Citizen Ystad Speaks on Water Resources; Looking for Action

CAFO and liquid manure spraying are
killing Wisconsin waters -
Image from the Wisconsin
Initiative on Climate Change Impact

Citizens working with Saratoga Concerned and Rome Saratoga Friendly attended a Groundwater Summit this last weekend in Almond, Wisconsin in Portage County sponsored by the Central Sands Water Action Committee.

Residents in Juneau, Wood, Adams, Portage and Waushara counties should be on Code Red, as should all whole state.

Donald Ystad of Rome, Wisconsin is ready to go 15 rounds to protect Wisconsin's waters from polluters and cynical politicians. And Ystad is not alone.

The latest from Mr. Ystad:

As you can see from Rep Shankland's e-mail [below], the fight is far from over.  Ag lobbyists are working over their favorite lawmakers already. This will result in additional bills proposed to loosen what controls remain for protecting our water. We need to exercise our court of public opinion.  That's you and me, e-mailing and commenting on our water issues, and the threat to our growing recreational environment.  If you see an e-mail from me or a core group member titled action needed', please take the time to do a reply all so that the politicians and agency heads will know it's not just a handful of us who are concerned,

Ystad refers to Rep Shankland's (D-Stevens Point) note to Ystad and Bruce Dimick of Wood County:

Hi Bruce and Don,

It was great to see you both on Friday! Thank you for your thoughtful advocacy. I wanted to share with you this excerpt from the Wheeler Report on Senate Majority Leader Fitzgerald’s priorities in January:

High capacity wells is an issue Fitzgerald said the Senate will be working on in 2015.  Fitzgerald said the Senate began working on the issue as a caucus but it fell victim to two major problems, a clear definition of the issue to be addressed and the end of session.  Fitzgerald highlighted the efforts of Sen. Kedzie working on high capacity wells to address a court case in his district while other members of the caucus wanted to address the issue on a statewide basis.  One of the major focuses for the caucus concerning high capacity wells is agriculture.  Fitzgerald said when the Senate returns it will be one issue his caucus will address. Fitzgerald said his caucus is also ready to work on reforms to workers compensation.  Fitzgerald said the caucus wanted to start reforms to the program during the 2013 session but ran out of time.

It looks like it could be SB 302 or worse. Please let me know if you have any questions, and thank you very much!

Yours,
Katrina Shankland
State Representative
71st Assembly District

Also from Ystad comes his very latest:

Even Nestle knows agriculture needs to clean up it's act‏

Politicians and agency people,

Perhaps you already knew that Nestle, the worldwide beverage and food company, has taken steps to insure the long term viability of it's food and water sources, and to insure their good reputation in the marketplace.  If you were already aware, shame on you for allowing them to upstage you and take these steps before you did.  After all, they're a for profit company, while you are the protectors of our state's resources.  They evidently see very clearly that the public is becoming more and more concerned about the abuse of animals and the damage to our natural resources caused by weakened laws and reckless farming practices.

Here in the Rome and Saratoga recreational area, we face the prospect of a 5,130 cow dairy CAFO right in our backyard, threatening class "A" trout streams, lakes, and a vibrant recreational tourist area.  It's incomprehensible that this administration could allow this to happen.  We read every day about manure spills, beach closings, e coli in our lakes, increasing nitrate and phosphorous levels in our lakes, water levels dropping in our lakes and streams, and drinking water befouled by manure runoff.  You'd have to live in a cave not to take notice about what's happening to our environment.  And yet, a for profit company is taking steps to protect and preserve, while we hear that certain ag friendly politicians are gearing up to take another run at further weakening our environmental laws.  What's happened to the Public Trust Doctrine?  Is anybody listening in Madison?

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

Don Ystad
Rome, WI

Nestlé Announces New Animal Welfare Program that Will Impact Its Suppliers

August 21, 2014 at 12:58 PM

Nestlé has just signed an agreement with World Animal Protection, an animal welfare organization based in London. The result is that hundreds of thousands of farms that supply Nestlé will have to comply with tighter animal welfare standards. Here is the company's complete statement on the agreement.

World Animal Protection has been working with Nestlé on how to strengthen it's current sourcing requirements, which already include spacing standards for livestock pens. Going forward, the company plans to eliminate the use of a variety of other practices by suppliers, such as the use of veal crates, cattle dehorning, swine gestation crates, poultry cage systems and methods that artificially speed the growth of animals. The company has also identified the following dairy farming/processing "priority areas" for improvement:

1. Manure management
2. Water savings
3. Control and reduction of pollutants loads in effluents
4. Reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery of waste and by-products

Nestlé will begin a monitoring program to better understand and track the status of animal practices on farms. This will involve monitoring by an independent auditing firm that will be supervised by World Animal Protection. If a violation of company policy is found, Nestlé will work with the supplier so the farm can meet the required standards. If violations persist, Nestlé will stop doing business with the farm.

Rep. Scott Krug Is No-show at August Groundwater Summit; "Unannounced absence"

State Rep. Scott Krug is not fit
for public office

Wisconsin State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) would promise everyone the Chicago Cubs are going to win the National League Pennant if Krug thought he could pull off this latest con job, amid a string of broken promises

Saratoga Concerned and Rome Saratoga Friendly are two citizens' organizations in Wood and Adams counties opposing a proposed massive concentrated agricultural feeding operation (CAFO), high capacity water wells given out like candy to anti-environmental corporations and liquid manure spraying.

The two groups were formed in 2012 when the Wysocki 'Family' of Companies informed the Town of Saratoga and other municipal governments that Wysocki would be building a massive CAFO that would produce between 50 to 60-million gallons of liquid cow manure every year [about the equivalent of a city of 100,000 people) but with no wastewater treatment plant, just vague nutrient runoff plans.

Scott Walker and the Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp (appointed by Walker) have announced repeatedly since 2011 their intentions to clear the way for CAFOs and Frac sand operations, without regard to the cumulative health and environmental consequences.

Continuing their work members of Saratoga Concerned and Rome Saratoga Friendly held attended a Groundwater Summit this last weekend in Almond, Wisconsin in Portage County at the Camp Helen Brachman grounds, along the shore of Pickerel Lake State Natural Area in central Wisconsin. The event was sponsored by the Central Sands Water Action Committee.

State Sen. Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) and State Rep. Katrina Shankland (D-Stevens Point) both made good on their scheduled attendance and spoke with the crowd.

State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) stiffed the crowd, not showing up as scheduled, with no call or explanation for his absence.

Typical Krug, a cynical and corrupt politician working with Big Ag to vector liquid cow manure into streams, lakes and aquifers with tragic consequences, getting worse.

From Criste Greening of Wisconsin Rapids and Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors:

August Groundwater Summit

This was a key environmental conference held at Camp Helen Brachman in Almond this past Saturday with the primary emphasis being on protecting our ground and surface waters here in the Central Sands.  Three of our local politicians were invited to attend and scheduled to speak at the conference, they were: Julie Lassa, Scott Krug, and Katrina Shankland.  Both Rep. Lassa and Rep. Shankland made the event and spoke frankly with the 80-100 individuals in attendance regarding groundwater concerns. Unfortunately Rep. Krug did not show and did not relay to the organizers any reasons for his unannounced absence. Thank you to the members of our small group for being apart of our larger state network and representing our area interests at the Groundwater Summit. [emphasis added]

Scott Krug is making a name for himself breaking promises.

Elected in 2010, Krug promised "never" to accept "one cent" of per diem payments from the taxpayer, and then Krug broke this campaign promise after realizing he would not paid per diem payments that he promised never to accept.

"My first spending cut is promising not to collect one cent of (legislative) per diem money ever," Krug told the Wisconsin State Journal in 2010. Krug then proceeded to rake in "$10,560 for 120 days of work in Madison. That comes on top of his salary of $49,943 per year." (Bice, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel; May 2, 2104)

Krug also promised that he would serve two terms, and that's it. Krug told a League of Women's Voters forum on October 20, 2010, saying: "I'm for real. ... I'm putting a term limit on myself right now for all the audience out there listening. Four years — done. Whoever else wants to come along, more than fine." (Bice, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel; May 12, 2014)

Running now for his third term, Krug is breaking his two-term-only promise.

Last week, after I pointed out how corrupt and cynical Krug is and how he betrays his constituents by pushing policies that toxify lakes, streams and aquifers, Krug vowed to file a libel suit against me unless I retracted this linked post—Citizen Ystad Hits Sacred Cow, the Dairy Business Association, as Wisconsin Lakes Perish—and after I refused Krug backed down, ridiculed among political journalists all over Wisconsin media.

The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)
on Scott Krug's foolish attempt to
silence criticism

I asked a longtime resident of Wood County what is Krug's deal, and the resident told me, "Krug is like a child, and prone to tantrums when criticized."

Two days later, Krug said he is coming out against the  proposed massive Wysocki CAFO and new high capacity water permits draining the region's lakes and streams, after almost three years of refusing to take a position on this highly charged local issue with national implications.

Krug refused to expand his new position and come out against existing CAFOs in or near his assembly district, and refused to take a position on liquid cow manure spraying, the culprit behind the recent ordered closure of area beaches because of massive levels of Ecoli.

As this site has noted, opposing the Wysocki CAFO is better than telling Wysocki CAFO opponent, Nancy Koch, to "quit your bitching," as Scott Krug said on July 19, 2012 at a special Saratoga Town Board meeting drawing 100s of people held at the Wisconsin Rapids Performing Arts Center.

"It's obvious that the real reason for Representative Krug's sudden opposition to the CAFO in Saratoga and its high capacity wells has more to do with his floundering campaign than the high e coli levels in Nepco Lake and Lake Wazeecha," said Dana Duncan, Democratic Assembly Candidate for the 72nd assembly district now held by Krug. "For nearly three years local residents have vocally expressed their opposition to this project and up until now my opponent has refused to take a position on this critical local issue.

"This sudden change of heart on this critical local issue by my opponent is just a cynical attempt to distract voters from the fact that he has been wrong on this issue for nearly three years. This isn't leadership; this is simply a bold-face attempt at political manipulation. First, per diem, then term limits; how many other positions will he change to try to win this election?" 

When one hears Scott Krug, not much is clear beyond the fact Krug is untrustworthy and not fit for office.

Vatican Conspired to Hide $Millions from Sexual Assualt Victims

U.S. Senator (R-Wisconsin), Ron Johnson
Opposed Wisconsin Child Victims Bill giving
legal protection against Predator Priests

Update: Two facts to keep in mind about the Milwaukee Archdiocese documents released on July 1

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) testified before the Wisconsin State Senate in 2010 against state legislation, the Child Victims Act, to eliminate the statute of limitations for sexual abuse crimes, making it easier for victims of sexual abuse to seek damages from the Catholic Church or any other culpable institution, Talking Points Memo, Dan Bice, Daily Kos, Uppity Wisconsin, and many other online journals reported.

In 2009, Johnson, a private citizen, also traveled from Oshkosh to Madison to deliver additional testimony opposing the Child Victims Act.

Johnson was successful in his efforts.

In Johnson ready now to recant his testimony?

Today would be a good time.

Not sure how often Johnson reads the New York Times, but today's report that "documents reveal that Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, as Milwaukee’s archbishop, moved to protect $57 million in church assets from sexual-abuse victims," is the kind of news that might result in a Johnson re-think.

And today, State Sen. Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) has reintroduced the Child Victims Act, noting that the "National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect estimates that only about 3 percent of child molesters are ever caught. That raises the specter of hundreds of pedophiles walking the streets of Wisconsin towns, safe in the knowledge that they are protected by the law from ever being held accountable for their crimes."

Whose side is Ron Johnson on?

His friends hide $57 million and he helps kill legislation that would offer a chance of some measure of healing for sexual assault victims.

From a policy perspective Johnson takes the side of the perpetrators, against the children.

With allies like Sen. Ron Johnson, the Vatican, Cardinal Dolan and the molesters must believe they are untouchable.

They are not.

That smoke wafting from the Vatican and Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan's New York plush offices today is not white smoke signaling the election of a new Pope.

This smoke is emitting from a smoking gun; or perhaps more justifiably described as a decades-long smoke screen the Catholic Church hierarchy has emitted to cover up the sexual abuse of its clergy against children.

Out of Milwaukee, we are treating to the news reported by Laurie Goodstein (NYT) that documents reveal Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, as Milwaukee’s archbishop, moved to protect $57 million in church assets from sexual-abuse victims. [See also Michael D'Antonio's and M.L. Johnson's reporting on the Catholic Church's shanda.]

Why should people traumatized for life by the Catholic Church hierarchy, with the complicity of the Vatican, be compensated?

It's called decency, a human trait apparently absent from Cardinal Dolan, regarded by some as a reformer—in Catholic Church holy nomenclature, this means a church official who has beseeched the hierarchy to stop shielding predatory priests, stop molesting children, but works against legislation stopping victims from receiving funds from the Church to help treat sexual trauma.

Not surprisingly, the Republican legislature didn't slip in the Child Sexual Abuse Victims Act into the state budget (lamely opposed by the Democratic Party). I guess sexual abuse victims don't make for sympathetic players in Scott Walker's Wisconsin. Open for business, and that includes you, sexual predators, just don't get caught and then you're home free.

Writes Goodstein:

But the documents lift the curtain on [Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan's] role as a workaday church functionary concerned with safeguarding assets, persuading abusive priests to leave voluntarily in exchange for continued stipends and benefits, and complying with Rome’s sluggish canonical procedures for dismissing uncooperative priests who he had long concluded were remorseless and a serious risk to children. In one case, the Vatican took five years to remove a convicted sex offender from the priesthood.

“As victims organize and become more public, the potential for true scandal is very real,” he wrote in such a request in 2003 to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the head of the Vatican office charged with handling abuse cases until he became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.

Victims on Monday called for a federal investigation into the actions of Cardinal Dolan and his predecessors, but the cardinal sought to deflect criticism by saying in a statement Monday that he welcomed the release of the documents.

The current archbishop of Milwaukee, Jerome E. Listecki, had announced his decision to release the documents in April, one day before a judicial hearing. Lawyers for abuse victims had asked a judge to compel their release.

Archbishop Listecki released a letter last week warning Catholics in his archdiocese that the documents could shake their faith, and trying to explain the actions of church leaders while offering apologies to victims.

“Prepare to be shocked,” he wrote. “There are some graphic descriptions about the behavior of some of these priest offenders.”

Shocked by "true scandal?" No shit.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests '(SNAP) reaction is to seek the hidden $ millions and award the money to the 1,000s of victims.

New York Cardinal conspired with Vatican while in Milwaukee to transfer nearly $57 million into new corporation for the “protection” of funds “from any legal claim and liability”

Milwaukee Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in January 2011 not claiming Dolan’s transferred funds as assets.

Survivors asking US attorney to investigate Dolan for criminal charges of “fraudulent conveyance”

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director (Milwaukee) CONTACT: 414.429.7259

Click here for Dolan letter to Vatican.

See Below for Ron Johnson Testifing Against Child Abuse Victims; Opposing Child Victims Act in Wisconsin