BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2015 VOL. 54 NO. 5 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
WHY STOP?: Siren Police Department to continue offering DMV services. P8
Nearing completion BY STEVE BRIGGS SENTINEL
GRANTSBURG—The final 1.5 miles of gravel will be paved this week, and the entire St. Hwy. 70 construction project in Minnesota, west of the St. Croix River bridge, will be finished within a few weeks. Local conversations over coffee among commuters and frequent travelers on Hwy. 70 have expressed frustration that the final gravel stretch, from the hill to the bridge, became a soupy mess during the fall’s frequent rain showers. Andrew Deming, project engineer from the MN-DOT Office in Duluth, says the construction team will be working on the road between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. “We will be out there working before sunrise, and after sunset, using a portable light plant,” Deming said. “We want to get the project wrapped up as soon as we can.”
Traffic will continue through the project in one lane, taking turns controlled by flaggers, as it has been all summer, Deming said. “We expect to be wrapping up the entire project by the end of October,” Deming continued. “We will be adding the final 1.5 inch lift (layer of asphalt) on the entire length of the project.” He said ditch work and drainage is mostly complete. The erosion control team will come in after the final signage and striping are in place, Deming added. “Depending on Mother Nature, we’ll get it done in a few weeks. We’re hoping for good weather.” As to the rumors circulating about the job, it’s just that —rumor. Deming said there is no truth to the speculation the contractors have had their permits pulled because of the quality of the workmanship or that crews had walked off the job. TODD BECKMANN | SENTINEL
Travel Center coming to Grantsburg BY TODD BECKMANN SENTINEL
GRANTSBURG—For the second time in as many weeks, news of Grantsburg gas stations changing ownership is making headlines. The Holiday Station in Grantsburg, in fact, just about all the Holiday stations in the region owned by the Ed Seck family, have been sold to TA Operating LLC. Effective Wednesday, October 14, the former Holiday, formerly Stop-A-Sec, on Highway 70 in Grantsburg will reopen as a Trav-
elCenter of America gas station. The convenience store portion of the outlet will be called Minit Mart. There are more than 200 TravelCenter/Minit Marts across the United States. The Grantsburg Village Board officially stamped its approval of the change of ownership Monday night when it authorized both a Class A liquor and a Class A beer license plus a cigarette license for the establishment. They were made available when Seck officially surrendered his licenses.
‘Good chili, I think’ Serena Mechtel probably had more chili on her face and clothes than wound up in her stomach during the 9th annual Jackson Firefighter chili cookoff on Saturday. More photos on Page 2.
Explosions remain a mystery GRANTSBURG—The cause of several window-rattling explosion-like noises starting about 5 p.m. on Saturday afternoon and continuing, almost hourly, until midnight, remain unknown. A quick check with the local police department yielded no information. Burnett County dispatch had no reports which meant no official investigation resulted so the Burnett County Sheriff’s Department didn’t have an answer either. One ear-witness said the noises were not gunfire from the weekend youth hunt nor
was it fireworks. She suggested it could have been the frac sand mine on the river setting charges but a check with the zoning office determined Interstate Energy Partners’ request to use explosives had been denied. The Sentinel even checked with the 148th Fighter Wing out of Duluth, Minn. to see if their jets were in the skies over Grantsburg on exercises with their resultant sonic booms but that line of inquiry, too, met with a dead end. By Todd Beckmann, Sentinel.
Forests yield half a million — close in on record year SIREN—When the final amount of $1.2 million was announced at the end of Thursday’s timber bid opening it was met with stunned silence. “That seems a little high,” Ed Peter-
son, chairman of the county’s natural resources committee, observed. The numbers were crunched again and the actual bid total was $642,376. “Not bad, especially considering how
poor the market is right now,” Jake Nichols, forestry administrator, commented on the second and final bid opening of the year. “We got some really nice pine sales.”
SEE FORESTS, PAGE 6
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