Thank you!!

Getting past the holidays, it is time for the events in the regions to get rolling. I can smell the brats frying, chili simmering, and even the smell of the grass and flowers greening up for those early season fun runs and rides. I get to go to a lot of fun events put on by membership across this state.  But today I am here to talk about another event that took place a few weeks ago on January 14^th. It was supposed to take place on the ice of Little Cedar Lake in West Bend but the warm weather we have been having took the ice to task. The thickness of the ice at the time of the event was only 5-6 inches with some open spots along the shore and thin ice above the warm spots in the lake. I am talking about spending the day at the Randy and Janine Memorial Fisheree that took place at Nuckleheadz Bar and Grill sitting on Little Cedar Lake.

Just some background on this. I had heard of a crash in West Bend on HWY 33 and 144 that I wanted to get some information on. It was a crash in which the person driving a Miata pulled out in front of Randy and Janine, taking Randy and Janine’s life. I did do some work with the Sheriff at the time, making sure that ACT 466 was being used.

One of Randy’s other loves besides riding his motorcycle with Janine, was ice fishing and getting kids involved in the sport. I was told that he loved to share his knowledge of fishing with kids, showing how to catch fish and how to use the equipment. That was the start of the Fisheree.

Sometime after the crash, Ralph Schneider, Tim Sutter, and some others were talking fishing, maybe having a beer, when they decided they wanted to keep the Fisheree going and use the raised money to help support motorcycle awareness. Well, this is the 12^th time Ralph and his crew worked together along with Nuckleheadz Bar and Grill to get young and old onto the ice to try their hand at fishing on the lake.

The fishing action was hot!! The people that came to the event and walked out on the ice to their favorite spot were not disappointed. Some nice fish were landed and measured up by Ralph and crew.

If the people were getting hungry landing the fish, the people on the ice were fed burgers and brats that Kevin Meanor brought in and donated from Johnsonville. Thank you to Ralph, Luke, and others for working in the trailer on the edge of the shore keeping the food hot and available. Nuckleheadz had their kitchen cooking other great sandwiches along with a wide assortment of beverages.

I was also surprised again by the donation of a supply of gift cards from the West Bend Fleet Farm. They have been a main supporter of this event with their generous donations for many years. Many other area businesses like pizza restaurants, oil change locations, towing services were among a few of the other donations. Throughout the day meat raffles and a couple of 50/50 raffles along with football playoffs kept people interested in the action inside the bar while waiting for the fishing to end at 4. Thank you to all that bought raffle tickets.

Thank you to Michelle, Sally, Boyd, Laurie, Cherie, Steve, and I am sure I am forgetting others, for selling raffle tickets along with keeping track of the meat raffles. A large shout out to David and Ashley who did not venture out on the ice this year but stayed inside and helped with all the raffle items. Thank you to everyone that got raffle prizes sourced and picked up to be given away. Thanks Michelle, for getting things that kids would enjoy getting for catching fish. Thank you to Nuckleheadz Bar and Grill for letting us take over the place for the day to have this event.

We raised $3,256.26 dollars this year to be used to raise motorcycle awareness. My thanks to the unselfish efforts of this group of people that have worked tirelessly in raising this amount of money. Things done include, selling tickets, getting door prizes, donating all the food and labor and personal time to donate this much money to ABATE of Wisconsin. I am sure Randy and Janine are looking down and smiling, maybe having a beer, and in their way joining everyone on the ice and at Nuckleheadz. I am honored to help out at this event, words cannot express my gratitude. Thank you again from myself and ABATE of Wisconsin for the money raised and donated that will hopefully make the roads a little safer for us this next summer.

John