Messenger 2016: A Year in Review: A look back the top news stories in April, May and June 2016
By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — It’s cold outside because it is January, after all, but reviewing the news from April, May and June makes spring seem just a tiny bit closer.
Here are news highlights from the Colfax Messenger in April, May and June of 2016:
April 6, 2016
• The Colfax Village Board at the March 28 meeting approved beer sales for the Colfax Musicians’ Reunion sponsored by the Colfax Commercial Club on April 24. The reunion is a first-time-ever event for the Colfax Municipal Building Auditorium.
• Colfax High School will present “Peter Pan” April 8 – 10.
• The Elk Mound Board of Education agreed at the March 28 meeting that Mound View Elementary should explore the idea of a summer school pilot program for a bus route to bring students to school.
April 13, 2016
• Voter turnout for the April 5 presidential primary and local non-partisan elections was higher in Colfax and Elk Mound at more than 50 percent, compared to the state-wide prediction of 40 percent.
• The Elk Mound Village Board has requested more information about a proposed housing development that would build about a dozen duplexes and four-plexes on property near Mound View Elementary.
• Brian Johnson, a resident in the Town of Grant north of Colfax, has won the election for District 1 supervisor on the Dunn County Board.
April 20, 2016
• Four former Elk Mound athletes, one coach and one football team were inducted into the Elk Mound High School Hall of Fame April 9: Jim Eisenhuth; Patrick Rhude; Renae Rhude-Knudson; Jack Curtis (coach); Scot Miller; and the 1989 Elk Mound football team.
• A Boyceville man, Christopher J. Novotney, has pleaded not guilty to ten felonies associated with the alleged sexual assault of teenaged boys.
• A 42-year-old Colfax woman, Jodi L. Larson, who is accused in Eau Claire County of embezzling $41,000 from her employer, RB Scott Company, has pleaded not guilty.
April 27, 2016
• Students from Colfax High School observed Earth Week, leading up to Earth Day on April 22, by touring displays set up along the banks of Eighteen Mile Creek on April 20 by students in Mark Mosey’s Global Science class as one of the Earth Week activities. The displays were devoted to different aspects of wetlands, such as waterfowl, turtles and cattails.
• The Elk Mound Village Board has learned that installing a loop in Elk Mound’s water main system to increase firefighting capabilities for a proposed housing development along University Street could cost $300,000.
• The Colfax Village Board’s streets committee is recommending that the village complete the Third Avenue street project this year at an estimated cost of $400,000.
May 4, 2016
• Mark Youngblood, whose business card identifies him as a “bottle digger,” and his partner in grime, Brian Mann, visited Colfax April 23 to scout out sites where outhouses were once situated. Known as “outhouse archaeologists,” the two men dig up sites where outhouses once sat a hundred years ago or more, looking for artifacts.
• The Culpepper & Merriweather Circus, sponsored by the Colfax Commercial Club, will be performing at the Colfax Fairgrounds July 18.
• With the theme of “Hollywood,” Megan Schleusner and Austin Dressel were crowned king and queen at the Colfax High School 2016 prom held in the Martin Anderson Gymnasium April 30.
May 11, 2016
• The window wells on the north side of the Colfax Municipal Building have been filled with concrete to prevent snowmelt and rainwater from seeping into the basement of the building. The concrete is part of the $54,000 Tower Park drainage project.
• A motion passed by the electorate at the Town of Howard’s annual meeting requiring sand mine companies to pay 50 cents per ton of processed sand is advisory only, according to the Wisconsin Towns association.
• Express Mart in Colfax received a new canopy the first week in May. The gas station and convenience store is no longer under the Citgo brand but is instead operating under the Express Mart brand.
• Members of the Colfax FFA Alumni have met their fundraising goal for improvements to the livestock barn at the Colfax Fairgrounds. Employees at Bremer Bank in Colfax presented a check for $315 on April 29 to Steve Ackerlund, president of the FFA alumni, as part of the “Jeans for a Cause” for the stock barn project.
• Incumbent school board member and former vice president Todd Kragness has been elected as president of the Colfax Board of Education.
• Nevada LaPointe was chosen as the queen and Teegan Peterson was crowned king at the Elk Mound High School prom, themed “Masked in Mystery,” held Saturday, April 30.
May 18, 2016
• Crew members from A Breeze Construction worked on tearing out the sidewalk along the Colfax Municipal Building May 12 as part of the $54,000 Tower Park drainage project. The work is intended to improve drainage around the municipal building to keep water from infiltrating the basement.
• The Colfax High School and Elk Mound High School Classes of 2016 will graduate Friday, May 20.
• After serving on the Colfax Board of Eduction for 15 years, Joel Hilson decided not to run for re-election in April. Todd Kragness, who was elected as president of the Colfax school board presented a plaque to Hilson April 25.
• Mark Mosey, a biology teacher at Colfax High School, recently received the 2015 School Forest Award from the Wisconsin K-12 Forestry Education Program.
May 25, 2016
• The 14th Annual Badger Blacksmiths Conference was held at the Colfax Fairgrounds May 20-22.
• The Dunn County Board learned at the May 18 meeting that Wisconsin is the worst state in the nation for nursing home reimbursement rates. The county’s nursing home, the Neighbors of Dunn County, experienced a $1.2 million deficit in 2015, and out of that amount $500,000 was due to the state’s reimbursement rates and the state’s bed tax. Another $500,000 was due to a lower than expected number of residents with an occupancy of 89 to 90 percent.
• Open enrolled students in Elk Mound provide significant revenue to the district of $585,000.
• The Colfax Board of Education approved fund balance spending to offset decreased enrollment and a corresponding decrease in state aid of $150,000.
June 1, 2016
• The Colfax Village Board has decided not to remove boa constrictors from the ordinance pertaining to prohibited animals. The village board discussed removing boa constrictors at the May 23 meeting following a request from Michael and Jade Roatch so that it would be legal to keep the snakes in Colfax.
• Russell-Toycen American Legion Post 131 Commander Christopher Larson, who became commander last fall, thanked retired post commander Tom Dunbar for his 25 years of service at the Memorial Day Program at Colfax Evergreen Cemetery May 30.
• The Colfax Village Board has accepted a bid of $321,000 from Haas Sons for the Third Avenue street project.
• Dale and Vickie Hendricks of Colfax celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary Sunday, May 22, at the family farm west of Colfax in the Norton area.
• Elk Mound softball players hoisted high the regional plaque and celebrated on the field after the Mounders defeated Boyceville, 9-7, to win the Division 3 regional championship on their home field May 28.
June 8, 2016
• Sgt. Logan E. Dehnhoff, Military Police, Security and Emergency Services Battalion, was pinned by his grandfather, Dale Wolfe of Colfax, during his promotion ceremony at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California, May 13. Wolfe is a former Sergeant in the Army Rangers, 101st Airborne.
• A 23-year-old Colfax man has been sentenced to four years in prison and four years of extended supervision related to three different cases of felony burglary and misdemeanor theft. Travis D. Westaby appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court for a sentencing hearing June 3.
• Steve and Karla Jenson of Elk Mound recently received the Governor’s 8th Annual Foster Care Award. The couple became licensed foster car providers nearly 23 years ago.
• The Elk Mound Boys’ and Girls’ track and field teams won the 2016 Dunn-St. Croix Conference Championships May 17 in Glenwood City.
June 15, 2016
• Work started on the stock barn at the Colfax Fairgrounds the week of June 6 to replace the old roof with the new color scheme of the steel on the refreshment building, beer garden and the new Holden Church food stand. The Colfax FFA Alumni raised money to pay for the work. The south side of the barn also will feature a new permanent lean-to for housing cattle during the Dunn County Dairy Open Show traditionally held on the Saturday of the Colfax Free Fair.
• Four days after he went into the Red Cedar River in the Russian Slough, the body of 21-year-old Juan Ramos-Malagon was recovered 500 feet downstream Saturday morning.
• The Colfax Schools Community Steering Committee has recommended that the Colfax Board of Education approve a $7 million referendum with additional amounts for unfunded pension liabilities and energy efficiency projects already completed.
• Skeeter The Clown, who is making her way across the country ahead of the Culpepper & Merriweather Circus, will be in Colfax Friday, July 8.
June 22, 2016
• The Dunn County Board has authorized participation in a three-year $640,000 project funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for water quality in the Red Cedar River Basin.
• The 97th Colfax Free Fair starts Thursday, June 23, and runs through Sunday.
• Elk Mound has once again achieved an “A” rating on the Compliance Maintenance Annual Report (CMAR) for the village’s wastewater treatment facility.
June 29, 2016
• The Colfax Plan Commission has recommended that the Colfax Village Board approve the Colfax Health and Rehabilitation Center’s proposal for the Minneblom Assisted Living & Memory Care facility at the old nursing home.
• The Colfax Board of Education has approved going forward with the $7.2 million referendum question that is expected to be on the ballot in the November election.
• The Elk Mound Board of Education has approved the 2015-2016 budget variance report that shows a transfer of $150,000 to the instructional fund. The additional $150,000 will be used mainly for technology.
• The sponsors of the new scoreboard at Tom Prince Memorial Park/Bremer Bank Field gathered to celebrate the installation of the scoreboard June 25: Kyle Kressin (Kyle’s Market); Paul Diemert (Cedar Country Cooperative); George Brewe (Bremer Bank); Leanne Clark (Bremer Bank); Heather Aaron (Woods Run Forest Products); and Jen Rud (Woods Run Forest Products).