Norbert Orth, whose great grandfather, Johann Orth, founded his farm
in 1854, defended his right to land ownership, and Ed Klessig, whose
family owned the first cheese factory, were put in jail with a group.

     The early German settlers chose Wisconsin, because its climate
so closely paralleled that of their native land. Johann Orth came
over on a sailing vessel, which took two months to cross the ocean.
He spoke fondly of his hometown of Trier, the oldest city in Germany,
and how his family walked to St. Wendel, which is near Trier, and
the cruises they took on the Moselle River. It is believed that St.
Wendel Church and the naming of the neighboring Township of Mosel
originate from these beginnings.

     The expertise in farming of these early settlers was a great
gift to the area and was passed on to each succeeding generation.
The Germans, even a century before, were such good farmers that Cath-
erine II, Empress of Russia, invited them to the fertile Ukraine to
teach the Russians to farm.

     The fantastic productivity on the ancestral lands of the Cen-
terville farmers, and the Highway Departments lack of empathy for
rich farmland, resulted in the most historically significant hap-
penings of the Centerville Bicentennial celebration. Believing that
"Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed", the Town of Centerville voted
against 1-43. The Manitowoc County Board voted in favor--largely an
urban oriented majority. From a predominantly rural citizenry dur-
the American Revolution, farmers today represent less than 5% of the
population. Their vote cannot ever swing an election. They have
great economic power, but little political power. Farmers today can
protest "Taxation without Representation", as did the Minutemen
of
1776, who were largely a handful of farmers also.

     Realizing their weakness, the Centerville farmers made monumen-
tal efforts to arouse a public outcry against 1-43 by holding open
houses, public forums, debates, a protest walk from Sheboygan to
Green Bay, a meat and cheese sale, a public dance, etc. When the
Highway Department and the legislators still ignored them, they took
3 cows and a calf to Madison and parked them on the lawn of the State
Capitol. They were there for one month and generated much public
support from the people and garnered 22,000 signatures on petitions
against 1-43.

     The cities of Sheboygan, Green Bay, and Manitowoc then sent out
representatives to-persuade the Governor to build as scheduled,
Governor Lucey declared on May 18, 1976. that construction of the
1-43 as planned was clearly the best choice, and that construction
would continue. This was based on planning time spent and valuable
data gathered concerning costs and environmental impact of the project.

     If 1-43 is a reality in the Tricentennial, to the farmers who
are protesting its construction, it will forever be the changing of
God's green acres into a man-made thoroughfare over and above the
cries of the people that it was imprudent and wasteful.