Letters to the Editor published in the Oct. 19, 2022 issue of the Tomahawk Leader.

Something needs to change at Lincoln County

My name is Chris Fabich. I bought a mini storage facility off of Highway K in Irma, Wis., back in August 2021.

September 2021, l replaced the old white arrow board sign that had rotted and a bush grown in front of it. I got a call in November from John Hanz at the Lincoln County Highway department telling me it was in the road right of way and needed to be removed or the Highway Department would do it.

So, I took it down.

I started doing some research with DOT, Planning and Zoning and the Highway Department. The Highway Department put me on January’s meeting minutes I got 4 sentences into my speech and was told I had to leave the meeting. This is an open meeting and they did not allow me to have my time to talk. John first told me “I was in the area and saw your sign” and change it to “The neighbor at the corner of Donovan Drive and County K is the one who complained about my sign. The sign is not a huge ugly billboard sign.

After this I hired an attorney to help me get this matter settled.

In July Don Friske let me talk at the County Committee Meeting. I took photos of each sign on County K and measured each from the center line of the road. Out of 13 signs there are 9 in violation of the setback. I have found the County K still has Highway set back from when it used to be a highway. That’s 150 feet each way of the centerline vs. 63 feet for county roads.

After July’s meeting, I gave each district member the photos and the measurements I came up with. After the meeting, Karrie Johnson the county attorney informed all these members not to speak to me. Karrie then said this is DOT issue. The DOT said it’s a county issue.

I’m starting to wonder if the people of Lincoln County want the area to grow and local business to succeed or not.

White arrow board signs are for tourist type businesses and my business doesn’t fall under that category even though there’s a lot of people with boats, campers, ATVs and snowmobiles that store these items in storage units. They take these items to their cabins for the summer and don’t have room for them at their homes in the cities.

In the spring of 2022, the county voted out all but two people on the highway committee. This tells me people are upset and wanted a change. I tried getting back on the highway meeting and between John Hanz and Eugene Simon they will not even put me on the minutes.

If nine other businesses get to keep their signs up that are in violation of the setback and the county isn’t looking into this than why does the “new kid on the block” have to take his down?

Something needs to change at Lincoln County.

Chris Fabich

Almond, Wis.

The following is a paid Letter to the Editor, per policy.

You do not have moral high ground

Whether you follow Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions or not, most are very familiar with the directive to not bear false witness against your neighbor. Sound advice that has endured through the millennia. But alas, recent political campaigns of some candidates have discarded that commandment and plowed ahead with half-truths and outright lies about their opponents.

Take the political ad against Governor Evers and Mandela Barnes supposedly releasing half of the state’s prison population. Their actual proposal is to reduce the prison population by half over a number of years through various programs, etc. The falsehood of imminent release of thousands of convicts into communities is a scare tactic and just not true.

Or that the administration ignored the calls for help during the Kenosha riots while in reality they responded with help from the national guard, etc.

Or that Evers/Barnes will defund the police. In reality, the current governor and Barnes have provided more funding to local municipalities and law enforcement than previous administrations, and have tried to increase revenue sharing so that local municipalities can put that funding where it is needed most.

Or that the administration does not work with the legislature, while in fact the governor has called for several special sessions only to have the Republican-led legislature gavel in and out in less than a minute without doing any business.

The list could go on, but the 300 word limit on a $40.00 Letter-to-the-Editor suppresses that.

I would ask candidate Tim Michels if his attempt to acquire the governorship might profit the Michels Pipeline branch of his large corporate holdings by giving him the ability to defund/eliminate those pesky environmental regulations and citizen concerns over potential groundwater contamination?

If you must lie to win, you do not have moral high ground.

Diana C. Smith

Tomahawk