Research report from Trout Lake Station...
More than 80 years ago, two University of Wisconsin-Madison biologists opened a rustic research outpost on Trout Lake, deep in the heart of Wisconsin's pristine northern lake region. Their goal was to unlock some basic mysteries of freshwater lakes, from their chemical makeup to their elaborate circle of life.

Today, research at Trout Lake is thriving more than ever, but a great deal of the focus has shifted to the developmental pressures that threaten what people cherish most about recreational lakes. An online news package by University Communications science writer Paroma Basu, based on a summer visit to the station, takes a fresh look at Trout Lake research projects that monitor species diversity, land use practices and other lake health issues.

The Scalito Threat...
Amanda Griscom Little of Grist Magazine sheds some light on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's Enviro Past:

"The most troubling skeleton in Alito's judicial closet, according to Sierra Club senior attorney David Bookbinder, is the dissent he wrote in U.S. v. Rybar in 1996. Alito advocated striking down a federal law banning possession of machine guns on the grounds that, in some instances, it exceeds congressional power under the Constitution's Commerce Clause. He argued that, as in-state machine-gun possession is not interstate economic activity, such authority should be conferred to state governments alone. This kind of reasoning strikes fear in the hearts of enviros, as the Commerce Clause is the basis for nearly every major federal environmental law in the U.S.

"If he is willing to find that Congress doesn't have that sort of authority over possession of machine guns, it makes you very concerned he will apply the same logic to Congress's authority over interstate pollutants," said Bookbinder.

"This is particularly concerning to enviros given that three weeks ago, the Supreme Court decided to review Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. Army Corps of Engineers, two landmark cases that challenge the reach of the Clean Water Act and call into question state-level versus federal authority to protect the environment. "The stakes are enormous," said Kendall. "If the federal government loses these cases, millions of acres of waters and wetlands could be left unprotected. And an adverse ruling would also call into question a much broader array of environmental safeguards."

Peg Lautenschlager meet Mr. Floatie...
"After a year of failed negotiations aimed at averting litigation, Wisconsin's state Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager said Tuesday that she would sue the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District for dumping about 1.5 billion gallons of untreated storm water and sanitary waste into local waterways in May 2004."

Canadians are contending with an even greater disregard for the effects of municipal sewage dumping, but their cleanup candidate, Mr. Floatie, a sewage activist, was wiped clean off the B.C. ballot recently.

People Opposed to Outfall Pollution (POOP) says, "Watch for him to keep popping up to talk about Victoria's ongoing dumping of raw sewage into the ocean," as they continue their ongoing efforts to build greater public awareness.

Just think what Bruce Hill and a handfull of very Repuglican Egg Harborians who are against permitting unrestrained freedom of speech might be forced to do if Mr. Floatie decides to pop up in next year's Egg Harbor 4th of July Parade. Things could get ugly.

Magnum In Motion editors blend powerful Magnum photography with audio commentary, text and graphics to create an immersive, engaging multimedia experience. Photographer commentary guides the viewer through the photo essay, while text and graphics provide additional information and enrich the viewing experience.

How's this for a healthy promotion...

766 people participate in Madison's 3rd Annual 2-Week Car-Free Challenge
(September 22 – October 5, 2005)
Total vehicle miles reduced: 52,191 miles or 2.1 times around the Earth!

Together they effectively removed 136 cars from the road (driven 10,000 miles per year). Every 6 car-free challengers removed 1 car. They saved 2,088 gallons of gasoline and $6,263 in two weeks. If participants kept up this behavior for a year, they would save 54,279 gallons of gasoline. Each participant would save $213.

They reduced 41,753 pounds (21 tons) of carbon dioxide emissions the equivalent of planting 21 trees in two weeks. If participants kept up this behavior for a year, together they would reduce: 543 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

They reduced 188 pounds of nitrous oxides (NOx) and 120 pounds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the precursors to ground-level ozone.

Total miles bicycled: 13,001
Total miles walked: 1,359
Total miles bussed: 10,402
Total miles carpooled: 27,872

The extra miles biking and walking add up to 100 extra calories burned per person per day, the equivalent of jogging a mile a day!

Madisonian Pam Schwarzbach dropped in the Coffeehouse and we started talking cycling...

"50% of kids used to ride bikes to school, now it's down to only 2%, but don't quote me on those figures..." says Pam. "There's grant money available to get kids back on bikes by developing safe routes to schools."

"A generation ago, most schoolchildren walked or biked to school, while today fewer than one-third of those who live within a mile of school arrive on foot or bike," said Lee Kokinakis, director of Michigan's Active School Environments for the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness. Over 200 elementary schools in Michigan recently promoted a Walk to School Day.

Brits pointing the way: Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, works on practical projects to encourage people to walk, cycle and use public transport for health, safety and environmental reasons. Our aim is to create a Safe Route to School for every child in the UK.

The Bicycle Friendly Community Campaign is an awards program that recognizes municipalities that actively support bicycling. A Bicycle-Friendly Community provides safe accommodation for cycling and encourages its residents to bike for transportation and recreation.

"A couple weeks ago I was joking with some friends and saying that when gas goes over $3 a gallon, I won't pay it, I'll refuse to use my car," said Janelle Gunther, 35, and a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

The next thing she knew, she was leaving her Toyota Camry in the driveway and peddling the five miles to the lab. She figures she is saving about $40 a week. She usually showers and changes at work, although more than once she has found herself scurrying into an early morning meeting still clad in her Lycra cycling gear. "No one bats an eye," she said.

According to the most recent national figures, Jenelle's helping to up the numbers in the 2000 census that measured only 489,000 Americans who pedal to work, compared with 97.1 million who drove solo. But those numbers are starting to take a dramatic shift says Alex Williams in a recent NY Times article.

Several years ago Door County Chamber Chair, Karen Raymore was peddling a slide show that depicted the Swiss model of completely integrating bicycles with automobiles in roadway planning. In "theory" and in the law, drivers of either form of transportation are considered to have equal rights. The Swiss model reinforces that ethic giving cyclists greater consideration at intersections and stops. Back then I envisioned a turning point for the entire cycling movement in Door... but that enthusiasm faded.

Now Chris Hornung, the chief executive of Pacific Cycle in Madison - the largest distributor of bicycles in North America - says that a boom is occurring with sales of multigear adult cruiser bikes with medium-wide tires and cushy seats, "the sort commonly associated with commuting, jump(ing) off the Richter scale," rocketing 20 percent in the week of Sept. 7 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the spike in gas prices.

For a number of reasons, some of which are economic affordability, Door County seems to be slipping in popularity. It seems that many local business people are starting to see the flaws in trying to marry the groom of golf with the wild bride of unspoiled nature. Discussion might now begin to include marketing Door County as a mecca for bicycling and healthy family recreation. With gas prices said to rise like a rocket and sink like a feather, there is no reason to expect them to ever fall below $2.50 a gallon. A campaign to promote Door County as the cycling capitol of Wisconsin could do no harm, especially if it starts to develop that Swiss-style of peninsula bike trails that once looked so promising.

Dr. Steve Kagen is the real thing... a man who wants to get elected to Congress because he has a mission to accomplish - No Patient Left Behind. Kagen is a native of Appleton, Wisconsin, triple Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Allergy and Immunology, but now he feels compelled to work for a broader community, starting with the 8th Congressional District in Wisconsin. Here's an impressive portion of a speech in which he presents his summary beliefs:

"Together, we will create a healthy and secure America, everywhere in these United States. In this democracy, and at this time in our history, people rightly demand that its leaders join together to defend our national security, to end the War in Iraq, to attract high wage jobs for those able to work, to balance our budgets, to secure equal opportunity and gender equality for all, to bring an end to special privileges for the few, and to preserve each and every one of our hard won civil liberties.

And by defending our national security, we mean to correctly include the protection of our quality of life, everywhere in these United States, by guaranteeing the ongoing success of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and by vigorously defending our Environment, as we seek to become an Energy independent nation.

Securing our future begins by solving our American healthcare dilemma, with No Patient Left Behind. I strongly believe together, we will."

Steve Kagen has already been elected, by his peers as one of the "?Best Doctors in America," and spent seven years as CNN's allergy consultant. He teaches at Medical College of Wisconsin, lectures around the world, is known for his research work discovering new causes of asthma... and now he wants to work for you in Washington DC.

With the Constitution shot full of holes, the Geneva Conventions battered and bruised, scientists being attacked by dim-bulb legislators who seek to suck up to the religious right, soldiers and innocent civilians dying and getting wounded every day in an unjustifiable war, FEMA asleep at the wheel, a phony MBA cheerleader party-boy president, a Halliburton employee as VP in charge of awarding no bid contracts and over 45 million Americans with NO health insurance... "Is there a doctor in the House?" Not yet, but I think we can send one in 2006!

Kagen4Congress.com

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EMS & Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina - Our Experiences
By Parmedics Larry Bradshaw and Lorrie Beth Slonsky
Sep 6, 2005, 11:59

Their tale in just one of this type now appearing in many newspapers, online and with listservers. The fact they are paramedics is largely irrelevant to the tale, however, there are many EMT/Paramedic personal accounts online - some even more incredible. Please do not write to us for permission to reprint, interview, etc. They do not work for EMSN. Their story is a reprint they disseminated. Contact them through Socialist Worker

Two days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the Walgreen's store at the corner of Royal and Iberville streets remained locked. The dairy display case was clearly visible through the widows. It was now 48 hours without electricity, running water, plumbing. The milk, yogurt, and cheeses were beginning to spoil in the 90-degree heat. The owners and managers had locked up the food, water, pampers, and prescriptions and fled the City. Outside Walgreen's windows, residents and tourists grew increasingly thirsty and hungry.

The much-promised federal, state and local aid never materialized and the windows at Walgreen's gave way to the looters. There was an alternative. The cops could have broken one small window and distributed the nuts, fruit juices, and bottle water in an organized and systematic manner. But they did not. Instead they spent hours playing cat and mouse, temporarily chasing away the looters.

We were finally airlifted out of New Orleans two days ago and arrived home yesterday (Saturday). We have yet to see any of the TV coverage or look at a newspaper. We are willing to guess that there were no video images or front-page pictures of European or affluent white tourists looting the Walgreen's in the French Quarter.

We also suspect the media will have been inundated with "hero" images of the National Guard, the troops and the police struggling to help the "victims" of the Hurricane. What you will not see, but what we witnessed,were the real heroes and sheroes of the hurricane relief effort: the working class of New

Orleans. The maintenance workers who used a fork lift to carry the sick and disabled. The engineers, who rigged, nurtured and kept the generators running. The electricians who improvised thick extension cords stretching over blocks to share the little electricity we had in order to free cars stuck on rooftop parking lots. Nurses who took over for mechanical ventilators and spent many hours on end manually forcing air into the lungs of unconscious patients to keep them alive. Doormen who rescued folks stuck in elevators. Refinery workers who broke into boat yards, "stealing" boats to rescue their neighbors clinging to their roofs in flood waters. Mechanics who helped hot-wire any car that could be found to ferry people out of the City. And the food service workers who scoured the commercial kitchens improvising communal meals for hundreds of those stranded.

Most of these workers had lost their homes, and had not heard from members of their families, yet they stayed and provided the only infrastructure for the 20% of New Orleans that was not under water.

On Day 2, there were approximately 500 of us left in the hotels in the French Quarter. We were a mix of foreign tourists, conference attendees like ourselves, and locals who had checked into hotels for safety and shelter from Katrina. Some of us had cell phone contact with family and friends outside of

New Orleans. We were repeatedly told that all sorts of resources including the National Guard and scores of buses were pouring in to the City. The buses and the other resources must have been invisible because none of us had seen them.

We decided we had to save ourselves. So we pooled our money and came up with $25,000 to have ten buses come and take us out of the City. Those who did not have the requisite $45.00 for a ticket were subsidized by those who did have extra money. We waited for 48 hours for the buses, spending the last 12 hours standing outside, sharing the limited water, food, and clothes we had. We created a priority boarding area for the sick, elderly and new born babies. We waited late into the night for the "imminent" arrival of the buses. The buses never arrived. We later learned that the minute the arrived to the City limits, they were commandeered by the military.

By day 4 our hotels had run out of fuel and water. Sanitation was dangerously abysmal. As the desperation and despair increased, street crime as well as water levels began to rise. The hotels turned us out and locked their doors, telling us that the "officials" told us to report to the convention center to wait for more buses. As we entered the center of the City, we finally encountered the National Guard. The Guards told us we would not be allowed into the Superdome as the City's primary shelter had descended into a humanitarian and health hellhole. The guards further told us that the City's only other shelter, the Convention Center, was also descending into chaos and squalor and that the police were not allowing anyone else in. Quite naturally, we asked, "If we can't go to the only 2 shelters in the City, what was our alternative?" The guards told us that that was our problem, and no they did not have extra water to give to us. This would be the start of our numerous encounters with callous and hostile "law enforcement".

We walked to the police command center at Harrah's on Canal Street and were told the same thing, that we were on our own, and no they did not have water to give us. We now numbered several hundred. We held a mass meeting to decide a course of action. We agreed to camp outside the police command post. We would be plainly visible to the media and would constitute a highly visible embarrassment to the City officials. The police told us that we could not stay. Regardless, we began to settle in and set up camp. In short order, the police commander came across the street to address our group. He told us he had a solution: we should walk to the Pontchartrain Expressway and cross the greater New Orleans Bridge where the police had buses lined up to take us out of the City. The crowed cheered and began to move. We called everyone back and explained to the commander that there had been lots of misinformation and wrong information and was he sure that there were buses waiting for us. The commander turned to the crowd and stated emphatically, "I swear to you that the buses are there."

We organized ourselves and the 200 of us set off for the bridge with great excitement and hope. As we marched pasted the convention center, many locals saw our determined and optimistic group and asked where we were headed. We told them about the great news. Families immediately grabbed their few belongings and quickly our numbers doubled and then doubled again. Babies in strollers now joined us, people using crutches, elderly clasping walkers and others people in wheelchairs. We marched the 2-3 miles to the freeway and up the steep incline to the Bridge. It now began to pour down rain, but it did not dampen our enthusiasm.

As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in various directions. As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us inched forward and managed to engage some of the sheriffs in conversation. We told them of our conversation with the police commander and of the commander's assurances. The sheriffs informed us there were no buses waiting. The commander had lied to us to get us to move.

We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes in their City. These were code words for if you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New Orleans.

Our small group retreated back down Highway 90 to seek shelter from the rain under an overpass. We debated our options and in the end decided to build an encampment in the middle of the Ponchartrain Expressway on the center divide, between the O'Keefe and Tchoupitoulas exits. We reasoned we would be visible to everyone, we would have some security being on an elevated freeway and we could wait and watch for the arrival of the yet to be seen buses.

All day long, we saw other families, individuals and groups make the same trip up the incline in an attempt to cross the bridge, only to be turned away. Some chased away with gunfire, others simply told no, others to be verbally berated and humiliated. Thousands of New Orleaners were prevented and prohibited from self-evacuating the City on foot. Meanwhile, the only two City shelters sank further into squalor and disrepair. The only way across the bridge was by vehicle. We saw workers stealing trucks, buses, moving vans, semi-trucks and any car that could be hotwired. All were packed with people trying to escape the misery New Orleans had become.

Our little encampment began to blossom. Someone stole a water delivery truck and brought it up to us. Let's hear it for looting! A mile or so down the freeway, an army truck lost a couple of pallets of C-rations on a tight turn. We ferried the food back to our camp in shopping carts. Now secure with the two necessities, food and water; cooperation, community, and creativity flowered. We organized a clean up and hung garbage bags from the rebar poles. We made beds from wood pallets and cardboard. We designated a storm drain as the bathroom and the kids built an elaborate enclosure for privacy out of plastic, broken umbrellas, and other scraps. We even organized a food recycling system where individuals could swap out parts of C-rations (applesauce for babies and candies for kids!).

This was a process we saw repeatedly in the aftermath of Katrina. When individuals had to fight to find food or water, it meant looking out for yourself only. You had to do whatever it took to find water for your kids or food for your parents. When these basic needs were met, people began to look out for each other, working together and constructing a community.

If the relief organizations had saturated the City with food and water in the first 2 or 3 days, the desperation, the frustration and the ugliness would not have set in.

Flush with the necessities, we offered food and water to passing families and individuals. Many decided to stay and join us. Our encampment grew to 80 or 90 people.

From a woman with a battery powered radio we learned that the media was talking about us. Up in full view on the freeway, every relief and news organizations saw us on their way into the City. Officials were being asked what they were going to do about all those families living up on the freeway? The officials responded they were going to take care of us. Some of us got a sinking feeling. "Taking care of us" had an ominous tone to it.

Unfortunately, our sinking feeling (along with the sinking City) was correct. Just as dusk set in, a Gretna Sheriff showed up, jumped out of his patrol vehicle, aimed his gun at our faces, screaming, "Get off the fucking freeway". A helicopter arrived and used the wind from its blades to blow away our flimsy structures. As we retreated, the sheriff loaded up his truck with our food and water.

Once again, at gunpoint, we were forced off the freeway. All the law enforcement agencies appeared threatened when we congregated or congealed into groups of 20 or more. In every congregation of "victims" they saw "mob" or "riot". We felt safety in numbers. Our "we must stay together" was impossible because the agencies would force us into small atomized groups.

In the pandemonium of having our camp raided and destroyed, we scattered once again. Reduced to a small group of 8 people, in the dark, we sought refuge in an abandoned school bus, under the freeway on Cilo Street. We were hiding from possible criminal elements but equally and definitely, we were hiding from the police and sheriffs with their martial law, curfew and shoot-to-kill policies.

The next days, our group of 8 walked most of the day, made contact with New Orleans Fire Department and were eventually airlifted out by an urban search and rescue team. We were dropped off near the airport and managed to catch a ride with the National Guard. The two young guardsmen apologized for the limited response of the Louisiana guards. They explained that a large section of their unit was in Iraq and that meant they were shorthanded and were unable to complete all the tasks they were assigned.

We arrived at the airport on the day a massive airlift had begun. The airport had become another Superdome. We 8 were caught in a press of humanity as flights were delayed for several hours while George Bush landed briefly at the airport for a photo op. After being evacuated on a coast guard cargo plane, we arrived in San Antonio, Texas.

There the humiliation and dehumanization of the official relief effort continued. We were placed on buses and driven to a large field where we were forced to sit for hours and hours. Some of the buses did not have air-conditioners. In the dark, hundreds if us were forced to share two filthy overflowing porta-potties. Those who managed to make it out with any possessions (often a few belongings in tattered plastic bags) we were subjected to two different dog-sniffing searches.

Most of us had not eaten all day because our C-rations had been confiscated at the airport because the rations set off the metal detectors. Yet, no food had been provided to the men, women, children, elderly, disabled as they sat for hours waiting to be "medically screened" to make sure we were not carrying any communicable diseases.

This official treatment was in sharp contrast to the warm, heart-felt reception given to us by the ordinary Texans. We saw one airline worker give her shoes to someone who was barefoot. Strangers on the street offered us money and toiletries with words of welcome. Throughout, the official relief effort was callous, inept, and racist.

There was more suffering than need be.

Lives were lost that did not need to be lost.

Bradshaw and Slonsky are paramedics from California that were attending the EMS conference in New Orleans. Larry Bradshaw is the chief shop steward, Paramedic Chapter, SEIU Local 790; and Lorrie Beth Slonsky is steward, Paramedic Chapter, SEIU Local 790.[California]

It's amazing to trace the path of a thread as it evolves, turns and forks. ZabaSearch is a new search engine that was quietly unveiled on Feb. 28, 2005 without any marketing or publicity. All traffic since then has been exclusively through word of mouth. Back in April San Francisco Chronicle's David Lazarus explained, "It's impressive, scary to see what a Zaba search can do."

If E-bay is the global equivalent of a yard sale then ZabaSearch represents a new low, the globalization of gossip, with the addition of a new blog feature that lets anyone mark up your personal listing without restriction. They also invite you to, "Monitor Your Identity for Free," with ZabaAlerts! "Instantly be notified by e-mail or text message when new public information is found about you."

"For every 5 mph a motorist drives above 60 mph, the gas wasted is the equivalent of shelling out an extra 15 cents a gallon. So streaking along at 75 mph is like spending an extra 45 cents a gallon," says Baltimore Sun's Frank D. Roylance in Speeders wasting big bucks on gas.

Here's to a very full moon shining down over the Door County, fondly known to many locals as the Open Air Asylum...
Where rumors of the Naked Man on Spring Road keep friends and neighbors ever watchful. With temps in the 90s he could just be the Burning Man, seeking some basic form of relief but, talk, talk abounds - naked man seen jogging down Spring Road, naked man seen cycling through the Fish Creek condos. But, the best tale, the one that brought the sheriff... naked man reported standing in yard surrounded by mirrors.

This search for the naked truth (and the soaring heat), as well as the difficulty of gaining proper press coverage for certain types political events like the (Downing Street Minutes) that question power is urging me to consider the possibility of exposing the issue in a similar manner.

A little Googling led to discover that the infamous West Marin, California women's group that made the naked PEACE and NO WAR protest photos starting in fall of 2002 have evolved, becoming an official organization with a Web page Baring Witness. The project was created and organized by a different Sheehan... a tall, willowy blond, 72-year-old self-described eco-artist, Donna Sheehan. She too gained instant notoriety and a ton of publicity by simply asking other women to pose for peace with their clothes off. Sheehan says the idea of posing people in the nude came to her in a dream.

"Have you ever dreamed that you were naked? I think everybody has. It's a very primal statement, and it's something we can all do," Sheehan says. "We are trying to seduce our leaders and bring them off their ego path of killing and destruction. No blood for oil."

A little more Googling and ogling led me to discover that before 1934 full-body swim attire was the norm and it was a group of men that broke the ban, going topfree at a crowded New York public beach, despite the threat of arrest. The Topfree Equal Rights Association (TERA) now exists to help women attain the same privilege. Underlying their immediate request for equality lies a collection of bare breasted politics that uncover everything from breast cancer and public breast feeding to Janet Jackson spoofing the FCC on Saturday Night Live.

Hikers, Bikers and ATVs

"Southeast Wisconsin loses 87 square miles of farmland and forested areas each year to road building and sprawl," says the Sierra Club. In Places in Danger they name the Wisconsin Ice Age National Scenic Trail as a target for support, "...working with local groups to permanently protect the Trail corridor and promote smart growth planning by local governments to preserve farmland, forests, wildlife habitat and the Ice Age Trail."

At the same time trail access in a much broader sense is also the target of advocates from the Wisconsin ATV Association and pressure from enthusiasts, equipment dealers and a growing number of local ATV clubs around the state.

In a February 2004 advisory referendum, Vilas County voters rejected a proposal by local ATV clubs to build a trail system that would link it and other counties to trails in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

More recently, ATVs have been at the center of controversy over a new, 15-year master plan for the Northern Highland American Legion State Forest, which attracts 2 million visitors a year and covers a large part of Vilas County. The DNR is proposing an eight- to 10-mile loop. The trail would accommodate a burgeoning sport in a part of the state where there are no public trails.

Jim Knuth of Presque Isle, a self-described Republican who owns a snowmobile, is active among a group of residents who oppose ATVs in the state forest because they believe it will mean more noise and destruction of the land.

More significantly, "it's the toe in the door they want so badly," Knuth said of ATV proponents. "They want Vilas County, period."

"For better or worse, all-terrain vehicles are quickly passing the snowmobile in popularity," says Milwaukee Journal reporter Lee Berquist. "Recent attempts to add trails in Wisconsin have been controversial. State, county and federal land managers are finding themselves in the middle of pitched battles over how best to include - or exclude - the machines from land because of the damage they cause."

Of greater public concern should be the fact that tax dollars collected from the sale of ATV registrations and gasoline sales are "donated" by the Wisconsin legislature to help grow the sport. Berquist explains...

Since 2001, about $1 million has been paid in state contracts to the National Off-Highway Vehicle Insurance & Services Group Inc. to promote safety and ethical riding. The group, which has an insurance consulting arm as well, is a non-profit organization aligned with the Wisconsin ATV Association. Both are based in Sheboygan.

The two groups are headed by Randy Harden, a missionary of sorts, who put 40,000 miles on his car last year to promote the sport and champion ATV safety.

"I want to change the industry," Harden said. "We have made some gains, but the infrastructure has got to be there."

The national group recruits and trains safety instructors and so-called trail ambassadors with the aid of public dollars. The ambassadors are volunteers who have attended safety training instruction and are willing to stand guard on trails to warn riders of illegal riding or report transgressions to authorities. About 600 ambassadors have been trained, but only about 10% to 15% actively work the trails at busy times such as weekends, Harden said.

Harden and his wife, Ann, split one job for the national group and share a $68,688 annual salary. Their son Adam and another employee split another job and are paid $73,308 a year, according to DNR records. Five regional coordinators are paid $1,000 to $2,200 per month, plus travel expenses.

The payments to the national group are unprecedented - there is no similar program for snowmobiles, mountain bikes or personal watercraft.

Harden acknowledged he gets complaints from some ATV riders who don't like the meddling, and from advocates of quiet sports who question the propriety of doling out money to a single user group.

As of June 1, 2005 there were 220,171 ATVs publicly registered, according to the Wisconsin ATV Association, up from about 215,000 registrations in 2004. An additional 61,908 private and agricultural ATVs, used on private properties and farms, were registered by June 1.

Approximately 1,000 miles of mountain bike trails in Wisconsin state parks, forests, recreation areas, and unsurfaced trails on former rail lines are available. Brigit Brown, state trails coordinator for the DNR, says there are about 4,000 miles of ATV trails available at different times of the year throughout Wisconsin - far short of the 22,000 to 24,000 miles of snowmobile trails in Wisconsin.

Today the Baraboo News Republic reports, "Plans for ATV trails on 580 acres of county land near Highway 14 between Spring Green and Lone Rock stalled last spring after the Sauk County Board voted not to pursue a state-level grant until more public input had surfaced, said Steve Koenig, county parks director."

The Wisconsin Vehicle Safety Enhancement Grant includes the "Ride Smart - Get Involved -Tell Others" program, all about maintaining and increasing ATV riding opportunities in Wisconsin. Back in 2003 WATVA began pressing for more money... "In the previous two year period the ATV grant requests exceeded available program revenue by close to 1.3 million dollars! There is no doubt whatsoever that Wisconsin needs additional miles of new ATV trails at the same time managing and maintaining the existing ones in a sustainable and environmental responsible manner."

I don't doubt that the need for new trails will continue to grow as long as we keep spending tax dollars to fuel the expansion of this so-called sport. Meanwhile... A 49-year-old Kenosha man died Saturday in Lac du Flambeau after an ATV rolled onto him. A 5-year-old girl died Sunday at Saint Michael's Hospital in Stevens Point after the ATV she was riding on with another girl and a 34-year-old Pine Grove man flipped over on them.

Instead of legislators seeking to promote greater ATV use and expand trail access the public would be better served with firmer restrictions on ATV use. Let's start with age-appropriate restrictions - much like cigarettes. Llmit the false advertising that beckons potential riders to undertake what amounts to destructive off-trail excursions and require additional warnings that ATVs are a threat to human health. With obesity, ozone and oil dependency plaguing the nation motorsports are a fuelish waste of energy.

Dave Eagan, guest speaker at the latest workshop at the Compass Coffeehouse is teaching people to make a proper "voucher specimen" of a plant. He is here to inform approximately 20 participants on how to identify Wisconsin's Invasive Plants of the Future - those invasives that can be found in nearby states that we can expect to see trying to get a foothold in this region.

"It's not enough to simply take a picture of a plant to document its discovery or to use to ask someone a question about it," he explains. "Since there are so many look-alikes, you need to show both sides of the leaf, the seed, the stem, the flowers and even the root if possible."

And with this introduction, Dave set out to teach people to build and use a plant press to save a sample specimen of any plant they wish to document with a voucher. He explained that it is important to note the location where a specimen lived by including a topographical map showing exactly where the plant was found. Maps are available for free at TopoZone.com. Complete details on making an herbarium voucher are provided on-line by the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity.

Photos are good to include in field work, but be sure to get enough details, usually with at least three pics.

BBC's Beethoven Symphonies free for download:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/beethoven/downloads.shtml

All of The Beethoven Experience programmes will be available to listen to online for seven days after broadcast in the Radio Player. Unlike the symphonies that they're making available as downloadable mp3 files, these programmes in the Radio Player cannot be downloaded as files onto your computer for use offline.

When are the symphonies available to download as mp3 files?

Symphony 6 will be broadcast on Monday 27th June, and available to download from Tuesday 28th June to Monday 4th July.

Symphony 7 will be broadcast on Tuesday 28th June, and available to download from Wednesday 29th June to Tuesday 5th July.

Symphony 8 will be broadcast on Wednesday 29th June, and available to download from Thursday 30th June to Wednesday 6th July.

Symphony 9 will be broadcast on Thursday 30th June, and available to download from Friday 1st July to Thursday 7th July.

EPA just launched a new woodstove and fireplace website. It is good source of reference information on the subject. Check it out at http://www.epa.gov/woodstoves/

Speaking of energy... Did you know that of the top oil producing countries in the world, only one is a democracy with a president who was elected on a platform of using his nation's oil revenue to benefit the poor. The country is Venezuela. The President is Hugo Chavez.

Are you one of the ever-mounting majority of American that think the war in Iraq over oil was a mistake? Well, I'm pleased to learn that Snopes says, "Complex problems rarely lend themselves to simple, painless answers. Simply shifting where we buy gasoline isn't nearly as good a solution as the much tougher choice of sharply curtailing the amount of gasoline we buy."

Before you decide to follow my previous advice and launch a Buy-cott, favoring one station over another check out Snopes.com's readout on the subject.

It's true that Citgo is a U.S. refining and marketing firm that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. Much of the money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela - but they too also import from Middle Eastern countries including Iraq and Kuwait.

Snopes says, "Moreover, the idea that oil companies sell gasoline only through their branded service stations, and therefore if you don't buy gasoline from Shell-branded gas stations you're not sending money to Shell (or, by extension, the Middle East), is wrong. Oil companies sell their output through a variety of outlets other than their branded stations; as well, by the time crude oil gets from the ground into our gasoline tanks, there's no telling exactly where it came from. A good deal of the crude oil purchased from Russia, for example, is oil from Iraqi fields sold through Russian middlemen."

Special thanks to Compass reader and local broomball activist Kevin Duffy for pointing out "...the rest of the story" on the subject of oil at Snopes.com which resulted in revisions and update to this posting.

Join us at the Compass Coffeehouse this coming Saturday, June 18 at 6:30 PM for a free movie on the subject: "Extreme Oil - The Journey." Follow four barrels of oil as they travel from the ground to the gas pump. Fifteen years after the end of the Cold War and in the wake of two wars in the Gulf and Iraq, all the world's easy oil has been found. Today, the oil industry has to go to extremes to find new sources of the asset that drives the world's economy and fuels so many aspects of modern life. EXTREME OIL crisscrosses the globe like the transcontinental pipelines themselves, exposing a wide range of issues -- and meeting people who wrestle with the dilemmas of how to ensure the supply we need, at a price we will tolerate.

Enjoy a free and informative film followed by lively discussion each week at the Compass Coffeehouse in our ongoing Saturday Cinema Series. Come on a bicycle this week and the coffee drink of your choice is free.

“I don't think anyone believes that the right of smokers to smoke is more important than the right for everyone to breath fresh air,” says Margaretha Haglund, head of tobacco control programmes at the Swedish National Institute of Public Health.

And with that general attitude prevailing, on June 1st Sweden will join Ireland, Norway, Italy, and Malta in implimenting a nationwide smokefree workplace law.

“It’s definitely a positive step for Sweden,” says Daniel Franzén (23) originally from Karlstad. “There’s so much emphasis here on creating healthy conditions in the workplace, why should bars and cafes and restaurants be any different?”

The law initially sparked criticism from the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Association although proprietors have been appeased by the general public’s support. In a study conducted by SHR in April 2005, 98 per cent of those asked said the law will have no bearing on the frequency they visit restaurants, bars, cafes or clubs.

This week, Belgium announced that it will be the next European country to move toward clean indoor air.

Several WI cities and towns have passed smokefree workplace legislation. Middleton and Shorewood Hills banned smoking in their restaurants in 1994, with a few exceptions. Fond du Lac, La Crosse, Ashland, Eau Claire, Kenosha, Neenah and Onalaska have followed suit in recent years.

Joe Cherner at SmokeFree.org says, "All workers deserve a safe, healthy, smokefree work environment. No one should have to breathe tobacco smoke to hold a job, because it causes cancer."

The problems voiced in Appleton lately regarding the loss of convention business due to the smoking ban should be recognized as a strong reason for statewide law regarding safe smokfree workplaces.

Joe Cherner provides an on-line way to Urge Governor Doyle to Enact Smokefree Law; No Preemption.

"Political candidates have a choice, they can either pander to people's fears in an effort to win, or speak the truth in order to lead." says 1992 New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate and radio talkshow host, Arnie Arnesen.

Give her show a listen, streaming at www.arniearnesen.com. For three years (2001 to 2004) she hosted her own political talk show, Capital Ideas on WNDS TV. It was the highest rated political talk show in the state and the New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters selected it as the top talk show in the state in 2003. In addition to the radio and TV, Arnie has had a biweekly column in the Boston Globe and is a regular speaker at major academic institutions.

Living in Door County was once like living in a remote rural community. Over a decade ago Wisconsin Public Radio began to open a broader channel to alternative media with the addition of a northern Door transmitter. Now as public radio moves ever closer to the mainstream the World Wide Web provides unlimited options for news and entertainment that push out the boundaries. Try Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! for another fresh take on the news.

Pamela Anderson's PETA billboard that popped up on US 41 near Green Bay caught the eye of GBPG reporter Tony Walter. His light-hearted commentary led me to a little further research on the issue at KentuckyFriedCruelty.com where I learned:

• When chickens are slaughtered, they are hung upside-down with their legs snapped into metal shackles, which often breaks their bones. Many are still fully conscious when their throats are slit and when they are immersed in scalding-hot water for feather removal.
• McDonald’s and Denny’s have made strides toward implementing PETA's request for controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK), the least cruel method of slaughtering chickens ever developed, while KFC continues to drag its feet.
• PETA actually bought shares of McDonald’s stock in order to present a shareholder's proposal, which calls on the company to prepare a feasibility report for switching its chicken suppliers over to CAK.
• The CAK method utilizes a controlled environment in which the oxygen is slowly replaced with argon or nitrogen, putting the birds to sleep quickly and painlessly.
• More than 750 million chickens are killed for KFC restaurants every year.

The real PETA billboards are on-line here. That eye-catcher above is a rejected, early draft of the billboard’s design provided by Defamer.

Baileys Harbor Smart Growth Plan

The Town of Baileys Harbor is nearing completion of its comprehensive "Smart Growth" plan. All Baileys Harbor property owners, residents, and businesspersons, as well as any other interested parties, are invited to attend two important meetings the Town Board and Town Plan Commission will be holding regarding the final plan:

1) Tuesday, May 24, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Baileys Harbor Town Hall (located at the intersection of State Hwy 57 and County Hwy F): Public Information Meeting/Open House. After discussion as to the process used to create the new town plan and a question and answer period, meeting attendees will have the opportunity to review and offer anonymous comment upon the various components of the final draft of the Baileys Harbor plan.

2) Tuesday, June 7, at 6:30 p.m. at the Baileys Harbor Town Hall: Public Hearing before the Town Plan Commission and Town Board regarding the plan. This is the only public hearing scheduled concerning adoption of the final plan. All interested parties are encouraged to attend and offer formal testimony. Those unable to attend the hearing that wish to offer comment upon the plan may do so by sending a letter to PO Box 308, Baileys Harbor, WI, 54202. Letters must be received no later than Monday, June 6 in order to be entered into the formal record, and must include the writer's full name and address.

The Baileys Harbor Comprehensive Planning Project is available for review on-line.
Please call Mariah Goode at 920.495.6639 with any questions.

Good news for Door County's majority oldsters... "Eating moderate amounts of fish - and its added ingredient, mercury - appears to pose little danger to the brains of older adults, according to new study findings released Tuesday."

Nonetheless, eating contaminated fish can cause permanent language, attention and memory impairment in children. At least 45 states - including Wisconsin - have mercury-related fish consumption advisories but not many people pay attention to them. A recent study by the New England Zero Mercury Campaign found that 36 percent of New Englanders didn't know the government issues warnings. Forty-six percent didn't know that children and women of childbearing age should avoid swordfish, tuna steak and freshwater fish. And 59 percent didn't know that pregnant women and children should limit their consumption of canned tuna.

While the majority of the mercury pollution in the lake waters comes from coal-fired utility plants there are some things you can do to help reduce the contamination of mercury in land fills.
Last month the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced new rules requiring power plants to reduce mercury emissions by 70 percent by 2018. But the new EPA rules also allow power plants to buy credits from other plants to avoid meaningful emissions cuts. At least nine states, including Wisconsin, have filed lawsuits against the government, saying the rules fail to protect the public's health and do not follow the requirements set out in the 1990 Clean Air Act.

It's all the rage these days, religious leaders of all flavors are deciding to take back the moral highground from the silly and simplistic, Satan-fearing sycophants. These are the endgame days and ways of a new world order as dictated by the Unitarian Jihad...

"Beware! Unless you people shut up and begin acting like grown-ups with brains enough to understand the difference between political belief and personal faith, the Unitarian Jihad will begin a series of terrorist-like actions. We will take over television studios, kidnap so-called commentators and broadcast calm, well-reasoned discussions of the issues of the day. We will not try for "balance" by hiring fruitcakes; we will try for balance by hiring non-ideologues who have carefully thought through the issues."

"People of the United States! We are Unitarian Jihad! We can strike without warning. Pockets of reasonableness and harmony will appear as if from nowhere! Nice people will run the government again! There will be coffee and cookies in the Gandhi Room after the revolution."

How fitting and indeed just right that my Unitarian Jihad Name is: The Nail Gun of Enlightenment.

Get yours.