WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2019
Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
VOL. 121 NO. 53 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: Braves season winding down. PAGE 10
Get your frac facts straight What’s the difference between silica sand mining and fracking? BY KELLY HOLM CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The dawn of silica sand mining at the limestone quarry and gravel pit on 267th Street, which came after the transition of ownership from Rybak to North 40 Resources in early 2019, has been the subject of much contention in recent months, drawing full houses at local town board meetings and inspiring citizen activism from opponents concerned about potential economic and environmental drawbacks. Silica sand is colloquially referred to as “frac sand” when it is mined for the purpose of hydraulic fracturing, commonly called “fracking,” but what is the difference between the procedures, and how do they connect?
This article will compare and contrast the two activities on a process level, and is not intended to explore the pros or cons of either from an opinion standpoint. Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) When rock formations like shale posses rich quantities of resources like gas or oil, but cannot naturally release these materials into a well due to small or interconnected pores, fracking can prove feasible. Widespread especially in the Western United States, the process begins with drilling a “well” into the rock, into which “frac fluid” — water, chemicals and silica sand — are forced through at high pressure powered by water. The mixture eventually fractures the shale. Although the frac fluid’s liquid components are released from these SEE FRAC, PAGE 12
150 years of hospitality at Farmington’s Assumption Parish BY KELLY HOLM CONTRIBUTING WRITER
In 1869, when the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish was first established in Farmington, the state of Wisconsin was only 21 years old, and the 15,715 square miles that now encompass the current Diocese of Superior held only 12 parishes, including St. Anne’s of Somerset. In 2019, 7,800 weekly Masses later, congregants from over 100 families claim Assumption as their home church, many of whom can trace their lineage back to the original founding members a century and a half ago. The Most Rev. James Powers, Bishop of the Diocese of Superior, was invited to offer Mass at a special July 21 service commemorating the sesquicentennial, as well as to bless the St. Mary’s Center, a recent addition to the church
KELLY HOLM | THE SUN
Bishop James Powers of the Diocese of Superior reads off a blessing at Assumption’s sesquicentennial Mass.
building. “[Farmington] was truly a wilderness,” Powers said in his homily, reflecting on the parish’s early history. “Think for just a moment of those who helped to build the original church. The first building, lowly in
Home from troops tour, Kroeze plays Hazelfest BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
A lot has changed for Barron-based musician Chris Kroeze since he played Osceola’s community fair last September. At the time, he’d already recorded several episodes of a nationally broadcast singing competition, The Voice, and was getting ready to film live episodes later in the year. In the meantime, he was sworn to secrecy. “I was deep into it,” he said. “I just couldn’t say anything. … It was a long process.” He flew to Los Angeles June 3, 2018, to prep for blind auditions at the end of the month. After battle rounds in July and knock out rounds in August, he was three rounds deep when he returned to Wisconsin. SEE KROEZE, PAGE 13
frame, was up when it blew down. The people that had been laboring so to do it then decided that they needed to move the church, salvaging what they could of the materials, bringing it three miles south and leading to this very spot, where
they constructed that first church.” The original building stood in the current location until 1931, when it burned to the ground, and the current sanctuary was dedicated in 1932 after only 14 SEE ASSUMPTION, PAGE 13
Alice Peacock returns with new album Plans show at Dancing Dragonfly CONTRIBUTED
KYLE LEHMAN
Kroeze has been on tour since February in support of his latest album.
Much has changed for singer-songwriter Alice Peacock since her last solo studio album, 2009’s Love Remains. The singer with Osceola connections had three kids, moved to Cincinnati and SEE PEACOCK, PAGE 17
Alice Peacock
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