Letters to the Editor published in the Jan. 17, 2024 issue of the Tomahawk Leader.
The following is a paid Letter to the Editor, per policy.
Remember Feb. 20, 2024 Primary voting for Lincoln County Board Contested Races
Are you one of us who have demanded that our Lincoln County Board not sell the Pine Crest Nursing Home? Now is your time to vote those County Board Members out of office as they are up for re-election!
Here is the list of Current Board Members that either have contested opponents, not running again or no challengers.
I will begin with the seven Districts who have contested challengers (chronologically) that voted to Sell Pine Crest: Districts #8 Laurie Thiel; #9 Don Friske; #10 Jesse Boyd; #11 Randal Detert; #12 Julie DePasse; #18 Kenneth Wickham; #20 Angela Cummings.
These three District Board Members are not running for another term (two did vote to Sell) therefore have at least one, two or more primary challengers who will be voted for: Districts #4 Steve Osness; #13 George Brixius; and #14 Brian Hafeman.
These four Board Members are running Unopposed but did vote to sell Pine Crest: Districts #15 Marty Lemke; #16 Dana Miller; #17 James Meunier; and #21 Eugene Simon.
Now is your chance to rectify the saving of Pine Crest, which as always, has been a wonderful home to those in their later years, and to us in our future years, from being privatized under Corporate greed resulting in little benefit to the residents.
Darlene Raunio Tomahawk
This facility does not belong in this residential neighborhood
I am writing to talk about problems with the drug rehab center proposed by the Great Lakes Inner Tribal Council to be built in the Town of Cassian, Wis.
There are so many red flags with this proposed facility being placed in this residential neighborhood. The first issue is security – there won’t be any. The only fence they have planned is around the dumpster. The next issue involves bringing in three-phase power.
They say this would benefit the neighborhood, but nobody needs three-phase power in a residential home. This only invites more commercial expansion in a residential neighborhood.
Another issue is the very poor well productivity in this area. The soil is only about 40 to 50 feet deep before it is solid granite. I live about 300 yards from this proposed facility. My well can pump three gallons per minute, which is considered very low. They plan on pumping 5,800 gallons of water per day. The average family of five uses about 500 gallons. I spoke with a well driller who is very familiar with the area. He said there is no way they would be able to pump that much water out of that area, and that they couldn’t have picked a worse area to build a facility like this. They should have done their homework first before purchasing this land.
In addition, what about the massive septic system that would be needed? Nitrates from the system would cause problems with the drinking water in the other 37 wells within a one-square-mile radius. If they did pump 5,800 gallons of water, that would also seriously impact those 37 wells. As a comparison, the new Marshfield Hospital is a 24-bed facility. This is planned as a 36-bed facility with 50 employees.
I would call this a commercial facility, but the Great Lakes Inner Tribal Council is calling it residential. The required infrastructure is not there and would not support it. This facility does not belong in this residential neighborhood. In addition, according to the township attorney, a drug rehab center doesn’t fall within the zoning ordinances.
I urge the Oneida County Zoning Board to vote “no.”
Gregg DuPuis
Town of Cassian
Opposition on GLITC proposed Adolescent Recovery/Rehab Center, Cassian Township
Dec. 28, Oneida Planning and Zone held a meeting to hear both sides of this issue and to determine the Conditional Use Permit.
No question, there is a need for a youth rehab and mental health facility, however, many unanswered questions have not been addressed:
Bryan Bainbridge, CEO of GLITC, stated that zero financial support will be asked for from Cassian Township. The only way GLITC is able to build the facility, was a grant from the state of Wisconsin for over $15 Million Dollars. He did state at a Cassian Township meeting, that it would truly cost $17.5 Million for the facility. Bryan stated that “partnering with tribal entities is a benefit, they have the ability to access additional funding sources.” I assume the funding resources are additional grants from the state of Wisconsin or the Federal Government, again taxpayer dollars. Leads to the question – How will the facility even sustain itself?
There are costs that have not been defined, such as 3-Phase power would need to be brought from Route 51, four miles away from the proposed property. Who pays for that? A huge concern is damage/drying up the neighboring private wells, due to how much water would be used daily to run the facility. Also, construction and delivery traffic would continue to impact our roads, continuing to add to costs.
Bryan stated that there will be 44 new jobs/employees to run this facility. That is 44 more cars on gravel roads, two times/day. Where will these people come from? Or live? Bryan had stated GLITC is thinking about building housing on the property. Adding more strain to the infrastructure issues. An adult facility on the reservation in Lac du Flambeau, called Gookomis Endaad had shut down, in Dec. 2021 and in May 2022, due to staffing shortages. Will that happen here?
The facility is to be put on the 156 acres purchased earlier this year. However, a second property (134 acres) adjacent to the first has been purchased as well, totaling 290 acres. For what purposes? Concerns include this land being put into a land trust. Bryan stated it takes years to put land into a trust but has not denied the possibility of doing so.
Thank you, Cassian Township Board, for listening to their residents and continually trying to fight this proposed facility. The issue of costs, well damage, electricity, roads, and the prospect of a land trust should be taken into consideration when the Conditional Use Permit is reviewed and voted on. At the Dec. 28 meeting, I asked if any of the Oneida County Planning/Zoning Committee had been to proposed location? The answer was no, none of them were familiar with this site.
This is not only a Cassian Township issue, it is an issue for all of Oneida County.
Next meeting for the determination of the CUP is Jan. 17 at 2 p.m., Oneida County Courthouse, Rhinelander.
Chris Turnbull
Cassian Township