Free Press AMERY
1892 - 2017
125 YEARS STRONG
TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017
VOL. 122 NO. 53 www.theameryfrepress.com $1.00
SPORTS: U19 soccer narrowly misses championship PAGE 19
Stower supporters ask county to keep route motor free BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
this Sunday at farm of Denny and Annie Wiese in Amery. It’s the seventh year the couple has hosted their annual square dance, where each year a few dozen ‘Friendly Twirlers’ gather to heat up the floors of their refurbished nineteenth century barn.
Polk County residents weighed in last week on whether to allow motorized vehicles on the Stower Seven Lakes State Trail. The county board is considering a policy that, unless modified, would eventually allow all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles on the trail. The 14-mile route from Amery to Dresser is currently open to bike and foot traffic, including snowshoes, cross-country skis and fat tire bikes in winter. A resolution was presented to the board June 20 calling for review of the master plan. According to the resolution, the original plan for the trail, approved in 2004, designated the Stower a multi-use, multi-season trail. Among those allowable uses were ATVs and snowmobiles. A 2008 decision by the Polk County Circuit Court limited use according to state statutes, making the trail off limits to motorized vehicles. The Wisconsin Legislature has since amended a relevant statute. According to a 2015 letter from the DNR to the county, “If the county decides in the future to consider motorized uses on the state trails it manages, the master plan process is the mechanism for accomplishing that. The Polk County Circuit Court held that the DNR could not accept a master plan with motorized uses under the old Wis. Stat. (section) 23.175. No other courts have said so, and so this only applies in Polk County, and indeed there are motorized uses on other state trails throughout the state. “The recent change in the statute clarifies this point,” the letter continues, “and therefore there
SEE TWIRL PAGE TWO
SEE TRAIL PAGE NINE
JESSICA DE LA CRUZ | AMERY FREE PRESS
“I can’t dance without my dress,” says Jeanie Schilling of Luck (right). While most of the Friendly Twirlers danced in street clothes for Sunday’s event, this group shows off their dancing clothes with a quick right hand star.
Still twirling
Local club celebrates old tradition with modern flair By Jessica de la Cruz editor @ t hea mer y freepress. com Through every fitness fad and dance craze, it might seem that square dancing has become a pastime of yesterday, reserved only for the most dreaded units of middle-school phy-ed class.
Not so, say the Friendly Twirlers. This local group of 50-60 or more square dance enthusiasts has just celebrated its 50th anniversary, and they’re having more fun than ever. They meet twice monthly at Unity School, and sometimes for special dances, like the one held
Airboat makes first rescue Amery’s newly acquired airboat was used in its first rescue operation on Wednesday, June 21. Crews responded to the Clear Lake chalet area around 6:30 p.m. for reports of a teenage girl who had sustained an ankle injury while using a rope swing. The girl was unable to climb the steep bank out of the water. Due to the terrain along the
shore and steep bank, the easiest route to rescue the patient was from the water. The airboat was used to rescue the girl and take her back to an ambulance waiting at the boat launch. Assisting Amery Fire in the rescue were Clear Lake Fire, Clear Lake EMS and Clear Lake police. A steep bank on Clear Lake made getting to a troubled teen difficult. Amery’s newly acquired airboat was used to expedite the rescue.
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