BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015 VOL. 53 NO. 48 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
WILD WOMEN WORKSHOP: Firearm Safety at Crex Meadows. P14
Burnett County’s roundabout opens BY STEVE BRIGGS SENTINEL WRITER
STACY COY | SENTINEL
Yummmmmm..... Five-year-old Noah Olinger cracks a smile during the pie eating contest at Siren’s Summerfest celebration on Saturday. More photos on page 23.
A style of roadway intersection new to Burnett County opened for traffic July 23 between Siren and Webster. Drivers will now use a roundabout at the intersection of State Highways 35 and 70 near the county airport runway and Government Center north of Siren. Roundabouts are designed to keep traffic moving at busy intersections that previously had two or more stop signs. Independent traffic studies show roundabouts are effective at bringing down the severity of accidents by reducing speeds and eliminating head-on and T-bone accidents. The Highway 35-70 roundabout construction project isn’t complete, as anyone who has driven through it knows. Dozens of orange traffic cones line the lanes to funnel vehicles
through the new circle. The Highway 35-70 intersection has been targeted for improvement for many years, said Chris Ouellette, Regional Communications Manager for the DOT’s Northwest Region, headquartered in Eau Claire. “This intersection has been on WisDOT’s ‘Top Five Percent Severe Safety Needs List’ since 2013,” she said. It has been the scene of many accidents. Ouellette cited a report from the five years between 2003-2007. One fatality and 11 injuries occurred in 19 accidents. In the next four years, from 2008-12, eight more injuries occurred in 16 accidents (no fatalities). In addition to construction funding, WisDOT allocated $1.5 million more from its Safety Fund to the Burnett roundabout. “This project was driven by safety,” Ouellette said. SEE ROUNDABOUT, PAGE 6
‘Best looking crops in 10 or more years’ BY STEVE BRIGGS SENTINEL WRITER
Timely spring and summer rains, plus recent hot weather, have helped produce ‘the best looking crops in ten or more years,” says Kevin Schoessow. Schoessow is an Agricultural Development Agent for U-Wisconsin Agricultural Research Station in Spooner. “There’s a lot of optimism out there this year,” he said. “We know it isn’t a crop until it’s in the bin, but it sure looks good.” Acknowledging that rainfall and growing conditions
vary, Schoessow reported “Many counties in our corner of the state have been averaging ‘the ideal inch of rain per week’ in May, June and July.” Regular rains have also helped bring the subsoil moisture level back up. “For many years, we have been drawing down the soil moisture, so it’s good to see it being replenished,” he said. “We like to see three to four inches of rain per month in the summer. That’s what we like to see, and that is our historical average, but it hasn’t happened in the past several years. This year, it’s almost textbook,” Schoessow said.
Rainfall measurements at the Spooner Ag station showed 3.5” in May, 4.2” in June and 3.97” in July. At the Ranger Station in Grantsburg: May 4.68”, June 2.82” and July 4.69 inches. Heat units, the method of measuring daily growing conditions, are a bit behind average, “but were catching up the final week of July with the temperatures in the high 80s,” he said. Harvest for small grains including spring and winter wheat, rye and oats will probably begin this week, he addSEE CROPS, PAGE 2
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