by David Jankoski On Monday, April 5, the Stanley-Boyd Alumni Association Board gathered for the first time since November 9, 2020, when only the officers met to fulfill the requirement of an Annual Meeting, ft was good to be back together and planning for the All-School Reunion that is scheduled to be held this year on Saturday, October 2. Look for an article on this meeting elsewhere in this edition of The Stanley Republican.

If you were in Stanley on Tuesday, April 6, at approximately 3:45 pm you heard a crash of lightening that perhaps even jarred the dead in Holy Family and Oakland Cemeteries. It was the loudest crash I have ever heard and the lightening bolt struck the northwest comer of the intersection of County Hwy NN and Pine Street. The energy from the strike started a grass fire in the area. A witness that was in the high school parking lot reported the flash was blinding and caused lots of people in the area to become rattled. All ended well when the Stanley Fire Department responded and quickly extinguished the grass fire.

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Dean Kallenback, Eau Claire Regional Manager for Wisconsin Public Radio since 1990, is retiring after 35 yeasr with WPR. He joined WPR as a reporter in 1986 and local host for National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.” He is noted for having promoted the regional model that is maintained by WPR today and is known among his colleagues as a mentor and leader. Carrying on in his position will be Clara Neupert, a former student of his, who has been appointed as interim host of the “The West Side.” If your a listener to Public Radio, Kallenback has been a constant for all these years on 88.5 FM. He is actually retiring from a 46 year career in radio, thus he worked 11 years elsewhere. I am among those who will miss his local broadcasting/programming.

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Not much progress that one could visually see on the new Chapman Park Community Building this past week. However, progress was being made as work is taking place within the open roof area on the west side of the building’s roof. One of the workers told me that they are working on the heating/air conditioning units that will be located in that area. Work will also be ongoing inside the building which will not be as visible as was the framing of the building and putting on the roof. Ceiling lighting the length of the building was noted when driving by on Wednesday, April 7.

If you have been riding through the park, or walking around it, you have probably noticed that the Canadian geese are no longer in a flock but rather pairs of geese are seen in a considerable number of places. Well, it is nesting time and they are looking for spots to lay eggs. Most of the nesting takes place in the backwaters north of the Eighth Avenue bridge. After hatching the parents bring the newly hatched into Chapman Lake. All to soon families of geese will be seen on the shores of Chapman Lake!

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Did you know? According to a 2019 AAA survey, 62% of Wisconsinites believe that current transportation funding isn’t adequate. Currently funding for roads comes mainly from the gas tax and registration fees. Of those surveyed, 20% did not support efforts to increase funding to fix the state’s crumbling roads. The American Society of Civil Engineers has classified at least 25% of public roads in Wisconsin as poor. AAA supports raising revenue to avoid delays in fixing the roadways that need maintaining to keep them safe for drivers.

It was recently announced that the Common School Fund will be having a record $39 million to be distributed to public school libraries across the state of Wisconsin. Proceeds from the sale of School Trust Lands are placed into a tmst and the funds earned goes to school libraries. In the last biennium, $570 million was invested in new portfolio investments, which includes $165 million for financing essential economic development infrastructure and other community projects and purchases in Wisconsin.

Amounts distributed to area schools were: Altoona $71,805; Bloomer $59,954; Cadott $31,947; Cornell $21,398; Fall Creek $29,042; Gilman $17,526; Greenwood $28,542; Neillsville $42,896; Owen-Withee $34,551; Stanley-Boyd $53,378; Thorp $33,482. These funds are to be used to purchase library books and instructional materials, as well as computers and related software for school libraries. Interesting that I read in last week’s paper (Regular Meeting of the Board of Education February 22, 2021) that the Stanley-Boyd School Board approved the purchase of “____ Chromebooks for $29,975 through Krista Computers. Library funds will be used for this and kept in the library for elementary students.”

Another interesting release from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is related to an obscure funding source known as, “High Cost Pupil Transportation Aid.” This is what is called a categorical aid provided by the state of Wisconsin (Stat. 121.59).

This aid program provides additional funding to school districts in Wisconsin that have higher transportation costs when compared to the statewide average per pupil transportation cost. This is usually related to a school district that covers an extremely large geographic area. Each district with per pupil transportation cost exceeding 145 percent of the statewide average per pupil cost receives a share of this categorical aid. The High Cost Transportation Aid figures for 2019-2020 school year, released May 29, 2020, found the Stanley-Boyd School District receiving the highest amount of this aid at $566,706.79. Rounding out the top five districts receiving this extra funding were Maple-Northwestern $482,048.67, Mercer $354,488.67, Menomoniee Indian $354,488.52, and Ellsworth $341,659.46.

Smile time. As I left the hardware store the other day, I was fumbling for my car keys and couldn’t find them. They weren’t in my pockets. Suddenly I realized I must have left them in the car. Frantically, I headed for the parking lot. My wife has scolded me many times for leaving my keys in the car’s ignition.

She’s afraid that the car could be stolen. As I looked around the parking lot, I realized she was right. The parking lot was empty. I immediately called the police. I gave them my location, confessed that I had left my keys in the car and that it had been stolen. Then I made the most difficult call of all to my wife: “I left my keys in the car and it’s been stolen.” There was a moment of silence. I thought the call had been disconnected, but then I heard her voice. “Are you kidding me?” she barked, “I dropped you off!” Now it was my turn to be silent. Embarrassed, I said, “Well, come and get me then.” She retorted, “I will, as soon as I convince this cop that I didn’t steal your ________ car!” “Welcome to the Golden Years.” +++ My doctor asked if anyone in my family was suffering from mental illness. I said; “No, we all seem to enjoy it.” +++ It takes real skill to choke on air, fall upstairs and trip over completely nothing . . .. I have that skill!