JG excerpt:I’m not going to dispute their opinion of what they think the bill means, but I will let you know what they also failed to tell you. The Livestock Siting Bill, or AB 868 signed by the Governor, was raced through a greased legislative system on Republican skids pushed by many of the state’s factory farmers and lobbyists. The Republican-led state Assembly voted to pass it. The bill created a state-run micro bureaucracy called the Livestock Facility Siting Review Board to examine andd potentially over-ride local siting decisions. Some argue that local control has been taken away. I agree.
April, 2004 - Gov. Jim Doyle signs the Livestock Siting Bill into law for Wisconsin. The law restricts reasons municipalities can deny large farming operations. Ed Larson of Larson Acres sat on a task force to develop the law.
Appointed last fall by Agriculture Secretary Rod Nilsestuen, the diverse panel of citizens on the Review Board includes farmers, producers like Larsen Acres, environmentalists, conservationists, and local government. But if you only see what the Gazette prints they would have you believe that Gov. Jim Doyle is the mastermind behind this bill and that he is somehow in cahoots with Larson Acres, in an ever subtle way.
And just for the record, the bill’s lead authors are Republican Representatives David Ward and Al Ott, and two Democratic Reps. Barbara Gronemus, and Amy Sue Vruwink, but it also had introductory assistance from Reps. Gard, Gunderson, Hahn, Towns, Weber, Powers, Pettis, Olsen, Van Roy, Loeffelholz, Ainsworth, Kestell, Suder, Hundertmark and Nass; cosponsored by Senators Schultz, Brown, M. Meyer, Harsdorf, Jauch, S. Fitzgerald, Kanavas and Zien. All Republicans except for Jauch. Obviously weighted down by Republicans, some people would still call it bi-partisan legislation.
I’m not defending anyone here and I take the environment very seriously. It must be protected at all costs. However, the water issue in Magnolia Township does not seem to have deliberate or illegal toxic dumping at its core as many cases like this have, nevertheless it most certainly appears that this story was designed to impact readers with a sense of dirty politicking. I am not the only one to notice.
JG letter excerpt:How does the Gazette respond to their letter? By beating them over the head on the same page with two anonymous rants that even draws Briarmoon into the picture.
We aren’t a political group with an agenda, and we don’t wish to take a stand on Magnolia Township politics. We do wish to take a stand on the personal character and integrity of our members, the Larsons. The article you printed was neither time sensitive nor people sensitive. -- Archie Morton Jr. and Rene Johnson, Rock County Diary Promotion Council
Sound Off Excerpt:The Gazette has all the tools to control a story and watch it take fire, always making sure they appear fair and noble and never standing downwind. Until now. Without the sources of information that are readily available on the internet, it would be extremely difficult to discover their omissions and motivations. More often than not, they conveniently leave out at least half of the story, which makes it difficult for readers to come to a reasonably informed decision. Perhaps that is exactly what they want.
On Larson Acres: The Larson’s are the Magnolia Township version of Janesville’s Andreah Briarmoon. They feel like rules and zoning ordinances adhere to everyone but themselves, and then they try to take care of it in their own means, thus alienating their neighbors. – anonymous
I say let’s build the new fairgrounds next to Larson Acres.-- anonymous
On a separate note: When will the Gazette stop reminding us that Waco II never happened in Janesville?
2 comments:
Did you see their editorial yesterday? The 10 points bs? What a joke! I thought you'd for sure jump on that.
That was actually the same day as the Morton letter and the Sound Off column - Sunday. I did see the 10 principles that guide the Gazette. I recall when they ran it a couple years ago too. Apparently, the Gazette is getting enough flak from readers to want to remind everyone they are not beholden to no one. Unfortunately, the rules only apply to their editorial views, not to real news or fact based content. It doesn't mean much.
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