Skipping town to the Land of the Free by the Carib Sea

So, I'm skipping town. No, check that: I'm leaving on a jet plane. On December 26, thirteen of us from Refuge (the Christian fellowship that I pastor for my “real” job) will be flying out of Chicago for a two week stay in Belize (well, most of the group will be staying two weeks; I'll be coming back after 10 days on account of responsibilities here.) It is what is commonly referred to as a “missions trip” but for all that our main purpose for going is to visit some of our Belizean friends.

Pablo (center), Ezekiel (2nd right) and Elber (on right)

As most of you are aware, this past year ABC Truss brought in twenty-five foreign workers to work at the plant here. Of that group, five of the guys ended up fellowshipping with us at Refuge. Over the course of the past six months they were in town, they were regulars at our worship gatherings, came to a few grad parties as well a pizza party we threw for all the crew and participated in nine-week Sunday evening course on following Jesus. This past fall, a large number of landscaping pavers were donated to us and these guys, along with some of their Belizean friends, came to our aid and were key in laying down our new side walk simply out of the goodness of their heart. It looks glorious.

Getting acquainted at our pizza party this past summer

Dalton is another
friend we hope to see

All of them have returned now to their homeland and are reveling in being reunited with their families. And now some of us from here are going to visit them in their towns. Belize is a small country in Central America – from top to bottom approximately 180 miles long or the equivalent distance of a drive from Bloomer to Madison – and of the guys who worked here, hardly any of them came from the same village. Elber lives in the north in the town of San Narciso Corozal and is Our Man Flint on the ground there. Working with his pastor and coordinating with our team leaders, David & Paula Holmbeck of rural Chetek, our itinerary is still very much a work in progress. But for most of us this is not our first rodeo and we are accustomed to having our plans a little bit (or a lot) in the air.

The finished product

Ezekiel, Elber & Pablo

For me this will be my ninth trip abroad (but my first to Central America) and if I learned anything in my travels is that despite our differences in culture, in language, in cuisine, and in history, people are pretty much the same the world over. We all live in a place we call home. We all have the necessity to eat and to groom ourselves. We all prefer it if people make nice and get along. And we all like to grouse about the weather and the “uppity-ups” - whoever they may be – who seem to like coming up with rules or laws that make our life more difficult instead of less so. Frankly, as altruistic as his comments are, I totally agree with what Robert Fuhlgum once opined in his classic All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, “Think what a better world it would be if all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap.” Better yet, if we could do this with an Palestinian on Monday, a Russian on Wednesday and someone from Minneapolis' near south side on Friday. We'd all gain a little perspective on how the other half lives.

San Narciso here we come

So your sympathies not withstanding that I will be forced to celebrate New Years in “the Land of the Free by the Carib Sea”, I'm looking forward to seeing my friends who I enjoyed getting acquainted with while they lived around here. If you're a person of faith, I'd appreciate your prayers for traveling mercies for my team and I. We all hope that we can be as big a blessing to them as they were to all of us.  

The news from here: all in all it's mostly good

There's some local news to report in this final week of the old year. Most of it you may have already heard about and two thirds of it would be labeled mostly good.

Back on the list!

A couple of times since taking office in April, I have noted the ongoing issues with our aging Waste Water Treatment Plant (if you're interested you can check out All A's and a B as well as The Bottom Line). The long and short of it is too much relatively clean ground water is making its way into our sewer lines and depending on the weather and the day, forcing our plant to work beyond its design capacity. Earlier this year, the city applied for a grant to pay for half our costs involved in relining our pipes as well as upgrading our Fine Screen system (which is an integral part of how we process our dirty water). As you may have heard, we didn't make the cut and therefore we had to resort to Plan B seeking low interest money to pay for it.

Don't know if you can read the fine print but this is "the list" you want to be on

A week or so ago today, however, Public Works Director Dan Knapp received word that on account of other municipalities backing out or reconsidering their projects, we are now officially on the list again. According to Short Elliot Hendrickson (SEH), the engineering firm we are contracting with, in 2017 we are slated to receive $129,609 in principal forgiveness for the Fine Screen system and $92,093 in principal forgiveness for the sewer lining project. Even a mathematically challenged guy like me can figure out that's a lot of forgiveness. While it won't pay for everything, we can apply for DNR loan dollars toward the remaining balance which is currently going for 1.96%. Yeah, that's a good deal.

Back in Business!

Speaking of “back”, as of early November a new youth center has opened up in town. In the early days of this year we officially turned off the lights of the old Garage which had served a portion of Chetek's youth for fifteen years. For those of us a part of the Chetek Youth Center Project, Inc. (the governing board of The Garage) the hope was that a group would form sooner than later to take the lead on opening a new place in town for kids to congregate. In September and October a few exploratory meetings were held between members of the Chetek Recreation Association (a.k.a. The “pool hall” people), the Chetek Youth Center Project and a handful of local individuals in earnest of seeing this happen. Out of those gatherings, a new group has indeed emerged with Michelle Farmer at its head and has formed a symbiotic relationship with the pool hall folks: the guys can still use the hall during the week while the kids can gather on Friday and Saturday

nights. With some generous donations from local businesses and citizens as well as some seed money from the Chetek Youth Center Project, the once darkened pool hall on Knapp is now brightly lit on the weekends. While it's only been a month and a half on most Friday and Saturday nights the place is usually hopping, both inside and out as Knapp Street between First and Second Streets is closed so kids can play their pick-up football games safely in the street.

The price is right

Right across the street from Chetek P.D. and right next door to the Center

At December's city council meeting, the council unanimously voted to purchase the former Jost Law Office building from Ken and Marge Jost for $70,000. If you have ever been to the soup and salad bar held every Friday noon at The Center you know that parking is at a premium. On the days that I go I usually have to park on Stout and walk the rest of the way. So with an eye on the future – whether a future parking lot or a future addition to The Center itself – the council was of a mind to move ahead on a generous offer from the Josts: $10,000 down, $30,000 in January 2017 and the remaining $30,000 in January 2018 and all of it interest-free. For those who may question the logic of taking on more debt at a time when we just reduced our police force by one full-time position think of it as two different pots of money. A full-time employee involves an on-going expenditure whereas a purchase such as this is a one-time deal that can be covered through outlay money set aside for expenses like this or from the on-going rent from the two long-term tenants that currently reside in the building. We think this is a good investment in our city's future and we're grateful that the Josts were willing to close on such mutually acceptable terms.

Hail to the chief

Chief Mark Petersen

And last but not least, after 39 years of service in law enforcement, 35 of it employed by the City of Chetek, Chief Mark Petersen is officially retiring as of January 7, 2017. According to Mark during that time he has logged approximately 78,198 service hours and 256,000 patrol miles. That's going the distance! As he puts it, “The City has been good to me. I was able to put both my children through college. I will miss my staff, other officers I have known, the city crew and staff at city hall. You are blessed to have such a wonderful and dedicated bunch of employees to work with. I hope you will have considered me among that group.” Indeed we do, Mark, and we thank you for your long years of service to our community. Here's hoping you'll enjoy many long and successful seasons of hunting and fishing.

Lt. Ron Ambrozaitis

As he transitions out, Lieutenant Ron Ambrozaitis will act in the capacity of “interim” chief until the council either makes that title more permanent or decides to open that position to all interested candidates. There's more to come and we are not yet of the same mind but I'm sure in the meantime, Lieutenant Ron and his fellow Chetek officers will continue to serve and protect as we have come to expect them to do.

So that's the news from this small city by the lake. In retrospect, it's been a good year: after a long and sometimes painful process, the sale of Knapp Haven was finalized, the law-suit against the city was settled, the community center has a new director and a new name, the dog park is now open, Philips Park got a much needed upgrade, the leaky water line on Douglas Street was at long last fixed, an old youth center closed but a new one opened, and some free money is coming next year to offset much needed improvements to our Waste Water Treatment plant. What's more, City Inspector Joe Atwood reported at December's council meeting that in a given year he may write between 50-60 building permits but in 2016 he has written 101 totaling approximately 3.7 million dollars in improvements and new construction. Taken all together, those are good and promising signs of the year to come.

Linda and I want to wish all of you a very, Merry Christmas and a prosperous and healthy new year. I'm sure I'm not speaking only for myself when I say for all its challenges, I love this town that just like Garrison Keillor spoke of his home town “where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the children are above average.”