Mr. Kitzman has spent the last 15 years researching topics of local, state, national, and even international importance. He discovered various private and governmental policies and plans that will seriously impact and affect each of us individually if these plans and policies are allowed to proceed as planned.

As a town chairman, Mr. Kitzman has been doing extensive research on comprehensive planning (smart growth) and what it will do to individuals and local communities if it proceeds as planned.

The meeting will include the annual business meeting, election of officers, presentation of scholarships, and comments from area legislators.

If you are interested in becoming a PLOW officer or director, let one of the current officers or directors know so that your name can be presented to the members at the election.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear an outstanding speaker talk about a topic that affects all of us.

COUNTY BICYCLE IMPROVEMENT PLANS This information relates primarily to the "Grant County Bicycle Improvement Plan" which was distributed to Township Boards last fall but counties all over the state are probably engaged in similar projects.

While most of us have no objection to bicyclists using state and county roads, sometimes the criteria for use and safety are not compatible and the Grant County plan certainly makes that blatantly obvious.

Let us take just one example. Those of us who live in northern Grant County have found that our roads are the last in the County to be improved and resurfaced. Most likely the reason this has been allowed to happen is that the annual average daily traffic (AADT) is low on some of these roads. An example of one of these roads is County C from State 133 to Highway 18 near Bridgeport, a very scenic road that runs parallel to the Wisconsin River and from Millville to Hwy 18 runs right along the river. Over the past several years construction on Highways 60 and 61 has led to increased traffic on this road including some small semis. After several near misses with some drivers unfamiliar with this road, I called the Grant County Highway Commissioner and asked if a centerline could be painted on the road to keep cars out of the middle of the road. The answer was that County C is too narrow to have a centerline! When I asked when the road would be upgraded, I got the "well, that road isn’t really used that much" answer.

Yet this very same road is one that is being designated for bicyclists. The plan calls for upgrading roads to provide paved shoulders for the cyclists; however, the width of the shoulder also depends on the ADT. Rural state trunk highways with less than 1,000 ADT require no paved shoulders. Now County Highway C is not wide enough for a center line, has no shoulder, does not have an ADT of 1,000 per day, and is not a state trunk highway, which means that it really doesn’t have to be improved to be designated an "official bike" road in Grant County.

Other rural county roads in Grant County are also on the map of roads identified for "bike" roads. Among the "desired routes" are County K from 133 to Lancaster, County T from Fennimore to Blue River, County J from Mt. Hope to County A, County A from Bloomington to Lancaster, County G from 133 to Livingston, Borah Road, Mt. Ridge Road and Link Road for Lancaster to Fennimore. Some of these "desired routes" are township roads and certainly don’t have shoulders on them. Many of them like County K from 133 to Highway 18 and County J from Mt. Hope to County A have several blind corners as well as grass shoulders which certainly wouldn’t be used by cyclists.

Biking is a fine and even desirable means of transportation when the roads and the traffic are coordinated. However, designating roads as "bike roads" where traffic and conditions are not even considered adequate for two lane traffic because of road width among other things is irresponsible and dangerous to both cars and bikes.

"Wood" you believe it? More than 5,000 products are made from trees such as skateboards, cologne, toothpaste, football helmets, shoe polish, carpeting, clarinets, and of course, toilet tissue.

The situation in Wisconsin is bad but in the West it is bordering on the catastrophic. A publication by Range Magazine "The Great American Land Grab" contains some unsettling information. For example, the percentage of federal ownership in western states is unbelievable. Arizona, 44.3%; Utah, 67.9%; Idaho, 65.2%; California 49.9% and Nevada, 87.6% to name a few. These figures do not count state, county and local lands. We in Wisconsin seem to have a hard time figuring out a way to support our schools and still keep taxes down, just imagine what it must be like in some of the districts where the majority of the land is federally owned.

Every time the DNR buys a piece of land, every time federal agencies close any kind of land to public use whether it be logging, motorized water crafts, or snowmobiling, the Wildlands Project comes one step closer to being a fact accomplished.

Another way to think of it might be to compare the Wildland Project

to what happened to Native Americans. Presidents Andrew Jackson and U. S. Grant "bought" native Indian lands as public property, while restricting the Native Americans to reservations. Is that the fate that awaits future generations as we give away America to wildlife and predatory domination in the name of protecting the environment?

One of the "supposed" reasons for protecting wildlands is the Endangered Species Act (ESA) which is supposed to protect endangered plants and animals. A look at history will certainly dispute some of the contentions of its authors and supporters. As Carl A. Adams writes in the January 2002 Blue Ribbon Magazine "There is no evidence (emphasis mine) that Wilderness has ever, or will ever, protect any species in the long run. Billions of years before the emergence of humans all ancient species lived in Wilderness. Yet, virtually all of them became extinct with absolutely no human influence."

Adams goes on to make some points that I have made in many conversations and letters but which for some reason have not been picked up at least not vehemently and vocally by such groups as AARP, those affected by the Disabled Americans Act, churches, and rural interest groups. Adams says,

If you are in any one of the groups that is being affected by the closing of roads and trials, speak up at the next meeting of your group. Perhaps your friends and neighbors have not yet realized how this back to the wilderness philosophy is going to affect them and their families. It is getting late—take up the banner while you still can.

Amazing Forest Facts from the American Forest Products Assoc. Each year, the forest community plants 1.5 billion tree seedlings in the United States—that’s more than 5 new trees for each American, and nearly 2,000 for every bear.

About one-third of the United States is covered by forests.

More trees are grown through replanting and natural regeneration than are harvested in the U.S. each year.

Forests are oxygen factories. To grow a pound of wood, a tree uses 1.47 pounds of carbon dioxide and gives off 1.07 pounds of oxygen.

Trees are a renewable resource. We can plant more trees and we do!

Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced November 6 that she is closing the office of Everglades Restoration in order to streamline the federal bureaucracy and steer more money directly to Everglade’s restoration.

The decision to protect native plant species with the savings achieved by closing this office responds to a call by environmentalists to thwart the spread of non-native plant and animal life along America’s coastlands.

A July report by the General Accounting Office concludes that non-native species are causing billions of dollars in damage to crops, ranges, and waterways representing "one of the most serious threats of the 21^st Century."

No plant causes more ecological damage than multi flora rose, a non-native, invasive species. This woody plant was introduced to Wisconsin (and the Upper Midwest) in the 1930’s and 40’s by the Dept of Agriculture, grown in DNR nurseries, and sold to farmers and FFA groups for 3 cents a plant. Its purpose was to prevent the loss of topsoil during the "dust bowl" days and as a natural fence line between fields and properties.

Over the years birds have spread the red multi flora rose berries into our pastures and woodlots. As agriculture has changed, many pastures and woodlots are no longer used as intensely as they were years ago. As a result acres and acres of land have become almost impassable as the multi flora rose grows bigger and bigger and spreads its roots wider and wider creating a virtual jungle of twisted thorned branches. Nothing—no grass, weeds, or young trees can grow under their shade.

PLOW Director Gene Luebker presented a resolution calling for the U .S. Dept. of Interior, Wisconsin DTACP and Wisconsin DNR to assist farmers, woodlot owners, and others in the eradication of multi flora rose to the Grant County Farm Bureau, which they passed. The resolution calls for the DATCP, the DNR, and the Dept of Interior to provide funding and technical assistance to landowners for the eradication of the non-native, invasive, woody plant, which they themselves introduced and propagated. The resolution will be widely distributed and should get the support of all landowners, town and county boards and associations, woodland owners, the Conservation Congress, recreationalists, tourists and tourist dependent businesses, and the entire environmental community. This resolution will be presented for approval of the PLOW membership at the annual meeting in March.

Be it resolved that the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection which introduced multi-flora rose bushes to agricultural lands in Wisconsin in the! 930’s and 40’s and the DNR who raised the plants in their nurseries and sold them to farmers for three cents a plant, and the U.S. Department of Interior who at this time are trying to eliminate all non-native invasive species of plants, be required to provide the funding and technical assistance for eradication of this destructive plant which is limiting pasture growth, wood lot reproduction, hunting and other recreational pursuits resulting in lost tourism revenues.

Due to the severe ecological damage to our eco-systems caused by the now uncontrollable spread of multi-flora rose, we request this resolution be given priority status.

Converted Bear an atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that the "accident of evolution" had created.

"What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What wonderful animals!" he said to himself. As he was walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly charge towards him. He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing in on him. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pumping frantically and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him. At that instant the atheist cried out: " Oh My God"

Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky: "You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don’t exist, and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"

The atheist looked directly into the light, "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps could you make the BEAR a Christian?

"Very well," said the Voice.

The Stupidest Ways Politicians Are Wasting Your Money

1. Subsidizing politicians’ erections. Congress’s health insurance program actually covers Viaagra.
2. Paying medical schools not to train doctors. In an attempt to relieve a doctor glut without reducing funding for teaching hospitals, Congress agreed to pay medical schools $400 million—not to train doctors.