February 13, 2002

Officials discuss state budget fiasco, bureaucratic spending
"How do we correct bureaucratic spending?" was the rhetorical question asked by many at Friday's listening session on the $1 billion state budget shortfall held by Sen. Mark Meyer and Rep. Johnsrud.
Nearly 40 people attended the meeting at the joint law enforcement center, with some standing in the hall for the two hours due to lack of space.
Johnsrud started the session by saying 62 percent of what the state receives through taxes comes back to the taxpayers though shared revenue, transportation aids and school funding.
Many local officials, including Prairie du Chien Mayor Mary Jane Faas spoke about the impact the elimination of the shared revenue program would have on their city, county, villages and townships.
Faas said the elimination of $1.4 million in shared revenue would be the equivalent of losing the funding for the police department, Hoffman Hall and the library. Another official from Gays Mills said the elimination of their shared revenue would be the equivalent to eliminating half of their employees, the library, their police department and the pool in order to survive.
Town officials said road maintenance would have to be reduced in order to meet the budget reductions.
Sara Ryan, director of Crawford County Human Services, said they depend heavily on the shared revenue program. "And we are not being glamourous. That's just to keep people going by providing services."
All of the local officials present seemed to agree that they could handle a reduction of their shared revenue without having a major impact on residents, but the elimination of the shared revenue program would be too much.
Johnsrud and Meyer agreed. "We don't need the type of reform Gov. McCallum has put in front of us. We just need something to get us through the tough times," said Johnsrud.
Others, including Prairie du Chien Town Chair Larry Kapinus, said that a straight percentage reduction would be more fair than the per capita reduction the governor proposed.
Meyer explained that the current state shared revenue formula is based on population and property value. That is why the per capita reduction affects different areas of the state so differently.
There is also an 11 percent reduction of budgets in all state government departments in the governor's plan.
Many different ideas were brought up to find other ways to reduce the state budget.
Other brought up the fact that sales tax exemptions need to be reexamined.
Several brought up the fact that no one in government seemed to have the foresight to see this coming, and even if the events of Sept. 11 hadn't occurred they would still be there discussing the shortfall.
Several items came up which were considered to be "atrocities" to the taxpayers, such as the recent $14 million Highway 60 project.
Johnsrud noted that 85 percent of the state budget consists of shared revenue, education, Medicaid and the department of corrections, and cuts to other areas simply will not be enough.
Meyer noted that constitutionally the only thing the state has to provide funding for is education.
"It's really a conundrum for us," Johnsrud said. "It's a situation were the rich will stay rich and the poor will struggle."
Johnsrud said he and Meyer are part of the legislative branch of government and not the administration branch, which spends the money.
The legislature hopes to have the budget fiasco resolved by May.

102 cows die in barn fire
The Cliff Wachter family lost their barn and 102 cows in a fire in the early morning hours of Monday, Feb. 11.
At 2:06 a.m. the Grant County Sheriff's Department was notified of the fire at the Wachter residence, located on Rail Hollow Road in Woodman Township.
The barn was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived and it was a total loss.

Two PdC men to be featured on  WPT's Wisconsin Stories this week
The "River and Road" episode of "Wisconsin Stories" featuring Don Valley & Al Reed will air at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14 on Wisconsin Public Television. There will be an encore presentation at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17.
The acclaimed "River and Road" history series on Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) will look at the Mississippi River in its Feb. 14 episode, and the program features two Prairie du Chien men with tales of the river.
Among those talking about life along the river will be two former commercial fishermen and clammers, Don Valley and Al Reed, both of Prairie du Chien.
The "River and Road" episode touches on the steamboat era, clamming and river pearls which were a boom business, and the locks and dams that changed the face of our river.
In addition to the interviews of the two Prairie du Chien men, the show also features footage filmed near Prairie du Chien, including views from Pikes Peak and Wyalusing.
Wisconsin Stories is a partnership of the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) and Wisconsin Public Television (WPT).
The project features an in-depth website which expands upon each episode at www.wisconsinstories.org. Streaming videos, historical essays, maps and more make Wisconsin Stories come alive on the internet. The "River and Road" information will be added to the website by the end of the week.

Crawford home to rare Middle Archaic Native American campsite
A rare type of Native American campsite, even for Crawford County, has recently been approved to the State Register of Historic Places and will soon likely be approved to the National Register of Historic Places.
"The site is a rare and very important find because it dates back to the Middle Archaic period (4,000-2,500 B.C.)," said Diane Holliday, deputy state archeologist. "It's rare that we find a relatively intact site of that great an age."
Holliday explained that very little is known about Native Americans of the Middle Archaic period and that the campsite provides yet another piece to a complex puzzle.
The site, called the Crow Hollow Site, is about a half acre in size and was discovered a few years ago along Highway 131 when the Department of Transportation was working in the area.
Archeologists speculate the site to be a late fall or winter campsite because there was very little fish or turtle remains in the area, Holliday said, noting that heavy fish or turtle remains are indicators of summer campsites.
Archeologists from the Museum Archeology Program of the Wisconsin Historical Society found five complete spearpoints and fragments of 15 other spearpoints, along with a grinding stone, scrapers that were used to process deer hides, whitetail deer remains, hickory acorns and walnuts and a piece of Galena that may of been a bead.
Holliday said that the Crow Hollow campsite, in addition to the few other known sites of the Middle Archaic period in Wisconsin, offer clues as to the seasonal patterns and interactions of Native American social groups.
The Crow Hollow site should soon be approved for the National Register of Historic Places because the lead of the State Historical Register is almost always followed, Holliday said.