Bloomer city council approves therapy dog for police department

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NEWS OF NOTE FROM OUR NEIGHBORS

Bloomer Advance

At its meeting on Wednesday, February 23, the Bloomer City Council approved a therapy dog for the Bloomer Police Department. The approval came after a presentation by Bloomer Police Chief Jared Zwiefelhofer, who reported on several area police departments that are implementing therapy dogs. A few places that already have such dogs are Dunn County, Menomonie Police Department, and Altoona Police Department. He also told the council that Sgt. John Beyer has been training the dog named Keeta, to get her well enough trained to become a certified ther – apy dog. Beyer is the school resource officer and the dog would go to school with him. The Bloomer School District is in favor of a therapy dog, as long as she is an AKC certified therapy dog. The police chief reported that the department is already receiving donations for the therapy dog program. Her shots are paid for and Purina is willing to donate her dog food. When asked by a council member the difference between a working dog and a therapy dog, the chief explained that a working dog’s job is to sniff out drugs and a therapy dog is there to be petted and provide comfort and support to people during stressful times. One major difference between the two type dogs is that a therapy dog can work with multiple officers, while the drug dog has one handler.

The Thorp Courier

In 2020, the Thorp Ag Department received a grant in the amount of $15,000, from the Bayer Fund Grow Rural Education. The grant provided funding to add an aquaponics system and extend the lean to greenhouse, which has allowed the teaching of food production. The funding allowed adding a Home Garden, which is a classic aquaponic raft system in which can be grown a variety of crops such as tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and many other types of produce. The Home Garden is expected to provide over 200 pounds of fish and 1,350 to 2,160 heads of lettuce and lots of other fresh veggies every year. +++ Thorp FFA members celebrated National FFA Week (February 19-26), by participating in a week long bean bag tournament. They also constructed a 20-foot banana split for the middle school and then extended it another 20-feet for the high school students.

Courier Sentinel

Lake Holcombe’s buses are running through the end of the school year, but after July 30th a new provider will need to be in place for the 2022-23 school year. Gilbertson Transit, LLC, informed the district they will not pursue a contract extension or a new contract to provide bussing services. The school board has authorized the district administrator to move forward with contract negotiations to obtain bussing services. +++ The Cadott School Board has funds budgeted, and approved the purchase of new KIA van in order to update a 2007 model, which has 138,000 miles on it. The problem may be getting the new vehicle desired within the fiscal year, although KIA estimated delivery in around 8 weeks, versus 8 months for several other models. The school board was told, “KIA’s got the best warranty and the most options for, more or less, the base model, for the least amount of price.” +++ The Cornell Public Library has a new library director. She is Lori Oemig, who grew up in the community and had been a radiation therapist the past 15 years. She will be working on her librarian certification through the UW-Madison. Her biggest goals are to get the summer reading program and the children’s reading programming going again.

O-W Enterprise Martin's Fresh Market grocery store is projecting finishing the remodeling, updates and expansions making it possible to reopen for business on Thursday, March 10. The store that replaces the Family Foods, formerly operated by Scott & Lori Jalling, will be having expanded lines of fresh produce, fresh meats and more frozen items. +++ The Owen City Council rejected the idea of increasing the rent on its Millpond Park rentals, instead feeling they want the facilities to remain affordable for people.

The Tribune-Phonograph In an effort to encourage more volunteers to work on call night and weekend shifts, the Abby/Colby Area – Central Fire and EMS Board has passed a $2 wage for on call hours. +++ Abbotsford high school principal, Melissa Pilgrim floated out the idea, to the school board, about making 20 hours of community service hours mandatory for graduation. She pointed out that divided by four years of high school, that is just 5 hours per year.

The Sentinel & Rural News

Grace Dale, advanced emergency medical technician with the Owen-Withee-Curtiss Fire & EMS District, nominated the O-W-C Fire and EMS district for a $1,000 grant through the Security Health Plan Employee Driven Corporate Giving grant. The $1,000 will go towards purchasing an upgraded defibrillator machine that will be placed in their third ambulance. +++ The Owen-Withee Lions held their 20th Annual Ice Fishing Contest on Sunday, March 6, at the Owen Mill Pond and they also used the Old School Gymnasium for other activities.

The Clark County Press

Moving back to pre-pandemic scheduling, the Neillsville School District’s 4K is returning to four half days per week. This is moving away from their having gone to offering two full-days per week. +++ Having clean, well-fitting clothing to wear is im portant to helping a person look and feel their best. The Fiends of Rachel Club at Neillsville High School wants to make sure that is a reality for every student in school. To that end, the club has put in the effort to organize and spruce up Rachel’s’ Closet, a place at school where students can get clothing, shoes and personal hygiene items.

Tri-County – Area Times

The Augusta School District is gathering public input and developing options for a potential facilities referendum this fall. The school board is considering some options for a potential November referendum and are currently surveying the community to get feedback. Nothing has been decided at this point. +++ On February 22, the Fall Creek Music Department showed their talent at this year’s “Life is a Cabaret.” +++ According to the Department of Agriculture, Wisconsin has lost 700 farms over the past five years, falling from 64,800 in 2017 to 64,100 in 2021. Although the number of working farms has declined, the amount of agriculture land in farms has remained relatively constant at 14.2 million acres.