Third Worlding Marathon County (and the Rest of Wisconsin)
Xiomara Castro, the first woman Honduran President, just banned open pit mining in her country because of it's toxic pollution and the consequent health impacts on wildlife and human life. This marks a huge turning point in a country long exploited for it's natural resources at the expense of everything Hondurans hold dear – especially clean, safe water. This remarkable turn around happened when the Honduran people got fed up enough to elect political leaders who actually cared more about them than big, usually foreign, mining corporations. The quest for natural ...
Righteous, Right, Religious, Radical, Republicans
Schools are meant to prepare students from preschool to college for their future jobs as well as life. The recent Wausau School Board decision to change the curriculum to meet the needs of their School Board members is a gross miscarriage of their job duties. They are ignoring the outcries from the majority of constituents against their outdated ideas. Having abstinence being the only method taught for contraception, taking out learning about sexually transmitted diseases, and advocating only adoption, etc. is not only a very narrow religious point of view of School ...
Public Should Question Proposed Mining in the Town of Easton
To protect its own interests, the public must pay attention to the proposal for mining in the town of Easton, near Dells of the Eau Claire County Park. The mining company, Greenlight Metals, Inc., will not protect the public’s interest. Whether the government will do so is far from clear.
Greenlight has made a cost-benefit analysis that it has a reasonable
chance of making money for its shareholders by mining just east of
Wausau. We should have no illusions that, in its analysis, Green Light would alter its money-making plans if the mining would negatively ...
An open letter to the Wisconsin Legislature: We need to keep guns out of the hands of abusers
Dear Legislators;
A recent case that went before the State Supreme Court has shed some light on a troubling fact: Wisconsin has no laws prohibiting the possession or purchase of firearms by people who have committed violent misdemeanors.
Daniel Doubek, a man who threatened the life of his estranged wife, is now allowed to obtain a concealed carry permit. It is absurd to say the least. The courts did their job, which amounts to interpreting the law, so it is clear to me that the job of changing the law is up to members of the State Assembly and Senate.
In ...
Mining Jobs Mirage
Mining in northern Wisconsin back in the news. A Canadian company wants to do exploratory drilling for copper and gold deposits in Marathon and Taylor counties.
Advocates for mining claim it will be a boost for rural economies and create jobs. Other people dispute these claims. Too often the number of jobs promised don't pan out. The long term environmental damage can cost more than the economic gain. There are many studies that show mining does not improve local economies. There are better ways to create jobs and prosperity for northern Wisconsin.
Mining, like ...
Mining Plans Sound Harmful to the Environment
From 2016-2019, I called Wausau and Marathon County my home. One of the highlights of my time in the area was the pristine and stunning scenery of the north woods. The scenery is not the only benefit of the unmatched forests, lakes, rivers, and other natural features of Marathon County. These features are also essential to the health of everybody living there, the lifeline of many long-existing businesses, and truly a gift not to be squandered. This is why I found it disturbing that some company with no ties to Marathon County wants to come in and put all of these things ...
Your Voice, Your Vote
It’s time to wake up Marathon County. Your voice continuously becomes smaller. What will you do when you have no voice at all? The time to speak up is now.
This week WEC Republican member Dean Knudson resigned unexpectedly, citing pressure from US Senator Ron Johnson. The Wisconsin Elections Commission must elect a new chairperson this year, and under state law, that role rotates between parties. It is the Republican's turn. Fake elector Bob Spindell is the only other Republican currently eligible. GOP legislators are calling for elections to be taken over by the ...
To Citizens & Leaders of Marathon County:
It was an unfortunate day in 2017 when our state leaders, and I use that term leader loosely, thought it was a good idea to end the moratorium on metallic mining in Wisconsin. Shame on those of you who did this. To make things worse some members of our county leadership did not think anything of approving this flaw in common sense.
At a time when wells are being shut down due to pollution, water quality should be first and foremost on the minds of everyone. More than ever clean ground water for drinking and recreation needs to be protected. The Eau Claire ...
Mining in Wisconsin
A Canadian mining company has an exploratory license and is moving ahead with plans to drill for gold and copper in north-central Wisconsin. Green Light Metals believes the Reef in eastern Marathon County and the Bend deposit in Taylor County have “economic interest” that warrant further exploration.
The company says the Bend deposit, located within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest contains 4 million tons of copper and gold. They say the Reef deposit contains about 454,000 tons of gold reserves. This sounds impressive but it is misleading information. ...
Bold Climate Action
We have a real opportunity in the City of Wausau to work together toward a positive change, and I am hoping that you will join us next week Wednesday at 6 pm, to find out more about how you can help. As the farming season becomes more unpredictable, and as severe weather becomes more frequent and destructive, we can see in our community and around the world that climate change is here and only getting worse. It is a daunting issue that can feel insurmountable when we face it alone. But we know that our individual climate conscious choices will no longer be enough. We ...