Thank you to all members who renewed their memberships after the recent mailing. A sincere apology to those who received the mailing and had already renewed. Sometimes after Gene records the renewals, I do not get the new dates entered on the database in a timely fashion, i.e., I get lazy and don’t get it done.

The past few months many items of interest have been in the newspapers, in magazines, and on television. Some of these have been very disturbing and others have shown a growing awareness that the government cannot keep purchasing land and infringing on property rights. This newsletter will up date you on some of these items.

In an additional aside, Gene and I will be putting together one more newsletter and then we will be turning over the newsletter to some other member of PLOW. Gene hand wrote and then keyed the newsletter alone for many years starting with the old proWrite word processing program. As we upgraded our computers and his arthritis became worse, I took over the keying and then the entire writing of the newsletter. We have done this since PLOW was started over 12 years ago. We feel it is time for us to bow out and let others take up the mantle. We have appreciated all the positive comments that you have given us over the years, but the time has come for us to step down after the next newsletter.

HURRAH FOR OUR SIDE The Governor left in place the repeal of the "ordinary" high water legislation included in the recently passed budget bill. The conditions that existed two years ago are again the law. This law was primarily known as the "keep your feet wet" law.

Rep. Johnsud, Sen. Schultz, and others had placed the repeal in the budget bill because the budget bill was the way the two-year old "ordinary" high water mark bill was passed into law.

Legislators and their aids called various groups in favor of the repeal including PLOW. With the phone calls and letters generated by individuals like you, Governor McCallum left the repeal in place. The Governor was under tremendous pressure from various groups to veto the measure but listened to the people most affected—landowners—and left the repeal stand. Be sure to thank your local legislators for putting this repeal in place when you see them or write to them on other matters.

RECENT ACTIVITIES OF PLOW MEMBERS In May Art and Vera Kulosa, Gene and Shirley Luebker attended the annual Fly-In for Freedom in Washington, DC. The meeting concentrated on the roadless initiative started under the Clinton administration and the revoking of the "in perpetuity" water rights of farmers in the Klamath Valley of Oregon where fish have become more important than farmers and the written promises given to them by the U.S. government.

PLOW Director Karl Hausner and Mrs. Hausner attended the 52^nd Annual Sudeten Rally on June 2-3 in Augsburg, Bavaria. The official rally started with hundreds of flags entering the hall with the American flag as always leading the way. Karl Hausner Farms, Sauk City, Wisconsin, sponsored PLOW featuring the Wisconsin flag which was the fourth flag in the parade of flags. Over 80,000 attended the rally and most European TV and radio stations carried all or part of the rally live. The Hausner took PLOW sweatshirts with them to Augsburg and gave them to various participants at the Rally.

In August the Kulosas, Luebkers, Ruth Bender, and Leland Starmont attended the organizational meeting of an umbrella organization called Citizens for Property and Rights, Inc. (CPR). The aim of CPR is to provide information and assistance to groups and individuals whom are fighting various land grabs and zoning under Smart Growth. PLOW was invited as one of the leading private property groups in the state. Donna and Paul Kitzman started the group.

On September 15 and 16 Director Gene Luebker and Executive Board Member Shirley Luebker were to be in St. Louis for the Alliance for America Annual Meeting and Executive Board Meeting. Shirley was coordinating the meeting. again this year. This meeting was cancelled due the terrorist bombings in New York and Washington, DC. Art Kulosa was scheduled to attend a CPR meeting in Madison on Sept 15, which was also cancelled. At this time it is not certain when these meetings will be rescheduled.

PLOW assisted a new private property group that formed in Oneida County. At last report they have 650 members.

LOWER WISCONSIN RIVERWAY BOARD TALKS OF SPREADING ITS TENTACLES INTO MORE AREAS OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS. Several disturbing discussions have been taking place at recent LWRB meetings. The first is that the Board has been involved with the erection of transmission towers used for cell phone transmission and other high tech communication networks. The Board doesn’t seem to realize that there are areas of southwest WI where cell phones don’t work because of the terrain. Although I don’t know for sure, I would bet that there might also be some places on the river where the phones won’t work. With the series of tragedies on the river over the past few years, the very idea that persons might lose their lives because their cell phone wouldn’t work while they were on the river should be enough for most people to permit these towers especially when some are literally not visible from the river.

Another tentacle may be spreading all the way up to the Black River. Mr. Cupp proudly announced that a group from the Black River Area has asked him to speak to them on setting up a plan for the Black River with the LWRL as its model! Does the Black River Area or Wisconsinites need another board of bureaucrats with a budget of $150,000 and growing yearly.

"The Kickapoo reserve management board in connection with the LWRB shall prepare and submit to the building commission and to the joint committee on finance a report that includes all of the following: (a) Recommendations on how revenue may be generated to cover the operational costs of the 2 (sic) boards through hunting, camping, or parking or other fees." (Emphasis mine) This is a direct quote from a memo received by Mark Cupp on July 24, 2001.

The implications of this directive are far reaching from having to pay to hunt along the LWR to parking fees at the various boat landings to "other fees." The only other fee that I can think of off hand is either a canoe license or fee when any boat—fishing, pleasure, or canoe is put in the water. Of course that would also mean many more wardens or workers of some kind to collect the money.

At the Sept. 13 meeting of LWRB, Mr. Cupp said that this item has been rescinded at this time. However, it is an area that needs to be watched.

The color of the concrete retaining walls on the reconstruction of Hwy 60 were again the topic of LWRB scrutiny when the primary contractor changed concrete subcontractor and the color was not quite the same so discussions were held to make sure the concrete was the right color. These same concrete walls are going to be covered with vines so all this worry about color is just a power play by the LWRB.

Another control /power area that the LWRB has given indications of interest in is "light pollution" based on a request from a citizen. This was probably the same person that called Wisconsin Public Radio about the light pollution that he noticed as a newly licensed pilot. In reference to the energy crisis, he didn’t know why all those farmers had to have yard lights burning all night. Of course he didn’t mention that he was using energy (fuel) to fly his plane for pleasure or that he probably would need more electric power to land his plane at night than the farm lights would use that night. He also probably did realize that the street lights in any small city such as Boscobel would probably use more power for street lights and signs in one night than all the farm yard lights in Crawford County. Since the incorporated areas are exempt from the Riverway Law, it probably means that farm yard lights will have to be the prime target of this power hungry group while cities from like Las Vegas, Chicago, and even Madison can literally look like day even at 2 in the morning.

One of the great ironies of the week of Sept 11 was that meetings, conferences, sporting events, and most government activities were cancelled or postponed but not the LWRB. The Board had some very important business to conduct; primarily the adjustment to a permit allowing a landowner to put a mobile home on his property. It seems when the drive way to the property was upgraded from a field road to driveway some brush and other small vegetation was removed and that made a corner of the mobile home visible from the river for about ten feet. The landowner was directed to plant a tree of at least 8 feet next to the driveway to eliminate this "glaring eyesore."

MT. HOPE TROUT POND UPDATE An area citizen referred the closing of the Mt.Hope Trout Pond to the DNR Disabled Advisory Council last year. As a result of this action the citizen has received some information that up dates this situation.

Gene VanDyck sent this message to the Disability Advisory Commission liaison.

"The final restoration plan is currently being put to gather a a(sic) senior design project by engineering students a U. W. Platteville. It is anticipated that it will take to (sic) years to complete the earth moving and channel restoration because of potential erosion and channel stability programs. (Emphasis mine)

the (sic) restored area will be a trout spawning area and not really a fishing area. The trail or observation site will be handicap accessible when completed but will not be constructed until the final stages of the project."

Mr. VanDyck does mention work that is being done at a leased pond in the Mt. Hope area in conjunction with a local bass club. This will be handicap accessible but "the significance of the pond will be basically local." He also mentions contacts to put in a handicap accessible fishing platform of the CTH K bridge on the Big Green near Werley.

The final nail in the Mt. Hope Trout Pond restoration is probably contained in this statement. "The thought of placing a handicap accessable (sic) pad on the Little Green River immediately below the Mt. Hope Pond site is going nowhere because of physical siting problems and STH 133 problems."

In an accompanying note the PLOW member makes the following observations.

"Note that the accessible path and ‘fishing pad’ promised in his project plan have already disappeared! We now have a ‘trail or observation site ‘ SO OSTENSIBLY we can now watch trout spawn but not fish them! This is a stream

where Mr. Kerr even says we have too many fish.

Also note that the ‘recreational area’ upgrade promised in the work plan has now become a ‘restoration plan’ to be handled as a student project (in other words, . . . our manager never submitted a DNR budget request nor does he ever intent to. To you guys familiar with the pond the suggestion that ‘it will take to (sic) years …because of erosion and channel stability…IS A LAUGH! It’s a typical snow job to a distant advisory/oversight committee that gene (sic)(VanDyck) has no time for anyway.

The long and the short of all of it is the pond should have been left alone and annual public money allocated to upgrade and manage it as a public fishing area. BUT THIS WOULD REQUIRE FINDING A MANAGER."

The reference to the number of fish in the Little Green brings up this idea. How plentiful are the trout in the Little Green now. We know how plentiful they were when the pond was being managed even in a moderate way. Let’s have a count now after the pond has been a mud hole for the past few years. I think most of us know that this won’t happen because the local DNR fish manager would have to admit that his actions probably led to the "destruction" of one of the prime trout fishing streams in the area if not the state.

ODDS AND ENDS The plight of the American farmer and rancher is exemplified by the following items: Golf legend Tiger Woods makes more money on each box of Wheaties in which his picture is featured than the farmer receives for supply the cereal grain for each box, according to the Board of Agriculture. —Lake County Examiner, Lakeview, OR, Sept. 2000. Range Magazine, Spring, 2001

"Of each dollar spent on food in the U.S., the farmer/rancher share is 20 cents." –Nevada Farm Bureau Journal, January 2001 Range Magazine, Spring, 2001

Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton expressed support of farmers/ranchers against those who are trying to make farmers/ranchers the villains all types of endangered species actions, water pollution, pesticide and insecticide cases and any thing else they can think of when she said the following. "Farmers and ranchers are often the best stewards of our land, and we can achieve more by working with them and capitalize on their intimate knowledge of the land that they depend on and the land that they love." Washington Times, April 8, 2001—Range Magazine, Summer 2001.

Ted Turner gives hypocrisy a new face. Mr. Turner is the owner of thousands of acres in Montana, the Atlanta Braves and several TV net works. He also gives millions to various environmental causes such as the Sierra Club, yet when it comes to his own property it is a different story as this little story from Barry Clausen’s book Burning Rage (page 48) illustrates.

Barry Clausen: "Why are you here?"

Protester: "To save the trees."

Clausen: "Are you aware that just a few miles away, Ted Turner is clearcutting his land? …"

Protester: "Yes"

Clausen: "Why don’t you protest him?"

Protester: "We can’t. That’s where our money is coming from."

"God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to defend it"

Daniel Webster (1782-1852)

The media propaganda war on global warming continues with environmentalist statements predicting doom and gloom based on what is becoming more and more evident is "junk science." The National Academy of Science recently released a report on global warming where the summary statements seemed to support the warming theory.

Many of the scientists that were part of the researchers who prepared the report are very unhappy with the summary. Many are saying publicly that the evidence does not support global warming of any significance especially not human activity. For example, Steven Mallory, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute says, "The recent temperature record complied from balloon and satellite measurements inexplicably don’t show any warming."

Paul Georgia noted that a recent study in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society at "even if warming were to occur, mean surface temperatures were much higher during the Medieval Warm Period (roughly 800 to 1200 AD_ than they are today. The warmer temperatures during that period allowed the Vikings to settle presently inhospitable Greenland."

As citizens we must look through the half-truths and scare tactics of the "greens" and try to find facts and evidence that provide the complete picture. Unfortunately, the media, in most cases, does not provide us with that complete picture.

MORE ODDS AND ENDS

"Refusing to accept the earth as our sacred mother, these Christians have become a dangerous threat to the survival of humanity. They are the blight on the environment and to believe in Bible prophecy in unforgivable." Al Gore in his book Earth in Balance"

"Poor little tweety-birds won’t be warbling and cooing in acres of pine, poplar, and red maples around the new headquarters of the National Wildlife Assoc. The trees gave their lives so that NWA staffers—285 of them might have parking spaces sprawled urbanely adjacent to NWF’s new $17.4 million digs in Reston, VA." John Evins, Insight, May 21, 2001.

God Bless America