WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2019
Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
VOL. 121 NO. 46 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: SCF track record stays in family. PAGE 10
Charlie Danielson impressive at US Open in Pebble Beach BY RON JASPERSON SPORTS WRITER
If there was a raffle with the top prize being a round of golf at historic Pebble Beach golfing enthusiasts would stand in line for tickets hoping that their name would be drawn. If the prize included playing a round with golf legend Phil Mickelson who knows what kind of commotion that would bring. Osceola golfer Charlie Danielson did get to play a round of golf at Pebble Beach, in fact he played four rounds at the 119th U.S. Open. He also played one of his rounds with Phil Mickelson but he didn’t win a raffle to do
it. He did it the old-fashioned way. He earned it. Danielson punched his ticket for the U.S. Open by qualifying in Sectional play in Dallas. He became one of 156 golfers from around the world to tee it up starting on June 13 at Pebble Beach in California. Danielson started his first round with a string of four straight pars before holing a shot from a bunker on the fifth hole for a birdie. Suddenly he was comfortable being among the best golfers in the world. He finished his first round with a one over par 72. Danielson lost a stroke SEE DANIELSON, PAGE 2
SUBMITTED
Danielson (second from left) and his caddie walk Pebble Beach golf course with Phil Mickelson (right) during the 2019 U.S. Open.
Farmington mine rattles Osceola residents BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
After an April 26 blast at a Farmington mine rattled homes near Osceola’s southern border, residents of both municipalities are asking Osceola’s village board to take action. “About six weeks ago there was a loud bang and all the houses in my neighborhood shook,” Mike Forecki, an Osceola resident who lives on Ridge Road, told board members June 11. “My neighbors, a SEE MINE, PAGE 13
BY KELLY HOLM CONTRIBUTING WRITER
RYAN RODGERS
The Rybak mine was sold to North 40 Resources in January. After an April 26 blast at a Farmington mine rattled homes near Osceola’s southern border, residents of both municipalities are asking Osceola’s village board to take action.
ArtBarn ‘dreams’ big this ‘midsummer’ BY KELLY HOLM CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Summer has arrived in Wisconsin, and with it comes the dawn of another season of performances at the St. Croix ArtBarn. This year’s beginning, however, marks two new milestones in the theatre’s 25-year history. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which opens June 20, is both ArtBarn’s first Shakespeare production and its first outdoor show. Instead of taking place indoors in the 180-seat performance theatre, “Midsummer” will be staged in the Oak Grove
Crystal Ball Farms sees a new future
to the barn’s north — weather permitting, of course. “This is the first time the ArtBarn has ever done a play outside. That’s a challenge,” director Cheryl Starr said. The cast and crew were up for the task, however. “We just thought it would be fun to be out here, because most of the play takes place in the woods. Just being able to hear the birds would be … appropriate.” One of the bard’s best-known comedies, “Midsummer” is a tale of several cases of unrequitSEE ARTBARN, PAGE 8
NEWS 715-294-2314 editor@osceolasun.com
KELLY HOLM | THE SUN
Puck (Gabrielle Ford) looks down from a tree at Oberon (Seth Haskin) and Titania (Melanie Holzbauer) in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
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Steven Kicker had worked for Troy and Barb DeRosier’s Crystal Ball Farms for seven years when the cow barn burned to the ground last March 29. He recalled the frightening day nearly 15 months ago when he and a half-dozen other employees lost a longtime source of income, thanks to the electrical fire. “Some guy came off the highway and said ‘Hey, your barn’s on fire,’” Kicker remembered. “Troy wasn’t there.” Far more than that initial passerby came to the farm’s aid, however. After he and then-creamery manager Jessi Fouks called 911, they managed to rescue most of the animals from the burning cattle barn and kept them from wandering out onto the road with the help of other drivers who stopped along the roadside. Only two cows perished during the fire, though several others died later as a result of lung damage. For the next eight months, the surviving cows were relocated to another farm while Crystal Ball contended with the $2.8 million task of rebuilding. Now, six months after the cows’ return, June 12 marked the formal resumption of business as usual at 527 WI-35. “We don’t go anywhere. We can’t afford anything. We’re just trying to get things back going again,” Troy DeRosier said. “We had to borrow a lot of money, and there’s not enough income to cover everything right now. There’s more debt than there’s money coming in.” The debt, however, has enabled construction including a slatted-floor barn with a manure pit, a milking parlor and a 90-foot silo that holds as much feed as the farm’s other three combined. While the previous barn was similarly tunnel-ventilated, the new structure, which was responsible for six-sevenths of the farm’s total reconstruction costs, offers a new perk. SEE FARM, PAGE 2
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