Here’s a look at stories No. 11-20 on the Standard Press’ ranking of the top 20 Burlington area news stories of 2012. The top 10 stories will be posted to this site Monday, Dec. 31. To cast your vote on the top story, see the opinion poll on the right side of this page.
11. Clear-cut mandate irks local residents
A decision by an electrical power transmission company to clear cut trees underneath and near its high-tension wires upset numerous Burlington residents in the spring of 2012.
City resident Don Howell was among the most vocal and at one point vowed to prevent contractors from entering his yard to remove a tree considered by the utility to be a potential threat to the transmission lines.
At issue was a more aggressive policy on the part of American Transmission Company to remove any trees expected to top eight feet within 50 feet of the power lines.
Howell and others asked American Transmission Company to continue its past policy that featured a more moderate approach to vegetation control.
“We have updated our vegetation management in recent years … and we’re required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to set a vegetation management program, and abide by that program,” said Ann Spalpholz, a spokeswoman for ATC.
Spalpholz said the policy was in place across the nation because it was in the best interest of safety and provides the best potential of uninterrupted power service.
In the end, ATC won out and its contractors created wide swaths of treeless space where there was once abundant growth.
12. Residents escape series of spectacular fires
Residents of three separate local homes escaped serious injury and death in a trio of fires that destroyed two structures and did major damage to a third.
• The most spectacular of the three occurred on June 18 when careless handling of smoking materials is suspected in touching off a blaze that consumed a duplex at 372-374 Joan Street on Burlington’s north side.
One person on each side of the duplex was able to escape the building without serious injury.
The fire, which occurred on a hot summer day and was fanned by winds gusting to 40 mph, moved rapidly and had fully engulfed the structure by the time city firefighters arrived. Fire crews took a defensive stance and by the time the flames subsided, all that remained was charred rubble.
• Exactly what started a June 4 blaze at 963 Clayton Court in the Town of Spring Prairie may never be known. Firefighters from several departments turned out to fight a blaze that several witnesses said started with explosions.
Approximately 25-30 percent of the home was damaged, and the garage – where the fire started – was a total loss.
The Slupianowski family – Peter, Darlene and daughter Natalie, as well as six family pets – were in the home at when the fire broke out. Peter had just put away a lawn tractor when he heard a noise in the garage.
The family escaped mostly unharmed, with only one minor injury to Darlene Slupianowski, who was treated at the scene by members of the Burlington Area Rescue Squad.
• Four teens narrowly escaped with their lives when a fast-moving fire destroyed the Town of Burlington home they were sleeping in early Nov. 4.
“Honestly, within a minute or two more and we probably would have had four fatalities,” town Fire Chief Ed Umnus said two days after the blaze. “(The fire) moved so fast. They were definitely on the edge there.”
The teens – the homeowner’s 18-year-old son and three of his 17-year-old friends – were treated at Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington for smoke inhalation and minor cuts suffered in their escape and released.
While the exact cause of the fire will likely never be known because it consumed the house, Umnus said, investigators will likely label it accidental because the teens had been cooking pizza. He said it appeared the fire started in the kitchen area.
13. Ketterhagen is censured by School Board
Following a three-hour presentation on school improvement plans at the Burlington Area School District Curriculum Committee meeting in June, board member Phil Ketterhagen decided he needed to make his feelings known.
He called the improvement plans “a failure,” then said staff members were stubborn and fighting the new system. In making his point, Ketterhagen compared the teaching staff to farm animals, which he said sometimes needed to be hit between the eyes with a 2×4 to get their attention.
Ketterhagen’s comments not only served to further inflame the teachers of the district – whom Ketterhagen said deserved merit-only pay raises and therefore should be held accountable with no raises this school year – but also earned him a censure from the School Board.
The board voted 5-1 to censure Ketterhagen, with the lone “nay” vote coming from Roger Koldeway.
Ketterhagen had petitioned for the vote to be done by secret ballot, but School Board President David Thompson said it had to be a public roll call vote because of state statutes.
14. Cemetery is broke, seeks financial help
The Burlington Cemetery Association, which limped along for more than a decade since a former treasurer was convicted of embezzling much of the association’s treasury, hit bottom financially in late 2012.
Cemetery association members said there aren’t sufficient funds to tackle the long list of maintenance, repair and development needs at the cemetery along Highway W just west of Brown’s Lake.
While the Town Board declined a request to provide $15,000 for the upkeep of the cemetery, City of Burlington Mayor Bob Miller said the City Council will consider a similar request for funds and explore other ways it may help the association overcome the shortfall.
One option Miller doesn’t support, however, is levying a tax to get the job done – something the cemetery association is allowed to do under state statute.
The city was expected to take up the matter in early 2013.
“It’s a sad story … these are our loved ones (buried) out there,” cemetery association Secretary Bev Gill said of the situation.
15. Asphalt plant moves onto the former JW Peters site
In another instance of “Not In My Backyard” – literally in some cases – City of Burlington residents complained bitterly in May when the Town of Burlington gave its approval for an asphalt plant to operate on a portion of the former JW Peters site – a site that bumps right up against city property, but is actually in the town.
Residents complained about everything from the possible noise to contaminants in the air to the smell, with one resident saying that using cherry-scented deodorizer would simply result in “cherry-scented crap.”
The plant moved forward as planned, but in a bizarre turn of events, there were complaints about noise and smell before the business even opened – but no reports of complaints after it opened.
16. Local restaurants Veronicos and Cottonpicker close
With the cook at one restaurant facing continuing health issues and renovations staring the other in the face, both Veronicos and Cottonpicker closed their doors this year – Veronicos in May, Cottonpicker in October.
Veronicos’ chef, Jim Veronico, has been battling cancer since 2010, and the three owners of the restaurant decided to close the restaurant rather than struggle finding a new cook in a bad economy.
Cottonpicker, meanwhile, closed when owner Bill Foster decided to retire. With a looming $100,000 price tag to connect to the City of Burlington sanitary sewer and no family members able to assume the business, Foster decided to call it quits.
The Cottonpicker had operated at the corner of highways 36 and W for 36 years.
17. City and town fire department merger discussed
Facing a continuing financial crunch and wanting to look at a “new service model,” the city and town of Burlington began discussing the possibility of merging some of the services handled by their respective fire departments.
The city put out a request for proposals to study the feasibility of combining the two departments.
So far, the two departments seem amiable about the possibility, but Town Fire Chief Ed Umnus said it was critical to have the study done by an outside agency.
Changes could include options other than a full merger, including joint stations or new aid agreements.
18. BHS Trapshooting team wins second national title
A year after claiming the school’s first national title at the Scholastic Clay Target Program Nationals in Sparta, Illinois – winning both the overall and high school titles – the Burlington High School trap team won another title this July.
The top varsity squad of Myles Walker (98 of 100 targets hit), Ethan Kerr (99), Christian Jensen (99), Jordan Hintz (95) and Josh Crisamagna (92) tallied 483 the first day, trailing by just one target in the overall and five birds ahead of Arlington High School.
The Demons came home with three top-three finishes in trapshooting over the weekend – plus the High Overall award, which includes trap, sporting clays and skeet shooting.
The high overall award guaranteed the team doubled the amount that will come to the team’s endowment account through the SCTP.
19. Prominent philanthropists die
Two prominent Burlington area residents – men who had helped shaped their community in contributions of both money and ideas – died in 2012.
Dick Wagner died Jan. 1 of a heart attack in his home. He was 74. He donated time and money to projects both in Burlington and outside of the city, most notably Veterans Terrace at Echo Park. He also started the Wagner Foundation – an organization that sent equipment to Belize to help start an emergency response network there among other projects.
James Wanasek died Feb. 23 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. The prominent excavating contractor was considered by many to be the driving force behind ChocolateFest, which generates hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for community service groups.
20. School district hits a kindergarten crunch
While enrollment numbers are always a bit of a guessing game for any school district, Burlington Area School District found itself in a bind in August when it ended up with 221 kindergarten students instead of the expected 186.
With kindergarten now teaching basic reading, writing and arithmetic, the expected average class size of 28 students per classroom became untenable. The district came forth with five different plans, and in the end, hired five new kindergarten teachers – one each at Waller, Lyons, Cooper and Winkler Elementary as well as an extra Montessori teacher.
The cost came to about $290,000, money that was expected to come out of the BASD fund balance.
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