BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015 VOL. 54 NO. 7 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
GOBBLE-DY-GOOK TURKEY GIVEAWAY: It’s back.... unscramble words & enter! P14 & 15
Rubber meets the road BY TODD BECKMANN SENTINEL
SIREN—He won’t officially take office until Nov. 2 but the Burnett County Board of Supervisors appointed Michael Hoefs as the county’s new highway commissioner at its Oct. meeting last week — an appointment which was unanimously confirmed. “I’ll be working hands-on with Bob (Bob Morehouse, current commissioner) that first week in November,” Hoefs explained. “He’s officially done Nov. 10 but Nate (Nate Ehalt, county administrator) wants him to come in maybe four hours twice a week until I get up to speed.” He admitted his skill set needs to be
tweaked to fit the highway commissioner role. “I’m currently a civil engineer/project manager for Barr Engineering in Duluth,” he said. “My main duties have focused on infrastructure improvements in the different municipalities.” But he admits to possessing a very broad skill set, including pavement work and utilities work. “What was important to me when I was just starting out was to get as much experience as I could in as many different areas as I could,” Hoefs outlined. “It enabled me to be a very well-rounded employee — when something pops up, I have the exSEE HIGHWAY, PAGE 7
Siren school taxes to inch up BY TODD BECKMANN SENTINEL
SIREN—The mill rate for the Siren School District will inch up to $12.59 per $1,000 of property following Monday’s annual meeting and budget hearing. That’s $1,259 in school taxes per district taxpayer with $100,000 worth of property. The levy for the $6.1 million 2015-16 expense budget stands at $5,056,363, a 1.78 percent increase over the 2014-15 levy of $4.9 million.
The district presented a balanced budget for electors at Monday’s meeting. “When I came into the district, we were looking at a $200,000 deficit but we’ve been able to reach a balanced budget,” Kevin Shetler, interim superintendent, explained. “Between the annual per pupil aid, sparsity aid and not replacing some staff, we made up that deficit.” The state’s biennial budget for 2015-17 set the per pupil funding at $150 per stuSEE SIREN, PAGE 8
TODD BECKMANN | SENTINEL
Steve Yezek stands behind his work.
Back in the saddle again BY TODD BECKMANN SENTINEL
GROing the town by cutting down BY MEG ROD SENTINEL INTERN
SUBMITTED
Steve Hoffman (left) and Bob Hartshorn paddle the Wood River
GRANTSBURG—What once was a bogged up river way between Highway 70 and the St. Croix River is now a navigable path for tourists and hunters alike — thanks to GRO’s natural resources committee. The Grantsburg Revitalization Operation (GRO) is an ongoing project which started in 2014 — the goal of the operation is to make the town a distinctive place to visit and a pleasurable area to live. There is a main committee that SEE CANOE, PAGE 6
DAIRYLAND—Steve Yezek is the living embodiment of the adage ‘If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.’ Yezek has been operating Lazy Y Leather in the northern reaches of Burnett County for several years but admits he doesn’t advertise — and he probably doesn’t need to. “When I was a carpenter and would do a job, I’d hear comments like, ‘That’s more than we expected’ or ‘That’s far better than we expected,’” Yezek commented. “It was so gratifying to hear that I gave customers more than they expected and that’s how the word gets around.” He has found the same holds true for saddles. “Doing good work, striving for perfection, doing what you say
you’ll do, for how much you say — all of that is advertising,” Yezek realized. “You can have all the billboards you want but a billboard can’t help you keep your word.” “If you do your best everyday, you’ll get business,” he continued. “People see the ‘try.’” Even though he’s a carpenter by trade, he lost his passion for it and that’s why he took up leather work. “For a time I was able to fulfill my artistic needs through my carpentry,” he said. Yezek started out offering landscaping services but because there weren’t enough lawns to keep him busy, he moved into carpentry. Asked if he would do sheet rock, he has a ready reply. “Only if you put a gun to my head,” he quipped. SEE SADDLE, PAGE 7
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