The Bulletin: What Happened

• Sister Bay is starting a community garden behind the long-term marina parking behind the Sports Complex. The village is offering up the land, Bhirdo said, but cannot take on responsibility for plotting it out or preparing it for growing.

“We’re looking for a volunteer who’s willing to coordinate it,” Bhirdo said. If someone comes forward willing to take charge, work on the garden can begin.

• Ellison Bay resident Dave Brandt testified in support of AB 155 before the Wisconsin Legislature’s Criminal Justice Committee April 16. The bill would make it a felony to serve underage customers between the ages of 18 and 20 if they are subsequently injured or killed as a result of being served. Present law considers it a felony to serve persons age 17 and under in such cases, but a misdemeanor for serving persons age 18 to 20.

Brandt, whose 19-year-old daughter Amanda was killed in a drunk driving accident after leaving the Mink River Basin on Sept. 25, 2006, urged legislators to get serious about changing Wisconsin’s drinking culture.

“I strongly believe that we should extend to 18, 19, and 20 year-olds the same protections currently on the books for those under 18,” Brandt said. “We can send a strong, clear message to those who knowingly serve alcohol to our young people – if [18, 19 and 20 year-olds] are harmed or killed as a result of your irresponsible actions, you will be held accountable under the law.”

To view Brandt’s testimony on the Web, visit http://www.wiseye.org, click on the “Go to Video Archive” at the bottom of the page, then click on the Assembly Committees link under the 2009 – 2010 session. Then scroll down to the 4.16.09 Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice to watch or listen to the hearing.

• The Door County Sheriff’s Department and several other local organizations have sponsored a DVD aimed at preventing underage alcohol abuse. The DVD features first-hand accounts from emergency responders and family of Amanda Brandt, 19, and Karen Teskie, 20, who were killed Sept. 25, 2006 after drinking alcohol underage at the Mink River Basin in Ellison Bay.

The DVD, called With Whom Will it End? will be sent to the parents of every high school student in the county.

• Sister Bay Village Trustee Gary Martin resigned from the village board April 21. Martin cited traveling and family issues that would require him to miss many meetings in the coming months. In his only year on the board he was unable to attend several committee and board meetings.

Village President Denise Bhirdo said Martin felt he “wasn’t doing the position justice.”

The village is soliciting applications to fill the seat and will hold interviews with candidates in the hopes of appointing a replacement at the June Board meeting.

Martin said his family obligations have forced him to miss meetings and he anticipated missing several more.

“I really enjoyed being on the board,” Martin said. “I was very honored to be elected. It’s a fine board, and I had a very good experience. And I’m sad to have to leave. But it wasn’t fair to the people who elected me, or the board. I just didn’t have the time to devote to the board.”

Martin said the door remains open to serving the village down the road if time becomes available.

Applications should be submitted to Bob Kufrin, Village Administrator, at 283 Maple Dr., Sister Bay, by phone at 920.854.4118 or [email protected].

• U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) urged President Barack Obama not to rule out prosecutions of those who implemented the Bush Administrations interrogation policies, which included water-boarding. Feingold supports the creation of a “truth commission” to investigate the detention and interrogation program.