W A S H B U R N C O U N T Y
Wednesday, November 5, 2014 Vol. 126, No. 12 • Shell Lake, Wis.
Register
We e ke nd w atch PTA Carnival @ Shell Lake Wild rice presentation @ Spooner Knit a basket-weave dishcloth @ Spooner Washburn County Food Distribution @ Spooner • See calendar on page 6 for details
wcregist eronline.com
INSIDE
Nov. 5, 2014
TitW celebrates 25 years
75¢
NOVEMBER 4 BALLOT • UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
The winners STATE/FEDERAL OFFICES
Walker, Duffy returned; Quinn defeats Smith in 75th; Shimel new AG; Bewley new 25th District senator
Back page
A friendly Halloween at the fire hall
Brad Shimel New attorney general
Scott Walker Returned to governor’s seat
Page 9
Veterans Day schedules Back page
Sean Duffy
Janet Bewley
Returned to Congress 7th District
Replaces retiring state Sen. Bob Jauch - 25th District
WASHBURN COUNTY SHERIFF
Soccer season wrapup Page 12
BREAKERS
Romaine Quinn Defeats incumbent Smith for 75th Assembly seat
Got an idea for a story? Email us @ news@wcregisteronline.com
SIREN – An air ambulance, staffed 24/7, will soon be based at the Burnett County Airport at Siren. North Memorial Air Care will start the new service Monday, Nov. 17, with the arrival of the Agusta helicopter and its crew of three. The emergency medical transport will serve the entire region, offering a 15-minute response time to an area that extends to Superior, Hayward, Ladysmith and New Richmond. The Siren location will be the sixth air care base for North Memorial. The new service will respond to calls from medical providers, hospitals and doctors, and from emergency workers at accident scenes. Patients can be transported from anywhere in the region and will be transported to any desired medical facility in the region. While North Memorial Air Care is a division of North Memorial Health Care, a Twin Cities medical provider, the air care serves the entire community, Deb Fischer, North Memorial community representative, says. The air care helicopter will have a crew of three - a pilot, critical care nurse and paramedic. The crew will be housed in living quarters on-site at the hangar, which is now being remodeled. The crew will work in shifts and will be able to respond to a dispatch for service within minutes. Each trip will transport a single patient.
See Air ambulance, page 4
Find us on Facebook facebook.com/ washburncountyregister
Sheriff Terry Dryden returned to office by voters - enters seventh term; new county coroner elected See story, page 3
Terry Dryden Returned to sheriff’s position
Voter turnout up from 2010 68 percent of eligible voters in Washburn County cast votes See wcregisteronline.com for updates, more information
Investors withdraw from $1.5 million project Cite lack of communication and cooperation between organizations involved Danielle H. Moe | Staff writer SPOONER — Wayne and Juanita Poteet, the investors spearheading the project to reopen the Spooner Civic Center, confirmed their decision to withdraw their offer to purchase the building. “It is extremely disappointing, as we put four months of our time and effort into it and we were ready. All we were waiting for was the money to get finalized, and waiting and waiting,” said Wayne. Poteet explained the final factor into their decision to withdraw was when they found out on Tuesday, Oct. 28, that the $200,000 Community Development Investment Grant the purchase hinged on was not selected to be funded. In
an email to Poteet, Jason Grant explained that the project was not chosen for several reasons. Those reasons included a misinterpretation that the start date was for March 2015, the $200,000 shortfall in financial support from the community, insufficient evidence of the Poteets’ private equity pledged to the project and the lack of an explanation to why private sector sources like traditional financing or public borrowing couldn’t meet the needs of the project. “This was not a fun task, it was pretty frustrating, and I told the mayor (Gary Cuskey) that most investors would have been gone a long time ago,” said Poteet. He explained that the lack of people power, communication and cooperation between organizations made the project very frustrating. As an example, a website where community donations could be made was set up but its existence was not com-
T h e Reg i st e r i s a co o p e rat i ve - o w n e d n ews pa per
See Investors, page 4