Bangstad menaces Minocqua but protest fails to happen

Minocqua Brewing Company owner Kirk Bangstad last week directly threatened to disrupt the town of Minocqua’s Independence Day parade unless county officials capitulated and gave him a zoning permit that has been revoked because of ongoing and repeated violations, but in the end no protests took place and the town enjoyed a full day of holiday celebrations.

Though the alleged criminal’s disruption never materialized — Bangstad is facing previous charges of criminal defamation, of criminal disorderly conduct, and of criminal bail-jumping — law enforcement officials said taxpayers would bear the brunt of the significant costs it took to ensure public safety in case Bangstad did carry out his published threats.

Last Thursday, the day before the parade, Oneida County sheriff Grady Hartman said law enforcement from across the state would be assisting. Some estimates put the price tag at $60,000 or more, though Hartman himself did not cite a number but said a final price tag for additional public safety costs would be available later.

Still, the sheriff said, the bill to taxpayers wouldn’t be minor: “It’s fair to say there will be a significant cost to the taxpayers,” he said.

While law enforcement and town officials wouldn’t divulge specific numbers, some estimates said scores of law enforcement were on the scene. Hartman himself said he had mobilized all of  his department, as well as drawing officers from 11 different law enforcement jurisdictions, in addition to the police departments of the towns of Minocqua and Woodruff.

“I cancelled all off time, and it’s ‘all hands on deck’ for this event,” Hartman said. “We are still firming up our assisting agencies but so far state patrol, Ozaukee County, Marathon County, Lincoln County, Vilas County, Waukesha County, Somerset County, Wood County, Adams County, Oconto County, Langlade County.”

Minocqua town chairman Mark Hartzheim acknowledged that additional steps were being taken.

“There is intense coordination taking place between the town and other law enforcement agencies, including county and state,” Hartzheim said. “A significant contingent of personnel will be present, some highly visible and some positioned less prominently but capable of rapid response. There will be plain clothes law enforcement officers in various positions. Transport vehicles will be staged in the event of mass arrests. So, as you can imagine, some of these details we’d rather not publicize, but safe to say that area law enforcement agencies, along with the town’s fire and public works departments, are taking a well-coordinated approach to manage any situations that may arise.”

Also on Thursday Krystal Westfahl, the president and CEO of the Greater Minocqua Area Visitors Bureau, said the bureau and the town were confident they could handle the protests, if any should occur.

“The show goes on,” Westfahl told The Lakeland Times. “We are well-prepared. … Basically, we have just a few extra vehicles at key points. Honestly, we already had this pretty well locked down well before these shenanigans started. We had a PETA threat during Beef-A-Rama a few years back, and that helped us establish a plan for the community.”

The threat

The threats to disrupt the parade began on July 1 after Bangstad was arrested on June 27 at the Minocqua Brewing Company for disorderly conduct, bail-jumping, and harassment. Six others were also arrested for disorderly conduct, specifically for engaging in loud and boisterous conduct and shouting profanities at Lakeland Times publisher Gregg Walker as he left the newspaper’s office across the street for the day.

In a July 1 post, Bangstad began by issuing a call on Facebook to protest the arrests, as well as the budget reconciliation bill passed by Congress.

“If we can get 100 people to commit to show up to our taproom this Friday to block the 4th of July Parade from happening in Minocqua — not only to protest the unconscionable and illegal arrest of our customers by Oneida County sheriff Grady Hartman last Friday, but to also protest the recent passage of a corrupt federal budget that will hurt all working people in the state of Wisconsin — then we will move forward with our plan to peacefully shut down Minocqua’s July 4th parade at 4 pm this coming Friday,” Bangstad wrote. “Minocqua and America don’t deserve a celebration after our local government illegally arrested and jailed peaceful teachers and doctors who were simply enjoying cold beers in our beer garden, and after our federal government passed a bill that will literally k*ll Wisconsinites in order to redistribute wealth to the rich.”

Toward the end of the post, though, Bangstad wrote he would not follow through with the parade disruption if Oneida County simply issued his zoning permit to him, which, again, has been revoked for ongoing and repeated violations.

“If the county signs our settlement agreement that was submitted to county attorney Mike Fugle and Andrew Jones weeks ago, and sheriff Hartman formally apologizes to our five customers that he traumatized last Friday by falsely imprisoning them, we will give Minocqua its Fourth of July parade back,” he wrote.

Bangstad asked potential protesters to email the Minocqua Brewing Company “so we can further organize you.” 

On July 2, he made another post to explain why he thought shutting down the parade was a good idea.

“In a word…discomfort,” he wrote.

Bangstad then listed ongoing complaints that he has been treated differently from other business owners with respect to permits, which he called zoning abuse. It should be noted that a federal judge, James Peterson, recently denied Bangstad’s motions to have the federal court compel the county to issue him a permit, or to reinstate the revoked one, through a preliminary injunction, saying it was undisputed that Bangstad and MBC had failed to comply with multiple conditions of the permit and that Bangstad had not not identified similarly situated businesses that were allowed to keep their permits despite multiple violations.

Bangstad also said in the July 2 post that his recent arrest and those of his patrons was “the last straw.” The Minocqua Brewing Company owner observed that he wrote the town board and county board chairman, again demanding “that they must stop harassing my company and allow me to peacefully do business like every other business in town.”

He also wrote that the protest was necessary because he no longer believed “that my rights and the rights of my customers will be protected by judges in Wisconsin.” 

Bangstad threatened to surround local political officials.

“Although I haven’t planned all the particulars of our protest, I’m envisioning that hundreds of us will simply form a circle around each of these politicians and local policemen, which will stop the parade, and ask them a few questions,” he wrote.

Also in that post, Bangstad wrote that his Super PAC would cover the cost of getting arrested.

“Now, to pull this off, I’m gonna need some help, as you can imagine,” he wrote. “My statewide political organizer is helping me, but she’ll need a few captains.”

Bangstad wrote that someone was needed, among other things, to map out the logistics of the parade and when and where politicians/policemen would be marching.

“If the police are heavy handed and arrest us, we’ll need someone to organize bail and help get us out of jail (our Super PAC will post bail for all protesters involved, so don’t worry about that),” he wrote.

On July 3, Bangstad made another post, including an email he sent to the “power structure” of the town of Minocqua and Oneida County, urging holiday revelers to go elsewhere for the day.

“For those grandmothers who want their children to have fun at a 4th of July parade, I suggest you go to the one in Eagle River, Lake Tom, or any town north or south of Minocqua, because we only plan to PEACEFULLY PROTEST the Minocqua parade,” he wrote. “For the politicians — Mark Hartheim [sic], Congressman Tom Tiffany, Assemblyman Rob Swearingen, Senator Mary Felzkowski, I suggest you be prepared to answer a few tough questions if you choose to walk in this parade — and if you don’t answer those questions, the parade ain’t gonna move forward.”

Bangstad also said he was mobilizing a fleet of protesters from outside the area.

“Within a few hours of posting my protest idea on Facebook, people in Milwaukee and Madison volunteered to rent and fill busses of protesters to come up to Minocqua, as well as commitments from a growing number of locals to participate — especially friends of the folks you falsely imprisoned,” he wrote.