Central Wisconsin Fetes Legal Victory over Factory Farm by Talking Tourism and Recreation

Huge sand deposits in region guarantee environmental and health
catastrophes if millions of gallons of liquid and aerial
cow manure are to be dumped into the environment.
(Mal Contends)

"I cried when I got the news," said Nancy Koch of Saratoga, Wisconsin reached this morning by phone.

Ms. Koch referred to news of a legal victory over a proposed massive factory farm in central Wisconsin that would devastate an entire region, (Golden Sands Dairy LLC v. Town of Saratoga, (Wisconsin Court System)), (Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune), (Mal Contends), (WSAW-TV).

It was a far cry from July 2012 when the Wysocki outfit sprung its plans for the proposed factory, (or CAFO for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation), that would become a hazardous-waste vectoring operation predictably polluting area groundwater, drinking waters, and surface waters, with millions of gallons of liquidized cow manure, among other detrimental health and economic effects, (Mal Contends), (John Ikerd).

At the July 2012 meeting, the local State Rep. Scott Krug, (R-Nekoosa, Wisconsin) and CAFO supporter, told Koch: "Quit your bitching," so Koch and fellow clean water supporters knew they were up against corporate money and political lackeys not connected to the future of the region.

James Wysocki of the Wysocki Family of Companies corporation thinks he can make more money in the glutted milk market so the costs that residents and communities would pay is acceptable to Wysocki who lives safely away from the proposed "Golden Sands Dairy, (LLC)," sited in the town of Saratoga located in the central sands region of Wisconsin.

Wysocki's inflicting costs onto society without consent is called a negative externality. Most folks in central Wisconsin think it's the work of a sociopath.

Notes Joshua Yelle, a research fellow in agricultural economics:

There are seven sources of negative impacts on human beings that can directly be correlated to the CAFO industry. They are as follows: Air contamination, water contamination, pathogens, insect vectors, obesity, resistant antibiotics and negative financial and mental externalities. 

Wysocki's purposes and lack of conscience in these matters offer a portrait of a societal nemesis.

Wysocki can still appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court but folks in central Wisconsin say they haven't felt this way in a long time.

Writes Criste Greening in one of a flurry of communications on social and local media by area residents the last 24 hours:

Thank you to all our town residents, town board, and the legal team who have stood along side us in this fight and who will continue to stand with us if Wysocki should decide to appeal to the WI Supreme Court. It has been 5 years of sacrificing time away from family, money from our bank accounts, and countless hours of sleep. Today we can celebrate a victory and a huge amount of stress lifted from our shoulders. And tomorrow we will begin the wait.

Wysocki has 30 days to appeal the decision so this fight is not over and if he chooses to appeal we will battle him all the way to the Supreme Court with just as much fire and determination as we have demonstrated these past 5 years. Wysocki's greed and contamination is not welcome in Saratoga.

What's the next step among residents and communities?

These families fighting Wysocki are so intimately tied to their communities that several reminded this writer in phone calls of their fight in promoting tourism and recreation in the coming warm months:

From Don Ystad of Adams County Wisconsin who has been promoting tourism and recreation for years:

Take a step back from the politics of this situation and ask yourself, 'what is best for the state of Wisconsin?  Another CAFO sited, or the preservation and growth of an existing, vibrant area, poised to be the 'golf mecca of the Midwest?' 

Think existing class A trout streams, existing lakes surrounded by 5,400 properties, two existing golf courses at Lake Arrowhead, the new Wisconsin Trapshooters Home facility, Dyracuse recreational area, TriNorse ski jump, and the new Sand Valley Golf Club just begun, all within a few miles of the proposed CAFO.  Weigh that against the proposed CAFO with it's 49 high-cap wells and manure enough to fill Lambeau field up to the cheap seats four times over.

Longtime families dating to the 19th century are still talking biking trails, hiking rails, recreational areas, connecting with existing attractions.

Even as a danger like Wysocki lurks, those caring about their communities plan. As one family contemplates:

POSSIBLE  OPTIONS for WOOD COUNTY and ADAMS COUNTY  RECREATION
AREA  GROWTH and REVENUE

We begin with encouraging the growth of existing recreation areas such as the new World Class Golf Course in Rome area and the Trap Shooting Facility in Adams County and the Tri City Ski Jump on East County O in Adams County.  There may be other sports facilities that can be added to this list.

Furthermore, there is a yearly Water Skiing Tournament held on Lake Wazeecha, just East of Wisconsin Rapids.  That event draws 5,000 people. Also, there is an annual Cross Country Running Event held at the Wisconsin Rapids Ridges Golf Course. That event draws 9,000 people. The Recreation Event Base already exists and could be expanded and be very profitable in increased sales for the business community and added sales tax revenue for Wood County.

The business expansion could be accomplished by developing a major Multi-Sport Recreation Area in Saratoga Township in Sections 19, 20, 29 and 30,  just to the West of Route 13. This would be another major step in  developing the Business Corridor between Wisconsin Rapids, Rome, Adams-Friendship and the Wisconsin Dells.  This new Rec Area would be about 2,000 contiguous acres that could be set up to provide a Central Wisconsin location for State High School Tournaments for various sports and other activities enjoyed in the two Counties. ...

There are many people and businesses that believe the Central Wisconsin Area is ideal for sports activities that draw from all areas of the State. Road access is good and many lodging facilities and restaurants are available.  Also, Wisconsin Rapids has enlarged its airport to facilitate access to the new Sand Valley Golf Course being developed by Mike Keiser just South of Rome.  This same airport could be used for access to other sports at the new 2,000 acre Recreation Park.

Not many years ago, some businessmen with vision developed the Wisconsin Dells and Door County and attracted many vacation people from Illinois.  That kind of vision is needed again for the Wisconsin Rapids and Rome area.

Environmental Statement on CAFO Factory Delayed; Pro-CAFO State Rep. Faces Mounting Opposition

Updated - The Wysocki corporation's proposed factory farm in central Wisconsin has caused a political furor since detailed plans were first sprung on citizens at a community forum in Wisconsin Rapids in July 2012.

The sitting State Representative, Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa), was present and told a clean water activist, Nancy Koch, to "quit your bitching," (Mal Contends).

Koch and 1,000s of clean water supporters have never let up, (Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors, Rome and Saratoga Concerned, (Facebook)).

Before plans can proceed with the construction of this massive facility, (a CAFO or Confined Animal Feeding Operation), an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) has to be released by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, (DNR).

The Republican-led DNR is sensitive to the political fortunes of Krug, so once again the EIS release has been delayed so Krug, a Wysocki CAFO supporter, will not face more opposition than he already has arrayed against him.

Republicans and school privatization forces are dumping $100,000s in an attempt to beat back a challenge by clean water activist, David Gorski, (Facebook). Scott Walker and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos have held fundraisers for Krug.

So, naturally the DNR is doing its part with the Republican Party for the benefit of the CAFO champ, Scott Krug.

From Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors:

EIS release delayed and public hearing cancelled I received a call today from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regrading the pending Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS release has once again been delayed and the pubic hearing scheduled for October has been cancelled.

Although this does not come as a huge surprise we do feel the DNR is indeed getting closer to the actual completion of the document. No future release date or public hearing date has been determined at this time.

Of course, no release or public hearing has been determined, and the release date won't be until after the election.

Special delivery of liquid cow manure to Wisconsin streams and
lakes - Courtesy of Scott Krug, Scott Walker, and the
Dairy Business Association

New Round of Vandalism Targets Citizens Protecting Their Community

Cows in CAFO - File photo, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune
(Gannett Co News)

Citizens in Adams, Juneau, and Wood counties working to simply protect their communities and families against Big Ag polluters are targets of a new round of vandalism.

Earlier this year, threats, vandalism and reported cyber attacks were reported in Wood County.

One woman, Nancy Koch, who showed up at an overflow community meeting in 2012 in Wisconsin Rapids—when news was sprung a massive factory farm was sited in the town of Saratoga—was told by her local Wisconsin State Representative, Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) to "quit your bitching," (Mal Contends).

Big Ag and its bought-and-paid-for politicians have only gotten more hostile.

Citizens are not backing down from corporate bullying.

By Donald Ystad of Rome, Wisconsin:

Certainly you've all seen the signs. A few consider it a nuisance, an 'inconvenient truth,' the 'elephant in the room' when you talk property sales, or community growth. 'We should all be quiet and maybe it will go away.'  For residents in Saratoga and Rome, and communities around this demographic, the signs represent concern for the personal risk to our own property values, our lifestyle, or for many businesses, their livelihood, should this CAFO be sited in Saratoga. There are 1,500 residences within the cone of depression of the planned high cap wells, most of them in Rome, and thousands more residents who could be the recipients of fouled groundwater and the odor of 50 million gallons of manure gurgling in a pit, spreading down through our burgeoning area.

That's why many of your friends and neighbors are repainting and reinstalling signs. This ain't over til it's over, and we've been pushing back successfully for over 3 years; the strongest fight against a proposed CAFO in Wisconsin history. And, dozens of us will be making the trek to Madison tomorrow, speaking out about this proposed threat to our future. It's the 'court of public opinion,' and your involvement is beginning to make a difference.

By Kitt Belanger of Wisconsin Rapids (Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune):

Another round of vandalism to signs posted by citizens protecting their community from the proposed Golden Sands Dairy CAFO in Saratoga confirms two things.

First, it confirms the resolve of area citizens to bring attention to their plight. As area property values plummet just with the possibility of the CAFO, and more and more articles appear about CAFO damage in other communities, they recognize the devastating effects this proposed CAFO could have on their community and the communities surrounding them. Signs have been vandalized on at least six different occasions, and each time, more people volunteer to assist with painting and installing more and more signs. It increases the resolve of the concerned citizens to protect their right to protest and to bring awareness to how our entire demographic could suffer with the CAFO.

Second, it highlights the lack of understanding from those doing the vandalism. Some say the vandals are connected with the organization seeking to build the farm. Others feel they are misguided individuals who simply misunderstand the issue that drives people to speak out to protect their community. Whatever the driving force behind the vandalism, it’s only a matter of time before they are identified through the increased pressure from the Sheriff’s Department, citizen watch groups and ​photographic means.

It will be interesting to finally understand the motivation of the vandals and what drives them to fear this group of citizens speaking out to protect their community. And certainly the soon-to-be announced reward will root out the guilty parties.

Kitt Belanger,
Wisconsin Rapids

Meanwhile Big Ag in the Dairy State turns a blind eye towards the communities they are threatening to destroy.

Homes Under Attack in Wood Counties: Big Ag Suspect Number One

Message from proposed Wysocki CAFO to residents in
Wood County delivered in April 2015

Threats, Death Threats, Vandalism, Assaults and Now Slander

Residents in Wood and Adams counties in central Wisconsin working to halt a massively polluting proposed industrial dairy operation, a CAFO, are crime victims being met by a new spate of theft, criminal destruction, intimidation and a possible cyber attack on a home in the Town of Saratoga. (Madden, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune)

The proposed siting of the massive 5,300-animal, 7,000-acre Wysocki CAFO has already driven down property valuations in the area because of the predictable consequence of the pollution and inflictions on health that come with CAFO operations. (Mal Contends)

Ten more signs vandalized the weekend of May 29-31, 2015
in Wood County.

On one hand are multi-generational families working to stimulate the economic activity associated with tourism and recreation, and to protect their homes and their families' health.

Then there is James Wysocki whose proposed CAFO is already depressing a troubled economy, and should the CAFO ever begin operations tourism, recreation, streams, lakes and aquifers—already being drained by Wysocki's high capacity water wells used in potato-growing operations—would in short order become relics and the area an economic wasteland.

Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors are fighting back but Wysocki is protected politically by Gov. Scott Walker and local Wisconsin State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) whose first public words on the proposed CAFO siting were "Quit your bitching," made to Nancy Koch, on July 19, 2012 at a special Saratoga Town Board meeting drawing 100s of people so the meeting was held at the Wisconsin Rapids Performing Arts Center.

"Your Hous [sic] Is Next," reads a threat left near the home and
on the land of a family protesting the proposed massive Wysocki
CAFO in central Wisconsin. It take a certain pathology of CAFO
owners to deliberately poison neighbors, and another pathology to
leave this type of sick threat. The note was left after the sign of a
cow (below) had the cow's head removed. Photo: Nancy Koch

Wysocki and his political allies in the GOP have nothing but contempt for the people of central Wisconsin.

"These good people are trying to protect their homes and existing lifestyle from this proposed CAFO that would surround their homes with the stink, dirt, noise, and water quality issues that come with these huge industrialized farms. Any of us would do the same to protect our own property values, and in fact, those of us living in the surrounding area will be the worse for it if this goes through. The odors from their existing CAFO in Armenia can be smelled 11 miles away in Nekoosa. How far away are you from the proposed CAFO?," writes area resident, Don Ystad in an email.

A resident of Wisconsin Rapids, in a letter to the Wood County Sheriff, references threats and vandalism on land owned by Thor Lasy—a cordial 84-year-old retired businessman with property in Wood County, who has not even taken a position on the proposed CAFO—but is a recreational enthusiast who believes a depressed area economy could become vibrant again if people could come together and promote the recreation and tourism potential of the region. (Madden, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune).

Following is Rhonda Carrell's letter of Wisconsin Rapids:

Sheriff Reichert,

I am aware that Thor Laisy has spoken with you. ...

Every time I enter a meeting that pertains to Saratoga and see city police or sheriffs deputies, I just cringe. ... We are residents of an area where a bad business plan is in the process of being executed. We have been wronged. Our lives have turned into a living hell because this will not go away. We, at our home, have been on the receiving end of so many possible acts of intimidation, I will not be able to recite them all. I have, at times, felt unsafe on my own property and keep a gun close. I am alone a lot because my husband works out of town. This has taken a major toll on my health and our lives.

1. Man threatened me at the Saratoga Town banquet hall (in the parking lot) before the first meeting pertaining to the proposed CAFO. I was circulating a petition in the parking lot pertaining to asking our Town Board to fight the proposal. I asked my husband to keep an eye on him. When he left, he got into a Wysocki truck.

2. Man threatened my life if I did not back off from opposing this project at the PAC Center in Rapids on July 17, 2012. He then went and stood at the end if the row where my family and friend were sitting and stood there the entire time.

3. The night before we submitted 43 lbs of info to the DNR as part of the EIS, I was sitting in our living room going over materials to be submitted. After 11:00 pm someone was banging on the French doors next to where I was sitting. It happened in the middle of the night on the French doors outside our bedroom. We could not locate who it was by the time we got outside. Our deck is almost 700’ off Evergreen Avenue. This was not a coincidence. No one would just stumble onto our deck.

4. We have had broken glass at the end of our driveway NUMEROUS times and roadkill twice.

5. My husband was at our mailbox parked in the ditch (not in the road at all). He heard a vehicle coming toward him, accelerating quickly, and looked up just in time to see a late model green Ford F150 4X4 supercab (identical to my husband’s truck except color different) swerving toward his car. The truck missed him by an estimated two inches. The truck had the Wysocki logo on the door. We asked around to see who it belonged to because it was not one of their field trucks and were told, at the time the incident occurred, the only green late model supercab in the fleet belonged to Louis Wysocki’s grandson.

6. Computer has been hacked. Will not type all details. If interested, I will share details. Phone also hacked via email.

7. We have had many signs & pink cows stolen as have my husband’s parents on Mill Avenue. They have had their ditch torn up many times. Their home is across the road from Wysocki field in Saratoga.

8. I have been followed several times by a Wysocki worker. Sometimes in work truck, sometimes in a different vehicle. I don’t know who he is but it is uncomfortable. He may be the same man that threatened me at the PAC & Saratoga Town Hall.

9. Someone used a shotgun to destroy a scarecrow that was wearing a Protect Wood County T-shirt displayed at the end of our driveway.

I have actually heard the Heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce blamed us for the tipping over of a beautiful stone community events sign just south of the Nepco Lake bridge. I have heard the developers who own the land have repeated this untruth. WHY would anyone do that? Through a source within the DOT, I was told the developers tore it down themselves for one reason or another. I’m not clear as to who owned the sign but have been concerned about this accusation since I heard of it. This is simply NOT true.

We are here and were living our dream until all this started. We do not deserve what we have been going through. I’m certain I have left out many incidents, but I believe this is enough to help you understand something isn’t right.

Late Sunday night and into Monday morning many of our signs were damaged and torn down. One resident who will not speak up said theirs were damaged at approximately 1:20 am Monday. Whomever is doing this drops someone off by the signs/cows and the person working on signs has tools. There have been bolts, nuts and other materials used to erect the cows left on the ground after they have taken them down. This is the current description on what occurred early Monday. We are aware of 1- pink cow beheaded and 4 other anti CAFO signs on Hwy. 13 at top of 5 Mile Creek hill being thrown out in the road, 1- large pink cow at Evergreen & Hwy. 13 and also tore down the 4X8 STOP THE WYSOCKI CAFO sign & frame, 1-large pink cow at Ten Mile Creek, 1- small pink cow beat up with a hammer on 10 Mile Ave. East of Hwy. 13, 1- large pink cow beheaded & tipped over at Bell Road along Hwy. 73 aling with 2- 4X8 signs, one a painting of cupped hands holding water and on the back of that was a STOP THE WYSOCKI CAFO.

I’m told this info should be referred to Deputy Christiansen with case #15-8145 attached. If you wish to speak with me, our number is [xxx].

If you could help, please do. We have just been doing our best to live some sort of normal life in the middle of this mess.

Sincerely,

Rhonda Carrell
Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494

Rep Scott Krug Told Pro-Water Activist: "Quit Your Bitching," Citizen Don Ystad Didn't Get Krug's Order

Scott Krug's con game: Not working
Krug likes to portray himself as an
environmentalist. Fact:
Krug's Sierra Club -
John Muir Chapter Rating is
a dismal Eight Percent

"Quit your Bitching," said Rep Scott Krug (R-Wisconsin Rapids and ALEC) to Saratoga resident, Nancy Koch of Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors.

Nancy Koch of the Town of Saratoga was listening to Terry Rickaby (Saratoga Board Chair) and Big Ag's James Wysocki two summers ago.

Wysocki and his company officials did a PR gig on July 19, 2012 at a special Saratoga Town Board meeting drawing 100s of people so the meeting was held at the Wisconsin Rapids Performing Arts Center.

Wysocki's song and dance included how wonderful the Wysocki's Concentrated Agricultural Feeding Operation (CAFO) is going to be, and that area residents will like it.

Wysocki left out of his presentation that residents' preference is not relevant to his corporate plans.

Koch remarked how the Dairy Business Association (DBA) and Wysocki were trying to shove a proposed massive Concentrated Agricultural Feeding Operation (CAFO) down the throats of residents [in Wood, Adams, Portage and Juneau counties], and that the DBA and Wysocki co-authored the Wisconsin Livestock Siting Law (and the administrative law implementing it) that helps CAFOs site their operations against the objection of local communities.

"Quit your bitching," said Scott Krug to Koch at the Town Hall Meeting. Other attendees confirm the remark

Koch first mentioned this incident to me July 5, 2014 at a breakfast in Wisconsin Rapids at a restaurant on 8th Street, attended by members of Protect Wood County and Rome and Saratoga Friendly.

Emailed Koch yesterday, "Early on in this fight when I contacted Scott Krug at his Republican e-mail address I asked for his help with this CAFO issue. In the e-mail, I reminded him who I was ---- that I was the one he told to 'Quit your bitching' at the Wysocki presentation at the Performing Arts Center in Wi Rapids. I never got a response to the e-mail or an apology."

Approximately 50 million gallons of liquid cow manure would be produced every year, and "forty-nine high capacity wells would be capable of pumping 7.3 billion gallons of water from the groundwater aquifer annually" would be drained by this one proposed CAFO.

Wysocki, the DBA, Scott Walker and Rep. Scott Krug want this CAFO and will not let residents stand in the way of Wysocki's plan for the residents' community. Wysocki company officials live far and safely away from their cow manure dumping grounds.

Special delivery of liquid cow manure to Wisconsin streams and lakes -
Courtesy of Scott Krug, Scott Walker and the Dairy Business Associations

As for Scott Krug's statement that he is filing a libel suit against me for writing that Krug is a cynical, corrupt politician ... providing political cover for polluters and Krug is assisting Scott Walker, Walker's DNR and the Dairy Business Association in their project in which one objective is to contaminate and literally toxify Wisconsin lakes and other waters; well, Krug has now gone dark, apparently convinced by attorneys that truth is an effective defense against libel suits.

Fortunately for Wisconsin, Rome citizens Donald Ystad has not gone dark.

Here is Ystad's latest communication to Wisconsin policymakers referencing a CAFO in Kewaunee County:

Here's a question for politicians and agency people copied here: What can be done to make the water drinkable again for the residents of Kewaunee County? Really, can anything be done? 

 

Selfishly, as my community faces the spector of a possible 8,000 acre dairy CAFO  directly within our existing recreational community, what assurance will we have that our drinking water won't also be tainted, that our lakes and streams won't be decimated by withdrawals from high cap wells with more capacity than all the municipal wells in Waukesha County, that our air quality won't be reduced to the point that visitors begin staying away from the Wisconsin Trapshooters home facility. Our lakes, our existing Arrowhead Golf Courses, or the new Sand Valley Golf Resort?  What happens to our already suffering property values?  Are you aware there are nearly 1,500 private drinking water wells within a three mile perimeter of the proposed high cap wells?  Are we going to be asking the same questions about our community in 5 years?

I fall back on the Public Trust Doctrine which states that these are waters of the state. When I see comments that DATCP and DNR officials said nutrient management plans are designed to minimize, not completely eliminate, pollution, I cringe,  Why shouldn't I and and every resident of this state expect clean water, whether in groundwater, surface water, or in farm runoff?  At a time when the news is full of stories with drinking water sources tainted, area beaches closed and communities where over 30% of private wells are polluted, don't you think we are facing a crisis with our water?
  
When scientists tell us that ag pollution accounts for 75% or more of the pollution in our water, I ask what is being done to minimize it?  Our community requires septic system inspections every 3 years, has banned residential use of phosphorous fertilizers and is rolling out a Shoreland Protection Ordinance to protect our water.  My family has a long history of dairy farming in Wisconsin, but for me, the DBA (Dairy Business Association) has become the face of the enemy,  I'm tired of their fighting every attempt to bring a solution to our water issues, pointing blame at everyone but themselves, and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying in Madison to weaken environmental laws and gain favor of politicians.  It's time for a change in approach to protecting the waters of the state, before all our drinking water is fouled.

 

I'm sure you are all as tired of hearing from people like me, as I am writing e-mails like this.  In truth, I could find concerns about our water issues in a newspaper every day.  It's as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.  The hard part is getting through to you and overcoming the million dollars spent annually by the ag community lobbying to weaken controls over our water.  Fortunately, the groundswell of public concern continues to grow.

I'm a concerned citizen and I vote, as do the hundreds blind copied here.

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