BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2016 VOL. 54 NO. 20 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
DON’T FORGET TO VOTE: Supreme Court primary on Tuesday. P8
Fireworks at Fire Association? BY STEVE BRIGGS SENTINEL
GRANTSBURG–The six Burnett County municipalities that make up the Grantsburg Fire Association may have an interesting meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, March 21, at the Grantsburg Fire Hall. Wood River Township is proposing a new way of paying for the firetrucks that provide the fire protection for the Grantsburg fire district. The firetrucks are maintained on a 30-year replacement plan. The fire association has one truck that needs to be replaced soon and another that will need replacing in about eight years. Generally, the cost of a new fire truck runs $250,000 or more. Town of Wood River has suggested splitting the cost of the truck six equal ways, instead of the usual method of using each municipality’s equalized property valuation to determine its share of the expense. Under Wood River’s proposal, each municipality would pay about 16.6 percent (one sixth) of the cost of a new truck. That would mean that all six municipalities would pay the same amount, or about $41,500, for a grand total of $249,000. The average truck cost to an owner of a $100,000 property would be $76. How would theirs proposal affect each municipality? SEE FIRE, PAGE 7
GOOB COY| SENTINEL
Tiger take-down The American Wrestling Federation brought its brand of entertainment to the Webster High School gym Saturday night. Dozens of fans were able to exhort their favorite wrestler to action. More photos on Page 2.
All in the same boat BY TODD BECKMANN SENTINEL
SIREN—At the end of the day, it all boiled down to money. At issue was the fact that the top cops from the five law enforcement agencies in Burnett County sat down together for a round table discussion during last week’s public safety meeting and while they talked about department priorities, officer training, sharing resources, officer safety and information sharing, it all came down to TODD BECKMANN | SENTINEL one immutable fact. “The Legislature has Law enforcement officials (from left) Chris Sybers, Frank Taylor, Jeff Schinzing, to remove our levy lim- Ron Wilhelm and Mike Spafford shared ideas on departmental issues. its so we can hire the people we need,” Don ing. “With out more money, this is just a good Taylor, county board chairman, said from his SEE TABLE, PAGE 7 seat in the audience portion of Thursday’s meet-
Chinese students enjoy Grantsburg visit BY STEVE BRIGGS SENTINEL
GRANTSBURG–Imagine studying a foreign language (English) since Primary School, then at age 17-18 getting the chance to travel to a small community in that country and experience it firsthand; to be a guest for a week in a home with a family and attend their school. Imagine also the excitement (and nervousness) of giving a presentation in that foreign language to an audience 200+ students and adults. Imagine seeing a clear-sky sunrise or a sky full of stars for the first time in your life. These were among many new experiences for a group of Chinese students from Jinan, who spent Jan. 30-Feb. 6 with Grantsburg High School students and their families. The Chinese students were full of questions and joy at having so many new experiences, and happy for the opportunity to proudly present a program to their guests about their school, their city, and their culture. All eleven students participated in the program Thursday afternoon. Some wore traditional, colorful Chinese silks. Others dressed in modern, western style of sweatshirts and SEE VISIT, PAGE 6
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