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| -Land of the Free |
| Wisconsin refuses federal order to close parks |
| 2013-10-03 |
| The state Department of Natural Resources on Wednesday refused a directive from the National Park Service to close a host of popular state properties because of the federal government shutdown. The park service ordered state officials to close the northern unit of the Kettle Moraine, Devil's Lake, and Interstate state parks and the state-owned portion of the Horicon Marsh, but state authorities rebuffed the request because the lion's share of the funding came from state, not federal coffers. State officials opted to keep public lands open as Gov. Scott Walker blamed both Republicans and Democrats for the partial government shutdown and said congressional leaders should run the nation more like Wisconsin. Democrats balked at those comments, saying the Republican governor has had a tumultuous tenure that has divided people. Even though federal lands such as the Apostle Islands National Lakeshorehave been shuttered, the DNR issued a statement saying all state parks, trails and other recreational properties were open and not affected by the federal government's budget problems. The agency also reopened a boat launch Wednesdayat Wyalusing State Park on the Mississippi River. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service closed the launch on Tuesday because it was on federal land. But in a sign of defiance, the DNR removed the barricades at the landing, saying it had the legal authority to operate the launch under a 1961 agreement with the federal government. On Tuesday, vast swaths of land were closed by the federal government because of the budget stalemate. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service closed all its properties, including the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge and the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge. The agency said that fishing and hunting on those lands were prohibited. The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest also was closed. But the status of hunting and fishing on the 1.5 million acres was unclear. DNR officials gave no indication they would try to stop the public from using the forests. On Wednesday, state and federal authorities came to loggerheads over access to state land when the Park Service directed the DNR to close properties in which the state and the federal government had a cooperative financial agreement. The federal agency provided the DNR $701,000 for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to the DNR. The DNR said the majority of money for the parks comes from the state and that it would use state funds to continue operations. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #11 De-federalize the friggin' government. Exactly. The Founders were all about keeping things decentralized, so as to preserve decision-making power at the lowest level. Gridlock and shutdown is a symptom of tyrants trying to impose top-down, one-size-fits-all policies that a lot of people don't want, and a sign that our government is functioning as the Constitution intended. Mr. Constitutional Law Professor would know that, if he had been educated rather than indoctrinated. |
| Posted by: RandomJD 2013-10-03 22:52 |
| #10 The Obama administration and his cronies are bound and determined to 'Make it HURT'. "How DARE the House of Representatives manage the budget and decide what does and does not get funded!" is, in effect, what Dinty Harry said when asked if he would pass the bill to fund cancer centers. I don't think even Hollywood could come up with a more slimy person than Reid - and they know slimy people! |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2013-10-03 18:29 |
| #9 De-federalize the friggin' government. :-( |
| Posted by: Barbara 2013-10-03 17:28 |
| #8 De-Federalise the parks. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2013-10-03 16:58 |
| #7 They think they have the right to do anything they damned well please, Alan. >:-( |
| Posted by: Barbara 2013-10-03 16:22 |
| #6 Where the hell did the Feds think they got the right to shut down state or private parks? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-10-03 16:05 |
| #5 "dictatorship" fits the federal activity quite well. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2013-10-03 11:00 |
| #4 ..given that they forced a recall election were the gov got an even greater percentage of the vote. Of course in most political entities where the people are not 'divided' are usually defined as a single party dictatorship. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-10-03 10:25 |
| #3 Democrats balked at those comments, saying the Republican governor has had a tumultuous tenure that has divided people. Said without a hint of irony... |
| Posted by: Raj 2013-10-03 10:19 |
| #2 I think it's ON Wisconsin. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2013-10-03 09:05 |
| #1 GO WISCONSIN! |
| Posted by: Griter Crart8496 2013-10-03 08:59 |