TO: The Oneida County Board
As a small business owner in neighboring Vilas County for 32 years, I am outraged at the treatment/threats the Minocqua Brewing Company has received from the Oneida County Zoning Committee, picking up where the Minocqua Town Board left off.
I have followed this political farce since 2020, which started when Kirk Bangstad hung a large Biden for President banner on the side of his previous Minocqua business building. The Lakeland Times has published countless harassing articles about him, and the Minocqua Town Board has done everything in its power to put him out of business. MBC has survived due to its widespread popularity, and it/Bangstad continues to draw tourists and tourist dollars to the area. Our business operation benefits from the traffic and attention that Minocqua Brewing Company attracts.
Bangstad’s PAC raises funds for causes like education, human rights, voting rights, and equality. Those who disagree with him politically have directly targeted and punished him for his political beliefs. We ALL know why this fight from local politicians has gotten to this point. It is transparent. It is unfair. It is illegal, corrupt, and clearly an abuse of power. There are many of us in the surrounding communities who support him, who feel drowned out by all the vacuous hyperbole and violent rhetoric aimed back at us for taking a stand. Some of us think, if it can happen to Kirk Bangstad, will it happen to us?
As Americans, do we deserve to live in fear that our livelihoods are under threat because of our political beliefs?
Understand, legal actions taken on behalf of the Town of Minocqua and now the Oneida County Board make our area look foolish and irreparably partisan. They make us look stupid and gaslit by MAGA ideology. This is not the Minocqua-area America I intended for my children to inherit. The politically motivated actions against Bangstad contribute NOTHING to the success of our local economy. On the contrary, we have witnessed a steep decline in visitors wanting to spend time and dollars in downtown Minocqua because of the way the Town and County have unfairly targeted MBC.
It is more than time to treat Kirk Bangstad as a human being. He is a successful, educated, generous, and brave local business owner, who is entitled to equal treatment under all FAIR local laws and county ordinances. Further, I believe the County should embrace Minocqua Brewing Company for all its success in bringing tourists and tourist dollars to our community and help it flourish rather than shut it down.
Please put your politics aside and be decent humans! Vote to NOT shut down Mincoqua Brewing Company.
NOTE: Oneida County Board Meeting/Public Hearing on the matter is on Thursday, June 20, 2024 at 1:00 p.m., Oneida County Court House, Rhinelander, WI
For more information on this story: Visit https://www.minocquabrewingcompany.com/