January 1, 2014

 
Christmas Tree and Wreath Disposal

Public Works will be picking up Christmas trees and wreaths for disposal during the month of January. Please remove all lights and other foreign objects prior to placing these items out.

2014 John's Disposal Calendar Available
Johns Disposal calendars are now available to download or to pick up at the Administrative Office. The 2014 calendars show the continued schedule of Monday garbage collection, with recycling every other Monday and bulk collection on the first Monday of the month. To download the calendar, and for more information on collections, click the button below.
Thank You, Kenny!

We would like to extend our appreciation to Ken Cammilleri for his service to the Village as deputy administrator/clerk. Ken has accepted a position as assistant administrator for the City of Washburn, Wisconsin and his last day with Wind Point will be January 9. Since joining the Village in 2012, Ken has helped with updating the employee handbook, maintaining ordinances, grant writing, utility billing, office IT/website and more. We'll miss Kenny and we wish him the best in Washburn!

Village Board Highlights
December 12, 2013
  • The Village Board approved the 2014 Utilities Budget. The budget reflects a full year of the water rate increase and a total surplus of $2,458 for the water and stormwater utilities. The budget includes $64,276 for the water meter replacement project and $10,000 for stormwater related capital improvements.
  • The Board approved an amendment to the Personnel Manual to address two items: (1) clarify on page 5 that Police personnel are entitled to holiday pay when they work on the holiday, and (2) amend the policy on Overtime on page 6, allowing holiday time off to be counted as "time worked" when calculating overtime.
  • The Village Board adopted an investment policy to establish standards for investing Village reserves.
  • The Board referred an ordinance on group homes to the Plan Commission for consideration.
  • Five operator license applications and a well permit for 139 Terra Lee Ct. were approved.

 

Tax Payments Due January 31
The first installment or full payment is due January 31, 2014. Payments may be made by mail or in person at the Village Administrative Office during regular business hours.  Exact coupon tax payments can be paid at Johnson Bank (4001 N. Main St.). After January 31, tax payments must go to the Racine County Treasurer's Office.

The History of Wind Point and the Wind Point Lighthouse

For those of you who are new residents in Wind Point or for those who may not be aware of the history of the area, the tree in the photo (right) is where the history of Wind Point begins.  It was located near where the Lighthouse stands now.  It was a huge old cottonwood on the farm of David Felix, and the tree survived until 1910.  Called "The Sentinel of Wind Point", the tree became so well known that every schooner captain sailing between Milwaukee and Chicago watched for it, and when it was sighted, they knew the Racine reefs were just a few miles away.  According to legend, the tall tree was always blowing in the wind, and that is supposedly how Wind Point got its name. 

 

In a letter written in 1841 by Lorenzo Janes, land in the vicinity of Wind Point was taxed at 2 � to 3 cents an acre.  His letter documents the name at that date, but the Coast Guard always referred to the area as North Point. 

 

The first settlers in Wind Point found a dense forest all the way to the Root River.  They cut trees and sold the wood primarily to the Northwestern Railroad for fuel for its steam engines.  Schooners docked at Wind Point and at the Lamberton Farm on Six Mile Road, picked up lumber and headed south to Chicago.  Oxen carted lumber to a planning mill in Racine located at the site of today's JI Case office.  This trip took a day. 

 

A huge fire in 1867 and the consequences of that event for the Wind Point area will be described in the next newsletter.

(The above information was extracted from "A History of Wind Point", a book written for the 50th anniversary of the Village.  Over the next few months, additional tidbits of information will be printed in the Village Newsletter sourced from this book.)

Gardening in Winter
Winters might last several months, but we don't even have to stop gardening when there's snow on the ground if we don't want to. And I don't mean houseplants either! For diehard wintersowers, the beginning of winter gardening fun begins in December/January.  Wintersowing is the process of planting seeds in moist soil, in a covered container (often in milk jugs which acts as a mini greenhouse), and placing them outside. The freezing and thawing cycles that the seeds go through in the winter aids in germination. A few of the benefits of wintersowing are:
  • You don't have to fuss over tender seedlings that dry out quickly, or suddenly keel over from damp off
  • You don't need a greenhouse
  • Once you place the jugs outside you can neglect them until it starts warming up
  • You can get great germination from annuals, perennials, fruits and vegetables
  • Hardening off plants becomes a thing of the past

 

If this all sounds too good to be true, visit http://wintersown.org to learn everything you'll need to know about wintersowing. Gardening in the north is kind of exhilarating, if we can do that, we can do anything. And putting up with that much snow and cold makes us all that much more eager to get outside and garden when it does warm up, with a gigantic smile on our faces.


Source: 
http://www.coldclimategardening.com

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