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To Slay A Giant

To Slay a Giant is the two-year struggle to get a Sulfide Mining Moratorium Bill passed into law in Wisconsin.

Exxon had discovered the ore body in 1975 and wanted desperately to get the permits to mine gold, silver, copper, and zinc near Crandon, Wisconsin.

But many people were skeptical, because this huge mining venture was so close to the headwaters of the pristine Wolf River. The proposed mine site was even closer to a small American Indian tribe, which feared the end of their existence, should the project be approved.

All the pieces were in place for arguably, the largest issue the State of Wisconsin had ever had to deal with. Common everyday people, along with professional, concerned citizens from all parts of the state joined hands with their ancestral American neighbors to challenge one of the wealthiest corporations in the world. This was a classic environmental confrontation, it was as grass roots as it gets.

John J. Mutter, Jr., an award-winning writer, was in the environmental trenches during this fight. He tells what happened and reveals many occurrences that the news media never found out about.

To Slay a Giant is an important book for anyone who is concerned about our environment and the protection of planet Earth!

The Hobo Poet

Out in the Country

     Out in the Country was a long time in the making. One of the stories was written in 1986 and another was finished in 1987. Years ago I had planned to publish a book of all my stories, which were a mixture of many different types of work. But then someone suggested that because I had a lot of nature related stories, that I should do a book on just them. Well, that was a good idea, but then I didn't have enough for a book.
     Through the years ideas came to me about new nature stories and I wrote about some of my personal experiences around our property. By
1996 I had enough for a collection of nature/rural living stories. I had even won awards for three of the stories.   But then I got involved with the battle to protect the Wolf River from the proposed Crandon mine, near Crandon, Wisconsin. I pushed my story collection aside, and concentrated on winning the war against the big mining companies.

On October 28, 2003, the Crandon mine saga ended when the Forest County Potowatomi Indians and Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa bought out the mining company -- lock, stock and barrel! The Crandon mine story was not a waste of time. I met a lot of wonderful people and learned a lot about politics and civics, which resulted in my book - "To Slay a Giant." Now, after seven years, maybe my life could return to normal.

By now I was retired and my health insurance was running out from my last workplace. I really couldn't afford to publish the book. But if I could sell some ad space, it would be possible. I asked some local businesses if they would be interested in buying ad space. Six businesses helped me out by buying ads in the book. They are: Country Store Foods, River Side Auto, Competitive Machining, Inc., Twigs Beverage, The Home Plate Café and Pine Acre Motel. These businesses are all located in the City of Shawano, or in the Township of Waukechon, where I reside. Their help played a big part in this book being published.
A century ago most of the people lived in the country. Today most live in the cities. Maybe you can't return to the country to live, but you can drive out there . . . and you can read about it!

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