IN THE NEWS

 

“We’re hammering out warning, we’re hammering out danger, we’re hammering out love between our brothers and our sisters all over this land.”

Come to Zenda, Wisconsin on April 13th at 6:00P.M., to protect Paradise Drive and BigFoot Beach State Park. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is coming to that meeting at the Linn Town Board Meeting in the person of Dan Schuller. Don is going to appear to work his form of alchemy, attempting BS from the Wisconsin DNR's Dan Sto turn bovine scatology into gold or carefully apply lipstick to a pig.  He is going to the meeting, unbelievably, to present the new DNR Plan for Big Foot Beach State Park and the re-route of South Lakeshore Drive.  Unless he’s clever enough to change plans in the middle of what is fast becoming a whitewater torrent, this plan Dan Schuller will be presenting is the same plan Dan Winkler gave Schuller last spring.  It’s called Plan C, and it’s the same Plan C Schuller presented to the Friends of BigFoot Beach State Park a few weeks back. The GSR was not invited to the Friend’s meeting (go figure), so it can’t report on how things went, except to say one of its key members, Penny Roehrer  rejected the re-route plan at Monday’s City Council Meeting.

 

Silver Tongued BSPerhaps the DNR’s Dan Schuller possesses a silver tongue and the sales skills of Tony Robbins to win over the Town Board at the April 13th presentation, but that seems doubtful. The Linn Town Supervisors may very well have all been born in the country, but they weren’t born yesterday, or so it is hoped. Nevertheless, you never know what new schemes the DNR and Dan Winkler may have hidden up their sleeves to scam the Linn Town Board into allowing them to go ahead with their suicide-bomber plans to destroy Paradise Dr., the lagoon and a big part of BigFoot Park. So there needs to be an outpouring of interest showing up in force in Zenda at 6:00 p.m. on the 13th of April.  Interested citizens should be prepared and ready to show concern merely by their presence.  The Linn Town Board is not going to allow comments from the audience.  Only the DNR will have a voice, except for the silent huge voice a large mass of citizenry showing up might possess.

 

Does DNR realize that the Lakefront is the key asset that makes Geneva Lake the terrific,  beautiful and unique tourist destination it is? Tourists come here from all over the country to travel around the lake by path or by boat to admire the elegant homes and beautiful shoreline. Does the DNR want to give Lake Geneva a huge black eye by constructing A 2000 foot parking lot complex (the size of a Wal-Mart parking lot) on the shoreline and ruin Lake Geneva’s world class reputation? Does Mr. Schuller realize that, by following this plan, the DNR is commercializing the lakefront under the guise of road, beach, and park improvements just so that collections can be made of parking and boat launch revenue? And why does it seem the DNR is changing its State mandate of conservation and preservation to commercialization and exploitation?

 

Does the DNR realize the water level in the Lagoon is higher than the lake level and, therefore, the Lagoon will be lowered to the lake level when a canal is dug- out to connect the Lagoon to the lake? The result will require dredging almost the entire lagoon, not only now but also on a continuing basis into the future, as sand is continually washed into the Lagoon/Harbor from the lake.

  • Does DNR realize the car noise and car headlight pollution will affect now sanctuaried wildlife, thereby adding to the already disastrous impact of wildlife fragmentation? With the loss of so many trees that buffer light and noise pollution,
  • Does the DNR realize that camping experiences will be changed for its 1000 (or so) camping patrons each year? It will become like camping in a roadside rest area rather than out in nature like it now remains.

Does DNR understand the re-route will be separating the Park’s wildlife from their watering source at the Lagoon? Risks of animals on road from deer jumping the fence and other animals burrowing under the fence to get to water is dangerous for drivers and the wildlife alike. The re-route and new parking complex to support cars and boat trailers would be constructed in what are now the park’s wetlands, not only destroying the ecological filtering benefits of the wetlands but requiring a tremendous amount of fill material to raise the road bed and Parking Complex to prevent them from flooding in the wet seasons.

  • Does DNR realize that drivers use the road way twelve months a year, 24 hours a day, while swimmers and boaters use it only during the day, and primarily on weekends 3 to 4 months a year?
  • Does DNR realize South Lake Shore Drive isn’t just any road, but a historic road built 176 years ago on a sacred Indian trail that existed for thousands of years?
Ceylon Lagoon Lake Geneva Big Foot Park

The Ceylon Lagoon near Big Foot Beach State Park, built by F.L. Maytag, is a replica of Geneva Lake.

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