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Hello and welcome to In Wisconsin.
I'm Patty Low.
This week you have the power to change how this
national treasure is used for decades to come.
People think their vote doesn't count.
In this particular exercise one
thoughtful letter recounts.
Find out what's at stake.
Meet two of Tuesday's primary winners, one of whom will
soon greatly influence life in Northeastern Wisconsin.
And come to a small town picnic where folks hope to
share good food and gain a better understanding
of their neighbors.
Hispanic stand to keep themselves and white everybody
else kind of keeps to themselves too, which is kind
of, you know, kind of sad.
We'll also treat you to an early glimpse of breathtaking
fall colors in Wisconsin.
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And on University of Wisconsin Hospital is available on
the web.
And Wisconsin's technical colleges providing
local education for the crucial occupations
essential to our communities, Wisconsin's technical
colleges, communities first.
Additional support for coverage of the great likes
is provided by the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Tough budget choices are about to be made.
Choices that will affect a world-class
natural resource located right here in our state.
It's not often that we're asked our opinion, especially
if money's tight, while Joanne Garrett reports that
we now have our chance.
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It's an amazing place, hard to grasp in just one picture.
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It's the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, our
northernmost treasure, our state's only National Park.
Bob Kremynacher is the superintendent of the Apostles.
He sat down with us in our Madison Studios to give us a
better picture of the Apostles and what the place faces.
There's 21 islands and then there's this 12-mile strip
with a mainland Bayfield Peninsula and then a
quarter-mile zone of Lake Superior around every island.
But if you were to draw a polygon around the entire area
that includes the National Park, it's almost 300,000
acres, size of Rocky Mountain National Park out of Colorado.
So in some ways it's one of the big National Parks.
The Apostles is a park in and around water.
In fact, this National Lakeshore
is only two-thirds land.
The rest is water.
And water is a big part of what makes it so wonderful.
It's this little gem in the National Park System
and it's probably the best place for sailing or fresh
water sea kayaking anywhere in the United States.
It's an area that protects some of the most scenic and
most significant natural areas in the state, bald
eagles, black bears, highest density black bears, anywhere
in North America on one island, stocked an island.
Also the great sand beaches and red cliffs and then these
lighthouses. We've got the greatest collection of historic
lighthouses, not just in the National Park System, anywhere
in North America right now.
Okay, it's big and it's wonderful.
So what's up?
Well, they're in the midst of creating
a new management plan for the Apostles, an action plan
for the next 15 to 20 years.
At a time when money is tight and getting tighter.
The budgets have been flat for the last five or six years.
We can't predict the future but certainly what I can see
doesn't look very favorable.
The parks are publicly funded.
Your taxes and mine go to pay for them.
And the American people have time and time
again in the bipartisan ways that these are incredibly
important things to us.
But right now there isn't enough money to run the National
Park System and the Apostle Islands isn't necessarily
any different or any worse off than any other park.
We have had to reduce staff almost by one third over
the last five years.
Our operating budget has been
almost completely flattened if you adjust for inflation.
It's actually going down.
What makes the park special is part of the
problem. All that water.
When we are trying to provide visitor services
or just the mundane things of garbage pick up in most
parks you drive on a road.
In our park, the road is like superior.
Of course the cost of fuel is going way up.
And so our operating expenses
simply to operate a campground, to collect trash, to pump
human waste from toilets.
Our skyrocketed compared to the average national park because
we have to do it by water.
We're trying to reduce the number
of hours we put on the boats.
But that's only possible to a limited degree.
In order to do the job you
kind of go out there.
And that's not always possible.
Lake Superior has a mind of its own.
It creates a very short season for us.
Every single day where we go out
to do anything in the park.
The staff has a plan A, a plan B and a plan C
because the lake may or may not allow us to do that.
We may want to work on Devils Island today.
Well if the waves are coming from a particular
direction you can't land at the Devils Island dock.
What makes the Apostles special can cost.
Consider the lighthouses.
This is the Raspberry Island Lighthouse.
It's in the middle of a huge renovation.
The first in decades and it was
deteriorating terribly.
But the money for this renovation came about through
a special appropriation by Congress.
It's a one time deal and it's unlikely to
happen again anytime soon.
And consider there are five other lighthouses
in need of work.
The Raspberry Island Lighthouse renovation is a million and
a half dollar project.
My annual operating budget is two
and a half million dollars.
These places need attention and love and care and stewardship.
But there's absolutely no change in our operating budget for
staffing or for maintenance.
The real fear is maintenance.
We are raising it up to the standard that it should be at.
But that means that if we want to keep it at that standard
we're going to have to really be watching the paint and
the windows and the drainage.
And we can't let it degrade which is what's unfortunately
happened to everyone of the lights and it happened
to Raspberry itself.
People have high expectations of their national parks and
we want to achieve those expectations as much as we can.
We don't know if we can.
So this plan is a hard nose, looks
saying this is reality folks.
What do you want your national park to be and the funding may
or may not be there to do that?
This is where we, the people of Wisconsin come in.
Because the management wants their requesting our input
on their management plan.
What's most important to people are lighthouses more
important in fisheries, our docs more important in campsites.
We need the thoughtful input from people and people think
their vote doesn't count.
In this particular exercise one
thoughtful letter accounts it can make a huge difference.
I will read every single comment.
It's our chance to add our ideas to this picture of
the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore 20 years out,
20 years into the future.
The public comment period for the management plan is
open until September 25th.
You can find a link on our website WPT.org/inwisconsin
that will allow you to print out a comment form.
The address where you can mail the form is also provided
as well as an email address if you'd prefer to submit
your comments that way.
We'll bring you additional reports about Great Lakes
issues throughout the season.
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One of Wisconsin's eight U.S.
Congressional Districts is drawing national attention
this year.
The eighth district, which covers the
northeast corner of the state, is considered a toss-up.
In Comet Republican Mark Green is running for governor and
recent polls show Democrats have a chance to take
control of his former seat.
In Wisconsin reporter Art Hackett introduces us to
the two candidates who survived Tuesday's primary.
The eighth congressional district raised pits a
Republican insider, 19 year legislative veteran and current
assembly speaker John Gard.
Everybody is working harder, playing by the rules, and
they just want to get ahead against a Democratic outsider.
Everyone is saying the same thing.
The path our nation is on is simply unacceptable.
Green Bay physician Steve Kagan owns allergy clinics in Green
Bay, Adapollton.
Kagan took 48% of the votes in a three-way
primary. A contest where Iraq was a central issue for voters.
First, they want to see us begin to bring an end to
our involvement in what is now a civil war in Iraq.
Getting our troops home is number one of my list of things
that I would like to say.
When voters bring it up, Kagan is happy to talk about
Iraq, although he doesn't like to call it a war.
The war ended in May of 2003.
President Bush declared an end to hostilities.
So now what you're going to ask
me about is the occupation of once what once was Iraq.
Kagan chose to run for Congress because of another
issue. No surprise since he's a doctor, it's health care.
Yes, it's definitely more than I have no health care.
Democratic candidate Kagan's solution is a plan he calls
no patient left behind.
A combination of risk sharing
among the entire US population, income-based deductibles
and standardized policies.
I want to write a basic federal standard health
insurance policy that each insurance company gets to sell.
This basic health insurance policy would cover you
from your head to your toe with no cherry picking.
I believe we need to have lower taxes, limited government.
I believe in a respect for life.
And I believe that we need to stay focused on trying to
make our neighborhood safe.
Republican hopeful John Guards as his campaign is
all about jobs.
We found him campaigning at a metal
finishing plant in Green Bay.
We're here to try and help you reduce your costs in other
ways. So I'd like to hear that.
Our tax code, both for employers and employees, is not as
competitive as it needs to be.
We are still taking too much of people's hard-earned money.
I think a lot of people feel like they're working harder,
but they're not getting ahead.
Guards talk about the war too.
I think there are too many people who
underestimate the enemy.
I think our highest responsibility as Americans
in government is to keep our families safe.
The war on terror is a part of the war on terror.
So it's Afghanistan.
So it's going to happen in Iran with the
potential nuclear capability.
Both candidates have already spent over a million
dollars just to win their party's nominations.
And both still have six figure cash balances.
Numerous special interest groups are expected to weigh
in on both sides to influence what is expected to be a close
election. Total spending is expected to set state records.
We'll bring you more in the coming weeks on where guard and
Kagan stand on the issues, as well as other reports about
some of the key political races, including the state Attorney
General's race match up of Kathleen Falk and JB Van Hollen.
In the meantime, you can find out more about the candidates
who will appear on the November ballot by logging
on to WisconsinVote.org, our online election year resource.
We move now from politics to a slice of Wisconsin life.
Abbotsford is made up mostly of traditional businesses
like barbershops and hardware stores, much like other
small towns across the state.
But when Andy Soutz spent a day in Abbotsford earlier
this year, he found that the secret to success for one
business was to offer up a taste of something different.
Abbotsford is the kind of small town where the main
drag starts at one feed mill and hands it another.
In between, you'll find the hardware store,
barbershop, and the movie palace, and Estilo Mechiano.
Mexican style, that's what it means.
That's what I wanted it to feel like.
I wanted to feel like this was a store that
they picked up out of Mexico and transplanted into Wisconsin.
Store owner, Alyssa Lopez, is no transplant.
She grew up in Abbotsford, back when
she was known as Alyssa Rothgepp.
Then she married a Mexican man and moved south.
When I got to the point where the kids were ready to be in
school, and I mean be good.
And I really thought that I wanted the kids to come
back here to school because I like the schools here.
On her return to Abbotsford, Lopez found the Hispanic
population had exploded.
She felt even more at home.
It's always been very accepted into the community.
I've never had anybody say no,
you're not going to be my friend because you're white.
Lopez also saw a business opportunity, and today her
store is a vital part of the Abbotsford Mexican community.
When the shift ends at the pork processing plant,
immigrant workers crowd the store to find everything
from a favorite soft drink.
How do you think those are really popular lines to
mostly group flavored drinks?
To address, for the Mexican girls' traditional 15th
birthday right of passage, call the quincea?era.
It's very elaborate.
They spend...
they've got to spend thousands and
thousands of dollars on these parties at times.
They also send thousands of dollars back to family
in Mexico.
In transactions handled by Lopez.
Most of the time, they're coming here in order to
help their family live a better life in Mexico.
Helping customers keep in touch with family is a big part
of the business.
Phone cards are among the best sellers.
Customers can also call directly from the store.
And Lopez has just added web
access for email and even live chat between Abbotsford
and the growing numbers of internet cafes in Mexico.
But most of the stores products simply deliver a
small taste of home for people a long way from it.
There are how many thousands of miles away from home.
And I know that if I went to Japan
and couldn't find a hamburger, I would probably be upset.
I guess that's probably the closest analogy that I can
get to it.
This is what they like.
This is what they want.
Somebody's got to help them get it.
That means figuring what will sell and win.
Like knowing today is the feast of the three kings.
Everybody wants to know the bread to you yet.
The bread, pandelas ch?ceres, finally arrives from a green
bay bakery just in time to bring home for dinner.
Their little baby Jesus is about this big and they're
hidden in there and everybody, all the different families
get together and they all take a slice and whoever gets a
baby has to bring the tamales.
The new ones here, where?
I'll charge them here.
And then you don't want to see this?
No, it's not learned from the light.
Customers may initially come to the store to reconnect with
something special from Mexico.
But many come back because Lopez has helped them to
connect with their new community in Central Wisconsin.
She's a translator and problem solver for many.
Relaying information between dairy farmers and their
employees, between the county health department and clients.
And helping with that favorite American institution, the
department of motor vehicles.
I call down and I say, "What's going on?"
They sell, "It's you again."
Okay, let's fix it like this.
And that's usually what I get because I call
them too much, I think.
But Lopez is happy to help because she sees the
contributions made by hard working immigrants.
But without them, what would we do?
They run the farms.
They run the meat-packing plants.
They run the fruit-in-veg-stable farms.
I mean, if they weren't here, we'd be paying $8 a gallon
for milk instead of $3.
There's more needy days.
I have more people that come in
and ask me for favors than actually come into buy things.
But that's...
It all goes with the flow.
And if they're coming in to ask me to do them
a favor, they'll be back.
Some other time to buy some things.
And, you know, I don't worry about it.
It comes in it goes.
But I do know that there is probably very few people
in this community, in this Hispanic community
that don't owe me a favor.
And I call them in and occasions.
I'm 100 with dentist.
I think that they feel like I've made them a part of
my family, and which I have.
They've accepted me as a part of their family and everybody
helps out everybody else.
If we're unloading a truck back here and customers come
in, they'll come back out here and help us bring stuff in.
It's just the way that they are.
I mean, how many people would walk into the county market
and if they see the stalker stalking shelves, they're
going to help them stalk shows.
It doesn't happen.
It happens here.
It's a sangria.
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Six months after Andy Soth first produced that report,
he returned to Abbott's Ferd to see how successfully the
white long time residents and more newly arrived Hispanic
residents were integrated.
He spent the day at the annual community picnic, an event
designed to create a melting pot of the two cultures.
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At the Abbott's Ferd community picnic, Wisconsin cheese
curds are served up next to Mexican style corn.
Mayonnaise, cheese and cheese.
It's so much fun.
We try their food.
They try our food.
Another curd, please.
And the food is cheap.
It's cheap and it's good.
There's a beauty pageant and traditional Mexican
dancing, sand volleyball and a soccer tournament.
More Hispanic coming for this community and we've got it now.
Four teams for this area.
Abbott's Ferd Mexican immigrant population is
booming and businesses that cater to them are growing.
Alicia Lopez's grocery has expanded from a little bodega
to nearly a souped bracado.
She's adding a restaurant and just opened a
bar in nearby Colby.
We sell more imports.
We sell more tequila.
The jukebox is full of Mexican music and
set them on American music.
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But if the Hispanics have their businesses and the
whites have theirs, you might ask if Abbott's
Ferd is one town or two.
Very divided, I would say.
Hispanics tend to keep themselves and white
everybody else kind of keeps to themselves too,
which is kind of, you know, kind of sad.
Karen Eckert is covering the picnic for the Abbott's
Ferd should be on phonograph.
And spending some time with her son.
She knows that if the two communities of Abbott's
Ferd are to come together, it will be because
of the children.
The younger generation is the one that's doing okay with it
right now, you know, the real little elementary aged kids.
Her hair doesn't look right.
No way, not even her.
If the community picnic is how Abbott's Ferd wants to see
itself, they're making sure everyone's in the picture.
I guess we looked at Abbott's Ferd is being kind of a unique
place and this is kind of a change in the last 10, 15
years with having the Hispanic population moving into town.
What we thought would be a nice idea was to try and have
an event that cater to both the Americans and Hispanics.
Whatever people's views may be about immigration, it's clear
that there must be something good going on in Abbott's Ferd
to attract the immigrants.
I've put a good town, got a lot of jobs and here I am.
Right now, every day is more Hispanic community, but do you
know why he's come to people?
Because this state is beautiful.
Because in Wisconsin, you can work.
Because in Wisconsin, you have security.
Because in Wisconsin, it's nice people.
Welcome to the 2006 Abbott Ferd Community picnic, sweetheart
and princess coronation.
However nice the people may be, that sense of security
was threatened for many Hispanics when Congress debated
immigration last spring.
People in through a scare, there was a month that the
business dropped and everybody sent money to Mexico but they
didn't spend any money here.
Because we're all thinking, "Well, you know what, if
we all have to go back."
But it kind of died down, you know, different
stories came out.
Everything's just about back to normal and now they're going
to start up all over again.
What do you want to get what?
You're going down.
Whatever Congress may do about immigration.
It won't change the appeal of places like Abbott's Ferd, both
for immigrants and people who've lived here, their whole lives.
I talk to every day to, I don't know, about hundreds or Mexican
guys and everybody say, "I love this country.
I love Wisconsin."
I love the world.
In the hope of the day.
[Applause]
As Alicia Lopez mentioned in that report, many immigrants
living in Wisconsin are very concerned about what our
members of Congress plan to do during the fall session
about immigration reform.
Democratic incumbent candidate Herb Cole got the nod in
Tuesday's primary to run again for his seat in the U.S.
Senate. Last May, Cole voted for
the Senate Immigration Bill that passed with
President Bush's support.
The bill provides a path to citizenship for illegal
immigrants who have been here five or more years.
It more than doubles border patrol agents within five years.
It also provides an authorizes building a
370-mile border fence.
Republican candidate for the U.S.
Senate seat Robert Gerald Lorge says he
opposes any sort of amnesty for illegal immigrants.
He supports construction of a 700-mile border fence
and mandatory prison for illegal immigrants who
return after deportation.
Lorge would also vote to streamline the legal
immigration process.
Green Party candidate Ray Vogler is in favor of a
path to legalization that is fair and equal for all
immigrants, expedited family reunification visas, and
granting immigration work visas independent of any one employer.
Independent candidate Ben Glatzel says he would increase
funding for citizenship and immigration services with
emphasis on border enforcement.
Glatzel would also prosecute employers who
hire illegal immigrants.
Find out where these candidates stand on other issues by
logging on to WisconsinVote.org.
You can also see what gubernatorial candidates
Jim Doyle and Mark Green have to say about many of
the issues facing Wisconsin.
Tomorrow night, during the first of two We The
People sponsored debates.
The debate is live Friday at 7 p.m.
from Waukesha.
That's our program for this week.
We leave you with a walk through Mirror Lake State
Park in Sauc County.
For In Wisconsin, I'm Patty Lo.
Have a great week.
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Major funding for In Wisconsin is provided by The People of
Alliant Energy, who brings safe, reliable, and environmentally
friendly energy to keep homes, neighborhoods, and life in
Wisconsin running smoothly.
Alliant Energy, offering energy saving ideas on the web.
UW Health, providing specialty and primary care for all
ages throughout Wisconsin.
Information on UW Health Physicians and Clinics and on
University of Wisconsin Hospital is available on the web.
And Wisconsin's Technical Colleges, providing the people
of Wisconsin with the knowledge and skills they'll need
for the economy of tomorrow.
Wisconsin's Technical Colleges, Communities First.
Additional support for coverage of the Great Lakes
is provided by the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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