Thanks a million 

To the editor, 

On April 12 of this year an accident at home broke my five vertebrae and stopped my breathing. This is thank you letter to Officer Huppert of Pierce County Sheriff’s Department for coming to my assistance and calling in other first responders to help. Bless all of you! 

I am grateful to Ellsworth Fire Department and police, ambulance service and others who got me breathing and stabilized me to be air-lifted out.  

To so many who have brought meals to me and took me for groceries and driven me, I am also very humbled.  

To my “new” neighbors, Mark, Crystal Dusty and Wes Raleigh, thank you so much for your immediate support and cutting law while I am recovering. And thanks to VA assistance and support.  

To my family, also my sincere gratitude and prayers.  

Moving forward, 

Dennis Wawracz MS ED 

Town of Martell  

Vote for a felon? 

To the editor, 

In 1996, Wisconsin voters supported amending the State Constitution to prevent convicted felons from appearing on the ballot for state or local offices. 

My question is why would we vote for a convicted felon – a criminal – for the highest office in America? This partiality for a felon convicted on 34 counts (and indicted on numerous others) is particularly ironic given that the GOP claims to be the party of “law and order.” And now, they plan to nominate him as their presidential candidate at their convention. Law and order or hypocrisy? You can't have it both ways. 

Tammy Tollefson 

Town of Clifton 

Town Board showed leadership 

To the editor, 

I am grateful to Town Board of Maiden Rock for expressing their strong concerns regarding Ridge 

Breeze Dairy’s expansion permit at the DNR’s public hearing on July 11. The Town Board showed 

leadership which has been absent by most officials at the county level.  

With so much at stake, 

including our public health, surface and ground water, property values and more, our Town Board 

questioned the effectiveness of a system that relies upon SELF REPORTING and monitoring by a 

thinly staffed DNR. May other town boards be blessed with such leadership. 

Mary Anne Wise 

Maiden Rock Township 

Potential engineering disaster 

To the editor, 

I am a licensed professional engineer in the state of Wisconsin and surrounding Midwest states. As an engineer and Pierce County resident, I am deeply concerned about multiple aspects of the proposed expansion of Ridge Breeze Dairy, especially the proposed barn.  

I compared the sheer size of this barn with other local manufacturing and warehouse facilities and found that the Andersen Window Factory in Menomonie measures approximately 657,000 square feet, the Breeze barn measures approximately 500,000 square feet, and the Amazon warehouse facility in Woodbury measures approximately 498,000 square feet. 

The Breeze Dairy barn would be larger than the Amazon warehouse, yet has no inspections or permitting beyond a land use permit issued by Pierce County. This is due to the barn being an agriculture structure, and building size does not matter. Agriculture buildings are not required to have inspections by the county for compliance with any building code.  

A warehouse such as the Amazon facility must follow the Minnesota State Building Code for all 

aspects of design and construction and would be required to have local building officials to perform compliance inspections during construction. 

My primary concern for such a large facility is collapse due to snow, especially when combined with neglected repair such as damage due to skid steer hits. Snow collapse can also be caused by a lack of maintenance of corroded building components. Deep snow drifts can also result in unbalanced loads on the roof and if not removed in a timely fashion catastrophic failure will occur suddenly and without warning. Secondary effects of collapse can lead to other events like fire and subsequent animal death, like what was seen at a Mondovi area CAFO a few years ago. 

We must do better to prevent an engineering disaster. 

Mike Davis, PE 

Town of Rock Elm 

DNR didn’t help Emerald 

To the editor, 

After the E.coli outbreak in 2017 in several homes in Emerald Township, DNR had the opportunity to find the source of this contamination with advanced testing, but refused to do so. It seems to me DNR tries to live by the mantra of absence of evidence is evidence of absence. We don’t have a problem because we don’t have any data on the problem because we don’t collect data when there is a problem. 

As a former resident of Emerald Township, I was there during those initial DNR/community meetings and heard firsthand all the assurances DNR, county and experts gave us that “all will be OK” when Emerald Dairy and its digester were started because Nutrient Management Plans would protect water quality.  

But recent statements from DNR staff, “NMPs are written for crop production, not for water quality” make us wonder what is the tool then to protect water quality….. Or is DNR not in the business of protecting water quality anymore? 

This permit for Ridge Breeze Dairy should require monitoring wells as Breeze Dairy Group does not have a good track record. Pine Breeze Dairy had nine spills in the last 11 years – totaling 200,000 gallons of manure. Lake Breeze Dairy spilled 40,000 gallons of manure into Pipe Creek and Lake Winnebago, putting dozens of residents on notice for possible E.coli exposure. 

As I have traveled the state and shared the story of Emerald, I tell local officials, “If you think DNR has your back and will protect your water...that has NOT been our experience in Emerald.” There are bad actors in all walks of life – producers are no different. Fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice, shame on me! 

Public health and safety should be the assurance and the priority by DNR and local officials. 

Kim Dupre 

Marine on St. Croix, Minn. 

Alert to anglers, Rush River, Nugget Lake/Plum Creek users 

To the editor, 

The proposed expansion of the Ridge Breeze Dairy CAFO from 1,200 to 6,500 cows, producing 80 million gallons of manure per year, poses a significant threat to our beloved streams and Nugget Lake County Park! 

Ridge Breeze proposes to spread manure at application rates of up to 25,000 gallons per acre on thousands of acres across Pierce County. Many of the fields in their Nutrient Management Plan already exceed the DNR’s recommendation for Phosphorus. Phosphorus binds to soil particles and persists as a viable nutrient for many years. 

When heavy precipitation events occur, soil sediments containing Phosphorus run downhill into our streams and lakes. These nutrient-rich sediments clog boating and swimming areas with aquatic plants and green slime and create harmful algal blooms that can potentially kill fish and poison pets and swimmers. 

The heavy manure applications that would result from the Ridge Breeze expansion are likely to exceed crop needs and the soils holding capacity. Many of these fields contain manure spreading restrictions, meaning they are close to surface waters, have shallow depth to bedrock, or have steep slopes or cracks in the bedrock leading straight to groundwater. The public must rely on the goodwill of busy manure applicators to know how to locate and avoid these sensitive zones.  

We cannot afford this risk to our outstanding waterways. Let’s sustain our small family farms and 

our natural resources by letting the DNR know that we are not in favor of expanding industrial farms in western Wisconsin. The public is invited to submit comments and questions regarding the Ridge Breeze expansion permit to Jeffrey.Jackson@wisconsin.gov or Jeffrey Jackson, DNR, 890 Spruce St., Baldwin WI, 54002 before July 18, 4:30 pm. 

Rainbow Barry 

River Falls 

CAFO is a threat to Grange Hall! 

To the editor, 

Our family farm is located on 390th Avenue very close to the Ridge Breeze expansion. My parents moved to this farm in 1949 to be closer to my grandparents, who owned the land that is now Ridge Breeze Dairy. They wanted to be part of the Grange Hall community; a community where older farmers supported young farmers to dairy business success. They shared common interests, went to church together, did business at the local grocery, hardware, and feed store; helped each other to get their hay and crops harvested and visited friends on Sunday afternoon and evening, always sharing a little lunch before visits ended. Most neighbors have owned their farms for several generations, dating back to the 1870’s. What a great community! 

Now we have a factory farm in the community – Ridge Breeze! They only own 158 acres for their proposed 6,500 animals and do not live in the community. Most of this acreage will be used for buildings. This new addition has divided the Grange Hall community. Many people worry about their wells, nitrate levels are rising. Nitrate level in our well is 13; other farms in the area are similar. 

Along with high nitrates, our property values are expected to drop 8-13% even up to 25%-40% per one State Representative. Who wants to live next door to a CAFO, where at night you can see black smoke billowing into the air from their incinerator, or gag on the smell of their large manure pits when they are stirring or spreading? 

Area residents constantly worry about a spill that might contaminate their property or perhaps the Rush River or Nugget Lake. 

These issues threaten the very existence of the Grange Hall farming community; families that have enjoyed this community for many generations. Ridge Breeze Dairy shows a great lack of respect for the Grange Hall community as evidenced by their statement at a recent Town of Salem meeting where Greg Wolf, CEO of Ridge Breeze Dairy stated, “if neighbors didn't enjoy living next to Ridge Breeze Dairy, this CAFO could just buy out their land.” This statement threatens our community and its deep, rich roots. Please ask your neighbors, friends and relatives not to lease their land to this CAFO. Not having enough spreadable acres is the only way to stop this CAFO expansion! 

Doug and Nancy Weiss 

River Falls 

High capacity well use poses threat to our waters 

To the editor, 

Ridge Breeze Dairy's permit request for expansion of their factory farm to over 9,000 animal units has created multiple concerns for area residents. This is of particular concern for me as my parents own my family’s farm located by Ridge Breeze Dairy. 

Among many concerns that are present regarding the proposed expansion, one concern I would like to highlight is water quantity, specifically the impact of CAFOs like Ridge Breeze Dairy, and their use of high capacity wells. 

CAFOs present a direct threat to water quantity. A typical bovine consumes an average of 40 gallons of water per day. If we extrapolate this to a year, one cow would consume about 14,600 gallons of water per year. Extrapolating further shows that a 6,500-cow operation would use about 94.9 million gallons of water per year, just for the cows. This extreme use of the valuable resource of water puts our population at great risk.  

According to the DNR Water Quantity viewer, Ridge Breeze has a total of five high capacity wells pumping at 340 gallons per minute total! What kind of effect does that have on neighbors’ wells and local springs, wetlands and surface waters, especially if we were to have a prolonged time of dry weather or drought? 

As you can imagine, across our state, lakes, streams, wetlands and wells are drying up due to large scale 

agriculture such as being practiced at Ridge Breeze Dairy. A large body of research demonstrated that the loss of surface water is directly related to the depletion of groundwater aquifers by high capacity wells. Much of this groundwater is never returned to the aquifer as clean water. It puts not only our supply of clean drinking water at risk, but also puts our beautiful class A trout streams like the Rush River at risk of drying up. Imagine not being able to fly fish on our beautiful Rush, because high capacity wells needed to support Ridge Breeze Dairy's proposed expansion, have used up all of our water. What a shame. 

The pumping of high capacity wells impacting private wells is worrying. At a recent Pierce County Groundwater Committee meeting, the question was asked to the DNR guest speaker about what happens if a neighbor’s well runs dry. How would these affected neighbors handle being out of water, especially with needing to water livestock? What huge burden of cost would these neighbors bear? The affected neighbor could talk to a well driller to set the well pump deeper or drill a deeper well. The affected neighbor would not be guaranteed any reparations. 

This depletion of groundwater not only impacts water quantity but also poses a large public health risk as 

pollutants like nitrates and bacteria become more concentrated as drinking water sources dry up. This can 

concentrate pollution in our wells to the point that the water is in violation of public health standards. 

As human beings, we have the right to water that is safe and in adequate quantities to support life. I encourage area residents to contact the Wisconsin DNR to let their voice be heard: deny the expansion that is being proposed by Ridge Breeze Dairy. Protect the residents of Wisconsin and allow us our basic human rights. 

Kristin Miller 

River Falls 

Not the time for party loyalty 

To the editor, 

A 10-year-old child told me, "He is so nasty, grandma. he is a bully!" These issues are common on area playgrounds and at school. However, this was not about a classmate, but an elected leader at our country’s capitol, at the White House, by the then president of our United States.  

That was six years ago, but the bullying and threats continue. Our guaranteed freedoms are being challenged: voting rights, women's rights, reproductive rights, education rights, free speech, and rights of personal expression. Some of us remember a time without these personal freedoms and now fear a loss of them again.  

In four months, the people of this great nation will vote how we want our country to move forward, or backward. This is not the time for party loyalty. It is the time for the future we choose to pass on to our youth, our children and grandchildren. Please discuss with and listen to a young future voter and hear their concerns for their future; many of their freedoms are in danger of being erased. Vote! 

Carmen Drake 

Prescott  

Protect our roots, our homes 

To the editor, 

To my neighborhood, community, and region: I'm so proud of you. My beloved Grange Hall farming neighborhood (my family’s farm) is being threatened by a large CAFO farm expansion, and if approved, it would be the largest factory farm in western central Wisconsin.   

The attendance at the Ridge Breeze Dairy DNR Public Hearing on July 11 was inspiring to say the least. You came out in big numbers and showed your interest and support. You made your voices heard, listened intently, and wrote many notes. You cheered and clapped at the end of individual comments and testimonies, and you collectively gasped in horror at some of the facts and stories.   

Those who shared their testimonies and comments were bolstered by the sheer number of family, friends and neighbors in attendance both online (300+) and in person (140+).  The group attending virtually was so large that the Zoom meeting platform had to be adjusted to accommodate a larger than anticipated number of participants online.  

It was truly a beautiful experience and to me it felt like one big community hug of support. The attendance numbers speak volumes about how much we care about our homes, communities, environment and rural quality of life.  

We have built enormous momentum and support in our fight, and let’s keep going. Many of us have family legacies in Pierce County dating back to as early as the 1850’s - we deeply love our roots and our homes, and we have a burning desire to protect it all.  

Teresa Brunner Davis 

Town of Rock Elm