Rough-N-It adds resort as campground lawsuit awaits ruling - corrected

LAKE VERMILION- Rough-N-It has purchased the former Vintage Vermilion resort on Lake Vermilion’s Black Bay, adding cabins and other amenities to its recreational program for veterans with disabilities and their families.
The resort will be a place where veterans with disabilities can spend time on the water and enjoy the outdoors. Its cabins and other amenities will complement Rough-N-It’s nearby primitive campsites, which offer a different experience.
Christine Wyrobek, who established Rough-N-It, said camping at the original Black Bay sites has been temporarily suspended because of the county’s threat to take legal action over the operation.
“The resort helps us continue our mission, but it does not replace the quiet, primitive camping experience our original Black Bay campsites offer,” Wyrobek said in a written statement.
The purchase has also found its way into the federal lawsuit Wyrobek and Rough-N-It brought against the county and Beatty Township. In an Oct. 16 letter, their attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell for permission to add information about the resort and a separate property tax dispute to the record. County attorneys objected in a response filed Oct. 23.
Blackwell has yet to rule on that request or on motions argued at a July 7 hearing. Wyrobek is seeking to prevent the county from taking enforcement action while the lawsuit proceeds, while the county and Beatty Township are seeking dismissal of the case.
The lawsuit grew out of a yearslong dispute over Wyrobek’s plans for camping on her Black Bay property. After county officials denied her request to rezone the land for a campground, Wyrobek maintained that a smaller camping operation was allowed under the property’s existing residential zoning. The county disagreed and sought to bring the property into compliance. Wyrobek, Rough-N-It and other plaintiffs allege in the federal lawsuit that the county and other defendants violated their civil rights. The defendants dispute those claims and have asked that the case be dismissed.
A new setting
The former Vintage Vermilion resort on Black Bay was purchased in October. Wyrobek plans to rename it, although she has not yet settled on an official name.
The resort’s cabins and gathering spaces will allow Rough-N-It to offer activities that go beyond the primitive camping available at the original sites, Wyrobek said. Her vision includes painting and crafts, sauna use and cold plunges, wildlife activities, hunting, fishing and other recreation. She also hopes to establish a gathering space honoring fallen service members and eventually host weddings and celebrations of life for veterans and their families.
The resort will be open to people without disabilities on a limited basis, she said, with the revenue helping sustain the program.
Wyrobek said Rough-N-It is looking to build relationships with other nonprofits serving veterans.
“We’re continually working to build partnerships with other nonprofits, offering a low-cost or free place for them to bring their veteran groups so their resources can stretch further and help more veterans heal through recreational outdoor activities at all of our locations,” she said.
One potential partner has already had a chance to see the property. Chris LaMotte, a Desert Storm veteran and social director of the Magnus Veterans Foundation in Dayton, visited the resort with his wife.
LaMotte said he and his wife appreciated the peaceful setting on Black Bay.
“I could see the resort being a great place for veterans to do small group therapy, couples retreats or just get back to nature,” he wrote in an email to the Timberjay.
LaMotte said he plans to organize a fishing trip for foundation members next summer. Wyrobek said she hopes to grow the relationship with Magnus and looks forward to working with Warriors Next Adventure, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and other organizations in the years ahead.
“Through all of this, our goal has been and remains to give veterans with a disability and their families welcoming places to spend time outdoors, reconnect, and heal,” she said.
The court filings
In their Oct. 16 letter, Wyrobek’s attorneys asked Blackwell to consider a declaration from Wyrobek and two exhibits addressing developments since the July hearing.
They said the purchase was an effort to preserve services for veterans and limit financial harm while the lawsuit continues.
The attorneys also want the judge to consider a separate dispute over a property tax exemption. Wyrobek and Rough-N-It filed a petition in Minnesota Tax Court in August challenging the county’s denial of an exemption for the program.
In their letter to Blackwell, the attorneys argued that the tax dispute provides additional evidence of what they contend is retaliatory treatment by the county. They acknowledged that the tax question itself will be decided in tax court.
Wyrobek told the Timberjay that the county initially requested information about how the properties were used, but later sought identifying information about visitors and veterans’ disability status, including for visitors in 2023. She said the later request imposed requirements the organization hadn’t known about when visitors came to the sites.
“We cannot go back and recreate information we never collected and were never told to keep,” she said.
In their response, county attorneys argued that the plaintiffs had not shown why the additional information was needed to decide the motions already before Blackwell. They also disputed the plaintiffs’ position on the tax exemption, which applies in part to property primarily used to provide recreation for veterans with disabilities and their families. The county pointed to evidence that the property had been advertised to the general public and said the plaintiffs have a remedy in tax court.
The county attorneys also questioned why information about the purchase of another property approximately a mile from the land at issue was necessary to decide the pending motions. If Blackwell permits the additional material, they asked for an opportunity to respond with a supplemental brief and evidence.
Wyrobek said she hopes primitive camping can resume.
“We look forward to restoring primitive camping when we can do so with the court’s protection,” she said.

Editor’s note: The original version of this story appearing in the print edition incorrectly identified Whispering Winds as the resort purchased by Wyrobek. The Timberjay deeply regrets the reporting error.