WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019
Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
VOL. 122 NO. 15 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: Hollman, Ulrich win Player of the Year and Top Runner. PAGE 10
Mountains or molehills? Concerns about board conduct continues in Osceola Township BY MATT ANDERSON EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
SUBMITTED BY DREW SLEVIN
Lily Springs Farm manager, Drew Slevin, tends to the hemp crop from the 2019 season.
The promise and reality of farming hemp in Wisconsin Lilly Springs Farm’s venture into the hemp boom BY MATT ANDERSON EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
When lawmakers passed legislation that legalized hemp and CBD products in Wisconsin,
a new world opened up for local farmers. Though some legal lines are blurred, and the market is questionable, Osceola farm manager, Drew Slevin, and farm assistant, Elle Sullivan, of Lily Springs Farm are seeing promise in SEE HEMP, PAGE 8
Crowds have grown consistently at recent Town of Osceola board meetings with the conduct of the board being a primary concern of residents. Issues of previous meetings becoming hostile and contention between committee members were addressed at the Nov. 5 meeting with over 70 in attendance. “Last month I brought up this issue of incivility that has been happening at some of these meetings and it unfortunately continued during that October meeting after I sat down,” said plan commission member Bob Wright during public comment. “I’m here again to remind folks that we can have discussions about things that we disagree with, but they need to be done in a respectful manner.” “At our July plan commission meeting we had a guest speaker come in to talk to us about factory farming,” said plan commission member Amy Middleton. “Ever since then, the town meetings have been hostile, they’ve been intimidating, there’s been name calling, and our guest speaker that month was inter-
MATT ANDERSON | THE SUN
Town of Osceola board meetings have drawn large crowds in the last few months. The November meeting had over 70 people in attendance due to the topic of board conduct and factory farming.
rupted and the entire meeting was disruptive. The town needs to talk about what we’re going to do here, and you as the board are going to have to figure out how we do that.” Both Middleton and Wright submitted letters to the editor to The Sun and Inter County Leader newspapers respectively to further illustrate their perceived issues with the Town of Osceola Board conduct. Newest board supervisor, Brandon Whittaker, brought those letters to the town attorney in hopes of clarifying any conduct, intentional or otherwise, that could be considered unethical. “When you write a letter to the editor, you have the right to say
whatever you want, but you have to be careful about what you state after your name,” Whittaker said. “If you start using your title like, ‘Osceola Planning Commission’, now you’re speaking on behalf of the entire planning commission. You can state that you are a member, but using the title as a whole could result in a potential lawsuit.” Whittaker continued about the etiquette of the board to say, “This should be a very professional meeting. We, as officials and members of the plan commission, are paid by Town of Osceola taxpayers. So, it’s our job to ensure that we are accurate with what SEE BOARD, PAGE 12
New book to be released in November about Farmington Township “A History of Farmington Township, Polk County, Wisconsin” “Farmington Township contains forty-two sections of land, in Township 32, Ranges 18 and 19, with some fractions of sections on
the St. Croix River. It is a rich agricultural town, well diversified with prairie and timber land. Its western portion, along the St. Croix, has the picturesque bluffs common to that river, with some unusually beautiful cascades and hillside springs, of which the most notable are the well-known mineral spring and the springs
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at the lime kiln. The mineral spring is situated on the St. Croix River, at the base of the bluff, and about one mile and a half below Osceola Mills. Most of the underlying rock is sandstone. This rock crops out along the banks of the St. Croix and is extensively used for building purposes. Lime rock is also found along the river banks,
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some of which is of a superior grade, notably that below Osceola, which is manufactured into lime and exported.” W.H.C. Folsom wrote that in his book, “Fifty Years of the Northwest,” in 1888. There are very few other recorded writings about the Township of Farmington. “I grew up in Farmington Township and always
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wondered about the history of the area,” says author, Patricia Kytola. “Why were there historic signs showing Crandall’s Corners, Farmington Center, West Farmington, Malden and South Farmington, yet the community is called East Farmington? Growing up and into adulthood I SEE BOOK, PAGE 13
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