Kimball resident denies involvement in blast

By RALPH ANSAMI

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Ironwood - A elderly Kimball, Wis., man Wednesday described how his house was raided Monday by federal and county law enforcement officers in a continuing investigation of the Fourth of July blast at the nearby Northwoods Paving quarry.

Robert "Barrel Bob" Gollubske walked into the Daily Globe offices to complain about damages at his home he said were caused in the Monday raid.

Gollubske said he was handcuffed and questioned for about two hours before being released. He said his son was also questioned when they were stopped on the road near their home. The raid ended around 11 p.m., he said.

A number of state and federal agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were at the asphalt plant for much of the weekend investigating the blast that reportedly left a huge crater.

Any prosecution regarding the case will be handled at the federal level, according to Iron County Sheriff Tony Furyk.

Gollubske said 20 to 30 people raided his property off Kimball Drive with weapons drawn. "There were so many of them," he said.

He claimed two doors were damaged at the house, even though one of them was unlocked, and numerous huge ruts were left in the yard from the vehicles used in the raid.

"They said, 'We're not going to charge you right now,'" he said.

Furyk said the federal agencies executed the search warrant with the assistance of local law enforcement.

Furyk also defended the search.

"The entry to the building was done the way it was done for safety reasons," said Furyk, declining to comment further because of the ongoing nature of the investigation.

Gollubske, 78, who lives about one-half mile away from the blast that caused an undetermined amount of damage and was heard for miles around 4:30 a.m., said he was gone from his farm Friday through Sunday.

Gollubske was once charged with threatening to blow up the Iron County Courthouse because no action was taken by the sheriff about blasting at the quarry.

A bomb threat charge against Gollubske filed on May 10, 2013, in Iron County Court was later dismissed on a motion by Iron County District Attorney Marty Lipske.

Before that, Gollubske filed an unsuccessful lawsuit in an attempt to get the asphalt plant shut down.

In a lengthy interview at Globe offices and later at his farm, Gollubske continued to criticize operations at the asphalt plant, saying the blasts over many years had cracked the foundation of his barn and led to health problems for himself, his son and his wife.

"This was my retirement dream," he said, leading a reporter to a series of trout ponds on his property that he claims have been ruined by the blasting. He also formerly raised deer on the property.

Gollubske said he recently was blown to the ground from a blast near the quarry while walking in the woods with a friend and blamed Furyk for not having warning signs posted at that time.

Gollubske said he learned about the Fourth of July blast when his son, Matt, read about it in a Daily Globe story online. The story was published early Monday, the day of the raid.

Gollubske said he thought his friend, who had previously protested the blasting operations by carrying signs along U.S. 2, had also been questioned in the blast.

An attorney told Gollubske he would be responsible for damages caused in the Monday raid. He said the inside of the house and his son's nearby cottage were also damaged in the raid.

His wife was out of town at the time of the raid, but returned Wednesday.

Daily Globe reporter Richard Jenkins contributed to this story.