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Tuesday was Merlin Blaisdell's day, but the outgoing Pierce County Veterans Service Officer has made every day a veterans day during his four-and-a-half years in the local office. And it's likely that's a practice Blaisdell will continue in the same position in St. Croix County, where he succeeds Lorin Sather next Monday. The day here last week was proclaimed by Pierce County Board Chairman Paul Barkla, a proclamation read before the board at their monthly meeting.
Before Karen Rickard came to Pierce County, she worked with the elderly and physically challenged in La Crosse. After Rickard began helping people in what is now Pierce's Long-Term Support program, a friend of hers from La Crosse came to visit. "She told me, 'You've really found your niche here, haven't you?," the local social worker said. On the occasion of her retirement from the program last week, Rickard reaffirmed she indeed had.
MAIDEN ROCK -- Much like Ed Daleiden said he got into conservation practices by "bits and pieces," the veteran Maiden Rock farmer keeps collecting increasingly higher awards for his related efforts. The latest is the state's Conservation Farmer of the Year, presented to him by the Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association (WLWCA).
TOWN OF EL PASO -- Government in this town east of Ellsworth has recently taken on a surprisingly different look. Surprising because holders of town board positions usually don't change when the soonest election is over three months away. Different because the positions in question are two of the most important any town has. The chairman's post underwent a change after long-time Chair Lester Heise died of a heart attack this fall while making a delivery in Red Wing for his trucking job.
The number of participants and amount of waste collected increased significantly over a year ago during this fall's Clean Sweep on Sept. 15 at Pierce County's recycling center in Ellsworth. At 361, vehicle numbers equaled the record-high of the 2004 spring event and were 121 more than the 240 vehicles of a year earlier, according to a report from the county's solid waste department.
Later Ellsworth High School starting times twice a month to accommodate a new Collaborative Teacher Team Time were approved by the local school board Monday. EHS Principal Barry Cain explained the schedule, beginning in February, will give staff time to work together.
Seasonable snowfall and cold temperatures have area snowmobilers hoping for the best conditions for their sport this winter in recent memory. With approximately eight inches of snow already on the ground in this vicinity, the Pierce County Snowmobile Association sent out its two groomers for the first time this season last week.
Although Dr. Kerith Lijewski's being on the Ellsworth Medical Clinic staff ends the lack of a female physician in the community, the clinic's newest doctor likes helping entire families. "I probably see more women and children than others, but I enjoy working with everyone," Lijewski said Thursday. She's especially fond of following mothers through their pregnancies, then finds it useful to have their husbands come in, she said.
Reggie Bicha's background will help prepare him to head a new department in state government. The former director of the Pierce County Department of Human Services for five-and-a-half years takes over the new Wisconsin Department of Children and Families next July. Bicha reviewed his experiences with caring for children Thursday. "This is the first time in history a department will be devoted to them," he said. The Eau Claire resident, who has an apartment in Madison and commutes there, was a foster parent in the 1990s.
PLUM CITY --- She may have been destined for a career in the hospitality business, though Molly Ingli didn't necessarily know it. Yes, the Plum City native had already worked in the industry when she embarked on her latest venture.