Starting out the Thorp accounts payable side of the register, “General Government” is due to cost Thorp taxpayers $55,000, up $1,000 from 2020. Public safety is due to cost $17,065 and public works is budgeted at $188,536, both of which represent decreases in spending from the year previous.

At the same time, Thorp residents are being asked to make their own fun it seems, as $0 is dedicated in the town budget to “Culture, “We’re just trying to get to the needed amount,” social studies teacher Bob Seidl said. Donations will help recover has been paid, but around 62 percent of the cost still remained as of Monday November Courier Sentinel

The Chippewa Valley Music Festivals (Country and Rock Fest) in Cadott received $395,308, of the $15 million in COVID-19 Live Music and Entertainment Venue Grants, that have been awarded to 96 live venues. +++ COVID-19 Lodging Grants have been awarded to 663 Wisconsin lodging operators, including $14,700 to Paradise Shores in Holcombe. +++ In partnership with Land O’ Lakes, River Country Co-op gave $1,500 to the Cornell Food Pantry to help fight against hunger in the community. +++ It’s been expected, and now it is here – sewer rates in Cornell will be rising for Cornell residents. New sewer rates were established to generate revenues for the wastewater treatment plant improvements’ project. +++ Jack Porter, Lake Holcombe senior, received a plaque from the Wisconsin School Music Association after he was selected to the Wisconsin State Honors Mixed Choir. The Mixed Choir performed virtually this year, with kids from around the state taking part. +++ The new Lake Holcombe Food Pantry building is now complete except for landscaping and blacktopping. The new location is next to the Lions Clubhouse. The move from the old location, at the Holcombe United Methodist Church, to the new building took place right before Thanksgiving.

The Thorp Courier

The Thorp Courier made a correction related to the names of WW II veterans still living that were noted in an article last week. The name listed as Walter Filipelo should have been Walter Flipek. +++ The Thorp 2020 Christmas Parade held on Saturday December 5, processed from the Thorp Legion Hall to Yellowstone Park. Although this year’s event did not include festivities at the park, candy was still passed out along the parade route and Santa himself made an appearance. +++ The American Red Cross blood drive in Thorp will be another two day event. It will be held on December 15 and 16, from 11 am to 5 pm, at the Thorp Fire and Ambulance Station.

Bloomer Advance

Darren Swartz, Bloomer High School agricultural teacher, has been named one of six agricultural teachers nationwide to receive the 2020 National Association of Agricultural Educators, Outstanding Agricultural Education Teacher Award. The award was presented during the NAAE Virtual Convention, November 30 through December 4.+++ PMI of Bloomer recently donated cancer prevention fire hoods to the Bloomer Fire Department. These new firefighting hoods will help stop the cancer causing material in smoke from being absorbed into the skin of firefighters. +++ Facebook users got to participate in judging the annual Bloomer Chamber of Commerce Porch Pot contest. Participants decorated one of 11 planters around Bloomer. +++ The Christmas Tree at Shadick’s Price Rite parking lot in Bloomer is sponsored by the Bloomer Chamber of Commerce. It is a beautiful addition to Main Street.

O-W Enterprise Preliminary state gun deer hunting results for the 2020 season are: Total deer kill 188,712 – 85,340 antlered and 103,372 anterless. The harvest in Clark County was a total of 5,631 deer taken with 2,449 antlered and 3,182 antlerless. The total harvest in Clark County in 2019 was 4,971.

Tribune-Phonograph

The Abbotsford School Board’s Facilities and Finance Committees have authorized the school’s maintenance supervisor to request a proposal from Neuman Pools Inc., Beaver Dam, on the costs that would be associated with a complete overhaul and renovations of the school’s swimming pool. That information will be brought to the school board’s January meeting. A public survey on the expenditure will also be conducted from the school district’s website and Facebook page. +++ Abbotsford is looking at possibly expanding the city’s insurance policies to cover no-fault sewer backup and to provide additional compensation in case Cyber criminals gain access to personal data held by the city.

Tri-County News Wisconsin Farm Technology Days 2021, is now scheduled for July 20-22, 2021 and will take place at the Eau Claire Huntsinger Farms, the largest grower and processor of horseradish in the United States. The show has 295 exhibitors, from across the Midwest and Canada, that have already committed to the show. +++ Community organizations in Eleva and Strum are pooling their efforts to organize a holiday house decorating contest. Gift certificates to local businesses of up to $100 are up for grabs as prizes in the “Deck Your House” contest. +++ With the help of a grant from the Wisconsin DNR, the Osseo Rural Fire Department has a new Darley Company brush unit inside a 2021 Chevrolet 3500 crew cab.

Trempealeau County Times

Trempealeau County is going ahead with the purchase of additional Dominion voting machines, with the additional 26 being in place in county municipalities by February. Supporters of President Trump have questioned, and contend, the machines may be responsible for some of the alleged irregularities in the November 3 general election. The two Dominion machines that were used in the November 3 election, will be validated when county audits take place. The 26 new machines will cost $191,500 and the cost will be entirely covered by the CARES Act, the federal program established to help the nation during the pandemic.

Buffalo County News

Ruby’s Food Pantry is set to reopen in Mondovi December 17. The monthly location was originally at Harvestime Church until roof problems closed them down. The new location will be the Buffalo County Highway Shop. Ruby’s Pantry provides food for a $20 cash donation per person/family. Because of COVID-19, recipients will not be choosing their own food items – everyone will get the same food share. Volunteers are glad to see the return of the pantry because of the heartbreaking stories they hear from families struggling. +++ “Santa Saturday” carried a new twist this year in Mondovi. The Mondovi Business Association hosted the annual meet and greet Santa and Mrs. Claus outdoors at Mirror Lake Park. A bench was set up in front of Santa’s sleigh, which provided social distancing and a neat place for families to have their picture taken – with Santa, Mrs. Claus and the lake as background.

Banner Journal

Small towns are wonderful places to live and do business. Martha Rommel, owner of L& M Cafe in Melrose, is a small business affected by COVID. Her cafe had been closed leaving Martha and her family without that income. As a result, her community held a fundraiser on Saturday, December 12, at the American Legion, to give her a helping hand. The event included a silent auction, Chinese raffle, bake sale and gun raffles. There also was drive-thru pick up food. Her friends are helping relieve the financial burden from the past nine months.

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'& %$%( News of Note From Our Neighbors Music festivals get grant money

Thorp Courier

Thorp has joined a number of area communities that are planning for a new, or an upgrade of their current Wastewater Treatment Plant. At their November 9, City Council Meeting, the council discussed topsoil boring on a possible new plant location. It is possible that a new plant may cost less than repairing everything on the current location. +++ Grant and Boardman Streets in Thorp have been completed, but not without causing consternation for city officials. The success of the project came despite having to hire a new contractor after the original crew had a bout with COVID-19 cases. The road is open to traffic and will receive a second coat of blacktop in the spring. ++ The Thorp School District has switched to Plan B with new COVID outbreak. Grades 4K-3 will attend classes M-F in person. Grades 4-6 will attend classes M and T in person and W-F virtual. Grades 7-12 will attend school on Mondays in person and T-F virtual. Students with inadequate Internet access and students with special needs will attend inperson M-F.

Courier Sentinel

After a two week “break,” the Cadott School District had hoped to return to school on November 16. However, with still facing staffing issues, the district is unable to provide instruction in the building. The current virtual instructional model will thus run an additional week – November 16-20. ++ Lake Holcombe School Board voted at their November 11 meeting to end its cooperative football program with Cornell after next season. The vote prepares the way for 8-man football at Holcombe. +++ State Highway 27 is again open to travel after being closed, between Cadott and Cornell, most of the summer. Four culvert replacements have been completed. Some top soil remains to be replaced after it washed away in a recent rain.

Bloomer Advance

Because of COVID-19 concerns, Veterans Day ceremonies were canceled at local schools this year. However, that did not stop the Bloomer area veterans from observing the holiday with a 21 gun salute and taps, at the Bloomer Veterans Memorial. +++ Friday, November 27, Bloomer will be lighting up the 9th Avenue Park at 6 pm. The elves have gotten the park ready with thousands of lights and displays, and will be ready to show it off.

O-W Enterprise The Owen-Withee Sewer Commission approved a 3% rate increase to sewer user fees for 2021, to help cover the cost of the DNR phosphorous fee of $12,153. The fee increase amounts to $11,850 in additional revenues. +++ Election turnout in Owen was 83%, including 118 absentee ballots. +++ Owen has $30,000 owed to it in overdue bills.

The Clark County Press

Clark County’s main health system is doing all it can to hang on and help as many patients as it can. Marshfield Medical Center at Neillsville last week averaged eight COVID -19 tests per hour, up from three an hour just three weeks ago.

Tribune Photograph

The Abbotsford Christmas Parade is still a go despite COVID – 19, but it will be in a different format this year. The parade that has run since 1971 and a holiday tradition for many attendees, will be held on December 5, and is slated to start at 5 pm and run until 8:30 pm. The drive thru event will not require visitors to find parking, or dress in layers. A parade route is being established and visitors will drive the route to see the socially distanced stationary entries. +++ A very rough estimate to fix a leak in the Abbotsford School District’s swimming pool is anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million dollars. The options facing the school board are to do nothing now and wait until they have the money on hand, borrow the funds needed and make the repairs, cut the current budget to cover the cost of repairs, or fill the pool in with cement, and re-purpose the space. +++ Smith Bros. Meats in Colby and Pinters Packing in Dorchester were recognized by the Dorchester firefighters for their continued support of the departments fundraisers.

The Sentinel & Rural News

Jason and Samantha Thornton held a grand opening of their new IGYS Bar & Grill in Withee on Saturday, November 14. Besides bar food, they are also serving a Friday Night Fish Fry menu of cod, perch and shrimp.

Tri-County News Osseo’s Buzz Thompson received the Silver Beaver Award at a Court of Honor on Saturday, November 14. The Silver Beaver is the highest honor an adult volunteer of the Boy Scouts of America can receive. Because of COVID -19, the ceremony took place at Central Park in Osseo. +++ Matt Hazen, President of the Osseo-Fairchild School Board, recently received a Level 1 recognition from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards due to his participation in professional development and leadership training. +++ The Lake Eau Claire Association is making an effort to having residents living around the lake being able to access high-speed Internet.

Trempealeau County Times

Tragedy struck the Blair Haus Sports Bar and Grill on Friday, November 13. A fire that started in the kitchen completely destroyed the building. The firefighters were credited with preventing neighboring properties from catching on fire. Thirteen area fire departments assisted in fighting the fire. +++Whitehall has an unprecedented $52,000 in uncollected utility bills for water, sewer, and electricity. +++ The Blair City Council voted for an average sewer rate increase of 65 percent to offset five years of negative operating income

Buffalo County News

An uptick in COVID -19 cases locally has pushed Mondovi school leaders to begin virtual 4K-12 instruction on Monday, November 16 and there are plans to remain in that mode through the holidays and until at least the start of the second semester, January 19, 2021. +++ Bradley Hanson, Mondovi City Administrator for the nearly the past four years, has submitted his resignation to the Mondovi City Council. He will officially begin his new job as the city administrator for Tomah on December 28. The move was reportedly to allow him to have a greater range of experiences, namely to be involved in the tourism industry and oversight of a larger staff. +++ The Buffalo County Humane Association was the beneficiary of the Wisconsin State Patrol’s “Cram the Cruiser” effort this year, and they received a large haul of supplies and donated funds.

Bits &

PIECES News of Note From Our Neighbors

Thorp Schools switch to Plan B

pushed into the addition space and getting its own new unit. So what did the council think?

“I don’t think we need to pay Cedar $850 to size it,” Haas said of the new unit meant to replace two now on site at the combination police department and city hall building. Holly Kitchell, who gave the update, agreed. Not all did.

“You can’t just do that on what we think,” alderman Kevin Hendrickson said, adding, “I think it’s a necessary expense Holly.” The council as a whole differed, opting not to have Cedar re-size the units. But there was still pay dirt. A sewer dig-in on east 10th Avenue was outside of city limits, meaning that it was also outside the ordinary service area for City services. Alderwoman Holly Kitchell put it simply.

“So this is my input,” she said. “Some of us who live in the city do not have utilities, so I don’t know that I like the idea of people who aren’t in the city receiving services,” Kitchell said.

“If we do one without ramifications it’s going to happen again,” alderman Mark Fitzsimmons said of branching utility services outside the city and people’s behavior. Although a city employee had done the dig-in, they assumed at the time that the property was within the city limits. So far there were only partial utilities on site, with no electrical or water hookup. But on a side note, there was a notable quote to report.

“She said it much nicer-ly,” one council member (not Fitzsimmons) said of their colleague’s explanation of a point of business that night. And then it was time to talk about the Street Sweeper.

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PUBLIC NOTICE Common Council Vacancy

The City of Stanley is currently seeking out candidates to fill a vacancy in the 3rd Ward for the City of Stanley Common Council. Please contact the City Clerk’s Office via email at [email protected] us or stop in at City Hall (353 S. Broadway St.) to pick up an application. Any questions please call 715-644-5758.

The deadline for application is Friday December 18th, 2020 at noon.

Recreation, and Education,” along with $0 for bridges, $500 for “Conservation and Development” (unchanged), and grader expenses shifted back to 2020, with $28,000 in the “Machine Fund” for 2020 but $0 for 2021. Meanwhile, don’t forget debt service!

Starting out the township debts is a Road Maintenance loan for $42,866, representing an unchanged payment from last year, while a “Patrol Loan” for $42,800 plus $8,000 for “Recycling and Garbage” brings the total Town of Thorp expenditures for 2021 to $357,267, or a total 1.1 percent increase in total spending from the year before. But while “patrol” refers in reality to the town road crew rather than law enforcement, one thing is for sure: plowing snow across driveways, leads to fines, and ice ridge hazards for local drivers.

Sophi Sanchez the cost of the statue to the area, with statue creator SVJ Creative Designs out Kellogg, Minnesota already paid for services. Once again, interested donors may donate to the worthy cause via link at the school district’s website.