the Siege!

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to help cover costs of the Nashville lawsuit. 
 

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urging him to drop the lawsuit to block Mole Lake's  
power to protect its water quality and wild rice. 
 

Party with Burnt Toast & Jam at a Benefit February 20 
 

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February 8, 1999
For Immediate Release
 

David Takes on Goliath in Northeast Wisconsin

(Nashville, WI) The tiny Town of Nashville is standing its ground against Nicolet Minerals Company, a subsidiary of the multinational, multibillion dollar Rio Algom mining company. The company wants to build an underground mine that would be partially within Nashville and extract approximately 55 million tons of ore over the next 30 years. Nashville is leading the fight in trying to prevent that from happening. 
  
The current members of the Nashville Town Board were elected in 1997 in an election that had over 99% of its eligible voters participate. The previous Town Board had entered into a Local Agreement with the mining company following a series of meetings discussing that agreement that were closed to the public. The previous Town Board approved the agreement despite the fact that at the public hearing for formal approval of it, the number of citizens opposing the agreement ounumbered those in favor by a four-to-one margin. Chuck Sleeter, Town Chairman, Duane Marshall and Robert Van Zile won their positions on the Town Board in 1997 by pledging to open Town government to the citizens, to undo the illegal Local Agreement and to fight to prevent the mine from being built. 
  
The Town is presently involved in major litigation relating to the closed meetings held by the former Town Board. The current Town Board stood up for the rights of its citizens by rescinding the Local Agreement that resulted from all those closed meetings. The current town Board also rescinded a lease that gave the mining company rights to any minerals under a Town road because the lease was created illegally. As a result of those actions, the Town also faces a real threat of more litigation because of a "Notice of Claim" filed by Nicolet Minerals Company alleging that the Town's recisions of those agreements were illegal. In direct correspondence to Nashville citizens, Nicolet Minerals is implicitly threatening to bankrupt the Town through litigation. In reality, the Town simply refused to honor illegal contracts that would have given Nicolet Minerals a green light to construct the mine. 
  
The Nashville Town Board and a majority of its citizens are committed to protecting the Townís environment  and the health, safety and welfare of its citizens by standing up to Nicolet Minerals and Rio Algom. The Town has establised a legal defense fund to help cover the legal expenses necessary to defend itself. The fund belongs to the Town, as a public entity, and it will be used only for the public purpose of defending the Town against this litigation. Any contribution to it is considered a charitable contribution and is therefore tax deductible. The Town encourages those concerned about the environmental effects of such a huge mine at the headwaters of the Wolf River, and those concerned about the destructive behavior of multinational companies like Rio Algom, to give what they can afford to this fund to help protect our state. 
  
For more information on the status of the litigation the Town is involved in and the need to protect the Town's and the state's environment and natural resources, contact Chuck Sleeter, Town Chairman of the Town of Nashville. 
 

 

 
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