Onalaska lawmakers are moving slow on an ordinance supported by police officers and landlords to allow speedy eviction of tenants convicted of drug or gang activity. Sgt. Keith Roh, an Onalaska police officer, helped introduce an ordinance to the city's Administrative and Judiciary Committee that grants landlords the right to evict tenants after five days if they live in homes used for drug or gang activity. Now, landlords must wait 30 days to begin the eviction process. Roh said he got the idea to introduce the ordinance after speaking with police officers from La Crosse, where a similar law is already on the books. [continues 518 words]
Lori Lynn Laxton will always remember the day her life took on a new mission: Oct. 29, 2006. On that afternoon, the Holmen native was about 150 days clean of methamphetamine, an addiction that controlled her life for three years after she tried the drug for the first time at age 40. She vividly recalls that afternoon -- walking around downtown La Crosse, absorbing the energy of young people at the library, visiting the Salvation Army for a free lunch and sharing stories with the folks there. Then, she says, three young men came up to her and they took a walk down to Riverside Park, past a memorial for a recently drowned college student. She picked up all the litter she saw, the empty vodka bottles and cigarette wrappers strewn around the park [continues 1552 words]
Attendees of the 35th annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival are proud of the fact they smoke pot. Considering they were doing it in Madison, Wis., why wouldn't they be? Madison has long held a reputation for being a marijuana friendly metropolis. Our town was one of the first in the country to decriminalize minor cannabis possession and also one of the first to pass a medicinal marijuana law. Studies show we consume cannabis at a higher rate than most cities, and those capable of ranking these things say we smoke some of the highest quality bud on the planet. [continues 824 words]
