WED., JANUARY 29, 2014 • VOLUME 81 • NO. 24 • 2 SECTIONS
Viking boys win seventh straight SPORTS Inside this section
Bridal fair Currents, page 10-11
Leader INTER-COUNTY
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Drone debate
Embracing the sun CURRENTS FEATURE
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Readership: 13,800
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Can’t beat it?
Polk County Board rejects resolution to make county a drone-free zone
Frac overview
Conservationists detail frac sand mining operations for Burnett County supervisors Page 5
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WEEKEND WATCH
Attorney general opinion supports Burnett County’s zoning authority
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UP FRONT POLK COUNTY - Polk County Health Department wants to remind residents that we are in the PLGVW RI WKH LQĂ XHQ]D VHDVRQ Prevention is the key WR VWD\LQJ KHDOWK\ GXULQJ WKLV Ă X VHDVRQ )ROORZ these steps to help protect you and your loved ones IURP WKH Ă X *HW YDFFLQDWHG LW LV QRW WRR ODWH &RYHU your cough and sneeze; choose to cough or sneeze into your sleeve or tissue. Wash your hands often. If \RX GR EHFRPH VLFN ZLWK WKH Ă X FRQWDFW \RXU GRFtor right away. There is medicine that you can take WR UHGXFH WKH VHULRXVQHVV RI WKH Ă X 7KLV PHGLFLQH VKRXOG EH VWDUWHG ZLWKLQ WZR GD\V RI JHWWLQJ LQĂ Xenza symptoms. If you would like more information DERXW WKH LQĂ XHQ]D VHDVRQ SOHDVH FKHFN RXW FGF JRY Ă X SRONFRXQW\Ă X FRP RU FRQWDFW WKH 3RON County Health Department at 715-485-8500. – from Polk County Health Department ••• POLK COUNTY - Sheriff Pete Johnson sent a reward poster to area media on Thursday, Jan. 23, highlighting a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the fatal hit-and-run accident that claimed the lives of two rural Luck men on Saturday, Jan. 11. The reward money was offered by the St. Croix Tribe. See story and full poster on our website at the-leader.net. ••• MADISON - $WWRUQH\ *HQHUDO - % 9DQ +ROlen is encouraging Wisconsinites to follow @AM%(5$OHUW RQ 7ZLWWHU after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recently announced the launch of the Twitter handle for the Amber Alert program. “Social media sites are playing an everincreasing role in the rapid spread of important information, and this is one more tool to help us locate missing children when time is critical,â€? Van Hollen said. “I encourage people who use Twitter to follow the @AMBERAlert handle and to help law enforcement in these urgent situations.â€? When an Amber Alert is activated in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Department of Justice - Division of Criminal ,QYHVWLJDWLRQ QRWLĂ€HV WKH 'DQH &RXQW\ 3XEOLF 6DIHW\ Communication Center, which sends the alert to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for secondary distribution, which now will include Twitter. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 600 children have been rescued since the Amber Alert program’s creation in 1996. – with submitted information
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Supported
Milltown man dies in car-pedestrian accident; Amery man dies in snowmobile crash Page 2
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Tragic weekend
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State of emergency
Propane shortage adds to winter’s brutality Roger Strom | Special to the Leader BURNETT/POLK COUNTIES - The Upper Midwest is in the midst a major crisis with propane costs going “through the roof� as people struggle to keep their homes heated during one of the coldest winters in decades.
The shortage and price increases are the result of high demand by farmers to dry their crops at harvest time, followed by record cold temperatures triggering high demand for home heating at a time when 6HH 3URSDQH SDJH
• Snowshoe and ski event @ Frederic • Hockey tournament @ Frederic • Candlelight snowshoe/ski hike at Grantsburg ‡ ,FH ÀVKLQJ WRXUQDPHQWV @ Luck and Webb Lake See Coming events back of Currents) for details
LIVES LIVED Chad M. Hansen Beverly J. Hanson Bonnie Lee Hallberg Thoreson Leone M. Anderson Muriel Alice Lupo See Obituaries, 15B
OUR WEBSITE • Sports updates • Breaking local news • Event results • Links to local schools, chambers of commerce Go to the-leader.net
INSIDE
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Feeling the pinch
Propane customers, companies, scramble in light of shortage
Sherill Summer | Staff writer BURNETT/POLK COUNTIES - “This is a terrible deal.� The amount of propane Steve has left to heat his rental home in Webster diminishes by the day, and he doesn’t know when he might get more. Even as the propane crisis tears through the rural areas affecting a high percent-
age of the estimated 250,000 propane users in Wisconsin, Steve hasn’t lost his social graces. He doesn’t blame his landlord, which is why he doesn’t want to use his full name. He doesn’t want to badmouth his propane supplier even though he knows his supplier doesn’t have any propane to deliver right now. “I have never seen a winter like this with the extreme cold and the propane shortage, and I have been around longer than I want to admit. It’s stressful.�
Letters 8-9A Sports 12-17A Outdoors 180A Town Talk 6-7B Events Back of B Letters from home 3B On the edge of common sense 4B
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Watch our website for updates on local propane issue • the-leader.net
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