990s. The Wisconsin Room is open whenever the library is open.

Are they going to replace the water department employee who retired and the wastewater employee who got promoted?
These positions will not be replaced anytime in the near future due to budget concerns.

Oct. 21, 2002

PdC native working to get DNR to change mind about deer baiting rule
A group of Wisconsin deer hunters opposed to the recent DNR Board statewide ban on feeding and baiting of deer has formed a grassroots organization to lobby the DNR to rescind the ban. They want to restore deer feeding and baiting to areas of the state not affected by chronic wasting disease (CWD). Concerned Hunters of Wisconsin (CHOW) was co-founded by a 1961 Prairie du Chien graduate, Tom Halverson, after the DNR announced the no bait rule due to CWD last summer. CHOW is in the midst of a petition drive to collect 2000 signatures from Wisconsin residents in favor of returning feeding and baiting to the state. They currently have more than 1,000 signatures. CHOW supporters oppose a portion of the DNR emergency rule adopted to curtail the spread of CWD in the state's deer herd. "We believe the ban is overly restrictive and will discourage hunters from harvesting the most number of deer possible at a time when herd reduction is most critical," said Halverson. He says the DNR has estimated the deer population at 60 percent above the optimum population. A reduction in deer hunter registration by more than 30 percent from last year has been attributed to fears about CWD and the statewide baiting ban. "The ban unfairly affects all hunters, especially archery hunters who count on baiting to provide for a close and ethical shot,'' said Halverson. "It also is negatively impacting farmers through lost sales of excess corn, beets, potato, apples and pumpkins to deer hunters," according to Halverson. CHOW also believes the no bait rule will hurt Wisconsin's tourism industry by discouraging hunters who contribute millions of dollars annually to the state's economy in the form of licensee fees and money spent on hunting equipment, food and lodging. "We support the ban in the CWD and intensive management areas and we find it ironic that those are the only areas of the state where baiting is legal,'' said Halverson, who believes the DNR are using bait piles in the CWD zone to aid in the shooting of deer. "We feel that a large buffer zone should be established around the CWD area where baiting and feeding are prohibited, but the ban should be lifted in the rest of the state where the herd is healthy." CHOW plans to present its petition to Gov. McCallum's office in November and to the DNR Board at its Dec. 3 meeting in Madison. "We hope to have a re-vote by the Board on the emergency rule in time to restore baiting for late season archery hunting,'' Halverson said. The group has been busy contacting all levels of state government of their views. The group believes that CWD was introduced to the state from animals that got away from game farms. CHOW is an organization of concerned Wisconsin hunters whose goal is to return feeding and baiting to areas of the state where the deer herd is healthy. For information contact Tom Halverson, 11519 W. North Avenue, Wauwatosa, Wis. 53226, 414-257-1526. Halverson also noted anyone interested in circulating a petition in this area should contact him. Halverson grew up in the Plum Creek area, and started deer hunting in Crawford County as a youth with his father, an avid sportsman. He still has family in this area. He currently runs a barbershop in Wauwatosa.

Walleye tournament makes big splash in Prairie du Chien
Local celebrities got the chance to see what it's like to be a professional walleye angler for a day at the Cabela's Masters Walleye Circuit 2002 World Walleye Championship Pro-Am Wednesday, Oct. 16. Wednesday's Pro-Am gave local anglers the chance to ride in the high-powered boats, reel in the tips and soak up the expert advice of professional walleye anglers from throughout the Midwest. The Pro-Am also gave the pros the opportunity to pre-fish the area and gain local walleye knowledge before the actual pro tournament began on Thursday. The water was high and temperatures were a bit low Wednesday morning when the top 50 teams on the Cabela's Masters Walleye Circuit launched their boats from St. Feriole Island. Temperatures picked up during the day, however, making for good "walleye weather." "It was just a gorgeous day," said Prairie du Chien Mayor Mary Jane Faas upon arriving at Wednesday afternoons' weigh-in, at which all species of fish were accepted. Faas outfished the pros she was matched with by catching their boat's only keeper of the day, a 15 3/4-inch, 1.5-pound sauger. Faas caught the fine specimen right in the lip with a jig at approximately 10:15 a.m. The mayor's pros, Jim and Jake LaPine of Fond du Lac, claimed that they caught several small walleyes on Wednesday. Another local celebrity, Denny Fuller of the Sawmill Saloon, rolled into the weigh-in area wearing a big grin. "We had a great time," Fuller said as the crowd began to buzz. Denny bent carefully down to the live well, lifted the lid and commenced with a mighty struggle between man and fish that drew gasps of anticipation from the crowd of walleye fans. After what seemed a near-death experience, Denny popped up unscathed, holding a whopping 1.11-pound white bass as the crowd of 35 chuckled with approval. Denny had been matched with the pro team of Dave Lange and Mark Kordus, both of Mosinee. Gary Howe, publisher of The Courier Press, was teamed up with pros Jeff Zawicki of Muskego and Tommy Sowinski of Menominee Falls. After a titanic effort Wednesday, the team was able to haul from the depths of the treacherous Mighty Mississippi a walleye that tipped the scales at 2.03 pounds. Steve Post of Prairie du Chien was paired with the team of Joe Wilson of Rollingstone, Minn. and Brian Erdmann of Sturgeon Bay. Team members said they were happy to finally land a 2.67-pound sheepshead after a long day of fishing. The sheepshead was caught with a jig. Tom Lessard of Prairie du Chien was matched with Bill Koval of Middleton and Dan Miller Jr. of Madison. The team reeled in a 2.39-pound catfish, or "whiskered walleye," as Master of Ceremonies Bob Kaczkowski said. The records detailing the exploits of other local celebrities fishing in Wednesday's pro-am tournament were not complete but all anglers had a good time. Some of the notable locals included Brad Lyman of Prairie du Chien High School, Sharon Cuchna of the Prairie du Chien Chamber of Commerce, Bob Standorf of Prairie du Chien, Len Warland of the Falling Rock Bar and of the Falling Rock Walleye Club, Walter Wright of the Falling Rock Walleye Club, Jeff Wolff of the Falling Rock Walleye Club and Charles Buttke of the Falling Rock Walleye Club. Before the 250-horsepower engines, global positioning systems, depth finders, fish finders, pinpoint radar trolling motors and other space age electronics were fired up each morning, various musical groups from Prairie du Chien High School revved up the throng with outstanding renditions of The National Anthem. The Prairie du Chien High School band performed before the launch of Wednesday's pro-am and the high school vocal jazz group sang before that afternoon's weigh-in. Bethany Sykora sang before the launch of the regular tournament Thursday morning and Derek Krahn sang at Thursday's weigh-in. Megan Hertrampf got the fishermen off to a roaring start Friday and Amy Malcom on the saxophone enthralled the crowd Friday afternoon. Debbie Frailey sang The National Anthem at Saturday's launch and Colin Stiemke performed Saturday afternoon before the last weigh-in of the tournament. The top 50 two-person pro teams of Cabela's Masters Walleye Circuit converged upon St. Feriole Island from Thursday through Saturday to cast and troll for a top prize of $25,000. Second prize was $12,500 and third took home $9,000. Tournament organizers said that a four-day tournament such as this generates between $18,000 and $20,000 in revenues to the local economy. The winners of this year's tournament were Robert Bodin and Scott Mann of Red Wing, Minn. Bodin and Mann caught 15 fish in the three-day tournament with a total weight of 34.73 pounds.