Register
W A S H B U R N
INSIDE
Nov. 9, 2011
C O U N T Y
Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011 Vol. 122, No. 12 • Shell Lake, Wis.
Weekend watch
w c r e g i s t e r. n e t
• Decorating for Christmas Celebration in Lights 2011 Winter in Wonderland starts. See Events, page 8
75¢
Old-fashioned Christmas at the Fort
SPORTS Basketball schedule See page 13
The Heroes Tree See page 2
People you should know: Jude Bolterman See back page
BREAKERS
Got an idea for a story? E-mail us @ wcregister@centurytel.net
SPOONER — Local volunteers are busy filling empty shoe boxes with school supplies, toys, hygiene items and notes of encouragement for needy kids overseas through Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child program. National Collection Week is Nov. 14-21. Volunteers can drop off their shoe box gifts at the Hendry residence, 709 Benjamin St., Spooner, Monday, Nov. 14-Sunday, Nov. 20, from 2-6 p.m., and Monday, Nov. 21, from 8 a.m.6 p.m.For more information on how to participate in Operation Christmas Child call 612-359-7025 or visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ. — from Samaritan’s Purse ••• MADISON - A Wisconsin state lawmaker has introduced a bill that would compensate farmers if their animals are attacked by cougars. Trail cameras have recently photographed a cougar wandering Juneau County. It’s the latest in a handful of sightings in the state over the past few years. State Rep. Amy Sue Vruwink says some constituents are concerned the cougars could attack their livestock. One such an attack against a cow happened in Juneau County. Under the Milladore Democrat’s bill, farmers would be compensated if that happens again, “The more and more people read about them, research them and realize how nasty and deadly they can be to their prey, now this is a preventative proactive approach instead of waiting until after something happens and saying oh to a farmer, well too bad, so sad.” Vruwink says, the DNR already has a list of animals known to injure or kill livestock. Cougars would be added to the list which includes bears, wolves and deer. The cougar bill could be voted on by the entire Assembly in January. - Wisconsin Public Radio,
Early copy, please
SHELL LAKE — Due a change in the print schedule during the Thanksgiving holiday, the deadline for all news copy as well as ad copy for the Tuesday, Nov. 22, edition of the Washburn County Register is noon on Friday, Nov. 18. The newspaper office will be closed Thursday, Nov. 24, and Friday, Nov. 25. — WCR
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Christmas at the Fort at Forts Folle Avoine, Danbury, will take place on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 3 - 4 and Saturday, Dec. 10. See page 6 for details. – Photo submitted
Open enrollment changing the face of public schools
Locally, Shell Lake and Birchwood benefit, Spooner and Northwood lose
by Jessica Beecroft MADISON - This past year, a record number of students took advantage of Wisconsin’s open enrollment program to attend a school outside their own district. The 34,498 participants was 8.1 percent higher than in 2010 and nearly five times higher than in 2001, when the program started. Open enrollment numbers varied widely, with 13 districts experiencing net outflows of more than 10 percent of their student populations and 34 with net inflows of similar magni-
tude. The number of students using open enrollment in local school districts varies. Shell Lake and Birchwood continue to gain students, while Spooner and Northwood school districts continue to lose students through open enrollment. “We did a survey/study a few years back,” said Spooner Schools Superintendent Don Haack. “The general gist of the results was that we had a lot of students open enrolling out that never attended the Spooner schools (many moved across district lines and stayed at their previous school) and many were for proximity reasons. Some thought that other districts may have smaller classes, etc., too.”
See Open enrollment, page 3
Committee reorganization sent to board
by Jessica Beecroft WASHBURN COUNTY – The county’s executive committee met Monday, Nov. 7, and voted to send the committee reorganization recommendation to the full county board for approval. Steve “Fluffy” Sather, chair, Clay Halverson and Greg Krantz, voted yes, while Beth Esser voted no. The idea is to save the county and taxpayers money by allowing four to five committees to meet at once instead of having several meetings several times a month. Sather told the committee that he would like to have “more of a younger thought on this board” and feels that by allowing the committee groups to meet at once it would allow more people that are still part of the workforce to have the option to participate on the county
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board. “They might be able to take one day off a month,” Sather said. Esser was concerned about limiting the committees that county board members would be able to be part of if the committees were grouped together. Esser questioned the committee, “The finance and personnel committees are some of the strongest committees. If you can’t serve on the personnel committee (because of conflict of interest) then you can’t serve on the finance committee, either?” Despite Esser’s attempts to convince executive committee members of the faults with the idea, the committee will bring this recommendation to the full county board on Tuesday, Nov. 15. Please note that the county board meeting will be held at 9 a.m. this month.
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