Wolske Bay Christmas Island of Wonder 2021-2022

Menomonie Mayor Randy Knaack has been the most destructive force to come to Wolske Bay Park in Menomonie in the last 20 years.

This is the first in a series outlining how the Mayor of Menomonie literally stole a public park in Menomonie, WI secretly.  Well, there was a lot of lying on Mayor Randy Knaack's part down in the official city hall areas, where what was happening out here in the park was not exactly what Mayor Randy Knaack was doing or was planning on doing the whole time. 

The people who knew what was going on were the usual suspects, the Mayor's relatives, personal friends, and a limited number of local Menomonie business people.  Many of these people have made a lot of money through city-funded projects by having the Mayor as a "back door." Some have been successful at keeping competition and development stalled, delayed, diminished, or absolutely stopped for their benefit due to having connections to the Mayor of Menomonie.  But these are issues that are much too broad to cover here.

Instead, we will focus on Wolske Bay Park, which in a lot of ways turns about 20 years old as a park in Menomonie this year.

Wolske Bay has been around since 1958, created by landowner at that time as the spring waters of 1958 backed up the Red Cedar River to a higher level.  Much of the work on creating a peninsula here was done in 1959 and by 1960 the first Wolske Bay Marina was active.   Wolske Bay Marina had new owners in 1984 and new owners again in the 1990's.  

A lot of work went in to acquiring Wolske Bay Park in the early 2000's to add to city park system.  A LOT OF WORK.  This can not be understated.   Menomonie has also been fortunate to have been able to have grants to help purchase this area, one such grant is the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program.

Even in 2003, the city had efforts to improve the flow to help "reduce the stench."  Many "lake fixing" ideas were popular around this time and were implemented in the area, such as the "Barley Straw bales."  Mayor Randy Knaack stated in 2014 that "the lake was never talked about" before his eminence arrived.

Luckily,  public-spirited people and organizations helped to add improvements to the new City of Menomonie park, Wolske Bay Park.   For examples, the Menomonie Rotary clubs raising money to build the Steven Krueger Pavillion and the Tainter Menomin Lake Improvement Association which introduced a large shoreline buffer vegetation which is essential especially as the entirely of the now island lies in the conservancy district of the lake shore.  This habitat gave shelter to waterfowl such as the ducks who return to their nesting locations every year, the red-tipped blackbirds that nested in the islands tall vegetation, or allowed Lake Menomin's turtles a chance to lay eggs, among the many species that began to inhabit a well designed natural area.



Then along came Mayor Randy Knaack.    Who started pulling weeds and other assorted activities.   Then made up scumsucker machines,  asking the city to pay for it.  Then stealing the funds from the (state-required for Menomonie) city Stormwater Utility Fund to pay for the poorly thought-out and ill-advised dredging projects, which have cost the city more money where that fund is depleted.  The 2020 dredging required borrowing.

 

In 2020, Mayor Randy Knaack and the Christmas Miracle Winter Wonderland group created a hockey rink at 802 Tainter Street, the former cement companies location which is now a city lot.  With the "buddies" that were often sung praises in city council records by Knaack in the background, Mayor Randy Knaack spent his time doing in-office campaigning at that site over the winter.  However, after a lot of wasted water drawn off a city fire hydrant, and warm weather, the ice didn't freeze immediately to make the Christmas event good enough for Mayor Randy Knaack.  He wasn't getting enough attention.

Mayor Randy Knaack then proceed to slowly and secretly start stealing Wolske Bay Park as the spring of 2021 started to ensure that he could have his little Christmas campaign more visible and in case the ice didn't freeze for them at 802 Tainter St.


Parts and pieces from the Christmas Miracle Winterwonderland started to appear in Wolske Bay Park early in the spring of 2021. Mayor Randy Knaack simply stated he was "donating" some items to the park at that time.

Of course, in the first picture, the big green roller mixer (as seen in last use in 2015 here, creating a horrid smell) had been "donated" to the location for 6 years at this point. 

Here with no oversight Mayor Randy Knaack used city property for free storage for himself.  The roller component sat in this location for years.

Mayor Randy Knaack then began ripping out the shoreline vegetation planted by the Tainter Menomin Lake Improvement Association over 15 years prior.   These plantings had high praise from many landscape and environmental professionals.

Mayor Randy Knaack once again lied at city hall saying that he was going to be "cutting out invasive" plants.  Of course, there were no invasive plant species on the island at all.   No, Mayor Randy Knaack was setting the stage secretly.

Property of the City of Menomonie, such as the picnic tables used at the Christmas Miracle Winter Wonderland were "returned" but in less than desirable condition.

Mayor Randy Knaack avoided the parks and recreation department.  Instead of properly getting the city to open the padlocked chain with the key which blocked vehicles from entering the park, Mayor Randy Knaack and friends simply ripped down City of Menomonie signs and tore the wood bollards out of the ground.

In the spring, the ground is usually soft, Mayor Randy Knaack and his friend Jeff Peterson, with others, were not careful or delicate in their vehicle movements in the park.  Ruts were left in many locations and as you can see, the asphalt was damaged in some spots.  

This was all done without Menomonie Parks and Recreation knowledge.

 

 

Soon, the campfire "donations" started getting staged.

The Mayor started ripping apart the old bait shops interior and much garbage was left hidden from roadside view on this side of the old bait shop.   Note the color of the bait shop here, Mayor Randy Knaack was being so secretive and trying to hide his illegal operation the new paint on the bait shop was so similar that very few people would notice as the summer came in.

 

The Mayor wanted people's attention here.  

The growing shoreline habitat was wiped clean of all nature making it really easy for geese to make access to land without fear.  The Mayor of Menomonie is well known for making dog-shaped silhouettes to stick near shorelines to keep geese out and geese feces from being left.  Mayor Randy Knaack failed to realize he just opened up the door for them by ripping out the plants.  Pulling structure from the water is also illegal, which Mayor Randy Knaack did.

Mayor Randy Knaack doesn't follow rules, and does not comply with the law.  Even his vehicles did not have license plates.

The dangerous tripping hole left uncovered as Mayor Randy Knaack went about his secret operation.

Tire tracks and pushed up dirt remained like this.

Basic litter was always found around the park in more abundance than years past.

Tire tracks.

The wood pile of unknown origins then began to grow in size.  The lighter fluid bottles were left.  Even the empty ones were left on the ground.

The pile of garbage stayed hidden from view on this side.

The pile of wood then was added and slowly grew larger.  The wood was placed farther down the path to avoid being seen from the roadway easily.

 

The garbage pile remained for weeks with additions through all weather conditions.

The illegal landscaping will get regular people in trouble, but not Mayor Randy Knaack.

The mysterious pile of used bikes started to get stored unbeknownst to the City of Menomonie departments.

This brings us about a third of the way into this series of Mayor Randy Knaack's theft of a public park for personal use.

Upcoming, the later half of 2021......

Just a nice morning.

A little more dry with less snow coverage ending March 2020.   A relatively great last couple weeks to really look at the ground forms without snow cover or any vegetation growth.  The Trimble building really pushed it to the maximum edge, much like the Trimble residence in Wakanda Shores did (and got a DNR citation for it) to maximize the nearness to the shore.   Of course, this slope was in that shape decades back and it does bring it back out from the vegetation that had grown up on it in the preceeding 50 years, it really stands out here where we can see the new rip-rap in preparation for the lake level raises.  

That's pretty cool.   

But what is the that maximum slope angle that will last long term?   The rumor was there was a lot of debris used for fill, such as old cars at in this area.  
Main street was pushed out over it a couple times and led to an expensive reconstruction.  For a wider street which further distances downtown away from the lake through the barrier of the speeding automobiles on the river of cars.

The concept of the lake trail or path that would extend from LaPointe park, or the old city pumphouse location, and wrap all the way to Point Comfort will likely not get around this section without considerable expense now.  The best feature would be a wharf or pier out in the water but the sheer expense for the benefit of the public is very unlikely.

With a large section of the old trail system from a hundred or so years ago reworked in some fashion, there are really only slivers of anything before 1957 that might still be worn into the hillside for that real authentic connection to that particular past.

And even that "rustic" past, when it was current, was actually built with a "rustic" style at the time they were new in many cases.

Like most springs into summer, below the water is very clear at Wolske Bay.  Above, Wilson Creek has more current this time of year that has a more clouded silted stream.

This dock configuration is nice, but it would be nice to see more improvements for shore fishing on the outer bay, or lake side, of the Wolske Bay park.

How to start an urban myth

A fun series of investigations into local Menomonie myths would be great, any and all of them.  It's already something the Mayor of Menomonie has done with Wolske Bay, you know, the originating location of all the algae in the world according to his "garage-logic" lake "fixing" schemes.

But we know better.   We know Wolske Bay is just a really cool creation that came to be back when big 1950's civic/ business leaders of Menomonie pushed for a bigger, deeper lake that resulted in the overdue replacement of the wood dam backing up the Red Cedar River at an increased head level.  (And the "algae" that  appeared here on Lake Menomin before was still there after.)

The neighboring park, Lakeside Park, site of the former waste water lagoon for Lange Canning Co. was built before the lake level was raised, and it did contain high-nutrient waste.  The area was low and some preparation barrier for increased river height was made.  

In fact, the smaller area closer to the roadway has always been absolutely boggling.  Well, actually, here's some  pictures from March 21, 2020.   Where the water from springs to the north is crystal clear, the lake water crystal clear, there is this:

Now, the condition of the water in this area is always cloudy but the aquatic vegetation that separates it from the bay at the southern tip of Lakeside park seems to always filter out whatever is causing the clarity of the water in this somewhat separated pond.   The T.M.L.I.A. does not seem interested in this pond nor does the Mayor of Menomonie.   I suppose, it doesn't really have a name, it can't get a scapegoated public image from the political podium of city hall.  No one is down there making up solutions or getting neighborhood petitions for the city to do anything about this little bay.  No "look at me" option for the big civic and business leaders downtown to get the press for.




Maybe now there will be a something to it.   The urban myth of lead paint under Menomonie's lakeside park may start now:



You can see how good the "telephone" game really is at relaying information on the internet and that your real memory is maybe not as good as you think it is.  To credit, there may be Lakeside Aluminum or Globe Iron Works waste, for instance, that had something going on that did get buried, but they located more were to the south,  to give some credit to the "paint plant" pollution angle.  Even without confirming the information about the wastewater in the settling lagoon, the lead paint image over the park "for the kids" is a rumor that can spread into other interesting stories from this point on.

And it will lead to further Lake Menomin pollution myths, such as the goose poop being the cause of it all. 
(No, seriously, talk to people when you're out and about starting in June and you will find someone who will blame ALL the green colorization of the lake on goose poop near the shores of the lake.)

No one talks about the massive hog pen near here that was around before any of this, though, do they?



We saw that with the "Kentucky Fried Chicken Siren" internet joke post that led to genuine rumors of a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise coming to Menomonie.
(Since edited to highlight this was a joke.)


The particular funny part is the same joker is also complaining about the lake causing a lack of tourism.   But maybe the complaining about the lack of tourism because of the lake is also a joke? 
"Peter Gruetzmacher, owner of the Silver Dollar and Jake’s Supper Club, said there are plenty of reason tourists should want to visit Menomonie, but tourists are turned off later in the summer when the lake turns green."
 Now, we know the "turned off" later in the summer reason but it is too bad the "plenty of reason tourists" should want to visit Menomonie were never listed.