Cornell City Council - UTV club working for blue bridge access
By Ginna Young
Now that Chippewa County has opened many roads, including County Hwy. Z, which leads to Cornell, the local Cornell Area ATV Riders Club is seeking to have access from Z into Cornell. The route would be open for ATV/UTV travel from Park Road on Bridge Street, to South Riverside Drive/County Hwy. CC, all the way to Cty. Hwy. Z.
“I’m all for it, myself,” said mayor Mark Larson, at a Cornell City Council meeting April 4.
State statute says that it is up to the city to open those portions of roads, except about 300 yards of road is in the Cleveland Township. Therefore, the club wanted to bring attention to the matter, but is waiting to see if approval is received from the Town of Cleveland and for the county to get ATV/UTV travel signs up.
“They’re going to start signing the roads,” said Bill Kvapil, club president and council member.
The council approved a certified survey map for splitting a 40-acre parcel at 24988 State Hwy. 64. The land sits in the Town of Cleveland, but since the parcel is within a mile and a half of the city, the owners must have approval of a certified survey map, of splitting 10 acres off the southwest corner.
“I don’t really see a problem,” said city administrator Dave DeJongh.
As a way to get the word out about Sound the Alarm, Cornell resident and Red Cross volunteer Ashley Carothers was present at the meeting, discussing the Saturday, April 20 event. Sound the Alarm takes place from 9 a.m. to noon, in the areas the Cornell Area Fire Department serves, where the department will install smoke alarms for those who need them.
The event also offers bed shakers and strobe lights for those hard of hearing, or with low vision, with all the services free of charge. Resident can register by calling the department, at 715-827-2166, or by visiting redcross.org.
Each day, seven people lose their life from home fires.
“So, with the help of smoke detectors, we are hoping to cut that in half,” said Carothers.
Melanie McManus, Chippewa County Register of Deeds, was also on-hand, speaking about property fraud alert.
“We’re starting to see fraudulent transfers happen,” said McManus. “They typically are vacant land, because it’s sitting, people aren’t paying attention to it, but it does happen for homes, as well.”
If someone isn’t regularly on their property, a thief can contact a realtor and if that realtor doesn’t do their due diligence in researching the property, a sale can take place. At the closing, a fraudulent notary certifies the deed, the “seller” pockets the money and disappears, the actual owner is none the wiser and neither is the unsuspecting buyer.
By signing up for alerts through the Register of Deeds, an owner will get an alert if there’s a record of their property sold, which gives them a sooner time frame to seek law enforcement’s help.
“Does that actually hold up in court?” asked DeJongh. McManus said even though it doesn’t prevent the fraud, it does help the true property owner when they take the matter to court.
“Then, you have to fight to get your property back,” she said.
Because the council will reorganize after the recent election, the next meeting will take place Tuesday, April 16.
