Thank you Wisconsin!

[noel711]

Just got back to PA from a week in PHillips at a lake resort.
It was incredible: the wildlife, the lake, everything.

Everyone was so welcoming and inviting.
I purposefully avoided politics (except with my BIL who is a FOX fanatic)-
I did see some Obama and Kloppenberg bumper stickers,
and not much from the other side of the fence.

We went to Loretta to scatter my mother's ashes (she grew up there)-
Loretta is a whisper of what it was: logging must no longer be its industry.
But we encountered a bear in the woods, and caught a glimpse of a
young moose outside Winter (the folks at the Sawyer County Gazette
were so welcoming and informative).

Phillips seemed in much better economic shape than other small towns:
the Main street has mostly small businesses, very little evidence of
national chains. Folks seem invested in being neighborly,
and it was much appreciated.

Can't wait to come back.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I know that country pretty well.

Phillips, Winter, Loretta, Draper, Park Falls--those are just east of where I grew up (Hayward).

[noel711]

2. The wilderness up there is pristine...

I was so gratified that Wisconsinites treasure their wildlife and environs.

HOpefully the present administration won't do too much damage,
legislatively...unlike our PA governor who is in the pocket of
the mining/gas industries, and is selling off our wilderness
like cold lemonade on a hot day.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Our biggest threat via Walker is the possibility of open-pit mining.

There are all kinds of minerals in the Canadian Shield south of L. Superior, and lots of mining interests buzzing around like deerflies.

[ewagner]

4. The Phillips area...

Is one of Wisconsin's best kept secrets. There is a Plastics company in Phillips (Phillips Plastics ...duh) that is doing quite well and keeps the economy of "da nort woods" going...There is also a paper mill in Park Falls (about 20 miles north) that was saved along with its 300 jobs by Democratic Governor Doyle getting them a state economic development loan...

Jackpine is reight...the Area near the Bad River Reservation is in peril a a fast-track permit to allow an open pit mine that will tail off into the Bad River and then right into Lake Superior if REPUBLICAN Governor Scott Walker has his way...which it looks like it will. The sad aspect of this is that the Bad River/Mellen/Montreal/Hurley/Ironwood area has been so depressed for so long that the residents are actually drooling over the $1.4BILLION in revenues the mining companies are promising.

[noel711]

5. Play up the rape of the mountains in PA...

The 'harvesting' of natural gas is destroying miles of wilderness,
and the property owners are livid. Even if the owners object to the
gas industry coming in, there loopholes were legislated and the gas
industry moves in, permission or no. It is a travesty.

And I would hate to see that happen in beautiful Wisconsin..
but I do understand desperate times and desperate measures.
There was to be a way; I just fell in love with Wisconsin again,
but knowing politics, what will be left in a few years?