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The Bulletin: What Happened

The April 7 spring elections reconfigured several municipal boards and yielded a few surprises. John Lowry defeated Charlie Most for Liberty Grove Town Chairman, while incumbent aldermen Ben Meyer and Jim Michaud lost their seats in Sturgeon Bay. On Washington Island, Carol Stayton won a seat on the town board as a write-in candidate. For complete results, visit http://www.ppulse.com.

The Senate Education Committee held a public hearing on a bill that would repeal the Sept. 1 Wisconsin public school start date Mar. 31. Schools are not allowed to start classes before that date, but Sen. John Lehman (D-Racine) has introduced a bill to repeal it in 2011, pitting tourism industry folks against educators and school boards. July and August are the top two months for Wisconsin summer tourism, and moving the start of school up could have severe impacts traveling. Door County Room Tax collections are more than twice as high in August as in June.

The Oct. 27 – 30 Electronics Collection project conducted by the Door County Highway Department drew 1,505 participants.

Among the items collected were:

– 1,137 Computer Monitors

– 940 CPU’s

– 740 Keyboards

– 526 Printers

– 25 Laptops

– 208 fax/scanner/copy machines

– 1,090 lbs of miscellaneous computer equipment

– 108,280 lbs Electronics (TV’s, stereo’s, radio’s, VCR’s etc.)

– 21,792 waste electronics classified as trash

– 2,900 lbs batteries

Highway Dept. head John Kolodziej said there may not be another collection this year due to budget issues and state grants that would fund the program have been decreased or cut.

The County of Door recently entered into a Letter of Intent agreement with Norlight Telecommunications Inc. to develop detailed engineering for a proposed countywide telecommunications network, providing broadband connectivity to a majority of the peninsula.

To voice your business’s telecommunications needs in Door County, visit http://www.doorcountybroadbandinquiry.com to take a brief survey.

Additionally, the Public Service Commission (PCS) of Wisconsin is seeking input from residents and businesses on broadband needs in the state. It is likely that the state will be asked to advise federal agencies on where there are needs for broadband that could be helped through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The PSC is seeking help in demonstrating to the federal government that Door County is an underserved area of the state; to assist in this effort complete the quick and easy Broadband Customer Survey at http://psc.wi.gov/apps35/eSurvey/Broadband/WIbroadband.aspx.