Ran on Friday, July 6, 2007
Trash infusion
Minnesota garbage piling up at Seven Mile
By Leader-Telegram staff and McClatchy-Tribune
An Eau Claire County landfill dramatically increased the amount of Minnesota garbage it took in last year while statewide numbers dropped.
Veolia ES Seven Mile Creek Landfill took in 148,603 tons of Minnesota garbage in 2006, up from 55,370 the previous year.
"Minnesota waste companies generally are looking to dispose of waste in the cheapest way possible," said Dave Lundberg, west-central region waste program manager for the Department of Natural Resources.
The fluctuation is not new; the comparatively small amount dumped in the landfill from Minnesota in 2005 was described as "an anomaly" by Brad Wolbert, a hydrogeologist in the waste and management bureau of the DNR.
Landfills turn in a tonnage report to the DNR each year detailing how much trash was brought into their fill. The information is separated into types of trash as well as the state it came from.
Lundberg said the ebbs and flows can be attributed to competition among waste facilities and fuel prices. He said this year the company that owns Eau Claire's landfill, Veolia Environmental Services, must have been a better economic choice for the companies.
Veolia officials were unavailable for comment Thursday.
The amount of garbage from other states dumped in Wisconsin landfills declined by about 229,000 tons last year to about 1.9 million tons, the DNR said.
Lynn Morgan, a spokeswoman for Waste Management of Wisconsin, the state's largest waste hauler and landfill operator, said the decline in out-of-statewwaste sent to Wisconsin last year likely reflects the normal annual fluctuations of the waste hauling business.
"It's not unusual to have shifts in tonnage for any number of reasons," she said.
But Morgan said increasing transportation costs are causing out-of-state companies and municipalities, which contract with waste haulers, to look for closer landfills to dispose of their waste.
Wisconsin trash, on the other hand, is staying inside state lines.
Wolbert said in 2005, the most recent year for which data is available, 244,000 tons of trash from Wisconsin homes and businesses left the state to settle in Michigan and Illinois.
The highest annual total of out-of-state garbage that came into Wisconsin was 2.2 million tons in 2004. Most of it has been coming from neighboring Illinois and Minnesota.
The latest statistics came out recently as the Wisconsin Legislature debates proposals to increase what's known as the recycling tipping fee. The fee is one of several assessed on all waste dumped in Wisconsin landfills; the revenue it generates supports local recycling programs.
The state budget bill submitted by Gov. Jim Doyle proposed raising the fee from $3 a ton to $6 a ton. The Democrat-controlled state Senate approved an increase to $10 a ton before sending the legislation to the Republican-controlled Assembly.
"Wisconsin's tipping fee is a blue-light special for other states to ship waste here rather than develop more thoughtful recycling programs or build new landfills in their states," said Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, an advocate of the $10 tipping fee.
But Charlene Lemoine, who works on waste issues for the Waukesha County Environmental Action League, said Wisconsin's low tipping fee combined with tight restrictions in neighboring states on the siting and size of landfills has created a situation that Wisconsin landfill operators are capitalizing on.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Fit families
Ran on Thursday, July 5, 2007
Fit families
Unity Health and Fitness is offering a new summer program to help create ...
By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff
Childhood obesity is a growing problem, a result of the sedentary lifestyles some children lead today, along with poor eating habits.
In the past three decades, the incidence of childhood obesity has more than doubled in children aged 2 through 5 and 12 through 19. It also has more than tripled in children aged 6 through 11, according to the Environmental Health Perspectives, a publication of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Two summer interns at Unity Health and Fitness aim to combat the trend.
Janelle Schilter, 20, and Todd Lynnes, 24, kinesiology majors at UW-Eau Claire, organized a family-oriented program, CommUnity Night, to help kids and their parents be more active and learn about healthful eating.
Childhood obesity affects 25 percent of the U.S. population and can lead to diabetes or other chronic health problems, Schilter said.
The program promotes family weight training, stretching, strength and conditioning activities and nutrition education. Couples can train together while children ages 3 through 13 participate in Operation FitKids.
Operation FitKids encourages youngsters to partake in physical activities, including games such as relay races or tag.
Kids also learn about healthful snack choices, such as fruits and vegetables over candy bars and sodas, as well as portion control. But Lynnes noted, "We don't use scare tactics."
He said he thinks the media are telling children eating fast food alone will make them fat. While it's not the best option, they are not doomed.
Lynnes and Schilter stress people don't need to practice rigid lifestyle habits to be healthy. For example, people can enjoy calorie-loaded fast food in moderation, but they need to recognize that exercise is the way to compensate.
"When we were growing up, we would ride our bikes everywhere and play outside," Lynnes said. "Now, (children) use scooters and play video games."
The program focuses on how both physical activity and positive food choices are important in helping people become healthier.
It's not all work and no play. Each night has a different theme, ranging from the 1980s to golfing to Friday the 13th. Participants are encouraged to dress according to the theme.
Lynnes said he and Schilter want to offer the night as a healthful and inexpensive alternative to other family outings.
Movie tickets, concessions and dinner for a family of four runs about $60, Lynnes said.
For Unity members, the cost for the fitness night would be free for two adults and $15 for two children. Nonmembers would pay $35 for two adults to work out and two children to attend FitKids.
"It's a chance to get some exercise," Schilter said.
Schmidt can be reached at 833-9203, (800) 236-7077 or keighla.schmidt@ecpc.com.
Fit families
Unity Health and Fitness is offering a new summer program to help create ...
By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff
Childhood obesity is a growing problem, a result of the sedentary lifestyles some children lead today, along with poor eating habits.
In the past three decades, the incidence of childhood obesity has more than doubled in children aged 2 through 5 and 12 through 19. It also has more than tripled in children aged 6 through 11, according to the Environmental Health Perspectives, a publication of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Two summer interns at Unity Health and Fitness aim to combat the trend.
Janelle Schilter, 20, and Todd Lynnes, 24, kinesiology majors at UW-Eau Claire, organized a family-oriented program, CommUnity Night, to help kids and their parents be more active and learn about healthful eating.
Childhood obesity affects 25 percent of the U.S. population and can lead to diabetes or other chronic health problems, Schilter said.
The program promotes family weight training, stretching, strength and conditioning activities and nutrition education. Couples can train together while children ages 3 through 13 participate in Operation FitKids.
Operation FitKids encourages youngsters to partake in physical activities, including games such as relay races or tag.
Kids also learn about healthful snack choices, such as fruits and vegetables over candy bars and sodas, as well as portion control. But Lynnes noted, "We don't use scare tactics."
He said he thinks the media are telling children eating fast food alone will make them fat. While it's not the best option, they are not doomed.
Lynnes and Schilter stress people don't need to practice rigid lifestyle habits to be healthy. For example, people can enjoy calorie-loaded fast food in moderation, but they need to recognize that exercise is the way to compensate.
"When we were growing up, we would ride our bikes everywhere and play outside," Lynnes said. "Now, (children) use scooters and play video games."
The program focuses on how both physical activity and positive food choices are important in helping people become healthier.
It's not all work and no play. Each night has a different theme, ranging from the 1980s to golfing to Friday the 13th. Participants are encouraged to dress according to the theme.
Lynnes said he and Schilter want to offer the night as a healthful and inexpensive alternative to other family outings.
Movie tickets, concessions and dinner for a family of four runs about $60, Lynnes said.
For Unity members, the cost for the fitness night would be free for two adults and $15 for two children. Nonmembers would pay $35 for two adults to work out and two children to attend FitKids.
"It's a chance to get some exercise," Schilter said.
Schmidt can be reached at 833-9203, (800) 236-7077 or keighla.schmidt@ecpc.com.
Fabulous Fourth
Ran on Thursday, July 5, 2007
Fabulous Fourth
Family, friends celebrate holiday in patriotic style
By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff
For the past three years, a neighborhood group has celebrated the Fourth of July in style - patriotic style, that is.
The group hung strings of red, white and blue crepe paper stapled together looking like an American flag hanging from a tree branch at an island in the Carson Park parking lot in Eau Claire.
The group from a neighborhood near Robbins School and the Saturn of Eau Claire car dealership likes to celebrate together because they enjoy being with friends and family.
"It's kind of a tradition," said Ronda Rindy.
David Webster got to the group's usual spot at 9 a.m. Wednesday to stake it out and start decorating. The trees also were adorned with the patriotic streamers, and a tent with coolers of food and grills nearby were part of the group's set up.
Webster said the tradition began a few years ago when some neighbors wanted to attend the annual Fourth of July Eau Claire Express baseball game.
"Then we thought 'Let's make a whole day out of it,' " he said.
This year, the group expected about 35 people to show up in Americana-themed attire ready to grill hot dogs, burgers and brats, ride the train around the park, go to the Express baseball game and finish the night watching the fireworks.
"The kids are the same age; that makes it really cool too," Webster said.
His children, Courtney, 8, and Carter, 12, agreed. Both said they enjoy spending time with friends and family celebrating the national holiday.
Lexi Smith, 12, said she and her father have been coming to Carson Park almost every year of her life, and she likes being with the group of neighbors.
"Carson Park is fun to go to, because of the Cavalier games, the Express games, and the fireworks are pretty fun," she said.
UW-Eau Claire men's basketball coach Terry Gibbons has brought his family to Green Bay for the celebrations in the past, but this year, he decided to take his neighbors up on their invitation and join them in the park.
"This year we decided to stay home and be with friends and family," Gibbons said. "We love baseball, fireworks and the Fourth of July."
The group plans to keep the tradition and celebrate in the same fashion in the future.
Schmidt can be reached at 833-9203, (800) 236-7077 or keighla.schmidt@ecpc.com.
Fabulous Fourth
Family, friends celebrate holiday in patriotic style
By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff
For the past three years, a neighborhood group has celebrated the Fourth of July in style - patriotic style, that is.
The group hung strings of red, white and blue crepe paper stapled together looking like an American flag hanging from a tree branch at an island in the Carson Park parking lot in Eau Claire.
The group from a neighborhood near Robbins School and the Saturn of Eau Claire car dealership likes to celebrate together because they enjoy being with friends and family.
"It's kind of a tradition," said Ronda Rindy.
David Webster got to the group's usual spot at 9 a.m. Wednesday to stake it out and start decorating. The trees also were adorned with the patriotic streamers, and a tent with coolers of food and grills nearby were part of the group's set up.
Webster said the tradition began a few years ago when some neighbors wanted to attend the annual Fourth of July Eau Claire Express baseball game.
"Then we thought 'Let's make a whole day out of it,' " he said.
This year, the group expected about 35 people to show up in Americana-themed attire ready to grill hot dogs, burgers and brats, ride the train around the park, go to the Express baseball game and finish the night watching the fireworks.
"The kids are the same age; that makes it really cool too," Webster said.
His children, Courtney, 8, and Carter, 12, agreed. Both said they enjoy spending time with friends and family celebrating the national holiday.
Lexi Smith, 12, said she and her father have been coming to Carson Park almost every year of her life, and she likes being with the group of neighbors.
"Carson Park is fun to go to, because of the Cavalier games, the Express games, and the fireworks are pretty fun," she said.
UW-Eau Claire men's basketball coach Terry Gibbons has brought his family to Green Bay for the celebrations in the past, but this year, he decided to take his neighbors up on their invitation and join them in the park.
"This year we decided to stay home and be with friends and family," Gibbons said. "We love baseball, fireworks and the Fourth of July."
The group plans to keep the tradition and celebrate in the same fashion in the future.
Schmidt can be reached at 833-9203, (800) 236-7077 or keighla.schmidt@ecpc.com.
Sensory solution
Ran on Thursday, July 5, 2007
Sensory solution
By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff
AUGUSTA - Thousands of multi-colored plastic balls, swings, a tunnel to crawl through and a climbing wall.
What sounds like an impressive play area actually is a center for therapy for two Augusta girls.
Mariah and Mollie Teeter, 11 and 8, have sensory processing disorder, a neurological condition affecting their sensitivity to stimulation.
Parents Bev and Cliff Teeter have customized the girls' routines to accommodate Mariah's and Mollie's needs. Bev, a former public school teacher, now home-schools both girls in a school house in their yard. In March, they finished converting a workshop into a gym in their garage.
The school and gym required the Teeters to relocate from their home in Two Rivers to their home on Lake Eau Claire.
"For kids without sensory processing disorder, it looks like a good place to play," Bev Teeter said.
It's much more than that to her children.
"It helps me feel better," Mariah said. "It helps me sit still."
The gym fosters the girls' need to work on stimulation, sensory acceptance and occupational therapy activities. The construction began after an assessment of their therapeutic needs as well as popular play places.
Sensory processing disorder affects each person differently.
Some avoid public places because they aren't comfortable in noisy, crowded environments, according to the sensory processing disorder Web site www.spdnetwork.org.
Other people seek sensation and have an "unawareness of touch or pain, or touching others too often or too hard," according to the site. They have difficulty feeling a sensation and can be destructive, even when they are not trying to be.
"Kids with sensory processing disorder don't know where to focus," Bev Teeter said. "There's too much (information) coming in."
In addition to the disorder, Mariah was born with profound hearing loss and had a cochlear implant when she was an infant. When she was 5, she was diagnosed with vision loss and has limited peripheral vision.
After their daughters had completed kindergarten and fifth grade in 2005, the Teeters decided to home-school the girls.
"Sometimes there's just people who don't understand," Bev Teeter said. "They don't know how to deal with the invisible."
Many teachers, administrators or peers can't physically see the issues the Teeter girls face, so they can't empathize and help them, Bev Teeter said.
"There was a lot of social interaction at school that wasn't always positive," she said. "Socially for kids with sensory processing disorder issues, it's hard."
When thinking back to school in the public system, Mollie remembers a big difference.
"It was too noisy sometimes," she said.
Her mother remembers when Mollie came home from school with her usual headache. She said, " 'All the noises go in my ears and get stuck in my head. I can't get them out and get a headache,' " Bev Teeter said.
Now, the three-room school house, one room for each girl and one for their mother, the teacher, is quiet and the headaches are gone.
Mariah recalls days as a third-grader when she would get overstimulated and emotional.
"I feel like I wanna yell," she said. "Sometimes I cry ... I feel much better at home-school."
Her own classroom and curriculum make it easier for her to focus on what she needs to learn and less on the things going on around her.
Cliff Teeter said the adaptations and hard work pay off for the girls, and he wouldn't change a thing about the current setup.
Schmidt can be reached at 833-9203, (800) 236-7077 or keighla.schmidt@ecpc.com.
Sensory solution
By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff
AUGUSTA - Thousands of multi-colored plastic balls, swings, a tunnel to crawl through and a climbing wall.
What sounds like an impressive play area actually is a center for therapy for two Augusta girls.
Mariah and Mollie Teeter, 11 and 8, have sensory processing disorder, a neurological condition affecting their sensitivity to stimulation.
Parents Bev and Cliff Teeter have customized the girls' routines to accommodate Mariah's and Mollie's needs. Bev, a former public school teacher, now home-schools both girls in a school house in their yard. In March, they finished converting a workshop into a gym in their garage.
The school and gym required the Teeters to relocate from their home in Two Rivers to their home on Lake Eau Claire.
"For kids without sensory processing disorder, it looks like a good place to play," Bev Teeter said.
It's much more than that to her children.
"It helps me feel better," Mariah said. "It helps me sit still."
The gym fosters the girls' need to work on stimulation, sensory acceptance and occupational therapy activities. The construction began after an assessment of their therapeutic needs as well as popular play places.
Sensory processing disorder affects each person differently.
Some avoid public places because they aren't comfortable in noisy, crowded environments, according to the sensory processing disorder Web site www.spdnetwork.org.
Other people seek sensation and have an "unawareness of touch or pain, or touching others too often or too hard," according to the site. They have difficulty feeling a sensation and can be destructive, even when they are not trying to be.
"Kids with sensory processing disorder don't know where to focus," Bev Teeter said. "There's too much (information) coming in."
In addition to the disorder, Mariah was born with profound hearing loss and had a cochlear implant when she was an infant. When she was 5, she was diagnosed with vision loss and has limited peripheral vision.
After their daughters had completed kindergarten and fifth grade in 2005, the Teeters decided to home-school the girls.
"Sometimes there's just people who don't understand," Bev Teeter said. "They don't know how to deal with the invisible."
Many teachers, administrators or peers can't physically see the issues the Teeter girls face, so they can't empathize and help them, Bev Teeter said.
"There was a lot of social interaction at school that wasn't always positive," she said. "Socially for kids with sensory processing disorder issues, it's hard."
When thinking back to school in the public system, Mollie remembers a big difference.
"It was too noisy sometimes," she said.
Her mother remembers when Mollie came home from school with her usual headache. She said, " 'All the noises go in my ears and get stuck in my head. I can't get them out and get a headache,' " Bev Teeter said.
Now, the three-room school house, one room for each girl and one for their mother, the teacher, is quiet and the headaches are gone.
Mariah recalls days as a third-grader when she would get overstimulated and emotional.
"I feel like I wanna yell," she said. "Sometimes I cry ... I feel much better at home-school."
Her own classroom and curriculum make it easier for her to focus on what she needs to learn and less on the things going on around her.
Cliff Teeter said the adaptations and hard work pay off for the girls, and he wouldn't change a thing about the current setup.
Schmidt can be reached at 833-9203, (800) 236-7077 or keighla.schmidt@ecpc.com.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Good grades = free bowling
Ran on Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Good grades = free bowling
Alley rewards studets for academics
By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff
School sports usually have a minimum grade point average as an incentive for student-althletes to remain academically fit.
AnEau Claire bowling alley Has taken it another step.
Any student, kindergartener through colege undergraduate, can bring in their second semester report card to Wagner's Lanes and get an "allowance" to use toward bowling games. The higher the Grade point average, the more games students can bowl.
For an elementary school-aged child who got straight As, $250 earns them 85 games of 10 pin. A high schooler with a 3.5 to 4.0 can bowl 114 times throughout the summer.
"It gives kids something to do," said Steve Hanson, Wagner’s Lanes owner. "It keeps them out of trouble."
Last year, the "Bowling for Grades" program attracted about 1,000 kids, Lanes employee Mary Steffenson said.
The alley hopes to get kids involved in bowling during the summer months and entice them to join a junior bowling league in the fall. But there’s more to it.
"It’s not all about the money," Hanson said. "It’s about doing community service."
Hanson said he has gotten a great response from the students and parents.
Some parents will even stay with the kids and bowl during the day, Steffenson said. The alcohol and smoke free environment is conducive to the young bowlers’s afternoon activity.
Friends Grant Peikert, 12, Nick Stanke, 12, Palmer Buss, 13 and Tate Halberg, 12, all of Eau Claire, said they recieved good grades and plan to bowl many games. The crew took a break from playing baseball, another one of their favorite summer pastimes, on a recent day.
"It’s fun," Buss said. "I like bowling for free."
Stanke said sometimes the boys' parents drop them off at Wagner's or they might bike over to the facility.
"I try to get good grades so I can play sports," Halberg said.
Peirkert capped the group’s score, bowling a total of 491 in five games.
While students are welcome to bowl six games each day without a fee, shoe rentals are $1.85. They can bowl daily until 6 p.m. After the grades are initially presented, a school ID card or driver’s licence is required for bowling.
Good grades = free bowling
Alley rewards studets for academics
By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff
School sports usually have a minimum grade point average as an incentive for student-althletes to remain academically fit.
AnEau Claire bowling alley Has taken it another step.
Any student, kindergartener through colege undergraduate, can bring in their second semester report card to Wagner's Lanes and get an "allowance" to use toward bowling games. The higher the Grade point average, the more games students can bowl.
For an elementary school-aged child who got straight As, $250 earns them 85 games of 10 pin. A high schooler with a 3.5 to 4.0 can bowl 114 times throughout the summer.
"It gives kids something to do," said Steve Hanson, Wagner’s Lanes owner. "It keeps them out of trouble."
Last year, the "Bowling for Grades" program attracted about 1,000 kids, Lanes employee Mary Steffenson said.
The alley hopes to get kids involved in bowling during the summer months and entice them to join a junior bowling league in the fall. But there’s more to it.
"It’s not all about the money," Hanson said. "It’s about doing community service."
Hanson said he has gotten a great response from the students and parents.
Some parents will even stay with the kids and bowl during the day, Steffenson said. The alcohol and smoke free environment is conducive to the young bowlers’s afternoon activity.
Friends Grant Peikert, 12, Nick Stanke, 12, Palmer Buss, 13 and Tate Halberg, 12, all of Eau Claire, said they recieved good grades and plan to bowl many games. The crew took a break from playing baseball, another one of their favorite summer pastimes, on a recent day.
"It’s fun," Buss said. "I like bowling for free."
Stanke said sometimes the boys' parents drop them off at Wagner's or they might bike over to the facility.
"I try to get good grades so I can play sports," Halberg said.
Peirkert capped the group’s score, bowling a total of 491 in five games.
While students are welcome to bowl six games each day without a fee, shoe rentals are $1.85. They can bowl daily until 6 p.m. After the grades are initially presented, a school ID card or driver’s licence is required for bowling.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Zien: Lawsuit costly, ill-advised
Ran on Friday, June 29, 2007
Zien: Lawsuit costly, ill-advised
Former lawmaker expected challenge over keeping bill drafts private to fail
By Leader-Telegram staff and The Associated Press
The state wasted "hundreds of thousands of dollars" of taxpayers' money because a former attorney general incorrectly went after the wrong cause, former state Sen. Dave Zien said.
A judge ruled this week that lawmakers can continue to share bill drafts with lobbyists while withholding them from the public without violating the open records law. The lawsuit originally was filed in 2005 by former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, a Democrat, even though she lost her re-election bid last year.
"Everybody told her that she would be ashamed of herself and it wouldn't go anywhere, and she would not listen," Zien said.
"She chose to pick this piece of legislation, which was an obvious statement on her behalf which turned out to be ludicrous. It was a waste of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money."
A spokesman for Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said he had not seen the ruling, so he could not comment on whether it will be appealed.
The conflict was over legislators' ability to keep original drafts private despite sharing the copies with elective groups. Drafts are exempt from public records laws.
Lautenschlager cited Zien and Rep. Scott Gunderson, R-Waterford, in the lawsuit.
Both were authors of the concealed carry bill later approved by the Legislature but vetoed by Gov. Jim Doyle. The bill, in draft form, was revealed to the National Rifle Association.
Zien, of Eau Claire, said he showed the NRA the draft for clarity's sake.
"When legislatures do bill drafts, they might be working on a hundred different pieces of legislation at the same time," he said. "In the crafting of it they're having assistance from different groups or individuals who know much more about the subjects than do we."
The presiding judge, David Flanagan of Dane County, said it would be inappropriate for the courts to tell the legislative branch how to conduct itself on a core function such as drafting legislation. He said lawmakers could make drafts available to the public in the interest of transparency, but "it is extremely questionable that any court has the power to compel such a change."
Peter Fox, executive director of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, said the ruling "stacks the deck for whoever is promoting" a specific cause in the Legislature.
If individuals or special-interest groups are allowed to see drafts of bills, they and legislators they work with are "totally prepared" to go on the offensive when the bill is introduced, Fox said.
But that process leaves opponents "totally flatfooted," especially when something is introduced at the last minute, Fox said.
Zien: Lawsuit costly, ill-advised
Former lawmaker expected challenge over keeping bill drafts private to fail
By Leader-Telegram staff and The Associated Press
The state wasted "hundreds of thousands of dollars" of taxpayers' money because a former attorney general incorrectly went after the wrong cause, former state Sen. Dave Zien said.
A judge ruled this week that lawmakers can continue to share bill drafts with lobbyists while withholding them from the public without violating the open records law. The lawsuit originally was filed in 2005 by former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, a Democrat, even though she lost her re-election bid last year.
"Everybody told her that she would be ashamed of herself and it wouldn't go anywhere, and she would not listen," Zien said.
"She chose to pick this piece of legislation, which was an obvious statement on her behalf which turned out to be ludicrous. It was a waste of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money."
A spokesman for Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said he had not seen the ruling, so he could not comment on whether it will be appealed.
The conflict was over legislators' ability to keep original drafts private despite sharing the copies with elective groups. Drafts are exempt from public records laws.
Lautenschlager cited Zien and Rep. Scott Gunderson, R-Waterford, in the lawsuit.
Both were authors of the concealed carry bill later approved by the Legislature but vetoed by Gov. Jim Doyle. The bill, in draft form, was revealed to the National Rifle Association.
Zien, of Eau Claire, said he showed the NRA the draft for clarity's sake.
"When legislatures do bill drafts, they might be working on a hundred different pieces of legislation at the same time," he said. "In the crafting of it they're having assistance from different groups or individuals who know much more about the subjects than do we."
The presiding judge, David Flanagan of Dane County, said it would be inappropriate for the courts to tell the legislative branch how to conduct itself on a core function such as drafting legislation. He said lawmakers could make drafts available to the public in the interest of transparency, but "it is extremely questionable that any court has the power to compel such a change."
Peter Fox, executive director of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, said the ruling "stacks the deck for whoever is promoting" a specific cause in the Legislature.
If individuals or special-interest groups are allowed to see drafts of bills, they and legislators they work with are "totally prepared" to go on the offensive when the bill is introduced, Fox said.
But that process leaves opponents "totally flatfooted," especially when something is introduced at the last minute, Fox said.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
DNR: Ground water safe after fire
Ran on Thursday, June 26, 2007
DNR: Ground water safe after fire
By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff
A massive chemical recycling plant fire just south of Eau Claire last week left 11 toxic chemicals in WRR Environmental Services' runoff.
"We found a significant amount of volatile organic compounds that went into the wetlands," said Dave Weitz, public affairs manager for the west-central region of the Department of Natural Resources.
The compounds found in the water are in a nearby wetland containing other contaminants.
Despite this, Weitz said residents shouldn't be concerned about the safety of their ground water.
"It shouldn't have any impact on humans," Weitz said. "There's no risk to any private wells, and there is no risk to people at all."
Ash that blew into Eau Claire also was not a health concern, Weitz said.
"A lot of ash fell some distance from the site," he said. "But some wooden structures burned that you would find in a normal ... house fire."
The fire on June 22 started in a boiler room and spread to chemical tanks, causing dozens of explosions. More than 125 fire and emergency workers - 90 percent of which were volunteers - responded to the blaze that closed Highway 93 near the plant, temporarily shut down Interstate 94 and closed the Fairfax Park Municipal Swimming Pool.
WRR is open for business, but company officials declined to discuss operations on Wednesday.
Weitz estimated 700,000 gallons of water were used to extinguish the fire.
Mark Briski, Township Fire Department spokesman, said WRR will be billed for the water used to extinguish the fire. Most of the water came from Eau Claire city wells and from a nearby pond.
Briski said the department does not typically calculate the cost of fighting a fire.
A damage estimate from WRR was unavailable. Company officials plan to hold a press conference later this week.
DNR: Ground water safe after fire
By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff
A massive chemical recycling plant fire just south of Eau Claire last week left 11 toxic chemicals in WRR Environmental Services' runoff.
"We found a significant amount of volatile organic compounds that went into the wetlands," said Dave Weitz, public affairs manager for the west-central region of the Department of Natural Resources.
The compounds found in the water are in a nearby wetland containing other contaminants.
Despite this, Weitz said residents shouldn't be concerned about the safety of their ground water.
"It shouldn't have any impact on humans," Weitz said. "There's no risk to any private wells, and there is no risk to people at all."
Ash that blew into Eau Claire also was not a health concern, Weitz said.
"A lot of ash fell some distance from the site," he said. "But some wooden structures burned that you would find in a normal ... house fire."
The fire on June 22 started in a boiler room and spread to chemical tanks, causing dozens of explosions. More than 125 fire and emergency workers - 90 percent of which were volunteers - responded to the blaze that closed Highway 93 near the plant, temporarily shut down Interstate 94 and closed the Fairfax Park Municipal Swimming Pool.
WRR is open for business, but company officials declined to discuss operations on Wednesday.
Weitz estimated 700,000 gallons of water were used to extinguish the fire.
Mark Briski, Township Fire Department spokesman, said WRR will be billed for the water used to extinguish the fire. Most of the water came from Eau Claire city wells and from a nearby pond.
Briski said the department does not typically calculate the cost of fighting a fire.
A damage estimate from WRR was unavailable. Company officials plan to hold a press conference later this week.
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