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| Nancy and Lynn Utesch tell supporters of Lynn's run for the nomination of the Democratic Party for Wisconsin's first assembly district. Photo was shot in the town of Algoma by a supporter in the district on the shore of Lake Michigan; out-side was near-white out conditions on March 1. |
Updated - Wisconsin clean water activists from around the state have looked to this day with anticipation: Kewaunee County farmer and environmentalist Lynn Utesch announcing his run for the first assembly district.
Utesch told about 30 supporters he will seek the First assembly district seat now held by first-term incumbent Republican Rep. Joel Kitchens, (a Scott Walker Republican who follows the Party line) early this afternoon.
The district is located in Wisconsin's northeastern peninsula and composes all of Door and most of Kewaunee county.
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| Wisconsin's first assembly district is the 'thumb' in northeastern Wisconsin |
Utesch lives in the town of Pierce in northern Kewaunee County which he has called a "cautionary tale" for Wisconsin waters.
"If I had to describe Lynn, I would say he is tough, I mean tough and highly principled," said a Door County resident supportive of Utesch's run, this morning. "If you had to create a candidate from parts to represent the First, you wouldn't have to, it would be Lynn."
Utesch announced his intention to run at the Goodner residential home in the town of Algoma, located on Lake Michigan.
Utesch told about 30 supporters he is running to work for clean water and sustainable farms in the Dairy State.
"We have seen a degradation in the conservation ethic that has taken place here in the state of Wisconsin. It is time that we start working to restore what was given to us by John Muir, Aldo Leopold and Gaylord Nelson," said Utesch, (Yancey, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin).
Over one-third of private wells in Kewaunee County were found to be unsafe to drink because they had been polluted by toxins in cow manure from runoff in what a judge termed a "massive regulatory failure" in a 2014 finding, (Seely, WisconsinWatch), circumvented by the the Dept. of Resources.
Utesch is a favorite to win
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| Lynn and Nancy Utesch pictured in the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project (SRAP) (Facebook) |
The campaign between Utesch and Kitchens follows numerous reports of hospitalizations of people drinking water from polluted water wells, a condition that persists and Utesch has vowed to fight, (Mal Contends, Green Bay Press Gazette, Door County Pulse, Sustain Rural Wisconsin Network).
Scott Walker Deplete-and-Pollute-Sell Plot
The announcement of Utesch's candidacy comes as Scott Walker signs a bill, AB 603, that would decimate protection of 1,000s of bodies of shoreline water in Wisconsin, including the Lake Superior Water Trail (LSWT).
The peninsula is currently fighting developers supported by the incumbent that would destroy large tracts of the peninsula shoreline with unwanted (by residents) development.
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| A forum about the impact of CAFOs (Concentrated (Confined) Animal Feeding Operations) on quality of life and health in rural communities and water was held in Ashland, Wisconsin Feb. 28, 2015. Later, participants stood on Lake Superior. - From Left to Right, Dr. Keeve Nachman, Gordon Stevenson, Dr. John Ikerd and Lynn and Nancy Utesch Photo: Scott Dye |
Kewaunee County is home to some of the most dangerous and damaging pollution of Concentrated (Confined) Agricultural Operations (CAFO and near-CAFO designation) that dump millions of tons of cow and pig manure into the environment, (Yancey, Green Bay Press Gazette).
Scott Walker is expected to sign 2015 Senate Bill 390, (link broken, new link) which gives any county with a county highway commissioner the power to issue liquid manure transfer piping through and along any county highway, a relatively unknown and little-discussed legislation that could devastate the region, a tourism and recreational mecca known as Wisconsin's Martha's Vineyard.
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