• News tips, submissions
• Questions, comments
• Contact webmaster

• Malick is out as St. Croix County Board chair
• DNR lowers panfish bag limits in St. Croix County
• Hudson -- Emerald man charged with DNR crime

By Judy Wiff, Regional Editor

Clarence "Buck" Malick, who has been chairman of the St. Croix County Board for the last six years, lost the post Tuesday to Roger Rebholz.

Rebholz, of Hudson, who has been on the board for about seven years, received 20 votes. Malick, from the town of Hudson, got eight.

"I can't bring some of the credentials to the job that he did, and that's where you're going to be a part of that," Rebholz told his fellow supervisors after the vote.

He said economic changes and the resulting decline in county revenues will affect the county.

"We're going to have to cut our costs to meet those reductions in income," said Rebholz.

Before the vote he asked for support, saying his major objective will be "adjusting operations to meet current economic conditions."

He added, "The cost of operations is going to eat us up if we don't adjust to that."

"I'm going to try to build a more cohesive work-together board," said Rebholz, claiming that the best way to do that is to keep all members informed.

He quoted his mother, a parent of 10 children: "What people are not in on, they're down on."

He said his style of working with staff, committees and other supervisors will be "to be open and honest no matter what the consequences are."

Rebholz worked for 30 years in management for Cenex, supervising employees.

"I can honestly say you had trouble always if you didn't keep them informed."

Malick represents District 25; Rebholz, District 21. The County Board has 31 supervisors.

Officials with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are lowering the daily bag limit for panfish from 25 to 10 in St. Croix County.

DNR officials in Eau Claire say they are making the change in response to concerns raised by anglers.

The change, adopted by the Natural Resources Board last year, took effect April 1, and applies to all inland waters of St. Croix County.

Cedar Lake, which lies in both St. Croix and Polk counties, will be included in the bag limit reduction.

Lake George, or the Spring Valley Reservoir, in both Pierce and St. Croix counties, will continue to have a daily bag limit of 25 panfish.

Regulations on the Wisconsin-Minnesota boundary waters - Lake St. Croix and the St. Croix River - remain unchanged.

Panfish include bluegill, sunfish, crappie and yellow perch. There is no minimum length limit in St. Croix County.

The daily bag limit was reduced to 10 in order to maintain or increase the density of moderate-sized to large adult panfish, according to DNR officials.

In a few lakes with low panfish densities, DNR biologists hope to see improved recruitment.

St. Croix County, one of the fastest growing counties in the Midwest, contains 18 panfish lakes, all within a short distance of the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

Most of these lakes are small, less than 150 acres. Just three are larger than 250 acres.

Although panfish growth rates are at or above statewide averages, the harvest has been excessive and annual mortality rates are higher than normal for a healthy fishery.

DNR officials say that for years the public has expressed concern about overly large harvests and the diminished size of fish in many of these waters including Squaw, Pine, Bass, Dry Dam, Hatfield and Bierbuaer lakes.

A variety of St. Croix County resolutions and rule changes have been submitted and unanimously supported at lake district meetings and at the Annual Spring Fish & Wildlife Rule Hearings and Conservation Congress annual county meetings.

In 2002 a resolution promoting catch and release of panfish was submitted for Dry Dam Lake.

The DNR submitted a panfish bag limit reduction for Squaw Lake in 2003. In 2005, a resolution to reduce the panfish bag limit from 25 to 10 on Pine Lake at Baldwin was proposed and in 2005 the Cedar Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District proposed a panfish bag limit reduction from 25 to 10.

Because the public was requesting reduced bag limits almost annually for different lakes, the St. Croix County Alliance of Sports Clubs submitted a resolution in 2006 proposing a countywide panfish bag limit reduction from 25 to 10.

The proposal was supported 51 to 8 at the annual meeting.

Both Dry Dam and Squaw lakes have had a daily bag limit of 10 panfish for several years.

Wildlife officials say that preliminary results have been positive. Reduced bag limits have been successful on test lakes in Minnesota.

An Emerald man made an initial appearance in St. Croix County Circuit Court last Tuesday on a DNR charge for bagging an illegal deer.

Justin S. Kiekhofer, 18, 1669 220th St., Emerald, pleaded innocent to one misdemeanor count of failing to attach an ear tag to a deer carcass.

Kiekhofer was allegedly involved in taking a large 13-point, buck illegally near Boardman on Nov. 5. DNR wardens who followed up on rumors at New Richmond High School said that the buck was shined illegally and shot at night with a .22 caliber rifle.

Kiekhofer's pre-trial conference was set for May 6. The maximum sentence for conviction includes six months in jail, a fine of $1,000 to $2,000 and suspension of hunting privileges for up to three years.

Rigeland man convicted

Ray C. Stuart, 30, Ridgeland, was convicted of illegally shining deer April 10. He was fined $1,000, ordered to perform 25 hours of community service and had his hunting privileges suspended for three years. A charge of hunting without a license was dismissed.

The investigation report said DNR Warden Richard E. Rosen followed up on a hotline complaint that a buck had been shined and shot at about 5:30 a.m. Oct. 21 in the town of Forest. The investigation led to the discovery of a nine-point buck that had been shot and gutted near a country road and the subsequent charges against Stuart.