Stanley-Boyd All School Reunion Wrap-up: Saturday, October 1, was a gorgeous day and there were over 200 registrants. Over $4,000 was raised from the Silent Auction, the source of funding for the Association's three $1,500 scholarships awarded to graduating seniors. Boyd Catering provided a delicious roast beef and chicken dinner. Next years Reunion will again be held on the first Saturday of October – which in 2023 is October 7. Mark your calendars! The Board of Directors, Officers, Committee Chairs and the Class of 1962 – the hosts – are thanked for another memorable event. Always lots of good fellowship. *** From the September 19, 2022 issue of West Central –The Business News, which covers Buffalo, Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson, La Crosse, Monroe, Pepin, Pierce, St. Croix and Trempealeau counties. The source of the information to follow is from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Of the 40 school districts in the counties listed above, Stanley-Boyd’s teachers salaries are rated in 17th place based on the 2021-2022 school year. Here are the statistics that merited that rating. The average teachers salary in the Stanley-Boyd District is $54,633, with the highest salary being $69,097. The lowest salary is $45,127 (starting pay). The average fringe benefit per teacher is $26,481. The average local experience at Stanley-Boyd is 8.79 years and Average Total Experience is 12.37 years. The top schools included Hudson which was rated number one, La Crosse number two, Baldwin-Woodville number 3, New Richmond number four, Somerset number five, Galesville-Ettrick-Trempealeau number six, Fall Creek number seven, Onalaska number eight, River Falls number nine, and Eau Clarie number 10. All but one of the schools rated ahead of Stanley-Boyd had average total experience of staff members between 17.06 and 13.44. The more years of experience your total staff has the greater the average salary is going to be. Of the total 17 schools ranked above Stanley-Boyd, Stanley-Boyd had the highest starting salary at $45,127, with the lowest starting salary being $35,078 in the Eau Claire School District. Publishing the entire report on all 40 schools would be more meaningful but my space doesn’t provide room for that in this column. *** Northside Elevator of Loyal choosing the West Stanley Industrial Park for their location of a Fertilizer Plant is a big deal for our community. The initial phase of construction will amount to an expenditure of nearly $10 million dollars according to the building permits. And there will be more to follow in coming years. Two assets to their new location are the CNN Railroad and the major four lane Highway 29, that runs between Green Bay and Interstate 94. Loyal has neither asset. On September 26, Governor Tony Evers announced that Northside Elevator will be receiving a "$3 million FRIIP loan to construct 6,878 feet of track for a rail served agronomy and feed terminal in Stanley on Canadian National Railway's Minneapolis Subdivision. This project will be phase one of a multi-phase build out of the site. If construction is completed in 2022, 50 carloads of potash, gypsum, canola meal, soda, corn gluten, and other feed and agronomy commodities are forecast to be inbound per year to the facility by 2025. This was the company's first time applying for FRIIP funding." * The announcement included these comments, "Wisconsin’s economy relies on a robust network of roads, ports and railways and investing in our state’s transportation infrastructure, including our freight rail network, is a positive investment for the future of industry, our economy and our entire state," said Evers. * The state’s Freight Railroad Infrastructure Improvement Program (FRIIP) is a loan program used to improve rail infrastructure and construct new rail served facilities. "The movement of products and commodities is the lifeblood of our economy, affecting nearly every aspect of our lives, said WisDOT Secretary Craig Thompson. "Strategic investments that improve connectivity and efficiency of freight rail have a big impact on urban and rural communities all across the state." *** This is the time of the year when the Nobel Prize winners are announced. Here are a few interesting Nobel Prize Facts I recently learned. The prizes in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace were established in the will of Alfred Nobel, a wealthy Swedish industrialist and the inventor of dynamite. Each prize is worth nearly $900,000 and the winners each get a diploma and a gold medal on December 10 – the date of his death in 1896. Awarding Nobel Prizes began in 1901, five years after Nobel’s death. Those involved in judging the awards are prohibited from discussing any deliberations for 50 years. It is interesting to note that the Nobel Prize for Peace is awarded in Noway, while the other awards are presented in Sweden. Alfred Nobel wanted the awards to be made this way, though his reasons were unclear. However, during his lifetime, Sweden and Norway were joined together. Both became independent countries in 1905. Of the 900 people who have received the Nobel Prize, only 58 have been women. One of the most famous people receiving a Nobel Prize, that I knew, was Mother Teresa of Calcutta. All of the money she received went for the care of the poor and dying in India. *** October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Purple ribbons are the official symbol of Domestic Violence Awareness and historically are a symbol of hope, visibility and sanctuary for those experiencing domestic violence. Help in Chippewa County for those suffering from domestic abuse can be gotten from the Family Support Center in Chippewa Falls. Call toll free 1-800400-7020. *** You know your getting old when the dormitory you lived in while attending college is torn down to make room for a new building! That is exactly what has happened on the UW-Eau Claire campus, where both dorms my wife and I lived in, have come down to make room for a new science building. We were on campus Friday, October 7, and saw the empty spaces where I spent two years living in Edward Horan Hall and where my wife spent several summers living in Katherine Thomas Hall. Funny how we thought they were pretty nice dorms back in the 1960's and suddenly they became obsolete and are now history!! *** Smile time. To be kind is more important than to be right. Many times what people need is not a brilliant mind that speaks, but a special heart that listens. +++ The most useful asset of a person is not a head full of knowledge, but rather a heart full of love, with ears prone to listen and hands willing to help. +++ Marriage is just listening to your husband talk about what he wants to grill on the weekend. +++ 70% of marriage is yelling "what" from a different room. (More like 90% at our house?) +++ Marriage is like having separate tubes of toothpaste because your spouse squeezes it wrong. +++ 12% of marriage is discussing which plastic containers are recyclable. +++ Marriage is just your spouse perpetually standing in front of the kitchen drawer or cabinet you need to open. +++ For me, dying is a lot like going camping. I don’t want to do it.

BY DAVID JANKOSKI