Breast Cancer House Picketed

The Wisconsin Breast Cancer Showhouse for a Cure is not a likely spot for public protests, nor is its sylvan location at 14050 N. Birchwood Lane, Mequon, on the shores of Lake Michigan. However, visitors report protesters are outside the nearly 15,000 square foot McMansion claiming that the “House of Dreams” is the “House of Unpaid Bills.”

Shoreline Contracting Service, Inc., of Milwaukee, filed a construction lien in the amount of $12,007 on February 14th, 2006, against Dr. Henry Rosler and Yvette Nossig. The lien is for excavation of the monster home’s site. Another $45,000 lien from the same firm is for work done to stabilize the fragile bluff of the lake at the site, according to the contractor.

According to Jan Matuszczak, who owns Shoreline with her husband Anton Matuszczak, there were no complaints from the Rosler Nossigs about the work being done on the site — until it became time to pay. “Yvette Nossig said my husband did a wonderful job, and how the only thing Henry could talk about was how great the site looked. When it came time to pay, there was a different opinion.” The firm has been in business since 1950. Anton Matuszczak had done “quite a few lakefront properties” in the past, his wife said, with no complaints, until this project. As for the protest, she said, “we thought we’d send a message to Dr. Rosler and Ms. Nossig that since they’ve made our life miserable, we’d make their life miserable, too.”

Matuszczak said she and her husband notified the Breast Cancer Showhouse committee of their plans to protest at the site, and took pains to explain that they had no dispute with the charity. “There was no way we had anything against them.”

Dr. Rosler’s attorney, Thomas M. Gehl (Marquette Law, ’86) of Von Briesen & Roper, S.C. , says there is another side to the story. He dismissed the contractor’s liens as being “illegally filed” and referred to Ozaukee County Circuit Court Case 2007CX000001, “State of Wisconsin vs. Anton J. Matuszczak,” filed on March 19th by the state Department of Justice on behalf of the Department of Natural Resources, which contends that Shoreline did not comply with the terms of the DNR permit allowing excavation and bluffwork on the site. This case remains pending.

Speaking for his client, Gehl said, “we think it is reprehensible” Matuszczak has involved the charity in his protest.

More on the House

The owner of the home is listed at the Rosler-Nossig Living Trust. City of Mequon records show a 2006 valuation of $284,900 for its 4.16 acre lakefront property and $580,500 for the then-partially completed structure.

Taxes of $13,877 are paid in full, according to the city of Mequon Assessor’s office. News accounts indicate that Dr. Rosler and Ms. Nossig are a married couple, and plan to live in the 8-bedroom, 6-bath home with their three children once the showhouse is over on June 17th. The amenities of the residence include a yoga lounge and a gift-wrapping room.

The showhouse charity, in its tenth year, has raised over $2.6 million for breast cancer programs. Last year, the cancer group raised $500,000 at the showhouse, held in a diminutive and tasteful 8,236 square foot home in the city of Milwaukee.

This article was originally published by Milwaukee World.