Dear Editor,

The greater New Glarus area is home to a very unique landscape, culture and populace.

We appreciate the Driftless area of beautiful hills and valleys. However, this landscape within the Village leaves us little flat green space. This fact has caused a domino effect to occur following the non binding referendum which places the Library in Glarner Park. This circumstance demands effective assessment for short and long range planning.

We, the New Glarus Veterans Memorial Park Committee, strongly oppose the stop gap decision by the Village Board to place the softball field so very near the Veterans Memorial Park space. This placement would guarantee that no further development of the Veterans Park will be possible. It will barely meet the needs of the softball teams and summer youth activities.

It appears that the majority of the citizens support a new library. We have need of a sports complex for participating adults and youth. About 60% of the overall participation in these programs comes from outside the Village. Therefore, we call upon the three major taxing entities, namely the School District of New Glarus, the Town of New Glarus and the Village of New Glarus, to solve this dilemma. The Village should not be expected to meet the space and financial needs of these projects on its own. Each of these entities will benefit in the long run.

Let the dialogue begin immediately without finger pointing or name calling for the betterment of us all.

Call on interested members of our community to assist with ideas and direction to facilitate moving forward!

Respectfully yours,

New Glarus Veterans Memorial Park Committee Members,

Allen Fjelstad, Linda Stolts, Doug Oppliger, Ron Kittleson, Bill Hustad and Bill Kuenzi