BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2020 VOL. 58 NO. 10 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
FARMERS REWARDED: The Burnett Dairy Cooperative rewards the Alpha Award to local farmers P7
Sheriff’s office finally fully staffed JONATHAN RICHIE EDITOR@BURNETTCOUNTYSENTINEL.COM
It may seem like an ordinary statement or possibly obvious, however, Sheriff Tracy Finch was very proud to report that her department is fully staffed. “It’s the first time in many years,” Finch said at the public safety committee meeting this month. Finch also introduced the newest deputy from her department to the committee before the meeting. Bailey Mangen, formerly of the Grantsburg and Siren Police Departments, has started working for Tracy Finch them after about Burnett County a year with local Sheriff police departments. He is a Siren graduate and Finch is happy to welcome him to the department. Finch reported that they still have two deputies in training, but that is specific Burnett County training. Wiltrout said they have already gone through the police acade-
‘It’s the first time in many years.’
KAYLA CASEY | SENTINEL
Noon Years celebrated by many (L-R) Delila Kammeyer and sisters Leilani Fares and Aminata Faye were just three of the many students who came to the Grantsburg Library on Dec. 31 to celebrate the countdown to Noon Years. See more photos on page 24.
my around 720 hours’ worth of training. He added the training is more robust than it used to be . When Finch was at the academy it was much less than that about 400 hours. Finch added the jail is also fully staffed. DISCUSSION ON RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA As of Jan. 1, 2020, Illinois law HB1438 went into effect and allowed adults, over 21, to purchase marijuana for recreational purposes. It makes Illinois the 11th state to allow sale of marijuana for recreational purposes. Last year, Minnesota began preparing plans for legalization of recreational weed. The committee did have a few questions for the law enforcement representatives at the meeting about the new Illinois law. Medical marijuana is available in Minnesota, as one of 33 states with medical marijuana available to qualifying patients. In Wisconsin,
SEE STAFF, PAGE 2
35 different birds ID’d at Crex JONATHAN RICHIE EDITOR@BURNETTCOUNTYSENTINEL.COM
A group of birdwatchers identified 35 different species of birds at Crex Meadows Wildlife Area and a total of 1360 different birds were spotted even in the cold of December in Wisconsin. Friends of Crex Meadows along with the National Audubon Society held their annual Christmas count in December at Crex Mead-
ows just north of Grantsburg. Seven teams of birders went through Crex Meadows in cars and on foot. The goal of the count is to gather data of the health of bird population during the winter months. Of the 35 species the most populace is the blue jay with 200 being spotted with every team seeing at least 10. They also spotted two species of hawk, red tailed and rough legged.
There were 28 bald eagles spotted during the count with all but one being an adult. Groups also spotted 55 wild turkey across Crex Meadows. Lauren Finch, natural resources educator at Crex, noted there were a few birds that did not show up in the preliminary count that are usually in the area this time of year. She said those birds SEE BIRDS, PAGE 2
KAYLA CASEY | SENTINEL
Blue jays were the most populated bird species counted during the Crex Meadows Wildlife bird count.
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