BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017 VOL. 55 NO. 20 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
SPECIAL SECTION: Estate and Pre-Planning Guide. INSIDE
Back to the drawing board Towns association to seek bids for ambulance service BY TODD BECKMANN SENTINEL
SIREN—About the only thing we know for sure from last week’s Burnett County Towns Association meeting is the cost of an ambulance service for county residents is going up — however, the new price point is still on the negotiating table. “After running the numbers from the last year we have come to the grim re-
alization that we are losing $350,000 on the contract we have with Burnett County,” Rick Wagner, director of outstate ambulance operations for North Ambulance, told association members. Pat Coyne, Director for North Ambulance, agreed. “It apparently was bad negotiating on my part basing the increases in the contract on the increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI),” he said. “The CPI is not keeping pace with our increases.” Price increases for the 4-year contract, which expires at the end of the year, come in the odd-years of the
contract and are based on how much the CPI has increased. Currently, based on per capita, the subsidy amounts to roughly $53 a person. “Just to come in at a breakeven level to meet North’s loss, we’re looking at increasing the subsidy to about $80,” Chris Sybers, towns association chairman, voiced. “It may be shocking,” Gary Lundberg, Town of Scott chairman, pointed out. “But we need to get used to the idea of being on the fringes.” However, the increase SEE AMBULANCE, PAGE 6
Indian history on loan at new library BY TODD BECKMANN SENTINEL
TODD BECKMANN | SENTINEL
Strike! Danbury businesses pitched in for the ailing Danbury Lions to ensure the annual ice fishing contest on Burlingame Lake last Saturday took place. The Fishbowl Bar set up a pair of bowling alleys on the ice and Sam Hope, pictured here, recorded a strike. More photos on Page 14.
HERTEL—“We invite anyone to learn about our culture and our history,” St. Croix Chippewa Education Director Karen Washington stated as she stood in the new Four Directions Library inside the education building in Hertel. “There isn’t enough motivation in school to get kids to learn about their history — they usually depend on tribal elders.” The library also helps meet the statutory requirements of Act 31, that all school districts provide instruction in the history, culture, and tribal sovereignty of the 12 American Indian nations and tribes in the state. The Ojibwe name of the library, Niiwinakeyaa Wendaanimak, was
TODD BECKMANN | SENTINEL
Helping to get the library open include (from left) Director Karen Washington, Cultural Coordinator Marjorie Eagleman, TRAILS Coordinator Tristen Oustigoff, work-study student Crystal Brady and Education Administrative Assistant Georgia Cobenais.
SEE LIBRARY, PAGE 7
Break-in leads to chase, dogs, drone and more — oh my! SIREN—An attempted break-in at the Ellis Avenue Apartments in Siren led law enforcement officials on a six-plus hour pursuit, ending in three arrests. “We got there just past 4 p.m. Monday afternoon,” Siren Chief of Police Chris Sybers said Tuesday. “The three alleged thieves saw us and took off in a Chevy Tahoe.”
He said law enforcement chased the Tahoe north on Hwy. 35 to the roundabout, and then east on Hwy. 70. “We lost the vehicle around the Viola Lake area,” Sybers noted. “The officers started to fan out and I saw fresh skid marks on Dake Road.” He travelled Dake Road until he saw a driveway with tracks going in but not
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coming out. By that time, Burnett, Washburn and Barron County deputies, along with the St. Croix Tribal Police, had responded. Washburn and Barron County officers each brought a dog and Barron also brought a thermal imaging drone. “Within minutes, they found a guy by using the drone,” Sybers stated. “The
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K-9s each found one man.” The three, Waylon J. Snyder, 27, of Sandstone, Joshua R. Smith, 22, and Francisco Villarreal, 25, both of Hinckley, were arrested and are in custody in Burnett County Jail. The three are each charged with criminal trespass, fleeing an officer and resisting arrest.
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