Our prayers are with the families of those who died Tomahawk as detailed in the below AP story. It is always a tough time to raise these questions, but we are inevitably asked: who is responsible for such explosion and what compensation is available for the victims and their families.
As the explosion occurred at a workplace, it is typically thought that the only remedy available will be under Wisconsin Workers Compensation law. See http://wis-injury.com/workerscomp.html And while that may be the case, if the explosion was caused by the wrongdoing of someone other than the employer or a co-worker at the Packaging Corp. of America, then workers comp may not be the only remedy.
It is critical that a full investigation be done as to what caused the explosion, was it a faulty design or production of the tank that exploded, negligent maintenance by an outside firm of the tank.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
http://wis-injury.com
http://gordonjohnson.com
http://wis-law.com
http://youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney
1-800-992-9447
©2008 Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
Date: 7/29/2008 8:10 PM
By ROBERT IMRIE
Associated Press Writer
TOMAHAWK, Wis. (AP) _ A storage tank explosion at a northern Wisconsin paper mill Tuesday killed three workers and injured a fourth, the company that owns the mill said.
Packaging Corp. of America said in a news release that the three workers were fatally injured when a tank used to store recycled fiber exploded while they were performing maintenance on top of it.
The injured worker was standing on a platform at a lower level of the tank when it exploded, the company said. The worker’s condition was not immediately released.
The cause of the explosion was not known and is under investigation, the company said.
Company spokesman Ron Zimmerman said up to 10 people were working in the area when the explosion happened in what he described as “a storage tank for pulp.” No fire resulted from the explosion, he said.
Identities of the victims were not being released Tuesday night, Zimmerman said.
Capt. Mike Drury of the nearby Merrill Fire Department said his rescue crew was called to help free the employees about 1:40 p.m. but was called off before it arrived. Emergency workers on the scene used a crane to rescue them, he said.
“There was an explosion and a couple of employees were trapped for a short period of time,” Drury said.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately return a telephone message.
The main part of the mill remained in operation Tuesday afternoon. Workers walked out with somber faces.
One man was met by a woman in a car, and they embraced and hugged for nearly a minute. The man talked with her for several minutes and then went back into the administrative office, telling a reporter he couldn’t comment.
A worker leaving the plant said employees had been told not to discuss details of the explosion with reporters, referring questions to Zimmerman, who didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking further information.
Packaging Corp. of America, which makes containerboard and corrugated packaging products, operates four paper mills and 67 corrugated product plants in 26 states. According to the Lake Forest, Ill.-based company’s Web site, it employs 8,350 people nationwide and posted sales of $2.3 billion last year.
The Tomahawk mill has three semi-chemical corrugating machines and produces more than 572 million tons annually, the company said.
___
AP writer Carrie Antlfinger in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Who qualifies for mortgage help and how to get it
Date: 7/29/2008 11:02 PM
By DAVE CARPENTER
AP Business Writer
Questions and answers about the Hope for Homeowners Act of 2008, passed by Congress last weekend to try to steer as many as 400,000 struggling homeowners away from foreclosure:
Q: What exactly will the legislation do?
A: It will allow those who qualify to cancel their old mortgage loans and replace them with 30-year fixed-rate loans for up to 90 percent of the home’s current value. The FHA will insure a total of $300 billion of the loans over a three-year period.
But the decision on whether to write such a loan remains up to banks, which would have to be willing to take a loss on the existing loans in exchange for avoiding an often-costly foreclosure.
Q: Who is eligible?
A: Eligible borrowers must have spent more than 31 percent of their monthly incomes on their mortgages as of March 1, 2008. The troubled loan must have originated no later than Jan. 1, 2008, and be on the borrower’s primary residence. And the borrower’s income must be verified.
Q: When does the program start?
A: It takes effect Oct. 1 and runs through September 2011, although the FHA isn’t likely to have it operating at full capacity until next year.
Q: Since lenders can pick and choose which loans to refinance, how can consumers determine if theirs will be selected?
A: Check with the bank or financial company servicing your mortgage, but it may be weeks before they make decisions concerning the new guidelines and assess individual loans.
Even then, keep expectations limited.
“Servicers are going to be reluctant to take the government up on their offer,” predicted Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “The earliest they’ll start taking them up on it is early next year. And even then it’s likely to be modest.”
Q: Is there anything a homeowner can do to improve chances of benefiting from the program, such as crunching numbers to make a case for the bank?
A: Not really. The best step is to keep up your payments as best you can.
Q: But doesn’t this provide an incentive to NOT pay your mortgage, if you’re barely keeping ahead of bills and are underwater on your house, so you can qualify?
A: No. If your situation deteriorates enough, the bank may reject any possible new loan.
“Turning yourself into a financial basket case is not going to work,” said Dan Seiver, a finance professor at San Diego State University. “If you turn into a complete deadbeat, the servicer is going to just foreclose and dump it.”
Q: So what should I be doing now besides trying to keep up with payments?
A: Talk to a local credit counselor and call the toll-free hot line of the Hope Now alliance — an industry group trying to coordinate a response to the mortgage crisis — at 1-888-995-HOPE. It is available 24 hours a day to provide mortgage counseling in multiple languages.
Mary Thomason, director of resource development for The Impact Group of Atlanta, a housing counseling group, also suggests tracking expenses and income closely in order to be able to forecast your cash flow for the next six months and give yourself better control of your finances.
Q: If the banks and lenders refuse to write these loans, then what?
A: Public and political pressure may prompt them to participate. If not, and more people continue to lose their homes, Zandi says the next White House administration subject them to additional regulations or investigations if they remain unwilling to take on the risks.
Q: What happens if I’m able to sell my home after I refinance?
A: If you sell during the next five years, you must agree to share 50 percent of any profits from the resale with the government. What’s more, homeowners can only retain equity gains based on a sliding scale. The homeowner would have zero equity from a sale in the first year, with the amount rising 10 percent in each succeeding year and capping at 50 percent from a sale in year five and thereafter.
The equity must be repaid because the maximum amount on the new loans will be capped at 90 percent of the current market value, which automatically gives the previously troubled homeowner 10 percent equity in the home.
Q: Where can consumers find more detailed information about the plan?
A: There is a six-page summary of the housing act at
http://banking.senate.gov/public/_files/HousingandEconomicRecove yAc tSummary.pdf
and the FHA’s Web site at http://www.fha.gov is a place to watch for updated information. The entire 694-page bill is at http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/financialsvcs_dem/hr3221_bi l_t ext.pdf
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By DAVE CARPENTER
AP Business Writer
Questions and answers about the Hope for Homeowners Act of 2008, passed by Congress last weekend to try to steer as many as 400,000 struggling homeowners away from foreclosure:
Q: What exactly will the legislation do?
A: It will allow those who qualify to cancel their old mortgage loans and replace them with 30-year fixed-rate loans for up to 90 percent of the home’s current value. The FHA will insure a total of $300 billion of the loans over a three-year period.
But the decision on whether to write such a loan remains up to banks, which would have to be willing to take a loss on the existing loans in exchange for avoiding an often-costly foreclosure.
Q: Who is eligible?
A: Eligible borrowers must have spent more than 31 percent of their monthly incomes on their mortgages as of March 1, 2008. The troubled loan must have originated no later than Jan. 1, 2008, and be on the borrower’s primary residence. And the borrower’s income must be verified.
Q: When does the program start?
A: It takes effect Oct. 1 and runs through September 2011, although the FHA isn’t likely to have it operating at full capacity until next year.
Q: Since lenders can pick and choose which loans to refinance, how can consumers determine if theirs will be selected?
A: Check with the bank or financial company servicing your mortgage, but it may be weeks before they make decisions concerning the new guidelines and assess individual loans.
Even then, keep expectations limited.
“Servicers are going to be reluctant to take the government up on their offer,” predicted Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “The earliest they’ll start taking them up on it is early next year. And even then it’s likely to be modest.”
Q: Is there anything a homeowner can do to improve chances of benefiting from the program, such as crunching numbers to make a case for the bank?
A: Not really. The best step is to keep up your payments as best you can.
Q: But doesn’t this provide an incentive to NOT pay your mortgage, if you’re barely keeping ahead of bills and are underwater on your house, so you can qualify?
A: No. If your situation deteriorates enough, the bank may reject any possible new loan.
“Turning yourself into a financial basket case is not going to work,” said Dan Seiver, a finance professor at San Diego State University. “If you turn into a complete deadbeat, the servicer is going to just foreclose and dump it.”
Q: So what should I be doing now besides trying to keep up with payments?
A: Talk to a local credit counselor and call the toll-free hot line of the Hope Now alliance — an industry group trying to coordinate a response to the mortgage crisis — at 1-888-995-HOPE. It is available 24 hours a day to provide mortgage counseling in multiple languages.
Mary Thomason, director of resource development for The Impact Group of Atlanta, a housing counseling group, also suggests tracking expenses and income closely in order to be able to forecast your cash flow for the next six months and give yourself better control of your finances.
Q: If the banks and lenders refuse to write these loans, then what?
A: Public and political pressure may prompt them to participate. If not, and more people continue to lose their homes, Zandi says the next White House administration subject them to additional regulations or investigations if they remain unwilling to take on the risks.
Q: What happens if I’m able to sell my home after I refinance?
A: If you sell during the next five years, you must agree to share 50 percent of any profits from the resale with the government. What’s more, homeowners can only retain equity gains based on a sliding scale. The homeowner would have zero equity from a sale in the first year, with the amount rising 10 percent in each succeeding year and capping at 50 percent from a sale in year five and thereafter.
The equity must be repaid because the maximum amount on the new loans will be capped at 90 percent of the current market value, which automatically gives the previously troubled homeowner 10 percent equity in the home.
Q: Where can consumers find more detailed information about the plan?
A: There is a six-page summary of the housing act at
http://banking.senate.gov/public/_files/HousingandEconomicRecove yAc tSummary.pdf
and the FHA’s Web site at http://www.fha.gov is a place to watch for updated information. The entire 694-page bill is at http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/financialsvcs_dem/hr3221_bi l_t ext.pdf
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Report says 1 in 4 US bridges needs upgrading
As we discussed last week in followup to the Wisconsin Dells flooding issues, Wisconsin and the United States infrastructure is in bad need of updating. The below AP story details just how much, $140 billion of how much. This must be a priority. We can’t afford more levee breaches, bridge collapses or Lake Delton disasters.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
http://gordonjohnson.com
http://wis-injury.com
©2008 Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
Date: 07/28/2008 05:32 PM
By JOANN LOVIGLIO
Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ At least $140 billion is needed to make major repairs or upgrades to one of every four U.S. bridges, transportation officials from states across the country said in a report released Monday.
State officials said bridge repairs are just one element of a pressing need for more federal funding to improve the country’s deteriorating transportation infrastructure.
“We need federal intervention, and federal intervention at a big level,” Gov. Ed Rendell said after details were released of the report by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
The report cited Federal Highway Administration statistics that 152,000 out of the nation’s 600,000 bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The $140 billion price tag was derived by multiplying the total number of square meters of the problem bridges by the average cost per square meter — in 2006 dollars — to do the work.
“States are doing their best to improve them, but construction costs are skyrocketing … forcing states to delay needed repairs,” said Pete K. Rahn, head of the Missouri Department of Transportation and the group’s president.
“Without a national commitment to increasing bridge investment, we will see a continuing spiral towards deterioration and, ultimately, bridge closures in order to protect the traveling public,” he said.
The news conference announcing the report was held in North Philadelphia near the spot where a 6-foot crack in a concrete support pillar beneath Interstate 95 forced three days of emergency repairs in March, shutting down the busy highway and choking secondary roads with 185,000 vehicles that were detoured daily.
The “Bridging the Gap” report was released just days before the first anniversary of the Aug. 1 bridge collapse in Minneapolis that killed 13 people.
Rendell said a congressional study committee found state and local sources account for 75 percent of the $80 billion spent annually on transportation infrastructure.
“No matter how hard a state applies its efforts and its resources to this problem, it’s never going to make enough of a dent without significantly and radically increased federal help,” Rendell said.
Typically built to last 50 years, the average U.S. bridge is 43 years old and approaching the age for replacement, according to the report.
The report’s suggestions include increasing gasoline taxes and new taxes on alternative fuels, turning free highways into toll roads and increasing private investment in public works.
___
On the Net:
Bridging the Gap report: http://www.transportation1.org/BridgeReport/
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
http://gordonjohnson.com
http://wis-injury.com
©2008 Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
Date: 07/28/2008 05:32 PM
By JOANN LOVIGLIO
Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ At least $140 billion is needed to make major repairs or upgrades to one of every four U.S. bridges, transportation officials from states across the country said in a report released Monday.
State officials said bridge repairs are just one element of a pressing need for more federal funding to improve the country’s deteriorating transportation infrastructure.
“We need federal intervention, and federal intervention at a big level,” Gov. Ed Rendell said after details were released of the report by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
The report cited Federal Highway Administration statistics that 152,000 out of the nation’s 600,000 bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The $140 billion price tag was derived by multiplying the total number of square meters of the problem bridges by the average cost per square meter — in 2006 dollars — to do the work.
“States are doing their best to improve them, but construction costs are skyrocketing … forcing states to delay needed repairs,” said Pete K. Rahn, head of the Missouri Department of Transportation and the group’s president.
“Without a national commitment to increasing bridge investment, we will see a continuing spiral towards deterioration and, ultimately, bridge closures in order to protect the traveling public,” he said.
The news conference announcing the report was held in North Philadelphia near the spot where a 6-foot crack in a concrete support pillar beneath Interstate 95 forced three days of emergency repairs in March, shutting down the busy highway and choking secondary roads with 185,000 vehicles that were detoured daily.
The “Bridging the Gap” report was released just days before the first anniversary of the Aug. 1 bridge collapse in Minneapolis that killed 13 people.
Rendell said a congressional study committee found state and local sources account for 75 percent of the $80 billion spent annually on transportation infrastructure.
“No matter how hard a state applies its efforts and its resources to this problem, it’s never going to make enough of a dent without significantly and radically increased federal help,” Rendell said.
Typically built to last 50 years, the average U.S. bridge is 43 years old and approaching the age for replacement, according to the report.
The report’s suggestions include increasing gasoline taxes and new taxes on alternative fuels, turning free highways into toll roads and increasing private investment in public works.
___
On the Net:
Bridging the Gap report: http://www.transportation1.org/BridgeReport/
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Religious freedom group files brief for Wis. Amish
Date: 07/25/2008 12:01 AM
LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) _ A national group dedicated to religious freedom is joining a fight between Amish farmers and some Wisconsin towns.
The National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom has filed a brief asking for permission to intervene in a Jackson County court case involving Albion farmer Samuel Stolzfus.
Stolzfus and other Amish have been fined thousands of dollars for failing to get building permits.
New York attorney Robert Greene, who is helping the religious freedom group with the case, said the Amish won’t sign applications for building permits because it is against their religion to lie and they might not be able to keep a promise to comply with building codes.
Attorney Paul Millis, who represents the town of Albion, said failure to comply with building codes creates safety problems.
___
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) _ A national group dedicated to religious freedom is joining a fight between Amish farmers and some Wisconsin towns.
The National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom has filed a brief asking for permission to intervene in a Jackson County court case involving Albion farmer Samuel Stolzfus.
Stolzfus and other Amish have been fined thousands of dollars for failing to get building permits.
New York attorney Robert Greene, who is helping the religious freedom group with the case, said the Amish won’t sign applications for building permits because it is against their religion to lie and they might not be able to keep a promise to comply with building codes.
Attorney Paul Millis, who represents the town of Albion, said failure to comply with building codes creates safety problems.
___
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Wisconsin Dells Flood Disaster
This story has many personal angles to me. First, before I was a personal injury, I was a real estate lawyer, with an expertise in flood plain and Wisconsin Shoreland laws. My first published story in a legal publication was on the Wisconsin Shoreland law.
Second, I almost bought a home on Lake Delton’s sister lake, Mirror Lake in the early 1990’s. Third, my sister owns one of those struggling businesses in the Wisconsin Dells and also owns homes on Lake Delton. Fourth, one of my best friends lost his home from the same series of storms, although in a different state, a different river.
Floods and nature’s water in the wrong place is perhaps the part of our planet that man has the least control of. Hurricane Katrina, was more a problem with flooding than with the storm itself. I have loved water, the beach all of my life, but if you don’t respect its power, listen to those who understand hydro engineering and insure against the unforeseeable, you just can’t invest adjacent to it.
But ultimately, all of these floods are foreseeable, all to some extent avoidable. The cost: infrastructure. All of the costs of our political corruption, corporate greed and encouragement to the consumer to push blindly ahead of the last 10 years in our political and economic world, the failure to take care of our infrastructure may ultimately be the most costly. Last summer, it was a bridge collapsing over the Mississippi. In 2005, it was the levees in New Orleans. The warning signs are always there. Yet, Galveston still is unprotected, three years after the Category V that just missed it. Roads collapse, a lake is drained – a jewel of Wisconsin’s economy, destroyed.
The federal government bails out the mortgage business, but the lifeblood and backbone of our world, our roads, our levees, our planning, are pushed back for another day. Perhaps if it was the Potomac, Washington would start to care.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
http://gordonjohnson.com
http://wis-injury.com
©2008 Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
Second, I almost bought a home on Lake Delton’s sister lake, Mirror Lake in the early 1990’s. Third, my sister owns one of those struggling businesses in the Wisconsin Dells and also owns homes on Lake Delton. Fourth, one of my best friends lost his home from the same series of storms, although in a different state, a different river.
Floods and nature’s water in the wrong place is perhaps the part of our planet that man has the least control of. Hurricane Katrina, was more a problem with flooding than with the storm itself. I have loved water, the beach all of my life, but if you don’t respect its power, listen to those who understand hydro engineering and insure against the unforeseeable, you just can’t invest adjacent to it.
But ultimately, all of these floods are foreseeable, all to some extent avoidable. The cost: infrastructure. All of the costs of our political corruption, corporate greed and encouragement to the consumer to push blindly ahead of the last 10 years in our political and economic world, the failure to take care of our infrastructure may ultimately be the most costly. Last summer, it was a bridge collapsing over the Mississippi. In 2005, it was the levees in New Orleans. The warning signs are always there. Yet, Galveston still is unprotected, three years after the Category V that just missed it. Roads collapse, a lake is drained – a jewel of Wisconsin’s economy, destroyed.
The federal government bails out the mortgage business, but the lifeblood and backbone of our world, our roads, our levees, our planning, are pushed back for another day. Perhaps if it was the Potomac, Washington would start to care.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
http://gordonjohnson.com
http://wis-injury.com
©2008 Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
Lake’s demise took business down the drain with it
Date: 07/20/2008 02:02 PM
By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press Writer
LAKE DELTON, Wis. (AP) _ Not a cloud in the sky and the temperature is flirting with 90 degrees. Usually, it doesn’t get any better than this for the Tommy Bartlett water ski show.
But only about 200 people fill the 5,000-seat stadium on the shore of Lake Delton this day. No jet boats towing human pyramids on water skis, no laser show dancing across the water. There’s just a juggler, sweating through his sequins, spitting balls into the air and tossing machetes over his head to weak applause.
The production that bills itself as the greatest show on H20 doesn’t have any H20. The lake bed is just a muddy moonscape.
Ironically, this all started with too much water. Torrential rain in June blew a giant hole in Lake Delton’s shoreline, letting all the lake’s water rush out and take vacation homes with it.
Now the resorts, restaurants and boat rental shops that hitched their survival to the water are barely hanging on.
“We just have never seen anything like this,” said Dawn Baker, co-owner of Sunset Bay Resort. “Unless someone can come up with a fantastic idea, I don’t know.”
Chicago building contractor William J. Newman built Lake Delton in the 1920s as a tourist draw just outside a settlement that later became Wisconsin Dells, about 50 miles northwest of Madison.
Today the condos, cottages and resorts that ring the lake and the water parks, restaurants and hotels in Wisconsin Dells are a destination for tourists from around the country. Travelers spent more than a billion dollars in the area last year.
Wisconsin Dells is thriving again this year.
But Lake Delton’s prosperity went down the drain on June 9 as thunderstorms flooded southern Wisconsin.
High water washed out a 700-foot-long section of earthen bank that separated the reservoir from the Wisconsin River. The 270-acre lake poured through the breach, washing away a section of highway and five shoreline homes. Video of the houses breaking in half and floating away was broadcast around the world.
Now the three dozen or so business on the lake-turned-mud hole are trying to survive.
Sunset Bay Resort’s Web site implores people not to cancel reservations: “The view of the lake is not bad, it’s just different.” The first part is a matter of opinion, the second indisputable — instead of cool, blue-black water, guests see a muddy desert dotted by stumps, buoys and junk.
Baker, the resort’s owner, said her revenue is down 60 percent from last year. She said media coverage of the disaster didn’t help.
“We’ve lost a tremendous amount of business,” she said. “Watching those houses go in the lake over and over again, I wish it would just stop.”
Terry Jacobson owned two of those houses, renting them out as vacation condos and estimating they were worth $1.5 million together. He runs two other resorts in Wisconsin, but thinks the Lake Delton breach has cost him $30,000 in revenue already this summer.
“Our finances are a disaster,” he said.
Steve and Kathy Zowin own Lake Delton Water Sports, a watercraft rental shop. He has tried to relocate some of their fleet to another lake, but estimates 90 percent of their business was on Lake Delton and says it’s been tough to get word out that he’s moved. Business on July 4, one of the busiest times of the year, was down 88 percent from last year, he said.
“I can’t wait for this summer to be over, to be honest,” Zowin said.
Things haven’t been much easier for the Tommy Bartlett show, a Wisconsin fixture for decades.
This summer, a new banner proclaims Bartlett is now the greatest show off H2O. Owner Tom Diehl has filled the ski segment with a juggler and a man who does sound effects, producing the sounds of galloping horses and gunshots with his mouth. Aqua T. Clown is still around, but instead of skiing he runs onto the lake bottom and pulls a giant drain plug from behind the beached ski jumps.
Even though several of Diehl’s friends who own resorts that weren’t affected by the disaster bought up blocks of Bartlett tickets and gave them to their own guests, he estimates his revenue is down 90 percent from a year ago. His 26 skiers had to find new summer jobs.
“A lot of people think we’re closed up,” Diehl said. “The hard part is getting people to cross the threshold and buy a ticket.”
The Wisconsin Dells Visitor and Convention Bureau has offered Lake Delton resorts discount tickets to other area attractions.
Gov. Jim Doyle has freed up $250,000 in grants to help tourist businesses statewide cope with flooding. The state Tourism Department has mounted a public relations campaign in Chicago and the Minneapolis-St.Paul area to dispel any perception that Wisconsin is underwater, and is offering discount deals on its Web site.
Plans are being drawn up to repair the breach and refill Lake Denton. Tourism Secretary Kelli A. Trumble said the water should be back by next summer.
In the meantime, Bartlett fans are left with the jugglers and clowns.
James Beckom, 37, of Beach Park, Ill., attended a Bartlett show on a free ticket from the Kalahari Resort, but said it didn’t measure up to the show he saw here when he was a kid.
“A little bit of sadness,” he said as he watched juggler T.J. Howell fling his “Machetes of Death” over his head. “I remember the place being filled up.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press Writer
LAKE DELTON, Wis. (AP) _ Not a cloud in the sky and the temperature is flirting with 90 degrees. Usually, it doesn’t get any better than this for the Tommy Bartlett water ski show.
But only about 200 people fill the 5,000-seat stadium on the shore of Lake Delton this day. No jet boats towing human pyramids on water skis, no laser show dancing across the water. There’s just a juggler, sweating through his sequins, spitting balls into the air and tossing machetes over his head to weak applause.
The production that bills itself as the greatest show on H20 doesn’t have any H20. The lake bed is just a muddy moonscape.
Ironically, this all started with too much water. Torrential rain in June blew a giant hole in Lake Delton’s shoreline, letting all the lake’s water rush out and take vacation homes with it.
Now the resorts, restaurants and boat rental shops that hitched their survival to the water are barely hanging on.
“We just have never seen anything like this,” said Dawn Baker, co-owner of Sunset Bay Resort. “Unless someone can come up with a fantastic idea, I don’t know.”
Chicago building contractor William J. Newman built Lake Delton in the 1920s as a tourist draw just outside a settlement that later became Wisconsin Dells, about 50 miles northwest of Madison.
Today the condos, cottages and resorts that ring the lake and the water parks, restaurants and hotels in Wisconsin Dells are a destination for tourists from around the country. Travelers spent more than a billion dollars in the area last year.
Wisconsin Dells is thriving again this year.
But Lake Delton’s prosperity went down the drain on June 9 as thunderstorms flooded southern Wisconsin.
High water washed out a 700-foot-long section of earthen bank that separated the reservoir from the Wisconsin River. The 270-acre lake poured through the breach, washing away a section of highway and five shoreline homes. Video of the houses breaking in half and floating away was broadcast around the world.
Now the three dozen or so business on the lake-turned-mud hole are trying to survive.
Sunset Bay Resort’s Web site implores people not to cancel reservations: “The view of the lake is not bad, it’s just different.” The first part is a matter of opinion, the second indisputable — instead of cool, blue-black water, guests see a muddy desert dotted by stumps, buoys and junk.
Baker, the resort’s owner, said her revenue is down 60 percent from last year. She said media coverage of the disaster didn’t help.
“We’ve lost a tremendous amount of business,” she said. “Watching those houses go in the lake over and over again, I wish it would just stop.”
Terry Jacobson owned two of those houses, renting them out as vacation condos and estimating they were worth $1.5 million together. He runs two other resorts in Wisconsin, but thinks the Lake Delton breach has cost him $30,000 in revenue already this summer.
“Our finances are a disaster,” he said.
Steve and Kathy Zowin own Lake Delton Water Sports, a watercraft rental shop. He has tried to relocate some of their fleet to another lake, but estimates 90 percent of their business was on Lake Delton and says it’s been tough to get word out that he’s moved. Business on July 4, one of the busiest times of the year, was down 88 percent from last year, he said.
“I can’t wait for this summer to be over, to be honest,” Zowin said.
Things haven’t been much easier for the Tommy Bartlett show, a Wisconsin fixture for decades.
This summer, a new banner proclaims Bartlett is now the greatest show off H2O. Owner Tom Diehl has filled the ski segment with a juggler and a man who does sound effects, producing the sounds of galloping horses and gunshots with his mouth. Aqua T. Clown is still around, but instead of skiing he runs onto the lake bottom and pulls a giant drain plug from behind the beached ski jumps.
Even though several of Diehl’s friends who own resorts that weren’t affected by the disaster bought up blocks of Bartlett tickets and gave them to their own guests, he estimates his revenue is down 90 percent from a year ago. His 26 skiers had to find new summer jobs.
“A lot of people think we’re closed up,” Diehl said. “The hard part is getting people to cross the threshold and buy a ticket.”
The Wisconsin Dells Visitor and Convention Bureau has offered Lake Delton resorts discount tickets to other area attractions.
Gov. Jim Doyle has freed up $250,000 in grants to help tourist businesses statewide cope with flooding. The state Tourism Department has mounted a public relations campaign in Chicago and the Minneapolis-St.Paul area to dispel any perception that Wisconsin is underwater, and is offering discount deals on its Web site.
Plans are being drawn up to repair the breach and refill Lake Denton. Tourism Secretary Kelli A. Trumble said the water should be back by next summer.
In the meantime, Bartlett fans are left with the jugglers and clowns.
James Beckom, 37, of Beach Park, Ill., attended a Bartlett show on a free ticket from the Kalahari Resort, but said it didn’t measure up to the show he saw here when he was a kid.
“A little bit of sadness,” he said as he watched juggler T.J. Howell fling his “Machetes of Death” over his head. “I remember the place being filled up.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Wisconsin Supreme Court rules against men in abuse case
Date: 07/16/2008 05:03 PM
By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by five men who claimed two Roman Catholic dioceses should have reported sexual abuse claims against a teacher before he moved on to a Kentucky diocese and molested them.
The lawsuit alleged that the Diocese of Milwaukee told Gary Kazmarek to “leave Milwaukee quietly” in the 1960s before he moved to suburban Madison and later Kentucky, where he is serving a 13-year prison sentence for abusing the five men between 1968 and 1973.
The high court unanimously rejected the men’s claims that the Madison diocese was negligent in failing to contact police or warn employers that Kazmarek was known for sexually abusing children. The justices said the men did not allege that the diocese even knew Kazmarek was teaching at a Catholic school in Louisville, Ky., or that the archdiocese there had ever asked for references.
“Reasonable and ordinary care does not require the Diocese to notify all potential subsequent employers within dioceses and parochial school systems across the country, along with all parents of future unforeseeable victims,” Justice Louis Butler wrote for the court.
The Supreme Court said the Madison diocese’s failure to warn potential victims in other states did not constitute negligence. It deadlocked 3-3 on the portion of the lawsuit pertaining to the Milwaukee diocese, but a lower court ruling throwing out the case on different grounds still stands.
“Obviously I think it’s unfortunate because this is a teacher that molested students in two different locations and went on to do it again,” said Wendy Gunderson, the attorney for the men.
Attorney Donald Heaney, who represented the Madison diocese, said it wouldn’t make sense for any employer to have to track former workers for the rest of their lives.
“We don’t have a continuing duty to try to find out who in the world needs to be warned about something that may or may not happen,” he said.
The Diocese of Milwaukee did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
The plaintiffs accused the Wisconsin dioceses of covering up the teacher’s abuse of dozens of children in the 1960s while he taught at Catholic schools in Madison and Milwaukee.
The men were among 243 plaintiffs compensated under a $25.7 million church abuse settlement with the Archdiocese of Louisville. They were all under age 15 when they were sexually abused by Kazmarek, a Catholic school teacher and coach in Louisville.
After the settlement in Louisville, the men filed the lawsuit in Wisconsin.
The appeals court ruled the lawsuit was barred because the three-year statute of limitations for negligence claims started ticking no later than the last assault more than 40 years ago. The men argued that they did not learn of the alleged cover-up until 2002, so the statute of limitations should not apply.
The court said it was unnecessary to address the issue of the statute of limitations as it related to the Madison diocese because the men failed to state a negligence claim under Wisconsin law upon which they could be granted relief.
Justice David Prosser did not participate in the ruling. He withdrew from the case following reports that while serving as district attorney in Outagamie County in the 1970s he declined to prosecute a priest accused of child molestation.
The decision raises the question of whether Kazmarek’s victims in Wisconsin will get justice, said Peter Isely, Midwest director for the advocacy group Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests. For that to happen, the state Legislature would have to loosen the statute of limitations, he said.
Mark Salmon, who says he was abused by Kazmarek in Milwaukee and who received $600,000 in a 1995 lawsuit, said insurance companies should force the Catholic Church to set up a bulletin board notifying other dioceses and schools when they fire sex offenders.
The Associated Press does not normally name victims of sexual abuse, but Salmon issued a public statement reacting to the court decision.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by five men who claimed two Roman Catholic dioceses should have reported sexual abuse claims against a teacher before he moved on to a Kentucky diocese and molested them.
The lawsuit alleged that the Diocese of Milwaukee told Gary Kazmarek to “leave Milwaukee quietly” in the 1960s before he moved to suburban Madison and later Kentucky, where he is serving a 13-year prison sentence for abusing the five men between 1968 and 1973.
The high court unanimously rejected the men’s claims that the Madison diocese was negligent in failing to contact police or warn employers that Kazmarek was known for sexually abusing children. The justices said the men did not allege that the diocese even knew Kazmarek was teaching at a Catholic school in Louisville, Ky., or that the archdiocese there had ever asked for references.
“Reasonable and ordinary care does not require the Diocese to notify all potential subsequent employers within dioceses and parochial school systems across the country, along with all parents of future unforeseeable victims,” Justice Louis Butler wrote for the court.
The Supreme Court said the Madison diocese’s failure to warn potential victims in other states did not constitute negligence. It deadlocked 3-3 on the portion of the lawsuit pertaining to the Milwaukee diocese, but a lower court ruling throwing out the case on different grounds still stands.
“Obviously I think it’s unfortunate because this is a teacher that molested students in two different locations and went on to do it again,” said Wendy Gunderson, the attorney for the men.
Attorney Donald Heaney, who represented the Madison diocese, said it wouldn’t make sense for any employer to have to track former workers for the rest of their lives.
“We don’t have a continuing duty to try to find out who in the world needs to be warned about something that may or may not happen,” he said.
The Diocese of Milwaukee did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
The plaintiffs accused the Wisconsin dioceses of covering up the teacher’s abuse of dozens of children in the 1960s while he taught at Catholic schools in Madison and Milwaukee.
The men were among 243 plaintiffs compensated under a $25.7 million church abuse settlement with the Archdiocese of Louisville. They were all under age 15 when they were sexually abused by Kazmarek, a Catholic school teacher and coach in Louisville.
After the settlement in Louisville, the men filed the lawsuit in Wisconsin.
The appeals court ruled the lawsuit was barred because the three-year statute of limitations for negligence claims started ticking no later than the last assault more than 40 years ago. The men argued that they did not learn of the alleged cover-up until 2002, so the statute of limitations should not apply.
The court said it was unnecessary to address the issue of the statute of limitations as it related to the Madison diocese because the men failed to state a negligence claim under Wisconsin law upon which they could be granted relief.
Justice David Prosser did not participate in the ruling. He withdrew from the case following reports that while serving as district attorney in Outagamie County in the 1970s he declined to prosecute a priest accused of child molestation.
The decision raises the question of whether Kazmarek’s victims in Wisconsin will get justice, said Peter Isely, Midwest director for the advocacy group Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests. For that to happen, the state Legislature would have to loosen the statute of limitations, he said.
Mark Salmon, who says he was abused by Kazmarek in Milwaukee and who received $600,000 in a 1995 lawsuit, said insurance companies should force the Catholic Church to set up a bulletin board notifying other dioceses and schools when they fire sex offenders.
The Associated Press does not normally name victims of sexual abuse, but Salmon issued a public statement reacting to the court decision.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.