Phone: 1-202-224-5653 1-202-224-5323

(I know that some of you are hesitant to write letters because you are not sure you are doing everything "right." Don’t worry about it! You and I and every person who believes in private property rights and controlling government needs to get involved this time around. What’s the saying, "JUST DO IT!" Well, this is the time to JUST DO IT.)

Mt. Hope Trout Pond: Bill Pink of the rural Mt. Hope area has been talking with DNR about opening his pond to public fishing. The DNR would improve the pond, stock it, and in general make it a place where youngsters, mature, and disabled fishers could enjoy fishing. No place will have the same ambiance as the Mt. Hope Trout Pond but this is an acceptable alternative. Now perhaps the DNR will clean up the Trout Pond instead of leaving it as an eyesore. Some of us still don’t think what ever the DNR does will be nearly as "nice" as the Pond when it was maintained but this does give citizens something.

Mazo Nude Beach: PLOW Director Ruth Bender and her husband Harvey have filed suit against the DNR on the premise that activities at the nude beach have caused them economic loss by hurting their canoe rental business and lowering the value of their property.

Beachgoers have crossed the river and engaged in sexual activity on their land. Gawkers also trespass on their land in attempts to see what is going on at the nude beach. The Benders have attempted to control trespassers on their land but have received little to no cooperation from any DNR wardens, who say it is not in their jurisdiction. These are the same DNR wardens who can issue citations to WI River users who might have a glass jar of homemade jam in their possession.

On June 5 the Bender’s attorney, Jim Donohoo filed notice on the DNR that the Benders intend to seek both an injunction to close the beach and $100,000 in damages. The state has 120 days from June 5 to put an end to nudity at Mazo, or the Benders’ suit will go forward. Wisconsin Christians United is funding the Benders’ lawsuit.

And by the way, nudist activity has spread down the WI River with reported activities in the area of the Woodman Boat Landing. If you don’t want the entire Lower Wisconsin River as a haven for nudists, call your representatives and senators and tell them you want present laws enforced. Call your local sheriffs and DNR wardens with the message that you don’t want this type of activity on public land or by trespassers on private land.

Director Ray Babb challenges Lower Wisconsin Riverway in civil suit: Director Ray Babb has filed a civil suit in federal court against the State of Wisconsin and specifically against the DNR. The suit has overcome its first hurdle and has been given a case number (00C0305C). The action sites the Lower Wisconsin Riverway, the shorelines, and the proposed non-point pollution proposals among others as being a violation of our constitutional and our land patent rights.

The complaint was mailed to Governor Thompson and he had 60 days to waive the summons action. If he ignores the waiver, he will then be served a summons to which he must reply within 20 days. Ray is doing this on his own without a lawyer and so far the costs have been minimal.

As this civil action proceeds, press releases will be given to the various media. The PLOW Board congratulates Ray on taking the initiative on this matter. Every lawyer we talked to about such a suit either cost an arm and a leg or wasn’t interested, so we appreciate Ray’s efforts on behalf of all of us who are affected by any of these onerous laws.

Millville landowner prepares to sue DNR: Rural Millville (Grant County) landowner Richard Fish’s land survey has shown that a barn the DNR is using for storage is on his property. Richard has hired an attorney and hopes to regain control of the property. The DNR is claiming adverse possession. Incidently Mr. Fish has put a PLOW "No Trespassing" sign on the property.

Liberty Under Siege Sometimes our property and even lives are threatened by forces that are not obvious. Here are some examples of liberty under siege.

ago was accused of "redirecting streams."

Director Ray Babb in 32^nd District State Senate Primary Race: Ray Babb has entered the Republican primary race in the 32^nd State Senate race against several other candidates. For those PLOW members living in the 32^nd District, Ray has the following message.

"I would like to thank everyone who took time to gather and send in nomination papers…We gathered over 600 signatures and had well over 500 certified. (The minimum number was 400.) I will be on the September 12^th primary ballot as a Republican and will be running against four other candidates who all live in the LaCrosse area. With a large turn out in the primary, we may be able to offset the greater numbers possible in the LaCrosse area.

Shoreland Access Legislation: DuWayne Johnsrud is seeking repeal of the new shoreland access legislation. This law, just like the Wisconsin Riverway Law, was slipped into the budget bill without a hearing or full debate.

State Statute 30.134 allows the public to use shoreline areas up to the ordinary high water mark and the water’s edge on rivers and streams. No permission is necessary from the person who owns the land and few limitations are placed on what people can do in the area.

According to Johnsrud, "The Senator who did this has no idea what it is like to live in an area with almost no lakes but thousands of miles of streams and rivers that have widely fluctuating levels."

In an August 11 news release, Johnsrud reports that the DNR has agreed with him on the issue of land along the Mississippi River. The law excludes lakes and/or impoundments. Since the water levels along the Mississippi are controlled by dams, which are a type of impoundment, these waters should be excluded and the DNR agreed.

For a more detailed explanation of this law, contact your local state senator or assemblyperson and ask for a copy of the Wisconsin Legislative Council Memorandum with the subject heading New Statute Authorizing Public Access to the Shore of a Navigable Stream.

Please keep watching your local newspapers and television for more action on this subject. As candidates for the State Assembly and State Senate visit your area or on local radio talk shows ask those persons what they think of this law and what they will do about if they are elected!

This morning (August 9) I was on a conference call with officers of the Alliance for America and our president Bruce Vincent had to leave the call, as the trucks were there to evacuate his belongings. Bruce had a logging company until the feds shut down logging in his area. He has an MBA, so he had other options but he stayed in the Libby, MT area and he became an ardent, dedicated spokesperson in defense of private property rights.

At the time of the call, Bruce said 90 fires were burning their area and the Forest Service was monitoring them but did not have the resources to come and control or extinguish them. First his business, and now his personal property all in the name of radical environmentalism.

Many of the newspaper datelines on the fire in Montana have come from Hamilton. This is in the Bitterroot Valley, which is one of the most beautiful areas of our country. The movie the River Runs Through was filmed in the Bitterroot area. Gene and I visited that area when Daniel was living in Hamilton and guiding out of Victor. It is beyond belief that our govt. could believe that locking up forestland to the point where there are so many dead and dying trees would not result in some thing like this. The Forest Service policy—actually the Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, etc., policy--of locking out logging and declaring areas as roadless so that everyone but hikers are locked out is not sound forest and resource management.

The Forest Service is the same group of people who are pushing for more and more roadless areas all over the country. This is the group who with pressure from the green movement has stopped logging not just in the West but in the East and now in the Mid-West. If we let them shut down the Chequamegon, at some time in the future we might have fires raging through northern Wisconsin.

As of August 6, nearly 4 million acres of land have burned just this year. The burning is just the tip of the iceberg. If heavy rains and snows strike this area in the next year, land slides and extreme flooding could cause even more devastation and more environmental damage to this area. The greens talk about how many thousands of years it took nature to create these forests and they have managed through their misguided actions to destroy them in a matter of days. I wonder what they will say when the price of houses, computer paper, and one of life’s real necessities—toilet tissue—start to rise because there is a shortage of wood products. For some reason TT made from plastic just doesn’t seem reasonable. Of course, then the greens would stop any further drilling or exploring for oil and since plastic is a by-product of oil-----I think you get the picture. I guess it would be back to nature in the true sense---of course, by that time it will probably be illegal to pick up leaves.

From Sept. 29 through October 1, the Comfort Inn on Madison’s East Side will be the site of the AFA’s annul meeting. Board members from all over the United States will meet to elect officers and plan activities for the next year. AFA Executive Committee member Shirley Luebker is coordinating the meeting, and AFA Director Gene Luebker will attend as a voting delegate.

Strategies for getting rural Americans to vote in the up-coming elections, the 2001 FLY-IN, and the election of officers are some of the items on the agenda.

Does this scare you?? A Lower Wisconsin Riverway Boundary Review process has been initiated. At the July 13, 2000 meeting, Tom Howard of the DNR said maps were being developed to assist the LWRB in determining additions and deletions of land in the Riverway. Keep watching your local newspapers for information on this important item. PLOW will also keep you informed through letters to the editor and radio spots if necessary.

Truer words were never spoken! Dennis Miller, the new "color man" on ABC’s Monday Night Football and formerly on Saturday Night Live has a quote in the July 2000, American Legion Magazine that says it all.

"A developer is someone who wants to build a house in the woods. An environmentalist is someone who already has a house in the woods."