WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2016
Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
VOL. 118 NO. 30 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: Tanner Johnson heads to state wrestling tournament. PAGE 12
Danielson competes in PGA Northern Trust BY RON JASPERSON SPORTS WRITER
Osceola’s Charlie Danielson has had an impressive golfing career already. Danielson is a senior at the University of Illinois, the top ranked college golf team in the nation. While in Osceola he won the Wisconsin State individual golf title two times and was runner-up once. He was the college player of the week last October when he place first at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Ind. His list of golf accomplishments goes on, and on, and on; and he just turned 22. Danielson just added another huge piece to his bulging scrapbook as he competed in the first PGA event of his career, the Northern Trust Open. The Northern Trust has been played in Pacific Palisades, Calif., every February since 1926 and previously called the Los Angeles Open and Nissan Open. Previous winners include golfing legends such as Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan,
Sam Snead and Byron Nelson. Just to compete on the same course that these legends once walked on is an honor. Danielson earned his spot at last week’s event by winning the Northern Trust Open Collegiate Showcase on Feb 15 by shooting a bogey-free three under par 68, three strokes better than his closest competitor. With the win Danielson qualified to join the field of pro golfers for the 2016 Northern Trust Open. “This was a great confidence builder for Charlie,” Illinois golf coach Mike Small said. “Pro golf is not a pipe dream for him.” How did Danielson handle perhaps the biggest spotlight that was ever put on him? How would he react to playing in the sane tournament with the likes of Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Ernie Els? How would this 22 year old handle this kind of pressure? Very well, thank SEE DANIELSON, PAGE 6
ILLINOIS ATHLETICS
Osceola’s Charlie Danielson competed in the first PGA event of his career, the Northern Trust Open, last week in Pacific Palisades, California.
Bradley, Kloppenburg sweep
Drones take to the air
BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
Local primary election results for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice roughly mirrored the rest of the state, with incumbent Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley and State Appeals Court Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg hauling in the most votes. The two will face one another in the April 5 election. Locally, Bradley won just shy of 45 percent of votes, Kloppenburg just over 43 percent and MilSEE PRIMARY, PAGE 8
BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
THE SUN
Local primary election results for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice were similar to the rest of the state, where 45 percent of votes went to Bradley, 43 percent to Kloppenburg and 12 percent to Donald. Voter results for St. Croix Falls were not available at press time.
Christmas is over, but for the kids who got drones and the Osceola Airport Commission, decisions about how to share the skies are just beginning. “Lots of kids got drones for Christmas,” reported Walter Piszczek, village trustee and Airport Commission member, Feb. 9. And the flight of those drones constituted cause for concern at L.O. Simenstad Municipal Airport. “How high are they going to go?” Piszczek asked, recalling several questions the Airport Commission faced. “How far will they stay away from active aircraft? What are they going to do during weather when SEE DRONES, PAGE 10
Motors on the Stower Seven Lakes Trail? BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
With the question of whether to allow motorized vehicles on the Gandy Dancer Trail in summer lingering, initial discussions began Feb. 17 over whether to ease the no-motors rule on the Stower Seven Lakes State Trail, which currently does not allow them in any season. The trail’s original master plan needs an update, say members of the county’s Conservation, Development, Recreation and Education (CDRE) Committee and at least one of the trail’s supporters. But whether that update
should include changes to trail use has already struck a nerve people on both sides of the issue. Members of the Friends of the Stower Seven Lakes State Trail group showed up en force Feb. 17 to ask the CDRE Committee to keep the trail motor free. “When I saw on the agenda that you wanted to open up the master plan and review it, I assume that’s to discuss whether we should allow snowmobiles and ATVs on the trail” said John Fogelberg, secretary of the trail’s friends’ group. “Not necessarily,” replied CDRE
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Bikers ride the Stower Seven Lakes State Trail in late summer.
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