La Crosse Tribune

About 100 people jammed into a distance-education room at

UW-La Crosse Monday to hear filmmaker/activist Michael Moore talk via the Internet about his new film "Fahrenheit 9/11."

The event, one of hundreds of gatherings around the country held Monday, was sponsored by MoveOn PAC, which is working to defeat President Bush. Stoddard peace activist Guy Wolf hosted the meeting.

Moore spoke for about 20 minutes, thanking people for making "Fahrenheit 9/11" the top grossing movie in theaters last weekend. Moore urged people to find five non-voters and make sure they vote in November. He also said he wants people to vote for Democrat John Kerry instead of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who Moore campaigned for in the 2000 election.

After Moore's talk, participants volunteered to take part in local voter registration efforts. They also discussed plans to get out the vote for Kerry in November.

Kerry-ing on

Local Democrats must be a little disappointed that John Kerry won't be holding a rally Saturday when he comes through La Crosse County.

The campaign's focus is on a major farm rally Friday night in Bloomer, Wis., and officials are urging local Democrats to organize bus trips to the event.

Kerry's own bus caravan will roll through the Coulee Region making small stops in rural areas that appear to be geared more for the national and local news media's benefit than for the general public to see the candidate.

No word yet on where Kerry will stop in

La Crosse County.

But given the high interest in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, I'd bet my notebook Kerry will be back before election day. President Bush, too.

3rd and long

U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, has refurbished his congressional Web site, www.house.gov/kind.

"I think visitors to the new site will find it both informative and helpful," Kind said. "It has a lot of exciting new features, is more user-friendly and is completely free of those annoying pop-ups."

Meanwhile, state Sen. Dale Schultz, Kind's Republican opponent, is refurbishing grain silos in the 3rd District with his image. Earlier this month, the Schultz campaign unveiled a number of "silo wraps" around the district.

Standing more than 40 feet tall, these red, vinyl banners have a full-length photo of Dale Schultz in a plaid shirt and blue jeans with the text "Schultz Stands With Farmers."

"June is Dairy Month, and we wanted to find a breakthrough way to show how much Dale has done for agriculture in Wisconsin," said Jason Johns, Schultz for Congress field director. "We also thought it was a fun way to convey Dale's height at 6 feet, 5 inches tall."

Incinerator blues

Some of the same environmentalists who forced La Crosse County and Xcel Energy to upgrade the French Island waste-to-energy plant are now taking on the Barron County Incinerator.

The Sierra Club's Chippewa Valley Group and Midwest Environmental Advocates of Madison have filed an intent to sue Barron County for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act in federal court in Madison.

The incinerator, located in Almena, Wis., west of Rice Lake, burns municipal solid waste, but the environmentalists claim it also is burning other wastes in violation of its permit, emitting high levels of mercury, dioxin and other toxic substances.

Through its attorney, the county claims the citizen lawsuit is "ill-conceived and based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the underlying facts." The county denies there are any ongoing or repeated violations of its permit.

In La Crosse County, local environmentalist Guy Wolf and Midwest Environmental Advocates never actually filed suit. MEA's Melissa Scanlan convinced the Environmental Protection Agency that French Island was misclassified as a small incinerator, and should be treated as a large one, meaning it had to meet new pollution control rules sooner.

Reid Magney can be reached at (608) 791-8211 or rmagney@lacrossetribune.com.