Baileys Harbor Closes on Property Purchase

• Retired high school ag teacher and Kewaunee County farmer Arnie Johnsrud has thrown his hat in the ring as Democratic candidate for the 1st Assembly District, a seat that has been held by seven-term Sister Bay Republican Garey Bies since the election of 2000. Johnsrud ran for the same office in 2012, but lost by 30 votes in the Democratic primary to Patrick Veeser.

“The policies enacted by the current legislature are hurting average people,” Johnsrud said in announcing his candidacy. “Hundreds of millions of dollars have been cut from public education, increasing class sizes and hurting our public schools. Special interests are able to push through legislation that hurts all citizens. Leaders in Madison need to focus on creating good-paying jobs; not squeezing the middle-class.” Johnsrud was born and raised in Door County. After graduating from Southern Door High School he enlisted in the U. S. Army and served in the Vietnam War. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and recently retired from teaching agriculture at Kewaunee High School. Johnsrud also worked at Bay Shipbuilding Co. in Sturgeon Bay for 14 years before becoming a teacher and still operates a farm in the town of Ahnapee.

• The Town of Baileys Harbor closed on the purchase of downtown property. In October, town residents voted 71 to 7 to purchase the downtown property, currently home of The Red Geranium. The Red Geranium will continue to operate out of the building through 2014, then will move to another Baileys Harbor location.

The building, built in 1868, was once the home to local conservationist Emma Toft. The town purchased it for $173,000.

For more information, log on to ppulse.com and search for the story Baileys Harbor Residents to Vote on Purchase of Emma Toft Home, published Oct. 11, 2013.

• At a November meeting, the Town of Washington Island added its name to municipalities in opposition to Senate Bill 349, which strips local authority for regulation of air and water quality and water quantity and gives those powers to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The bill was introduced by Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst), and was co-sponsored by Door County legislators Sen. Frank Lasee and Rep. Garey Bies.

• Governor Scott Walker signed a bill to double the tax credit given for rehabilitating historic buildings. The tax credit increase makes the state tax break the same as the federal tax break.

“It’s nice to save some of these historic buildings and put some new uses in them, and oftentimes there’s additional cost associated with reusing and repurposing historic buildings,” said Bill Chaudoir, executive director of the Door County Economic Development Corporation, in a Peninsula Pulse story published on June 14, 2013. “I think the purpose of the tax credit is to offset some of those additional costs and provide an incentive for someone to go through the trouble of reusing a historic building.”

For more information, log on to ppulse.com and search for the story Wisconsin Could Increase Tax Credit for Renovating Historic Structures.

• The Nature Conservancy acquired St. Martin’s Island from the Fred Luber family, and will protect it as a wildlife refuge. The island, located in Lake Michigan, is part of an island chain that stretches from the Door Peninsula to Michigan’s Garden Peninsula. It serves as stopover habitat for migrating birds. For more information, visit ppulse.com.