2019 — Colfax Messenger A Year in Review: A look back at the top news stories in January, February and March
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — For more than 120 years, since April of 1897, the Colfax Messenger has published local news, local feature stories and local sports.
Here is a look back at the top news stories from January, February and March of 2019:
January 2, 2019
• Tanner and Nicole Nierenhausen, the son and daughter of Bruce and Bonnie Nierenhausen of Colfax, decided to donate to Positive Avenues out of Eau Claire this year. The organization is funded by Lutheran Social Services as well as Eau Claire County, grants and generous community members. Bonnie, Tanner and Nicole took messenger bags filled with different kinds of toiletries to help those looking for employment and who might need to clean themselves up.
• Former Boyceville resident Ted Lopez has been found guilty by a Dunn County jury on six felony counts related to the sexual assault of a six-year-old boy in Boyceville in 2009 and 2010.
• While the Colfax/Bloomer Raptors’ wrestling team struggled, individual Colfax wrestlers had some fine performances, including a pair of undefeated records by Sawyer Best and Mitch Harmon, who both posted 5-0 marks in Cameron Friday, December 21.
January 9, 2019
• A former Colfax man, Richard W. Seehaver, has been arrested in connection with the death in Menomonie of another former Colfax man, John M. Likeness, on Sunday, December 30.
• Five storytellers shared their experiences during the “Travel Edition of Truth Be Told” at the Colfax Municipal Building auditorium December 30. The storytellers — “real stories told by real people” — included Gary Stene, longtime Colfax resident and currently serving as village president; Lisa Bragg-Hurlburt, director of the Colfax Public Library; Tate Russell, Colfax High School senior; Steve Olson, lifelong Colfax resident and choral director at Colfax Lutheran Church; and Krista Ottinger, president of the Colfax Public Library Board.
• Colfax Village President Gary Stene has filed notification of non-candidacy and will not be running for re-election in April. All together three village trustee positions will be up for election in April on the Colfax Village Board, but Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, received the nomination papers of only two candidates by the January 2 deadline from incumbent Village Trustees Anne Jenson and Keith Burcham.
January 16, 2019
• For 27 students from Colfax High School, it was a day in class unlike any other. In the Jarvis Hall Science Wing Cadaver Lab at UW-Stout — one of only two in west central Wisconsin — the students in Mark Mosey’s class donned lab coats, gloves and goggles as they split into groups and examined male and female cadavers.
• Colfax graduate Bo Weber was recognized and honored by JCI Minnesota as one of the Top Ten Outstanding Young Minnesotans of 2018 at a special award celebration at the Crowne Plaza Aire Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota, December 8. Among his accomplishments, in 2014, Bo founded MusicinMinnesota.com, a music publication which spotlights local and national performance artists in the Twin Cities and beyond. With a team of nearly 50 photographers and writers publishing over 500 articles per year, Bo has helped launch the careers of hundreds of musicians.
• The Howard Town Board has approved a non-metallic mining license for Northern Sands Wisconsin to operate the Albertville Valley sand mine a few miles southeast of Colfax.
January 23, 2019
• A referendum question asking Dunn County residents to approve exceeding the state-imposed limits for the property tax levy could be on the ballot in November of 2020.
• A sawdust drying facility at Woods Run Forest Products in Colfax was a total loss after it caught on fire the evening of January 16. Colfax firefighters responded to the fire in the 30-foot by 50-foot building at about 7 p.m. Wednesday and were on the scene until 10 p.m.
• A Dunn County judge has increased the cash bail to $500,000 for former Colfax resident Richard Seehaver and has ordered a competency evaluation. Seehaver, 52, is charged with one felony count of first-degree intentional homicide in the death of John M. Likeness, 54, at Likeness’s home in Menomonie on the afternoon of December 30.
• Two wedding barn venues have filed a lawsuit in Dunn County Circuit Court seeking clarification whether a liquor license is needed when the barns are rented out for private weddings. Govin’s LLC/Govin’s Meat and Berries, doing business as The Weddin’ Barn, located in the community of Rusk in the Town of Red Cedar near Menomonie, and Farmview Event Barn located in Berlin, Wisconsin, are listed as the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed January 14.
January 30, 2019
• Megan Schleusner, a 2017 graduate of Colfax High School and in her second year at UW-Eau Claire as a biology major and a pre-professional health minor, went on a two-week medical internship to Hue, Vietnam, last summer at the Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Schleusner hopes to attend medical school and become a trauma surgeon or a plastic surgeon.
• As many readers may already be aware, Cara Dempski, the former sports, feature and news reporter for the Colfax Messenger and the Glenwood City Tribune Press Reporter, suffered a massive stroke in December. It is now more than a month later, and Cara has been transferred to a rehabilitation facility in Waukesha.
• The Elk Mound school district is planning to conduct facilities assessments concerning the deferred maintenance needs of the district. SDS Architects will present a proposal to the school board for completing a cost analysis based on the facilities assessment and the district strategic plan at the February board meeting.
February 6, 2019
• The Colfax Scholastic Trap team is the recipient of a $500 donation from the Bloomer Lions Sportsman Club.
• Although the Colfax Village Board approved selling Soo Park to the Colfax Railroad Museum last July, the property has not yet been deeded to the museum.
• The Colfax Village Board has denied a request from the OCD Foundation (Our Communities Deliver) for a $5,000 donation. Travis Allen, founder and chair of the board of directors for the OCD Foundation, attended the January 14 village board meeting to request the donation.
• A Dunn County judge has scheduled a hearing in April on a motion for the Town of Otter Creek to intervene in a case involving the placement of a registered sex offender in the township.
• With the powerlifting season well underway since December, the Elk Mound girls’ and boy’s teams have had 31 individuals to date qualify for the USA Powerlifting Wisconsin High School State Championship in Appleton March 2-3.
• With two meets under their belts, the Colfax boys’ and girls’ powerlifting teams have qualified three individuals for the USA Powerlifting Wisconsin High School State Championship.
February 13, 2019
• Caden Erickson, sophomore, and Emmie Edwards, senior, were crowned Mr. and Mrs. Colfax at the Colfax High School Winter Carnival February 6.
• Ezra J. McCandless, 21, who is accused in the death of Alexander Woodworth in the Town of Spring Brook last March, has withdrawn her plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. McCandless’s plea of “not guilty” remains.
• A 29-year-old Boyceville resident, Brenden M. Schutts, died in a snowmobile accident in the Town of Colfax around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 9.
• After a winter of very little snow and too much rain, as of 7:12 a.m. February 6, the snowmobile trails in Dunn County were open and their condition was listed as “good.” Following a polar vortex that dropped temperatures to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit with minus 60 windchills the last week in January, a surprise snowstorm on February 5 unloaded about 10 inches around the area. Only three or four inches had been predicted. A day later, another snowstorm left another 10 inches of snow.
February 20, 2019
• The committee authorized by the village board to begin locating funds for the $700,000 Colfax Municipal Building elevator project has completed the task of writing a fund-raising letter. The Colfax Village Board approved the letter and also approved $200 in start-up funding for postage and other administrative costs, such as paper and envelopes, at the February 11 meeting.
• The Roosevelt Street project from Third Avenue to Fifth Avenue on the south side of Colfax is ready to go out for bids and will cost an estimated $259,000.
• The Colfax Village Board has approved an updated snowmobile ordinance and resolution for the village that includes allowing access through the alley from Railroad Avenue by Synergy Cooperative to Express Mart.
• The Colfax High School student council donated $500 to the Colfax Municipal Building Restoration Group. The money was earned during the school’s annual winter carnival coin drive. Student council officers Hailey Prince, Alyssa Dachel and McKenna Yingst presented the check to Troy Knutson, a member of CMBRG.
• BaredFeet Company out of Eau Claire performed “Rising Forward” at the Colfax Municipal Building auditorium February 16, and the dueling pianos act from the Twin Cities, Duelly Noted, performed at the auditorium February 17.
February 27, 2019
• A Colfax seventh grader has won first place in the Dunn County Division of the conservation awareness poster contest sponsored by the National Association of Conservation Districts, first place in the regional contest and is now advancing to state competition. Amy Wenzel took top honors with her poster for the county and regional competition, while two other seventh graders, Josephine Doerr and Brook Perry took second and third place in the county division of the conservation awareness poster contest. The theme for this year was “Life in the Soil: Dig Deeper.”
• The Colfax Girls’ basketball team was all smiles after winning their third straight WIAA Division 4 regional championship at home Saturday afternoon, February 23, with an 84-59 win over Cameron.
• Marcie Rosas, the Dunn County and Eau Claire County Medical examiner is concerned about an increase in suicides and drug overdose deaths. Rosas gave her annual report to the Dunn County Board at the February 20 meeting. At the current rate, Dunn County and Eau Claire County are on track for a potential of 48 suicide deaths in 2019. Another area of concern for the medical examiner’s office is the increasing numbers of accidental overdose deaths secondary to the opioid crisis.
• The Elk Mound Board of Education has approved working with CESA 10 on a cost analysis of potential big-ticket items in the school district.
• Colfax and Elk Mound superintendents Bill Yingst and Eric Wright presented Rod Dicus with a plaque during halftime of the Elk Mound versus Colfax boys’ basketball game Monday evening, February 11, in Elk Mound. Dicus retired recently from the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department where he served as the D.A.R.E. officer for the two school districts.
March 6, 2019
• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development updated the income survey recently, and residents in Colfax are now considered to be low to moderate income, so the village is eligible to apply for a Community Development Block Grant to help pay for the $1.6 million Red Cedar River bank stabilization project to protect the wastewater treatment lagoons.
• The Colfax boys’ basketball team won the 2019 WIAA Division 4 regional championship with a 75-72 win over Webster in double overtime. This is the Vikings first regional crown since 2013.
• The Colfax Village Board is considering ways in which the village could help Timber Technologies with a 25,000 square foot expansion. Two options would be for the village to pay for some of the upfront costs or the village to do a tax refund.
• A Dunn County judge has placed court proceedings on hold and has remanded former Colfax resident Richard Seehaver to the Mendota Health Institute for medication and treatment to restore his competency.
• With two additional wild Whitetail deer testing positive for chronic wasting disease in western Eau Claire County since last April, baiting and feeding bans have been extended in six West Central Wisconsin counties. As per state law, the presence of CWD-positive deer requires a three-year baiting and feeding ban in Eau Claire County and a renewal of the two-year feeding ban in five other counties: Buffalo, Chippewa, Dunn, Pepin and Trempealeau.
March 13, 2019
• “Beds 4 Kids” is wondering if you could help. Robyn Lee of New Auburn, her husband, Richard, and Chelsea Reese of Chippewa Falls, recently started the non-profit 501.c.3 organization to provide bunk beds or single beds for children in foster care or kinship care in Dunn County, Chippewa County and Barron County.
• The Dunn County ATV/UTV Association would like to have an all-terrain vehicle/utility task vehicle route through Elk Mound. Eldora Deraad, representing the association, spoke to the Elk Mound Village Board during the public comments portion of the March 6 meeting.
• Town of Otter Creek residents who attended a public hearing about Chapter 980 sex offenders being placed in the township said they are concerned the house is “uninhabitable” and too close to neighboring children. About 20 people attended the three-hour meeting March 4.
• Restitution of $62,785 has been requested from Michael A. Tenney, 34, of Eau Claire, who has pleaded guilty in connection with a burglary at a Rock Creek home destroyed by fire.
• A Dunn County judge has dismissed the charges against Patrick E. Nolan, 30, of Eau Claire, who was accused of stealing guns in a Town of Spring Brook burglary, but the charges were read into another case for sentencing in Eau Claire County.
• Elk Mound had 37 powerlifters qualify for the state competition, which was the largest in the state, and Colfax qualified four powerlifters. Elk Mound captured first place in the girls’ Wisconsin High School Powerlifting Association’s state competition March 2-3 in Appleton, while the boys’ team finished in second place.
March 20, 2019
• A Dunn County court commissioner has granted an eviction order giving the OCD (Our Communities Deliver) Foundation 10 days to vacate the former nursing home building in Colfax at 1011 University Avenue.
• Crew members from DamBreakers, a company out of Woodbury, Minnesota, worked on steaming ice dams off the two downspouts on the Colfax Municipal Building the second week in March.
• The only thing standing in between the Village of Colfax and an application for a federal grant to help the village pay $600,000 toward the $1.6 million Red Cedar River bank project to protect the wastewater treatment lagoons from washing out was whether the $1 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could count as an “in kind” contribution. The Colfax Village Board learned at the March 11 meeting that the Army Corps money would count as an in kind match for the federal grant money.
• Timber Technologies has been granted a zoning variance for two larger driveways to accommodate the company’s expansion project.
• Colfax High School will perform “Newsies” March 22, 23 and 24 in the Martin Anderson Gymnasium.
• With all of the snowstorms over the past six weeks, are you running out of places to put snow? If so, you are not alone. The issue of no more places to put snow was a topic of discussion for the Colfax Village Board at the March 11 meeting.
March 27, 2019
• The Colfax school district — and students in the district — have saved $23,135 on transcripted credit classes that allow the students to earn both high school and college credits.
• It’s one of those “just in case” situations. The Elk Mound Board of Education approved adjustments to the 2019-2020 school year calendar at the March 18 meeting to provide cushion in the event that next year has as many inclement days as this year. So far, Elk Mound has had eight days of school cancelled because of the weather.
• The Herb Kohl Educational Foundation announced earlier this month that Nicole Resch, a seventh and eighth grade teacher in Elk Mound, has been awarded the $6,000 Herb Kohl Education Foundation Teacher Fellowship. In addition to $6,000 for Resch’s classroom, Elk Mound Middle School also will receive $6,000.
• A 12-person jury found Jobert L. Molde, 44, of Colfax, guilty of two felony counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 12 following a two-day jury trial in Dunn County Circuit Court on March 18 and 19.
• The Elk Mound High School Academic Decathlon team took third place in the Wisconsin Academic Decathlon in Division 3 March 7 and 8 at Wisconsin Dells.
• Steven M. Clickner, 43, of Elk Mound, has pleaded no contest in Dunn County Circuit Court and was found guilty in connection with delivering heroin to a resident at Arbor Place Treatment Center in Menomonie and was sentenced to six months in jail.