Feb. 5 – 19

Crystal Burke is crowned Miss Door County 2010.

• Crystal Burke of Sevastopol High School won the 2010 Miss Door County Crown at the Southern Door Community Auditorium Feb. 12. Six young women were awarded $12,500 in scholarship money at the event. Burke will compete at the Miss Wisconsin competition in Oshkosh in June and will speak at area schools about her platform, “Healthy Habits – Raising a Healthier Generation.”

Crystal Burke is crowned Miss Door County 2010 by last year’s winner, Katie Sawyer. Miss Wisconsin, Kristina Smaby, looks on. Image provided by Klotz Studio.

In the contest’s 14 years, over 120 contestants have won over $130,000 in scholarship money.

• The Town of Gibraltar endorsed a new bike route plan at its Feb. 3 board meeting. Town Chairman Merrell Runquist said the town must now figure out who will be in charge of moving the plan forward. No funds were allocated to the project yet. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation will resurface Highway 42 from the bottom of the Fish Creek hill up to Sister Bay in 2013, and one option would be to wrap bike lanes and improvements into that project.

The town also set a date for a public hearing for additions to the Sanitary District. Affected property owners will be allowed to speak on the proposed addition of three parcels to the district at 6:30 pm, March 3. The owners of the properties, located on County Hwy F, have asked to be added to the district.

• The Ephraim Village Board authorized the Maintenance Department to remove underbrush and dead landscaping items at Moravia Point to prepare for the village to determine further efforts to clean up the area.

The village also discussed what infrastructure work could be wrapped into the repaving of Highway 42 in 2013 at its February meeting. Village President John Cox suggested it might be an opportunity to do storm sewer work and build a bike path connecting Ephraim to Sister Bay. He also suggested getting estimates for burying power lines along German Road.

• The Lock Out Abusers Act was signed into law Feb. 11 by Governor Jim Doyle.

The Act requires that the locks to victims’ apartments be changed within 48 hours of a request, when the victim provides legal documentation of abuse. Repeated and escalating acts of intimate partner violence are most likely to occur within 24 – 72 hours after an initial assault.

Often, terms of rental leases prevent tenants from changing the locks to their apartments.