The Open House is scheduled for Thursday September 25 beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the Barron County Courthouse, Room 110. For more information you can contact Brooke Bushman at 608-266-9273 or Gary Heinrichs at 608-266-3093, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Floodplain Planners.
-------------------------
Barron County Administrator Duane Herbert, turned down the offer to move to Itasca County, Minnesota.
--------------------------
An interesting story was told in the Chetek Alert ...Darn Republican Street the stuff of laughs and local legends.
The depths were murky.
In the past 30-odd years, Chetek's most publicized street has generated a host of local legends. Some thought the property was deeded to the city in the 1920s and the name changed from Brewer Street to "Damn" Republican to the less offensive "Darn" Republican in the '50s. Some thought John Shane owned the property in the '50s and deeded it over then. Others said the angry Shane returned to find Brewer Street where Darn Republican should have been and stirred up a fuss that finally resulted in restoration of the road's rightful name.
Wrong. As with most legends, the story is much less complicated-and perhaps more interesting-than the lore, and even a former mayor and Milwaukee newspaper columnist didn't get it all right.
According to Chetek resident Mavis Dodge, a relation of Bertha (née Dodge) Shane, the tale begins with the Shane family-Charles, Bertha and their sons Fay, John and Robert, who lived in Chetek in the 1920s. Charles died in 1928 when Fay, the oldest, was only 6 years old.
Fay Shane was "tall and dark," in the words of Chetek resident Hazel Bates, with "Grease"-style hair and a matching attitude. No one seems to know whether he graduated from high school, but Fay's son Daniel Shane says he was rumored to have knocked out the principal on graduation day.
Shane signed up for the Army Reserves on his 18th birthday. He left town in December 1941 to fight in New Guinea after the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II. Like many Chetek men, Shane joined Company D of the 32nd Red Arrow Division, a historic guard unit from Wisconsin and Michigan that traces its roots back to the Civil War.
Shane signed up for the Army Reserves on his 18th birthday. He left town in December 1941 to fight in New Guinea after the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II. Like many Chetek men, Shane joined Company D of the 32nd Red Arrow Division, a historic guard unit from Wisconsin and Michigan that traces its roots back to the Civil War.
After he was released from the Army, Shane, who now went by first name Charles, settled in Renton, Wash., a city 13 miles southeast of Seattle. He became a real estate developer and member of the Democratic Party, married wife Agnes in 1945 and had a family.
Daniel Shane doesn't know how his father acquired the land now known as Darn Republican Street, but Shane deeded the property over to the City of Chetek in 1954, with the stipulation that the new street be named "Damn" Republican Street.
The deed was drawn up, except the spoken word "damn" became "darn" on paper-or did it? Some say the name was Damn Republican temporarily, but residents' complaints about obscenity led to revocation of the name. Others say Shane's initial choice of words never went beyond the verbal.
Either way, the street off (what is now known as) Lakeview was "Brewer Street" until City Supervisor Al Hawkos stumbled across the Darn Republican sign, ordered in July 1971, while cleaning the city shop. The sign went up, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Since then, newspapers from Milwaukee to Rice Lake have commented on Shane's very public sentiment. Daniel Shane and brother Michael clipped the stories to honor the memory of their father, who died in 1991.
"He had a great sense of humor," Daniel remarks.
And a strong sense of political partisanship, evidence suggests.
---------------------------
Burnett County is seeking input on a new Billboard Ordinance. I will let the Burnett County Sentinel give the details...
Billboards, no billboards, or somewhere in between?
That's the question the county's land use and information committee has been grappling with in developing a new sign ordinance since the Burnett County authorized a moratorium on new billboards several months ago.
The moratorium was the result of the county losing a $200,000 lawsuit after it was taken to court over the previous sign ordinance.
"The committee is looking for some direction," committee chair Maury Miller told the rest of the county board at their meeting at Lake 26 on Thursday.
"We have three options we have developed and we'd like to have a non-binding vote so we know where to focus our discussions," he said.
"We've been looking at the St. Croix County sign ordinance, which prohibits all off-premise signs, except in a few instances," he continued.
He said that was the ordinance on which the three options were based.
Off-premise signs are defined as those signs which advertise something not located on the premises upon which the sign is located.
The first option would allow a limited number of new, permanent off-premise signs. The second option calls for no new permanent off-premise signs and the third option is the same as the second with the added stipulation that off-premise signs eventually be eliminated.
"The primary reason for that third option is tourism," committee member Chuck Awe pointed out.
He said states like Maine and Vermont prohibit off-premise billboards to enhance their state's natural beauty.
The board, in a straw vote, liked the first option least, and of the remaining two favored the second option.
It is up to the land use committee now to discuss the options and bring one to the full board for consideration.
Some supervisors suggested putting thew two options on the county's website or in the newspaper in order to get some public and/or business-owner feedback before a decision is reached.
Regardless of the option finally chosen, it is good news the ordinance would be included under the county's land use ordinances, as it would then have an appeal process.
"The county was sued over the previous ordinance because it didn't have an appeal process," supervisor Norm Bickford pointed out.
So, if you have any thoughts on the billboard proposals, contact one of the committee members listed in this article.
No comments:
Post a Comment