W A S H B U R N C O U N T Y
Register
Wednesday, May 7, 2014 Vol. 125, No. 38 • Shell Lake, Wis.
We e ke nd w atch Hunt Hill Prairie Fling Festival @ Sarona See calendar on page 6
wcregist eronline.com
INSIDE
May 7, 2014
75¢
Happy fishing opener
Fashion show for a cause Page 10
4-H members experience Space Camp Page 9
A busy week in sports Pages 13-14
BREAKERS
Belle and Lee Cloutier enjoyed the fishing opener with their father, Keith Cloutier. It was a busy weekend for this Chippewa Falls family as they came up to their Spooner Lake cabin. Belle likes eating fish almost as much as catching them. On many of the lakes the ice went off in the days leading up to the opener on Saturday, May 3. The ice officially left Shell Lake on Sunday, May 4. — Photo by Larry Samson
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STATEWIDE - Wisconsin’s tourism economy has rebounded to above the levels before the Great Recession. The number of visits from tourists who chose Wisconsin as a vacation destination last year reached 100 million, up 4 percent from 2012 and 18 percent from 2010. Tourism Secretary Stephanie Klett says that translates into $11 billion in spending at resorts, restaurants, shops, gas stations and other businesses. “With Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, 15,000 lakes, rivers and streams, the world’s largest and longest inland chain of lakes,” said KIett, “the list goes on and on for what we offer.” One possible reason for the bump is advertisements that feature celebrities like Kareem Abul-Jabbar and the crew from the comedy “Airplane!” complete with old jokes. Klett says the ads have gotten free publicity with coverage in Time Magazine and the Huffington Post. But she says that the real draw is Wisconsin’s natural resources; she points to the 130,000 people who visited the Apostle Islands ice caves this winter as an example. “Here’s what I love: Those visitors had an experience,” said Klett. “They had to walk a mile, and it’s winding and it’s cold but then you see those spectacular ice formations. Literally, people were in a long line. It was just this steady stream that looked like a pilgrimage.” Klett says the state had 100 million visits last year, which sustained 185,000 jobs – one in every 13 jobs in Wisconsin is linked to tourism. - Mike Simonson | Wisconsin Public Radio
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Shell Lake State Bank branch robbed Story, page 3
Drug activity spikes in county
Story, page 3
County tourism expenditures increase again Story, page 4 Fighting for Spooner Ice House Danielle Moe | Staff writer SPOONER — Two years ago, Lars and Katie Geary moved their family from Chicago back to Lars’ hometown to purchase the building that was once known as the Northwest Sports Complex. They hoped to save the Spooner Rails hockey program. They renamed the facility the Spooner Ice House. Last week, the couple announced that the facility’s doors would remain closed due to overwhelming utility costs and severe need for energy-efficiency updates. Three days later, the couple had
launched the fundraiser Save the Spooner Ice House on the fundraising website gofundme. com. “The purpose of the fundraiser is just to see if we can raise enough funds in order to prepare the building to make it efficient enough to where the building can survive,” said Geary. The fundraiser’s goal is $200,000 to make the necessary energy-efficiency and utility upgrades to make it a cost-manageable
T h e Reg i st e r i s a co o p e rat i ve - o w n e d news pa per
See Ice House, page 20