WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2019
Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
VOL. 122 NO. 10 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: OHS tennis season ends, heads to tournaments. PAGE 10
Town of Osceola moves closer towards five-member board Public hearing scheduled for October 22
er. The proposal made by Whittaker would reduce the chairman’s and supervisors’ pay in order to fund the five-person board without raising taxes. The current pay for the three-person board sits at $22,467.96, whereas Whitaker’s proposal would drop the total to $21,600 leaving $867.96 towards other expenses. Whittaker also believes that the decision to increase to a five-person board will represent taxpayers more thorough-
BY MATT ANDERSON EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
More than 40 Town of Osceola residents flocked to the monthly board of supervisors meeting held Tuesday October 1 to voice their opinion on the proposal to increase to a five-person board. The majority of attendees backed the suggestion made by the newest supervisor, Brandon Whittak-
ly. To illustrate his point, he conducted a survey of the five towns in Polk County regarding the transition to a five-person board. “I asked all five the same questions,” said Whittaker. “Do you regret having a five-person board? All of them said ‘no.’ Do you feel that a five-person board gives your own taxpayers more representation? All of them said, ‘yes, absolutely.’ Do you have issues filling your five-person board? All of them said, ‘no.’”
Whittaker’s proposal was met with opposition from Town Board Chairman, Doug Schmidt. “I believe better decisions are made with a three member board,” he said, “The more people you try to get together that harder it is to come up with a good decision, because everyone believes that their ideas are the best ideas. When you have three members up here, it restricts the number of people talking, but it doesn’t necessarily cut off representa-
tion to you folks.” The discussion was then turned over to the public attendees to voice their support or opposition for the move to a five-member board, many whom overwhelmingly favored the proposal including Tom Magnafici who at one point called for a show of hands from residents. Of the more than 40 attendees, only three raised hands in opposition. Whittaker then made a moSEE TOWN, PAGE 23
Legislators introduce medical marijuana bill BY JONATHAN RICHIE SENTINEL EDITOR
MATT ANDERSON | THE SUN
Osceola High School principal Adam Spiegel shows items that have been confiscatred from students at the school.
Small towns not immune to teen vaping epidemic BY APRIL ZIEMER EDITOR@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM, BY MATT ANDERSON EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
“I would say in the last two years the marketing has increased for vaping targeting the age groups of our students and it’s caused a drastic increase of vaping in schools,” says Osceola High School Principal Adam Spiegel. “We’ve really had to be proactive in figuring out the ‘why’ behind it and how to help these students.”
Although e-cigarettes have been around for more than a decade, vaping rates have skyrocketed in recent years, especially among teens. It doesn’t seem to matter the size of the city teens reside in, e-cigarettes have become the No. 1 source of nicotine consumption among adolescents. More than 3.6 million middle and high school students currently use e-cigarettes, according to the latest National Youth Tobacco Study. Another national study last year SEE VAPING, PAGE 18
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A group of legislators have introduced a bill that would legalize medical marijuana in Wisconsin. Sens. Jon Erpenbach and Patrick Testin along with Rep. Chris Taylor introduced the bill Friday. Erpenbach and Taylor are Democrats. Testin is a Republican. The bill would require patients to get a doctor’s recommendation. State health officials would have to create a registry system and agriculture officials would have to create a licensing system for growers, producers and sellers. The bill faces an uphill fight in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has been open to legalizing medical marijuana for years but Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has said he doesn’t support it. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers proposed legalizing medical marijuana in the state budget but Republicans removed the provision from the final spending plan. Upon introduction of the bill, Senators Erpenbach, Testin and Representative Taylor, along with medical cannabis advocates, released the following statements: “Each time we introduce this bill, more and more people around Wisconsin find that someone they know has turned to cannabis as a life-altering medical treatment,” said Senator
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SUBMITTED
Gov. Evers proposed legalizing medical marijuana in the state budget but republicans removed it from the final spending plan.
Erpenbach. “The public support is there, we have a Governor who supports it, the time for medical cannabis is now. “Growing up, my grandfather was one of my heroes. I watched as cancer robbed him of his strength and vitality,” said Senator Testin. “I saw him make the decision to go outside the law to seek treatment with medical marijuana. It restored his appetite, and I believe it added months to his life. Doctors and patients, not government, should decide if cannabis is the right treatment. “It is long past time for state lawmakers to respond to the overwhelming call from the public to legalize medical cannabis in Wisconsin,” said Representative
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Taylor. “Nobody should be treated as a criminal for accessing the medicine they or their loved ones need. This is a long overdue compassionate law that will finally allow sick patients to access the medicine they need. “My husband Josh and I see what cannabis is doing for children with Rett Syndrome in other states,” said Megan Lowe, whose 10-year-old daughter Norah suffers from Rett Syndrome, which causes severe impairments and seizures. “Their seizures are disappearing and they are gaining skills back, but why can’t Norah see the relief that they are seeing? A medical cannabis program in Wisconsin would mean that not only SEE BILL, PAGE 23
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