Governor Doyle Tours Ellison Bay
By Emily Matesic, WBAY-TV, Original Article at WBAY.COM
Saturday was the first time Governor Doyle saw the destruction of Monday’s explosions in Ellison Bay.
Two people were killed and several were injured.
The governor says he’s is ready to lend the state’s helping hand.
After arriving in Ellison Bay, the governor met with Carol Newman, the owner of the Pioneer Store.
Ellison Bay’s only grocery store was one of the three buildings damaged in Monday’s explosions.
Along with the Door County Sheriff, local firefighters and other volunteers, Governor Doyle toured the blast zone.
While he said the destruction was almost unbelieveable the governor didn’t have the victims of this tragedy far from his mind.
“The property damage will be rebuilt and we’ll work through to get all of that done but we really really are thinking and praying for the family of those who have died and those who were injured,” said Governor Doyle.
Because the Ellison Bay explosions weren’t natural disasters the governor wasn’t able to bring immediate help.
Instead, he promised to aid the victims as well as the businesses in the community anyway he can.
He said “There are great programs from the department of commerce that can help people get back on track. There are ways we can help facilitate businesses working through the small business administration to get fund to get businesses back and going.”
As the investigation wraps up, the sheriff’s department will start to add things up and put a pricetag on their response. That’s when the sheriff says they’ll look to the governor for help.
Door County Sheriff Terry Vogel said “This was devastating for the community, but it was also devastated a lot of departments here budget-wise, personnel-wise and we’ll see what happens and I’ve got faith in him and he said if we need his help we should get ahold of him, we’ll be doing that.”