Free dirt

And its totally free

“The moon belongs to everyone
The best things in life are free
The stars belong to everyone
They gleam there for you and me”

“The flowers in spring
The robins that sing
The sunbeams that shine
They're yours, they're mine”

“And love can come to everyone
The best things in life are free”

“The Best Things in Life Are Free” by the Ink Spots

You know the old saying, “There ain't no such thing as a free lunch”? Well, right here in the City of Lakes we got something that is free. Granted, it's dirt. But it's free dirt all the same.

Since the end of April, the city compost and brush site has been open for business on a limited basis. Just like last year, city residents may bring their grass clippings, leaves and small brush to the site at no cost to tax payers. All that is required is a driver's license or a water bill that proves you are indeed a city resident. That's about all of the “Open Sesame” you're gonna need.

Ah, springtime in Wisconsin

A lot of us remember the days when the site was open 24-7 and ran pretty much on an honor system. The May 2 Blizzard of 2013 changed all of that. In the aftermath of the storm, every tree cutting service in the area began dumping truck load after truck load of downed trees, brush and stumps the size of truck tires in our back yard. It was open season and we were ground zero for the clean-up efforts in this part of the county. What's the harm in that? Well, if you recall, the resulting brush pile grew to an unmanageable size. Why not just burn it? The DNR would not allow us to so in the end to alleviate the risk of fire the City had to pay thousands of dollars in unbudgeted money to have it hauled away. A big deal had become an even bigger deal and led to the creation of the system we have in place today.

He really is a friendly guy

While this was before my time here at City Hall, the way it has been explained to me is that in 2014 the city operated without a compost site. In 2015, we reopened the place with the site being manned a few days a week in the spring and fall and every other Saturday during the summer months. Christian Watts is an affable young man and is the gatekeeper to the site. He works for minimum wage and is a credit to our town the way he politely checks residents in as they come to drop off their yard waste. Last week when I asked him how things were going he quickly replied, “Wonderful” with no sarcasm implied.

I know some of us in town wish we would go back to the “old” way of doing things when people could just come and go at their convenience. A few of said as much to me so I thought I would do a little research and learn how our neighbors handle this matter and this is what I learned:

• Barron:They have a no-fee brush site with no posted hours. According to the woman I spoke with you can dump small brush and leaves but no bags are allowed and no grass clippings whatsoever (but how they police that is not clear to me). Director of Public Works Dan Knapp shared with me how he got a phone call from Barron's public works guy just this morning inquiring about contractors who are working in the area as apparently someone dropped off some mighty big trees recently that he believes is related to the storm the other day. Hmmmm....

• Bloomer: The “Jump Rope” city to our south has a compost site that is open 24-7 and that is strictly on the honor system. They'll take leaves, brush and grass clippings no charge. According to the person I spoke with they were pretty confident that abuse is minimal and the system seems to be working. I wonder if their city shop guys feel the same?

• Cameron:Unlike Barron, Bloomer or Cumberland, The Village of Cumberland's website displays the following announcement prominently on their home page:

SPRING CLEAN-UP DAY

VILLAGE OF CAMERON

The Village of Cameron spring clean-up day will be held Saturday, May 14th, 2016, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Dumpsters will be set up in the vacant lot just North of the Library and Cameron Auto Body. E-Waste and white goods will be collected at no charge. Brush, leaves and household items will be accepted. Proof of residency will be required (tax statement – water bill – driver license). NO CONSTRUCTION DEBRIS OR TIRES WILL BE ACCEPTED.  Anyone found dropping items off early may be subject to a fine.

I think one of any municipality's goal should be disseminating what information its citizens need to know. I think knowing where to dump your yard refuse should be included in that. And yet Cameron and Chetek are the only two municipalities that have this kind of information posted on their website.

What I had to find out by phone, however, is the unique system the Village has in place for its residents. First, their site is only open on the first Friday of every month. Second, in order to dump there you have to stop in at the village hall, get a key for the gate and sign a form. Third, the site is only open during office hours which is not very convenient if you don't get home until after 4 p.m. And finally, you may not leave any bags there, compost ones included.

• Cumberland: The “Island City” also has a compost site which, like Bloomer's, is run on an honor system and essentially accessible 24-7. And just like the person I spoke with at Bloomer's City Hall, I was assured that the privilege was not being abused. What is unique to them, however, is the fee for making sure the compost site remains accessible is passed on to the tax rolls to the tune of $3-$4,000 a year.

A few after hours folks don't know how to read

When I asked Dan about how crazy it would be to return to the pre-2013 site conditions, he replied, in so many words, “very.” Unfortunately, despite the signage to the contrary, far more than brush was dumped off in years' past – appliances, couches, tires and the like were often left and clearly they are not biodegradable. As I've been reminded by more than a few city residents, based on what some people leave at the two recycling bins – TVs, stereos and what-not – how could you trust people to abide by the rules when some clearly have not abided by them in the past? Apparently, last summer one of the issues that arose is some contractors entered the compost site illegally after hours by coming down Hochmayr Drive (near Parker-Hannafin) and then drove their truck down an ATV trail to unload their stuff and a lot of that was construction material (see the picture). Unfortunately, a few bad eggs ruin it for everyone else.

I recognize the limited operating hours is an inconvenience but based on what other municipalities are offering, I think we're doing the best we can with the limited resources we have to work with. Dan assured me that providing that a water main wasn't breaking somewhere in town or some other emergent event, the guys would come through on the last week of every month and pick up brush for those with no ability of their own to haul it to the site. Again, it's not what we used to have but something is definitely better than having nothing at all. Christian will be there to greet you in a friendly manner and he'll direct you where to dispose of your waste. What's more, if you're in a need of some good, fresh dirt for your garden or your flower boxes we got that a plenty and you're welcome to it. My mother loved listening to her collection of records by the Ink Spots when she was in college back in the 50s and like those boys used to sing some of the best things in life truly are free, good composting soil among them.

The sign is presently down in need of being updated

The City of Chetek's Compost and Brush site receives small brush, grass clippings and leaves and you can even leave them in the compost bags you collected them in. Check out the schedule at the city's website City of Chetek or on our Facebook page (City of Chetek)

Lest we forget

“I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.”

Frodo's words to Sam in the closing pages of The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

With the Memorial Day weekend just a few days away, our little town is beginning to feel larger as summer residents continue to trickle home and lots of relatives begin to arrive in anticipation of commencement exercises for the Chetek-Weyerhaeuser High School's Class of 2016 on Saturday evening. Nationally recognized as the unofficial beginning of the summer on account of the holiday weekend, weather providing lots of us will enjoy time in our backyard firing up the grill or out on our pontoon at the lake or frequenting the many graduation parties that will be hosted around the town over the next few days.

What I remember most of Memorial Day when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s is that I spent almost everyone of them in the back seat of our family car returning from a long weekend “up north” at Grandma & Grandpa Martin's cottage. Memorial Day wasn't a day to picnic or visit a cemetery. It was a day to endure the long four hour drive home and then, after maybe a little time to play with my friends in the neighborhood, get ready for bed because after all, as my mom would remind me, “tomorrow is a school day.” No, I had to move to Chetek to really appreciate what the day is all about.

We moved here in the fall of 1991 so our first experience of Memorial Day Chetek-style was the May 1992 gathering at the cemetery the following spring. Back then, the Legion and the Vets used to call upon one of the local ministers to give the address at the cemetery and as the rookie in town I was asked to speak. So there I was on the Long Bridge dressed in a suit and tie, surrounded by a sea of people decked out in shorts and flip flops awaiting the commencement of the parade.

First came the color guard, followed by the CHS Band decked out appropriately in their marching uniforms after which came members of the Boys and Girls Scouts bringing up the rear. The procession paused on the bridge while tribute was given for those who had served and died at sea including a 21-gun salute and a toss of a ceremonial wreath into Prairie Lake. Following this we all completed the walk in respectful silence to the cemetery for the gathering which included a few selections from the band and the seemingly endless playing of “Findlandia” while the Women's Auxiliary arrayed their memorial there. And then there was the speech. I don't recall what I shared. My guess is anyone who was there doesn't recall what I said either – the address system they used then was so antiquated you usually only heard a portion of what anyone said. After I was done, the program concluded with another 21-gun salute and the solemn playing of Taps. When the moment had passed, we were all invited to the Legion Post for dinner, the band recessed to the awaiting school buses and everyone walked home to celebrate the rest of the day grilling, skiing or working in their garden.

The Legion and the Vets call upon one of their own these days to talk at the service at the cemetery and several years ago they added the World War II warplane flyover (which never ceases to thrill me). But other than this, the parade and the service follow the same worn path that has been followed for decades so that being present is like stepping into a time warp of sorts, entering into a sacred liturgy if you will to remember one thing: the cost and price of freedom is beyond counting and we should be ever grateful for those who have done their part to serve and defend our country, that we may enjoy the freedoms and the blessings that we do.

Before the tradition of asking local pastors went away, I was asked several years later to speak at another Memorial Day gathering at the cemetery. In this case, I do remember what I said because I shared a family story that I will relate here in as terse a manner that I can.

My dad in camp "back in the day"

I never served in the military. Both my dad and my father-in-law did, however, serving in the Wisconsin National Guard in the late 50s and 60s. But beyond that it seems that the Martins missed out on all the conflicts of the 20^th Century – both World Wars, Korea, Viet Nam and Persian Gulf I. But in 1861, when President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers, three brothers from Oskaloosa, Iowa heeded the call – George Washington, Francis Marian and James Madison Martin, my second-great grandfather.

Not him but young like him when he left for war

George, the oldest, mustered into the 7^th Iowa Volunteers and saw action at the Battle of Belmont, Missouri that fall. The fracas, which pretty much ended in a draw, is more known for the fact that it was the first time a yet unheard of Union commander got his baptism of fire – Ulysses S. Grant. George was shot three times and while they were successful in removing two of the bullets a third, lodged right behind his left knee cap, was left in and for the rest of his life, when the temperature plummeted he experienced excruciating pain.

Francis served in the 9^th Iowa Calvary and his war experiences consisted of going out on patrols in Arkansas looking for one Confederate force or another but never encountering the enemy in the field of combat. He was mustered out in 1866 and by year's end he was dead of consumption. Following his death his mother wrote the War Department seeking his pension claiming that all those years sleeping on the ground brought about the condition that contributed to his demise. Her request was denied.

Not him but from the same unit

James joined the 15^th Iowa volunteers and was at Vicksburg. Like a lot of guys involved in that siege he spent some time in the camp hospital suffering from malaria. In 1864, his unit was in Georgia under General Sherman and at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain he was shot in the left arm which led to its amputation. He spent the rest of the war in an army hospital returning to Oskaloosa a year or more after the conflict was over. 

He married, settled down on a farm and they had three children in short order, my great-grandfather Harry being the baby of that brood. But somewhere along the way, something went wrong with James. The way Cora, my great-grandfather's sister who lived to be a venerable old lady living into the Kennedy administration, tells it, one day, when her momma was sickly, James informed the family that he was leaving. Despite the children grabbing him around the legs and begging him not to go, he shoved them away and rode out of their lives for good. He crossed the Mississippi, married the woman he had taken up with and they settled in Minneapolis where he died in abject poverty in 1888. The local G.A.R. post buried him at was is now known as the Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery at the corner of East Lake Street and Cedar Avenue. All that's left of him is a marker whose name was barely legible the last time I was there five or six years ago. And as for the wife he had left behind according to Cora she died of a broken heart leaving the children orphaned.

Three brothers heeded their country's call and marched off to war. One returned lame, the other mortally ill and the third with the use of only one good arm. They served like so many other men in that conflict without distinction. They did their part, they shouldered their weapons and because of their efforts and those of their fellow

servicemen, the Union was saved. But not necessarily for them. Certainly not for Francis, dead by 24, while his brothers' lives were irreparably changed.

So as I gather at the cemetery this Monday morning along with so many others from town when they get to the laying of the wreath at the G.A.R. Memorial, I'll be thinking of those brothers who like so many other young men in that conflict marched out whole to war and returned home wounded and lame or not at all. Regardless of what kind of people they were in life, their sacrifice deserves my respect and a pause out of a day set aside for recreating in a country that is gratefully still free all these years later.

Pvt. James M. Martin's marker

The Howard-Campbell-Ganske American Legion Post #179, AMVETS Post 25, and the Veterans of Foreign War Post #10331 of Chetek service will be held this Monday, May 30 at Lake View Cemetery. The parade will commence at 10:42 a.m., pause on the Long Bridge to pay tribute to those who died at sea and for the World War II warplane flyover at 10:50 a.m., and then begin the service at 11 a.m. at the cemetery. 

The boys are back in town

How well do you know your geography?

“Guess who just got back today?
Them wild-eyed boys that had been away
Haven't changed, haven't much to say
But man, I still think them cats are great”

“The Boys are Back in Town” by Thin Lizzy

Like the lead line in the Thin Lizzy song from the '70s, as of Sunday the boys are back in town. The Belizean boys that is and other than the fact that their guys that's where the comparison with the carousing rowdies celebrated in the Irish rock band's greatest hit ends.

Last fall for about six weeks between mid-November and late December, ABC Truss brought in seven men from the Central American country of Belize to work short term at the plant. Lacking sufficient local labor to spell their regulars, ABC dove into a different pool to find the help they were in need of. Maybe you happened to notice last Fall a small gaggle of guys walking down the street to Gordy's that looked decidedly not from around here? Yeah, those guys. And now they're back for a much longer stint.

This is Marvin

I happened to meet a few of them while they were here and one of them – Marvin, a guy who endeared himself to many around here – attended our fellowship regularly. What I remember about meeting Marvin is the fact that it was the Sunday following the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris. Half way through our worship service in walked a tall, thin black man that made me think a Somalian from Barron was paying us a visit (something that would be very odd in itself). But following the gathering as we made each other's acquaintance I learned he was from an entirely different part of the planet. He joined my wife and I for lunch that day and during the short stint he was here more than a handful of us grew to like this guy from the small Caribbean nation to our south.

Just the other day someone I know from the plant shared a part of a conversation he had recently with one of his coworkers where apparently they remarked dismissively, “Well, soon the Syrians will be back.” When my friend sought to clarify what he meant by that statement apparently the guy sincerely was referencing the seven short-term laborers ABC had hired last fall. “I think you mean the guys from Belize and that's a long way away from Syria” to wit his coworker replied offhandedly, “Same difference.” Really?

So, what do you know about Belize? Here's a few things I learned last fall as well as for beefing up my knowledge to write this post:

• 

  See what I mean?

  Belize is located in Central America just south of Mexico on the Gulf coast. By any standard, that is a looooooong way from Syria which is in the Middle East (see graphic).
• While once upon a time it was ruled by the Mayans, who left amazing ruins that people still are exploring as well as a calendar that for a short time in 2012 got people all worked up as it predicted the world's end on December 21, more recently it was a British protectorate. In 1981, however, they were granted their independence and it is now more known for its scuba diving, rain forests and those looking for a good beach to catch some rays on.

This makes me think of Mel Gibson's movie, Apocalypto

Jacques Costeau's Big Blue Hole

The December 21, 2012 calendar.
I think they made a movie about it.

• As a former English colony most of the folks there speak English with maybe a touch of Creole thrown in for good measure. But for the most part, you can understand them and they can understand you.
• As one on-line blogger put it Belize is “...a little country with a population of fewer than 350,000 people, most all of whom speak English. Part Caribbean, part Central American, it’s mostly wide-open spaces with a long coast and a sprinkling of small islands just offshore fringed by white sand and swaying palms...This is one of the least densely populated places on earth. Belize is also peaceful, democratic, and stable. The country has generally no beefs with the rest of the world.”  10 Reasons to Live, Retire and Invest in English-Speaking Belize

So, if it's so great and peaceful there why are they here? Well, that's easy: economic opportunity. Take Marvin, for example. Back home he was a park ranger but at ABC he can make in a day what used to take him a week to earn and given that he's a single man with a mother to care for back in Belize, why not take seven months to earn some coin here to send back home? (Many of the guys who have come are married with children, however). Think of some of the local guys here who several years ago headed to the boom towns of North Dakota leaving their spouses behind for a season in order to make some hay out there. Now that's the same difference.

Some guys are still going west to seek their fortune

I know there are some in town who are disappointed that ABC decided to go this route. But if half or more of the local guys who apply for the same position can't pass a drug test or, as I'm told on good authority, don't even make it through their first week because they feel the work is too hard what are their options? Besides, these Belizeans go through a vetting process by the State Department that is quite extensive. One misstep on their part and they are on the short flight back home. There is no incentive on their part to screw up.

Hearing they were back in town, I stopped in this morning and welcomed them back officially on behalf of the City of Chetek bringing with me a hospitality gift of a dozen Spudniks from Bob's Grill as well as a dozen of assorted pastries from the Chetek Bakery. (One of their neighbors, Amanda Jensen, had already loaded them down with brownies and Rice Krispie bars last night so I think they're set – at least for the first week.) They're gonna be here until Christmas so if you happen to see a small group of men of color walking around town don't be afraid of them. Smile and be neighborly as I would hope you would be with anyone else. They speak our language and we speak theirs. Take advantage of this opportunity to meet someone from outside of Barron County. We all may just learn a few things about each other that makes us all better people for doing so.

Meet some of your new neighbors

Now that The Garage "door" is closed where do we go now?

“What's next?"

This past January, after 16 years of continual operation, The Garage (a.k.a. The Youth Center) officially closed its doors. As a founding member of the Chetek Youth Center Project, Inc., the non-profit corporation, I can tell you it wasn't an easy decision to come to. It wasn't because we ran out of money (we hadn't). It wasn't because the kids weren't coming (they were). It was primarily because of our inability to attract new volunteers and when our main one, Don Fritz, who also continues to serve as President of our non-profit corporation, decided to move to Tennessee, the hand-writing was on the wall.

The way we were

The Garage served a niche of kids that for the most part wasn't being served by any other group in town. While I'm sure there were exceptions, most of the kids who congregated there were kids who weren't involved in organized sports, band, or other clubs. Call them what you will – street urchins, gamers or ragamuffins – these kids needed a safe, healthy place to come to and gather at. Since 2000, the place was open most Friday and Saturday evenings throughout the calendar year. And now it's gone. All that's left is the mural on the Banks Street side of the new AutoValue building that reminds us that something other than auto parts and accessories used to be transacted within.

When we decided to move forward with the sale last December we made a collective agreement that the monies that we would realize due to the sale of our facility would be sown back into the kids of our town. After all, the money was given for kids it should go back to them, right? 

Since that time I have been approached by some individuals wondering just what the money could be used for. Could it, as an example, be used to help defray costs of baseball uniforms for Little League? Or could it be used to help underwrite youth outings? And what of exploring merging with the guys at the pool hall? After all, they have a place and we have a need for a place. These suggestions and others certainly are legitimate but the board of the non-profit organization needed to put our heads together and come to some consensus.

We'd like to plant this in the heart of a great idea

This past week we did. We met, conferred and came to the following conclusion that for the time being we will hold our money in trust and await the emergence of a new non-profit group interested in forming a new youth center. In other words, it's meant to serve as seed for what we hope will be the next version of a healthy, safe place for kids to gather in the City of Lakes. So I was asked to pass the word with the hope that a person will emerge to lead a group of people who will do their part to galvanize the interest that many have expressed to organize a new center in town. You can call me at City Hall 715-924-4838 or on my cell at 715-925-6078 to get up to speed on the particulars that the Chetek Youth Center Project, Inc. is looking for. But essentially, we're looking for someone who not only has enthusiasm and desire but who has a plan. 

At a youth outing from the mid-90s,
this lady was always involved with kids

Like Chris Fritz had back in 1999. It began as an idea. She shared it with a few people, myself included, and we shared it with others at a few public meetings and what happened next is what I think they mean by synergy: It wasn't addition; it was multiplication as The Garage (as it was later named following a vote by the kids in town) went from idea to reality in six months. Like all new ventures some people got on and others got off but the long and short of it was that we had lift-off and we were on our way. When we officially turned off the lights for the very last time back in January The Garage was the longest operating youth center in Barron County to date (and that includes the Boys and Girls' Club in Rice Lake.)

By conventional wisdom, a camel is a horse designed
by a committee

You've heard the old saying about a camel being a horse designed by a committee? Well, we're in need of the lead horse who can set the pace and see the matter through. They don't have to be the second coming of Seabiscuit, the champion thoroughbred of 1930s fame. They even don't have to be Chris or Don. They just have to have the gumption and the love for some of the greatest kids who walk the planet - the kids from the place we all call home.

Moving in and beginning my education: my first two weeks in office

“What do we call you now?”

Ever since the results of the election were made known on the evening of April 5, that has been the question I’ve been asked the most. “Is it Mayor-Pastor? Or Pastor-Mayor? Or what?” (for those of you who may not know for the past twenty-five years my “day” job has been – and continues to be - serving The Refuge, a local Christian fellowship, as its pastor). Several have suggested MPJ (i.e., Mayor-Pastor Jeff) or PMJ (Pastor-Mayor Jeff). Just the other day a kid from church offered “M – Astor” (you know, Mayor and Pastor) but I'm pretty sure Linda will never call me that. A children’s pastor serving with a congregation in Eau Claire who hails from Chetek suggested GAPO. When I asked for clarification, she quipped: “Great-And-Powerful-Oz”. It’s all in fun and I actually enjoy the fact that people are having fun with it. After all, when’s the last time a local municipality elected one of its ministers to the mayoralty? It’s not as rare as the Virgin Birth, I’ll grant you, but it’s something akin to aged Elizabeth finding out that unbelievably she was in the family way (see Luke 1). I’m sure that news got around in her town too and made a lot of people snicker. It’s that kind of thing. But the truth is I answer to any and all and most people will continue to call me Jeff which is fine by me.

Cards like these I will treasure

Connections

As many of you are aware, I have been a volunteer at Roselawn since our oldest (now 28) was a first grader “back-in-the-day”. In the weeks leading up to the election as much as the rest of us were paying attention to the presidential race the only contest that seemed to matter there was the mayoral one. In fact, since April 5 most of the huzzahs I have received have come from these kids. I sub from time to time there as well and just the other day I overheard one of the kids tell a friend in another class, “Our sub is the mayor.” I don’t know if that makes me a big deal but what I do think is great is that now several hundred kids in this town feel they have access with the “guy in charge.”

The morning after the election I got a Facebook message from one of the kids at the high school that went something like this: “I voted for the first time yesterday and I voted for you.” He then proceeded to share with me a real concern he had that he would hope our town would address sometime soon. Another student from the Conservation Club at the high school messaged me expressing a desire to plant a few trees in honor of Arbor Day. Just the other day I had a sit-down with Dan Knapp, Director of Public Works, and we did a little research which consisted of jumping in Dan's truck and driving out to the vicinity of Chetek's future Dog Park. He recommended a general area where trees would work and just like that we “got 'er done.” All this to say that my connection with students at all three schools hopefully creates a sense that they have a voice too in how our city runs.

“So, how's that Mayor-thing working out so far?”

She won't steer me wrong

This the second question I've been asked since taking office and the implication is, I think, is that folks want to know if now that I'm in office do I have any regrets that I am. My immediate response to that is, “Heck no!” The ladies at City Hall – City Clerk Carmen Newman, Deputy City Clerk Cassandra Larson and Administrative Assistant Karen Zimmerman – run that place like a well-oiled machine and have been so very accommodating and helpful to me as I have settled in. Besides, in my estimation, mayors come and go but these women and the guys at the City Shop are what really keep our town on track.

So what have I been doing since being sworn in on April 13? Among other things, cleaning out old files from the mayor's office (I have found documents reaching back to the Irv Beuthling administration! I figure if it's in a drawer in the mayor's filing cabinet it's probably not important and can be tossed and I have without any guilt whatsoever) Carmen and I have met regularly as she patiently helps me get up to speed. I've presided at a couple of meetings conducting city business and spoke briefly at the final Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at Knapp Haven (now officially known as Atrium Post-Acute Care of Chetek.) And I have been sitting down with lots of people from the police department, the city shop, the Community Center, members of the City Council, the school district (including the Superintendent of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser Area Schools) and private citizens as well asking for their perspective and opinions on how the city is running and how together we can make it better. Taken collectively, I'll state the obvious: there are a lot of good folks who make Chetek the community that it is and they are all doing their part to serve the people who call this place home.

Turning the page and beginning a new chapter

To most of us in town it will always be Knapp Haven

In one of those many conversations I had recently, one person put it aptly: “You're coming into office at a sweet time. The two big ticket items of the past year are over – Knapp Haven and the Community Center.” For sure, by our town's standards, 2015 will be remembered vividly for the controversy over these two issues. The Knapp Haven sale was concluded literally the day before I was officially “seated” and the lawsuit settlement was already well in the works. It has been a tumultuous year of meetings and hearings that have resulted in some bad blood being spilt and some hard feelings being felt. For every employee or former employee at Knapp Haven and for the dear people who live there who were unhappy with the city's decision to sell the facility, I am so very sorry that you felt unheard during the process that led to the sale. Change is difficult and not easy to maneuver through even for the best of people regardless of what side of the issue they may have been on. Personally, I feel reassured that while many caregivers have chosen to move on, many others who have served for years at Knapp will continue to provide excellent service to those who live there.

Donna is up to good at the CCC

When I was appointed to the Community Center board in 2015 the most significant revelation that occurred to me was the fact that the official name of the place is the Chetek Community Center. While the group Chetek Senior Citizens, Inc. are the primary users of the place it was not, contrary to common parlance, the Senior Center. It's a place where all folks from our city are welcome. Donna Bachowski, our new and energetic director there, is taking great strides to change how most of us continue to perceive that place. It's not just an “old folks' hang-out”. It's the Community Center. That being said, now that the lawsuit has been resolved, I sincerely hope we will all be able to turn the page and work together to create an atmosphere where people do feel they can come and congregate.

May's City Council Meeting is NEXT Tuesday

Our next City Council meeting will be this Tuesday, May 10, in the Council Chambers at City Hall beginning at 7 p.m. As I scan the tentative agenda, it's not what you call a “grabber.” There will be a couple of appointees to be presented, a new hanger lease at the airport to approve and a liquor license to be granted plus some other odds and ends. In my mind, it's not what you'd call “must-see TV” but if you choose to come, the coffee will be on and some goodies out as well from one of our local businesses. 

What makes our city run well? Of course, all of us. We all must play our part, we all must think in terms of “us” as opposed to “us” and “them”. That's what a vibrant community tries to do: make government work for us so that home feels like a healthy home should feel. It's never a perfect science and it will always be a work in progress but the goal of “enjoying a peaceful, safe community in which to work, play, raise and educate a family”, to quote our website, is worth all the hard work and effort we can muster.