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The
Buzz: Bill Biletzke
Author: David Collins
Day Staff Columnist
Published on February 21, 2004
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Who:
Bill Biletzke, 40, of Mystic
Why you should know him:
Biletzke may well have been helping to keep a parking
lot near you free from ice slicks during some of the thermometer-busting
cold snaps and snowstorms this winter.
Biletzke is a landscaper who this year became the king
of Magic Salt™ in southeastern Connecticut, the
exclusive distributor for a product promoted as great
new tonic for the winter road blues.
He has sold his magic elixir to the Mohegan Sun, put
it down on school parking lots, sold it to colleges and
is negotiating with some of the other owners of the region's
biggest parking lots, such as Electric Boat in Groton
and William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich.
Can you sell ice melt in
July? Biletzke had his first introduction to
Magic Salt™ last summer, when a salesman for the
company stopped by his business, Mystic Landscape Services,
on Sandy Hollow Road in Mystic. “The last thing
I wanted to talk about in July was snow,” he recalls.
But come the first fall snow, Biletzke, who had told the
salesman in the summer — “show me” —
got a demonstration. He signed on for the regional distributorship.
Then the Great Cold Winter of 2003-04 descended. |
| Bill
Biletzke is the owner of Mystic Landscape Services in Mystic
and the exclusive local distributor of Magic Salt™. |
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What so magical about Magic Salt™?
It's made by blending an agricultural by-product of the distilling
process with the mineral magnesium chloride. You mix it with rock
salt. It's biodegradable and doesn't corrode salt-spreading equipment,
bridges or parking garages, Biletzke says.
It's environmentally friendly, since you only have to use half
as much salt and you don't need sand in the mix. Not only does
it clear up ice, but it even prevents it from forming if you pre-treat
with the liquid before a storm, he says.
“Rock salt is no good below 10 degrees. That's why (road
crews) had so much trouble this winter. You put this down at five
below zero and it will melt ice . . . It can melt ice up to 35
below zero.”
Sort of like cookie dough:
Homeowner-quality Magic Salt™ comes premixed in 20- and
50-pound bags, and Biletzke hopes to get it on hardware store
shelves soon.
The industrial-strength stuff is mixed with the salt by the ton.
“We spray the pile, then turn it over with payloaders,”
he says.
Spring can wait: “This was
a good winter to show what it can do,” Biletzke says. “It's
been a great year.”
Content © 2004
theDay.com |
