Advertisement In it there are stories related to Ontario, Hillsboro, La Farge, Readstown and a photo essay of life along the Mississippi River.
Our editorial look at Unique and Wonderful over the past three years has left me with the impression that both the people of Vernon County and the land in the county are unique. I think living in this place slowly begins to reshape a person’s way of thinking.
Time has a way of doing that, too.
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In early June, I attended an informational meeting on the Kickapoo Community Sanctuary.
It’s an effort by Gays Mills-based Community Conservation to bring all of the special interest groups operating in the Kickapoo River Valley under one umbrella.
Dr. Robert H. Horwich, Director of Community Conservation, talked about how a unified effort by all of the special interest groups in the Kickapoo Valley would dramatically increase the ability of people living here to influence what happens here.
“Using lessons learned from our almost 25 years working with local communities..., CC hopes to work with individuals and community organizations using voluntary tools to enhance protection of the Kickapoo watershed,” according to Community Conservation. “The sanctuary will promote family farms, sustainable farming, voluntary preservation of natural areas and economic development through land use planning.”
More on the Kickapoo Community Sanctuary can be found online at communityconservation.org
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Speaking of community improvement, the work at the Viroqua School and Community Sports Facility is really progressing.
Now in its third and final phase, it appears that daily progress is being made on the restroom-concessions-pressbox building.
I’m amazed at the progress that has been made and, of course, it’s being done with contributions from the community.
I tip my cap to those on the committee working on this endeavor. Their hard work will benefit the children of Viroqua and the greater community for years and years to come.
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The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation put out a special alert this last week regarding the pending state budget.
According to the alert sent by Paul Peterson, “Deep within the lengthy (budget) document was a two sentence provision with huge impacts for Wisconsin agriculture. The definition of agricultural land would be modified for property tax purposes. Under the change, any land that is platted or zoned for residential, commercial or industrial use cannot be considered ‘agricultural land.’ Consequently, this land would not be eligible for use value assessment.”
The federation is concerned that all farmland zoned “rural residential” by town or county governments would also be eliminated from use value assessment.
If this occurs, the federation said that some farmers could be looking at tax hikes from $3.50 per acre to $85 per acre. A 700-acre farm in Brown County, under the new budget rule, would have to pay $60,000 in new property taxes.
“Unfortunately, nobody has a clear understanding of how many farms would be impacted and devastated by this blow to the use value law. Not the senators who approved it on Wednesday and certainly not the many landowners who are now just learning about this draconian change,” according to the federation’s alert.
The federation is asking members of the Farm Bureau to contact their state representatives and the governor’s office. The federation’s website is www.wfbf.com.
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People in Wisconsin don’t need saunas. All they need to do is spend an afternoon outside in late June. It’s 90 degrees with 100 percent humidity.
E-mail Matt Johnson at matt.johnson @lee.net.
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