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Volume 126, Number 32
Glenwood City, Wisconsin 54013
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Grand accomplishment: Glenhaven
is ready for residents to move in
By LeAnn R. Ralph
GLENWOOD CITY — Although
the fire in January of 2014 was a
huge setback, the new skilled
nursing facility at Glenhaven is
now ready for residents to move in.
Located directly west of the
existing Glenhaven, the new
facility, officially known as
Glenhaven Long Term Care and
Rehabilitation, features 44 private
rooms — 33 residential rooms and
11 memory care rooms.
Residents will move into their
new home April 21.
David Prissel, nursing home
administrator, noted that the
community has been wonderfully
responsive and that enough
volunteers have been lined up to
help with the move.
The concept for the new
Glenhaven began in 2009 with the
board of directors holding many
meetings for strategic planning,
Prissel said.
“After 55 years, we needed
some updating and makeover
SPECIAL PREVIEW — Glenhaven administrator Daivd Prissel,
standing right with the microphone, addressed several guests during
a special V.I.P. Event held Friday evening, April 10 in Glenhaven’s
new facility. The private, pre-opening event was held to celebrate
Glenhaven’s donors and give them a “sneak peak” of the new facility
which will open next Tuesday, April 21.
—photo by Shawn DeWitt
… the (strategic planning)
meetings revolved around what
the community needed and what
the community wanted,” he said.
“The board also talked about
do-nothing scenarios. What will
happen to Glenhaven if we do
nothing?” Prissel said, adding that
doing nothing turned out not to be
a viable option.
Planning for the original
Glenhaven building started
in 1957, and construction was
completed in 1960.
The new Glenhaven is a twostory facility with four wings
that each make up their own
neighborhood with rooms for up
to 11 residents, complete with a
sunroom and large windows to
provide views of the ballpark,
the hillside behind the building
and the surrounding residential
community.
The idea behind the
neighborhoods is to create a more
home-like atmosphere rather than
the institutional feel of nursing
homes built 50 years ago.
In addition to the sunroom, each
of the residential neighborhoods
has a living room featuring a
fireplace and a dining room.
In the neighborhoods, the
dining room and living room areas
form an “L” with the resident
rooms.
All together, the new portion of
Glenhaven is about 41,000 square
feet.
The fire in January of 2014 set
the Glenhaven project back about
a year. Two-thirds of the new
addition was destroyed. The single
story portion of the new building
burned to the ground, and the roof
burned off the two-story section.
The fire resulted in extra costs
for the project, such as additional
interest expense and a general
increase in construction costs due
to inflation.
Atrium
The two-story atrium near the
entrance of the new Glenhaven,
with a comfortable fireplace
lounge seating area and two-story
Accomplishment
Please see pg 2
GC Council listens to report from Vista Sand
GLENWOOD CITY — The
city council entertained two
representatives from Vista Sand
at their regular monthly meeting
Monday night. Joe McKie of
Vista Sand and attorney Andres
Helquist of the law firm of Weld,
Riley, Prenn and Ricci, SC of Eau
Claire, addressed the council with
an update on Vista Sand’s plans.
However, they no more got
started when council member
Ken Peterson questioned them
about different names that appear
on documents regarding Vista
Sand’s agreement with the city.
Peterson noted that the original
pre-annexation agreement was
signed by the city and Vista
Sand, LTD. But, Peterson, then
noted, the amendment to the preannexation agreement was signed
by Lone Star Prospects, LTD.
Peterson also noted names of
GRJ Holdings and Vista Sand,
LTD were all involved in materials
that he found. All of these firms
are Texas identities, but Vista
Sand LTD was not listed with
the Texas Secretary of State. At
this point Peterson said, “We
should not speak any further
until our attorney, Terry Dunst,
is here.” McKie tried to explain
how the business structure was
constructed and that GRJ Holding
was the main company doing
business as Vista Sand.
Peterson also questioned who
signed the agreement with the
school on the Memorandum of
Understanding. Peterson said,
“Without the proper paperwork,
I don’t believe any of it now.
Continuing, I want to make
sure it’s legal and it’s a sound
agreement.” Peterson noted that
as part of the agreement, Vista
Sand was to make a quarterly
report to the city, which they
apparently have not done. Council
member Steve Lee indicated that,
“the documents have all been laid
out and the council has signed
them.”
Peterson provided this
newspaper with his information
from the Texas Secretary of State
on a taxable entity search which
indicated that GRJ Holdings, LLC
and Lonestar Prospects, LTD,
do exists, but that Vista Sand,
LTD does not exist and Peterson
wrote: both the Pre-Annexation
Agreement, and the Amended and
Restated agreement were entered
into with Vista Sand, LTD, a
Texas Limited Company, which
by all indications, does not exist.
This is my frustration.” He also
questioned if the Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) with the
school is valid because it is with
Vista Sand, LTD and Peterson
stated, “I am unsure if the MOU
is valid, since I have not seen proof
that Vista Sand, LTD does indeed
exist.”
Mayor John Larson noted to
Peterson that, “you have made
your point, and it’s a valid point.”
The attorneys will get together in
an attempt to have answers for all
the questions.
When will they start?
Several members of the council
questioned McKie about any
information as to when they might
start the Frac Sand Mining. But
McKie stated, “It’s all about jobs,”
and that they need to make a
profit to keep running. He noted
that with oil prices below the fiftydollar mark, “we don’t feel it’s the
right time with the way oil prices
are right now.” He noted, that oil
prices need to be above $65. He
also indicated to the council that
they would attempt to make a
monthly report to the City Council
on their activities.
Trucks may not be used
McKie reported to the council
that they are in talks with the
railroad about shipping sand by
rail. They would pipe the sand to
the rail line for shipment. “If we
connect with the railroad, this
would allow us to remove trucking
altogether and ship by rail.”
ONE INJURED — Former Glenwood City High School graduate Alyssa Harrington, 20, now of Eau
Claire, was injured when she lost of her 2011 Kawasaki motorcycle when the rear tire hit some gravel while
traveling on County Road Q in Tiffany Township just north of Downing around 12:40 p.m. last Saturday,
April 11. Above, Harrington, on the stretcher, was being treated by Glenwood City Ambulance personnel.
She was taken to Mayo in Menomonie and then transferred to Luther Hospital in Eau Claire for a knee
injury. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
Woman injured in motorcycle accident
DOWNING — A former Glenwood City woman was injured
April 11 when she lost control of
her motorcycle.
Alyssa Harrington, 20, of Eau
Claire and a 2012 Glenwood City
High School graduate, suffered
scrapes and a knee injury when
she lost control of her 2011 Kawasaki motorcycle while driving
on County Road Q just north of
Downing around 12:35 p.m. last
Saturday.
The accident happened less
than a mile south of County Road
N in Dunn County.
The Dunn County Sheriff ’s Of-
fice reported that the back tire of
Harrington’s motorcycle contacted some gravel along the edge of
the roadway while she was trying
to negotiate a curve at the top of
a hill causing Harrington to loose
control of the cycle which then
tipped on its left side and skidded
into the east ditch.
Harrington was taken to Mayo
Clinic Health System-Red Cedar
in Menomonie by the Glenwood
City Ambulance. She was then
transported to Mayo-Luther in
Eau Claire where she underwent
surgery that same day to repair a
ligament in her left knee, accord-
ing to her mother Denise Hanson.
Hanson reported that her
daughter had been wearing a
helmet, a heavy safety jacket
and steel-toed boots but only had
a pair of jeans covering her legs
when the accident happened.
Hanson said her daughter
was expected to be released from
the hospital yesterday (Tuesday,
April 14).
Harrington was cited for failure to have control of her motorcycle and for having no insurance. The Dunn County Sheriff ’s
Office also reported that alcohol
was not a factor in the crash.
Local election results are in
Town of Glenwood has a new
chairman
In the Town of Glenwood voters
chose a new Town Chairman by
eight votes, that gave Mark Maes
the top job in the Township. He
won over incumbent Joe Draxler
by a count of 114 to 106.
For the sideboard, incumbents
Barry Peterson and Rick
Obermueller won over Bill
McCluskey. Obermueller got 146
votes, Peterson received 122 and
McCluskey got 98 votes.
Michael Myers got 185 votes
to be returned as Town Clerk. He
was running unopposed. For Town
Treasurer, Audrey Maes won as a
write in candidate over the other
write-in Lori Obermueller, with a
vote count of 59 to 58.
Incumbents returned in
Emerald
In the Town of Emerald, only
incumbents appeared on the ballot
and they were returned to their
office at last Tuesday’s election.
Here Henry Hurtgen collected 106
votes for Town Chairman, while
Tom Wink and Frances Klatt got
97 and 92 votes respectively for
Town Board members. Running
unopposed, Barbara Prinsen got
101 votes for Town Clerk and Don
Prinsen got 100 votes for Town
Treasurer.
Fayerweather, new chairman
in Springfield Township
Dean R. Fayerweather is the
new chairman of Springfield
Township. He out polled incumbent
Chairman Bill Reusch by a count
of 110 to 87.
Brian Mahoney and James
Mahoney were re-elected to the
Town Board with votes of 184 for
Brian and 181 for James. They
were running unopposed.
Village of Wilson
Incumbent Village President
Dennis Cowan was re-elected,
as was Village Trustee Michelle
Nelson. Both received 27 votes.
They were running unopposed.
City of Glenwood City
Only incumbent members of
the City Council were running to
be returned to their seats on the
Council. For the two years terms,
Terrance Klinger, Crystal Booth
and Ben DeGross were re-elected.
Klinger received 187 votes; Booth,
172 and DeGross, 178.
For the one-year term on the
council, Steven Lee got 173 votes.
Both Glenwood City School
Referendums OKed
Voters in the Glenwood City
School District approved both
referendum questions at the April
7th General Election. The total
vote in the district for the first
question was 790 to 204 and for
the second question the vote total
was 588 to 305.
Two financing questions were
present to the voters for their
approval. The first was asking for
a bonding issue of $4,740,000 to
pay the cost of improvements to
building and grounds, heating, air
quality and ventilation and roof
upgrades at the elementary school
and safety improvements which
include relocating the offices to
create a secure main entrance.
The second bonding issue is for
$4,500,000 to support the cost of
improved air quality and energy
efficiency upgrades to the heating
and ventilation systems at the
middle/high school. Every precinct
in the school district approved
both questions except the voters
in the Town of New Haven and
the Town of Stanton, which, voted
against the second question.
The vote totals for each
precinct are found in the chart
accompanying this story.
For the two open seats on the
Glenwood City School Board, only
the incumbents were running for
the three-year term. Re-elected
were Dr. C. W. Rasmussen who got
720 votes, while Judy Achterhof
got 651. There were 15 write-in
votes cast.
Carol Breslin new chair in New
Haven Township
Last Tuesday the electors in the
Town of New Haven chose Carol
Breslin over incumbent Marv
Prestrud to lead the township for
the next two years. The vote was
58 to 49.
For the two members of the
town board, the votes approved
incumbents Jill Huber and Don
Election Results
Please see pg 12
GLENWOOD CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT
REFERENDUM QUESTION RESULTS
Question 1
Question 2
Yes No
YesNo
Town of Glenwood
159 61
135 82
Town of Emerald
59 17
52 24
Town of Forest
168 22
61 37
Town of Springfield
106 35
89 50
City of Glenwood
200 41
180 58
Town of New Haven
3
3
1
5
Town of Tiffany
30 13
23 19
Town of Stanton
20
7
11 16
Village of Downing
44
5
35 14
Village of Wilson
1
0
1
0
TOTAL
790204
588305
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