FROM THE CORNER

Small communities, like Stanley, are great places to live. The community proved it again on Saturday, April 23, when many residents were assisted by neighbors and friends, in addition to people from surrounding communities, who came to help with cleanup from the tornado that touched down on December 15, 2021. After the snow melted, it was evident that there was still lots of debris needing to be cleaned up. If one took a trip around town on Saturday, it was evident that a goodly number of people were on hand to help with the cleanup, especially along Jeuer son Street, Second Avenue, Franklin Street, Fourth Avenue, and Madison Street. Trailers and manpower helped with the enormous amount of work done. Thank you to all the true community servants and all who helped in any way. *** The week before, on Saturday, April 16, was one of those days you had to be careful when you drove down Broadway Street in Stanley. This was especially true when the free Easter shows let out, as lots of the young ones were anxious to get back in their vehicles and some had little regard for safety, as they darted across the street. Reportedly good crowds attended both shows and the number of cars on the street provided the evidence. As usual, the Eslinger Family were great hosts and very welcoming. A large Hoppy Easter sign graced the sidewalk in the front of the theater. The Hoppy Easter sign feathered many Easter rabbits. A coloring book and candy were received by the attendees. There were lots of happy faces on those emerging from the theater. *** Speaking of the theater, every time I travel on Broadway and the marquee is lite, I think of the great asset the Eslinger family has provided this community for many years. I am not sure how many times the theater has been used for a church service, but on Easter Sunday, Faith Evangelical Free Church held their Easter Morning Service there at 10 am. I understand it was well attend- ed with nearly all the seats filled. Perhaps that was a first for the Eslinger’s. I do know that they have hosted a good number of religious films that the community has been invited to, under the sponsorship of churches or the Eslinger’s themselves. Thank you Eslingers! *** Stanley native, Jen (Haas) Barney, who opened the Meringue Bakery in downtown La Crosse acouple of years ago, was back on Channel 8 WKBT TV on Friday, April 15. She and one of her bakers were featured creating a mascarpone pie, which was described as a delicious recipe for an Easter celebration. If you would like to check it out for yourself google “Dairy Pie Recipe From Meringue Bakery.” From the response of those from the TV station who sampled the pie, I would guess it would be a good recipe for any special occasion. And it is also a good dairy recipe, which featured several Westby Coop Dairy products.. *** Kwik Trip’s 130 acre campus (factory site) in La Crosse was recently featured in a Wisconsin State Journal article that I found particularly interesting because of the production data reported. We all know what the local Kwik Trip features, but how many of the items reach the shelf is certainly lesser known. Here are some pretty astounding statistics related to items found daily in their stores. From the main campus, Glazer donuts are shipped fresh daily, but most amazing is that 400 Glazers, 240 cookies and 130 muvns are produced every minute. The report went on to say more than 43 million Glazers were produced in 2021. Other output reported is that they make 25,000 sandwiches a day, 14,000 salads, 50,000 burritos, 7,000 parfaits, 30,000 take home salads, and 26,000 produce cups. How do you beat that for freshness of product sold. One does however wonder how much is thrown out as outdated? *** If your curious about the Swiderski Apartments located on Pine Street you should mark your calendar for Tuesday, May 24. On that day, a ribbon cutting and open house, will be held at 11:30 am at their Stanley site. For more information you can go to SCS Stanley WI. *** As any longtime reader of this column knows, I have a great admiration for Ashley’s Furniture in Arcadia. Small towns have a rough time competing with larger cities in many respects. Arcadia has been fortunate to have the Wanek family as major con- tributors to that community, namely a major fitness center and new library built onto the local school. In addition, the Wanek Family Foundation has made major donations to the research and treatment of Type 1 diabetes and congenital heart failure. A recent article I read provided information on the impact this one company has had on the planet. Worldwide, in 1,075 locations, the company now employs over 35,000 workers, including 4,000 in Wisconsin. Ashley’s is now the largest advanced manufacture of furniture in the world and the continent’s largest furniture retailer. And it hopes to maintain that position by engaging and growing advanced technology, particularly automation and robotics.

*** Here’s a scary result of COVID-19 in 2020. STD’s have increased at alarming rates. – Chlamydia up 13%, Gonorrhea up 10%, and Syphilis up 15%. What has been the cause? Speculation is that the major causes are related to reduced services from public heath ovcials while they were dealing with COVID and failure of those with these diseases to seek early treatment. *** I understand from several friends, who produce maple syrup, that the season for them was very good. It always makes me pause when I hear that it takes 43 gallons of maple tree sap to produce just one gallon of maple syrup. So producing 50 gallons of syrup took 2,150 gallons of sap. That’s a lot of work for those old geezers to be doing in retirement. However, they get great satisfaction from the production of such a good product. *** Smile time. “Faith grows when it is lived.” – Pope Francis +++ "Faith is the first step even when you don't see the stair case.” – Martin Luther King Jr. +++ “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” – Thomas Aquinas +++ “All work that is worth anything is done in faith.” – Albert Schweitzer, Lutheran Theologian +++ Flowers don’t worry about how they ‘re going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that made them beautiful. +++ When flowers bloom so does hope. +++ A guy calls a law ovce and says, "I want to talk to my lawyer." The receptionist replies, “I’m, sorry, but he died last week.” The next day he phones again and asks the same question. The receptionist replies, “I told you yesterday, he died last week.” The next day, the guy calls again and asks to speak to his lawyer. By this time the receptionist is getting a little annoyed and says, “I keep telling you, your lawyer died last week. Why do you keep calling?” The guy says, “Because I just love hearing it.”

BY DAVID JANKOSKI