News Bulletin: Dec. 11 – 17

WHAT HAPPENED

• Sturgeon Bay High School History teacher Barry Mellen has won a fellowship with the Center for the Study of the American Constitution at UW-Madison. Mellen, one of eight Wisconsin teachers chosen for this honor, will be studying historical documents from the era of the Articles of Confederation, the subsequent Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, and the ratification process in the states. Mellen and his fellowship colleagues will also be publishing works to be used by history and government teachers nationwide.
• On Friday, Nov. 27, a local business reported a theft of numerous valuable and rare coins. If you have any information, please contact the Sturgeon Bay Police Department at 746.2450. There will be a reward for information leading to an arrest.

COMING UP

• The Bay-Lake Regional Planning Commission’s new Technical Assistance Program provides member counties and communities the opportunity to receive professional planning assistance on small-scale plans or projects at no cost. Two to four projects from throughout the region will be selected for 2016. Projects will be limited to a maximum of five days (40 hours) of staff time. The project categories (and potential projects) include the following: Community Planning (comprehensive planning, zoning and other plan implementation activities, hazard mitigation, grant writing and administration, demographic analyses/assessments, etc.); Economic Development (grant writing and administration, funding identification, business/industrial park planning, capital improvement plans, etc.); Geographic Information Systems (community specific data and software setup, one-on-one training and setup assistance, custom mapping, map updates, brochures, inventories, etc.); Natural Resources and Coastal Management (beach improvement planning, invasive species, climate resiliency planning, grant writing and administration, outdoor recreation planning, etc.); and Transportation (transit technical assistance, local road and street issues, traffic forecasts, bike & pedestrian planning, Safe Routes to School, inventories, grant writing and administration, etc.). The Commission is now accepting applications for technical assistance projects under this new program. An application for the Technical Assistance Program is available on the commission’s website, baylakerpc.org. Applications are due no later than 4 pm on Friday, Feb. 19, 2016 (extended deadline). The commission will review, evaluate and rank all requests in late 2015 to select two to four projects.

• The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is completing its review of the city of Waukesha’s water diversion application. Within 30 to 60 days, the department intends to forward the technical review, a preliminary final environmental impact statement and application materials to the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Water Resources Regional Body, which is composed of the other Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario for regional review. This summer, DNR invited the public to provide input on the draft documents through written comments for more than 60 days and received public testimony at three hearings held on Aug. 17 and 18. The department has reviewed the approximately 3,600 comments, and is incorporating the comments and responses into the technical review and environmental impact statement. If the application is approved by the Great Lakes states through the regional review process, the city of Waukesha would begin the necessary steps to obtain the required state permits for diverting Lake Michigan water. The city of Waukesha has applied to withdraw up to an annual average of 10.1 million gallons of water per day with a maximum of 16.7 million gallons per day to serve the water supply service area. The city proposes to obtain water from the Oak Creek Water Utility and discharge treated wastewater to the Root River. General information on the city of Waukesha’s diversion application can be found at dnr.wi.gov, search “Waukesha diversion application.” More information about the Great Lakes Compact is also available.

• The Door County Sheriff’s Department plans to crack down on drunken motorists during the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign. To combat drunken driving, the Door County Sheriff’s Dept. will join other law enforcement agencies throughout Wisconsin participating in the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” national campaign from Dec. 18 to Jan. 3, 2016. “Although drunken driving is 100 percent preventable, on average someone is killed or injured in an alcohol-related crash in Wisconsin every three hours,” says Lt. Jeff Farley. “And while celebrating the holidays, people may be tempted to drive when they are impaired. During the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign, our officers will be out in force to arrest drunken drivers before they kill or injure themselves or an innocent victim.” Report impaired drivers to law enforcement by calling 911.