Fishing ban focus of protest

Fishermen and women upset by a recent Fort Atkinson City Council decision that bans fishing along the riverwalk between the pedestrian bridge and American Legion Dugout plan to gather this Saturday to protest the ordinance.

The protest begins at 10 a.m. in the area of the restricted angling.

Frank Micale, the president of the Rock River-Koshkonong Association, said Friday that the event will go on rain or shine and that the organization as drafted a petition to ask the city council to revisit the issue.

On April 1, the Fort Atkinson City Council voted 3-2 in favor of the fishing site restriction after debating the ordinance for about a month in the wake of complaints that some people had difficulty using the downtown Rock River walkway due to fishing activity.

Those who spoke in favor of the ban reported litter, bait and even human feces strewn about on the sidewalk, along with fishing rods being placed in bench seats so the line to the water blocked the path. Most of the problems had been confined to the area between the pedestrian bridge and the Legion Dugout, where the walkway is much narrower than to the west of the pedestrian bridge at Lorman-Bicentennial Park.

Micale said the petition is not legally binding, but ban opponents are hoping Fort Atkinson residents step forward and sign it to persuade one of the three council members who voted for the ban to take up the issue, which is the only way it can be revisited.

The council members who voted for the ban were La Verne Behrens, Mark Zastrow and Jim Simdon.

“The petition is made to bring attention to those who voted for it,” Micale said. “It gets our point across. They don’t have to act. We just hope they will.”

(The full story appears in the June 6 Daily Union).