BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017 VOL. 55 NO. 49 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
SR. PIRATE JOHN CHENAL BREAKS HS FOOTBALL RECORDS . PG 16-17
Public expresses wolf concerns BY JULIE HUSTVET JHUSTVET@SPOONERADVOCATE.COM
SEAN DEVLIN | SENTINEL
Danbury Oktoberfest The 17th Annual Danbury Oktoberfest sponsored by the Danbury Lions was a roaring success. Authentic dress, food and drink were in abundance. Check out more photos on page 27.
SPOONER– Wolves and hunting dogs. Wolves and calves. Wolves and deer. Too many wolves preying on them, too many wolves getting too close to humans, and so many wolves that someday, a child will be killed. Those were some of the sentiments expressed at a meeting in Spooner on Wednesday, Aug. 16, a gathering aimed at drawing out personal stories and experiences with wolf encounters and depredations that could be used to bolster support for a bill delisting wolves. A bill before Congress that would delist wolves under the Endangered Species Act in the Great Lakes region – Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan – and take wolf management out of the federal government’s jurisdiction and put it in the state’s hands, needs an estimated three more votes to pass. The bill also would remove judicial review from the listing process, ensuring it would be the states, not judges, that decide the status of wolves. A strategy to move the bill along includes frequent and repeated calls to Sen. Tammy Baldwin to encourage her to persuade some colleagues on the Democratic side to support the bill. Bipartisan support and need to get just a few more votes to pass the bill was a refrain repeated throughout the meeting. Tom Petri, representing Sen. Ron Johnson, called it a “full-frontal advocacy push.” In early July, a bill to delist was folded into a larger bill of natural resources-related programs called “HELP [Hunting
Heritage and Environmental Legacy] for Wildlife Act” (S.1514). Petri said it needs 60 votes to pass. Currently 52 Republicans and five Democrats have said they support it. Baldwin and Minnesota Sen. Amy Kobuchar are among the supporters, he said. He expects a similar bill to make its way through the House as this bill makes its way through the Senate in what he called a “legislative chess game.” Approximately 35 of the estimated 120 people who attended the meeting spoke, mostly supporting a reduction in the number of wolves, estimated to be in the vicinity of 950. Several who supported the bill are part of or have represented groups or agencies such as the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Conservation Congress, and Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, including Adrian Wydeven, retired wolf biologist with the DNR. Many others were farmers or sportsmen who cited the loss of calves on farms and the attendant economic loss; the death of bear hunting dogs and the emotional trauma that it caused to the owners’ families; and the infringement on people’s rights. The meeting drew its attendance mostly from people who had contacted Johnson and other representatives about the issue and saw this meeting as their opportunity to speak, Petri said. One man said he loses 20 - 30 calves per year from his small beef herd in Douglas County. Another in Sawyer County said he has lost 18 and was reimbursed for two. Both said it is difficult to prove what SEE WOLVES, PAGE 8
Woman pleads not guilty; son is dead SEAN DEVLIN EDITOR@BURNETTCOUNTYSENTINEL.COM
WEBSTER— Christine Lynn Morrison, 45, Webster, plead not guilty on August 18 to charges of first degree reckless homicide, possession of narcotic drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, and two counts of manufacture/deliver heroin. Morrison had been evicted from her home due to drug use at an unknown date before the following event. The charges date back to December
18, 2016 when law enforcement found idue. Upon waking, Morrison told law Morrison lying on her back on a couch enforcement she and her son used heroiin within the last 30 minutes. located at a residence in Siren Township, the names of the homeAfter further questioning, Morrrison admitted to having placed owners were kept private. Accordsseveral used needles under the ing to the criminal complaint, her c son was found “unresponsive in couch and that all substances and p the kitchen from an apparent overparaphernalia in the residence bellonged to her. dose.” Law enforcement discovered on Morrison Her son was transported to the the kitchen table a used needle, a Burnett Medical Center and then clear plastic bag containing heroflown to a Twin Cities hospital in, and a burned spoon topped with res- where he was eventually pronounced
dead due to “complications of probable mixed drug toxicity.” An unnamed witness to Morrison’s previous drug use informed law enforcement she, the unnamed witness, drove Morrison to Minnesota earlier in the day to obtain heroin. She then mentioned she did this on multiple occasions. She also informed law enforcement she “observed that the defendant’s drug abuse and that of [Morrison’s son] was ‘out of control.’”
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