BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2017 VOL. 55 NO. 41 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
BASEBALL ALL-STARS: Sentinel All-County team named. P20
There and back again a survivor’s triumph story BY SEAN DEVLIN SENTINEL
At midnight on June 24, Jim Gausman, brother of Mary Wicklund (Grantsburg), set off from the Stillwater Lift Bridge on his bicycle with the intent to cycle 300 miles in the following 24 hours. But if we rewind to 2005, Gausman never would have thought such a mission was possible because he was diagnosed with acute leukemia— a diag-
SEAN DEVLIN | SENTINEL
The time capsule that is Forts Folle Avoine This past weekend visitors of Forts Folle Avoine enjoyed “Yellow River Echoes,” an event in which reenactors demonstrated activities from the fur trade era. Visit the website - the forts.org - for further information about the Forts. See you there!
Closing in on an ambulance contract
BC board discusses ATVs, mental health and more
SEAN DEVLIN | SENTINEL
Trekking along the Gandy Dancer Trail, Danbury marked Gausman’s 79th mile traveling at 14.65 mph.
SIREN—The Burnett County Towns Association and North Memorial Ambulance Service moved closer to agreement Thursday night for a new five-year ambulance contract to go into effect next January. By unanimous vote, representatives of 16 participating Burnett County towns and three villages selected North Ambulance’s “Proposal 7” for ambulance service for the next five-year contract. The price for the first year of the new contract comes in at $701,764, up from the expiring contract’s $683,754 price tag, a bump of $18,010 or 2.6 percent. The tentative new five-year agreement caps the annual rate increase at five percent, but whether North will get the full five percent is a sticking point still to be
BURNETT COUNTY— A request to amend certain ATV route ordinances in Siren have traveled through the ranks of board approval requirements to the Burnett County of Board of Supervisors. A request, which has seen the support of multiple community members, to open an ATV route on County Road B from Siren Village limits to Imme Road was approved. Before approval, Burnett County Highway Commissioner Michael Hoefs stood before members and explained the results of a traffic study
nosis that often suggests an individual has eight months to live. After learning of his condition, Gausman was placed in medical isolation at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul, underwent a bone marrow transplant and was required to take over 150 pills a day for a time. In an interview with the Stillwater Gazette, Gausman said, “As rough as the disease and treatment have been, it was the best thing that ever happened in my life, though it didn’t seem like it at the time. I had some pretty down days. But a week or a week and a half after I was diagnosed, I dealt with my mortality. I realized I was dying and, all of a sudden, it became okay. Once it became okay, I became py. There I was, dying in my isolation room, reading ‘Moby Dick,’ and I was gleeful.”
SEE AMBULANCE, PAGE 9
SEE BC BOARD, PAGE 7
SEE GAUSMAN, PAGE 6
BY STEVE BRIGGS SENTINEL
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BY SEAN DEVLIN SENTINEL
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