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Kenosha News Courier QWednesday, March 18, 1987Family peril resolved by DOTBykowski remembers well that June morning when she walked out into her backyard and saw a gaping hole, five feet wide and 20 feet deep.“The first thing I thought about was washing our horses on that very spot the day before,” she said.The hole was caused by the collapse of an old well, dug by hand and lined with rocks more than 100 years ago. When a later well was drilled, no one knew the old well was still there not more than six feet away.Contaminants from the old well leached into the new well, but the Bykowskis would not have known the source if the old structure hadn’t collapsed.Kenosha Health Department officials tested the water and told the Bykowskis they shouldn’t drink it, cook with it or even bathe in it.Five-year-old Sabrina Bykowski had suffered recurring illnesses for three months before the contamination was discovered. Now, almost a year later, tests are still being conducted to pinpoint the cause of her illness that includes, among other things, five bouts with pneumonia.“In the back of my mind I’m blaming that well,’’ said Bykowski.When a local well driller told the family their well couldn’t be cleaned but would have to be replaced, they called the DOT.“We didn’t want to spend $4,000 on a new well if our property was scheduled to be acquired,” said Bykowski.Within a week the appraisal process started, she said, “and a few weeks later they came back and made us an offer.”Bykowski, a former real estate agent, said she was impressed by the 50-page appraisal.“They were thorough. They even counted the fence posts and the brick sidewalk.The Bykowskis accepted the DOT offer for their property and ultimately bought a replacement home on County Highway NN.Theirs was the first of about 50 residential and business units to be purchased in the section of highway between Paddock Lake and 1-94.Acquisition of right of way in the Paddock Lake section of the project is already complete, and that portion of the rebuilding program will start in a matter of weeks.Donald Spenner, DOT real estate agent, said his crew is now concentrating on the eastern section.Most properties Spenner’sstaff will deal with are residential, some owner occupied, some rented to tenants. A few of them will fall into a business category.The relocation process begins with a personal contact by DOT staff to discuss the project and let the owner know that his or her property is to be acquired.By the time a second contact is made, the DOT will have an appraisal of the property and be ready to make an offer. Relocation benefits may also be involved in the offer.Spenner said his staff also provides leads and references for adequate housing. Other information could include federal and state housing programs or assistance to veterans.Each acquisition requires a different amount of attention, said Spenner. In the case of an elderly woman with no family to help, he said, “I was out there the day the movers came to pack her belongings.”Spenner said the relocation process doesn’t always please the displaced property owner “but we do our best.”Bykowski has this advice for other families that are involved in the process: “Ask questions. Don’t listen to rumors. Find out for yourself ”By ARLENE JENSEN Staff WriterBarbara and Leonard Bykowski knew their home at 19118 75th St. was sitting in the path of a new and wider Highway 50. Sooner or later, the word would come. The family of five would have to move.The move came sooner than expected because of a contaminated well on their property and warnings from health officials that the water was unsafe.Today, the family is settled in a new home in the Town of Brighton. The old home and its poisoned well have been bulldozed.“The Department of Transportation called us a hardship case because of the well,” said Barbara Bykowski, “and they really went to work to get our problem solved.”Bykowski said rumors flew thick and fast through the neighborhood when word came that the DOT was preparing to acquire property for highway right of way.“The thing that irritates me the most is people who won’t take the trouble to learn the truth. If I believed everything I heard about the DOT and their acquisition program, I would still be living on Highway 50, _ „ . ..... . ^ . drinking bottled water,” sheBarbara Bykowski with horse that escaped cave in said
Newspaper Details
Kenosha News Courier
Kenosha, Wisconsin, US
Thu, Mar 19, 1987
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Shirley M.
USA 11 Dec 2023
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