Story originally printed in the Onalaska Life or online at www.onalaskalife.com
Published - Wednesday, May 07, 2008
News in brief
Here are a selection of brief news items from this week's paper edition, and possibly a few news briefs that didn't make it in the paper.
The La Crosse County Agricultural Society is seeking entries for the 2008 La Crosse Interstate Fair, which will be held July 16-20 at the fairgrounds in West Salem.
The 2008 Exhibitor Guide and Premium List, including entry forms, are now available at the La Crosse County University Extension office located in the County Administrative Center, 400 Fourth St. N., Room 3140, La Crosse, as well as the La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce, and many financial institutions around the county.
The Premium Books contain lists of possible entries for both junior fair exhibitors in 4-H, FFA, or other youth organizations and open class departments, which are open to any Wisconsin resident. Entry fees are $2 per person for junior fair exhibitors and $3 per person for open class exhibitors.
Junior fair exhibitors may exhibit in more than 25 departments including dairy, beef, horse and other livestock, flowers, gardening, natural science, arts and crafts, photography, woodworking and many others. Junior exhibitors must be members of a La Crosse County based 4-H, FFA or other youth organization with adult leadership and with an educational program approved by the local fair board.
Open class departments are open to any Wisconsin resident wishing to enter. Open class exhibitors may exhibit in such departments as dairy, beef, horses, flowers and vegetables, bees and honey and many more.
For more information, call the county Extension office at 785-9593. All entries for the 2008 fair must be submitted to the Extension office by 5 p.m. June 5.
Valley View Mall, Ellickson Studio, Children’s Miracle Network and the West Salem, Onalaska, Logan, Central and Aquinas dance teams are teaming up for a fundraiser for CMN and the dance teams’ athletic funds.
From May 1-31, Valley View Mall will display dance team portraits taken by Ellickson Studio in Center Court. Anyone may vote for their favorite dance team with a minimum donation of $1.
Each dollar donated is considered as one vote for that team. To vote, individuals can obtain specially marked envelopes from the dance team members and return the envelopes to them, or visit Valley View Mall and use the specially marked envelopes by the display and deposit them in containers at the following locations: Hollister Co., Aeropostale, The Buckle and Valley View Mall customer service center.
All proceeds donated will benefit the CMN and the competing dance teams’ athletic funds.
For more about the event, visit www.myvalleyview.com.
Area kids are invited to the Z93 Bike Rodeo from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 10, at Holmen Square.
The free event will feature a bike safety road course, gifts for the kids and free bicycle helmets for those who do not have a helmet, courtesy of Altra Federal Credit Union, Features Sports Bar and Grill in Holmen, Gundersen Lutheran Express Care, and River Trail Cycles.
Holmen police officers and firefighters also will be on hand to meet with kids, and free bike safety checks will be offered.
While most college students plan wild bar crawls months before their milestone 21st birthdays, Emily Wypysynzski planned an evening of eclectic music at a University of Minnesota campus bar to benefit a cause close to her heart and raised $3,500.
“I wanted a way to honor my grandfather and call attention to the heartache drunk driving can bring,” said Wypyszynski, an Onalaska High School graduate whose grandfather was killed in a boating accident caused by a drunken boater. “My non-traditional 21st birthday celebration was my way of helping people to second-guess that horrible life decision before they make it.”
The event, “Keep the Drive Alive,” also featured T-shirts and ribbons for sale to add to the total donations of the evening. After the event, there were also free cab rides courtesy of Drink & Drive Intelligently.
Wypyszynski donated the proceeds from the event, which she hopes will become an annual one, to Student Against Destructive Decisions, an organization founded to educate students on the dangers of drunk driving.
Riverfront is organizing a trap shoot at the Gunslick Trap Club in Holmen.
The shoot will be held Sunday, May 18. On- site registration begins at 9 a.m. and activities run through 5 p.m. All people who enjoy trap shooting are invited to attend; no pre-registration is required.
For $25, participants receive 100 targets. The targets will be launched from a house 16 feet away from the shooting line. Participants should bring their own guns and shells.
Also available will be hamburgers and brats on the grill, pulltabs, and a chance to win a bow from Mathews Bow.
Gunslick Trap Club is located on 96767 Briggs Road in Holmen. For more information, call the Riverfront Foundation at 784-9450 or committee chair Jerry Den Boer at 792-5133.
The Onalaska High School football program and the West Avenue Food Emergency Resource will benefit from Mutual of Omaha’s 2008 charity golf outing, to be held Monday May 12, at Cedar Creek Golf Course.
For the past three years, the event has raised $7,500 to $8,000 annually for community causes.
“The charitable golf tournament not only raises money to purchase food for WAFER, but brings a public awareness for the need to help feed the hungry of our community,” said Lee Bluske, WAFER’s treasurer and a Mutual of Omaha associate. “WAFER can purchase, from a nonprofit food recovery organization, approximately 5,000 pounds of food for every $1,000 of donations. This is a great way to enjoy the game of golf and give back to the community.”
Cost is $100 per golfer, which includes the scramble with cart, social hour, prime rib dinner, awards and door prizes. Consider
Hole sponsorships are available for $250 to $1,000, and businesses also could support the event by donating door prizes.
For more information, to register as a golfer or hole sponsor or to donate door prizes, call Eric Guth at 782-5293.
Tri-State Ambulance, Rudy’s Drive-In in La Crosse, The Frosty Mug in Holmen and the Dairy Queen in Onalaska are teaming up for a new bicycle helmet safety program called “Cool Kids — Cool Treats.”
When Tri-State Ambulance personnel observe a child 15 years old or younger wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle in public, the kids will be given a “ticket” entitling them to a free ice cream at The Frosty Mug or Dairy Queen or a root beer float at Rudy’s Drive-In when accompanied by an adult. The program runs through Aug. 31.
“Our hope is to raise helmet safety awareness,” said Matt Zavadsky, director of Tri-State Ambulance. “The goal is simple. Keep children out of the emergency room and provide some cool treats as incentive.”
Suchita Shah, the Holmen High School graduate and UW-Madison senior who won a spot on the college championship edition of “Jeopardy!,” will make her first appearance on the show on Thursday, May 6, the fourth day of the college tournament. Two weeks worth of episodes were taped recently at the UW-Madison campus last weekend.
A flea market set for Sunday, May 4, at Holmen High School will benefit the school’s show choir program.
Event organizer Dieter Hermann, a custodian at HHS who also puts on the flea markets at the La Crosse Center, said he expects there will be about 125 vendors offering a wide range of merchandise for sale.
“It’s like treasure hunting,” Hermann said. “That’s kind of the fun of it.”
One of the vendors will be Fran Spindler from Imagine Nation Books, who will be selling books to support the Holmen School District’s LMC’s.
The flea market will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the high school. Although he expects all the tables to be spoken for, Hermann said it’s possible there could be openings. People interested in a table can call him at 797-6647.
The Holmen High School girls soccer team will host a car wash from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 4, at the Kwik Trip on Holmen Drive. The students will ask for donations for a car wash.
The Holmen American Legion Auxiliary will hold a Mothers Day plant sale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 10.
Hanging baskets, planters, geraniums, bedding and vegetable plants will be available. The sale will be in the parking lot on Main Street directly behind the Legion.
In case of rain, it will be held at the shelter in Halfway Creek Park (behind the Legion).
Graduating students in the Western Technical College Graphic Design and Visual Communications programs will be hosting the 16th Annual Portfolio Review Show on Monday, May 5, from 4-6:45 p.m. at the Radisson Center in downtown La Crosse. The show will feature a variety of student accomplishments in video, print, and web designs.
Potential employers, students and the general public are invited to stop in anytime during this free event. Refreshments will be served.
For more details about the event visit westerntc.edu/graphicdesign or westerntc.edu/visualcommunications. For information about other programs and services at Western, call (608) 785-9200 or visit westerntc.edu.
The Onalaska Lions Club will hold its annual Candy Days on May 9-10 to raise money for local projects and the Wisconsin Lions Foundation. Members of the Onalaska Lions Club will hand out rolls of Lion Mints at the Festival Foods and Wal-Mart locations in hopes of receiving donations.
The Lions will also collect used eye glasses at the Onalaska Wal-Mart and other locations to disperse to needy persons in third-world countries.
The La Crosse Area Retired Educators will meet for breakfast at River Jack’s Restaurant on Monday, May 5 at 9 a.m. Everyone who has retired from Wisconsin public schools is invited. Breakfast will be followed by a short meeting and a presentation about bird watching. Please call Karen Broadhead for reservations at 788-2485.
Volunteers are being sought for Halfway Creek Trail clean-up day planned for the morning of Saturday, May 3.
Participants are to check in at Shelter A in Halfway Creek Park at 9 a.m. and the work is expected to be completed no later than noon.
Tasks might include picking up litter and downed branches, removing old tires and graffiti and minor pruning. Trash bags will be provided.
Workers will be split into teams and assigned segments of the 3.4-mile trail, which runs from Halfway Creek Park to the Great River State Trail in Midway.
Volunteers should wear appropriate clothing, including boots, long-sleeved shirts and work gloves.
Clean-up workers also should bring drinking water and any useful equipment they might have, including hand shears, loppers, pruners, rakes, motorized trimmers and gas leaf blowers.
For more information or to register to help with the clean-up day, call the Holmen Parks and Recreation Department at 526-2152 or e-mail brogan@holmenwi.com.
A plant sale sponsored by the Natural Arts Garden Club will be held on Saturday, May 17, starting at 8 a.m. in the Crosseroads Center parking lot on Highway 16 in Onalaska, across from Valley View Mall. Perennials and many colorful annuals will be on sale.
The seventh annual St. Clare Health Mission Half Marathon and 5K Run/Walk will be held on May 3, with runners and walkers finishing again in downtown Onalaska.
The event offers options for for experienced and first timers alike. The half marathon course is a point-to-point run on the beautiful Great River State Trail paralleling the Mississippi River. The 13.1-mile course begins in Trempealeau and winds its way south bridging numerous streams and channels coursing their way to the Mississippi, finishing at the trailhead in Onalaska.
The 5K run will start in Midway (on Highway OT), and will also follow the Great River Trail, finishing in Onalaska.
Runners and walkers of all ages can participate and will receive a T-shirt. Awards will be given to overall winners and the top three from every age group within both male and female categories.
Time splits, water, sport drinks, volunteers and medical personnel will be provided.
Cost for the half marathon is $25 before May 1 or $35 on race day. Cost for the 5K is $20 before May 1 or $25 on race day.
For more information or to register, call 791-9544 or log onto www.stcarehealthmission.org.
Last September, The Wisconsin American Legion presented satellite phones to Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines Reserve Unit out of Madison and Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines Reserve Unit out of Milwaukee. Both units are currently deployed in Iraq.
The Legion purchased enough time in September to charge each phone with 5,000 minutes. Recently, the Legion received word that Fox Company had exhausted their minutes and that Golf Company is running low.
In order to recharge the phones with additional minutes, help is needed. The Wisconsin American Legion needs to raise $50,000 to provide deployed Wisconsin Reserve and Guard units with phones and sufficient calling minutes to allow all of their members to call home to Wisconsin.
To contribute to the “Wisconsin American Legion Troop and Family Support Funds,” send checks to The Wisconsin American Legion Troop and Family Support Fund, P.O. Box 1000, Portage, WI 53901. Donations are also accepted by credit card online at www.wilegion.org/howcanyouhelp.
The Challenge Academy, a tuition-free program for 16- to 18-year-old “at-risk” youths is now accepting applications for its next class of cadets, who will start July 25.
Located at Fort McCoy, the academy offers high school dropouts or habitual truants a chance to earn a high school equivalency diploma, learn essential job and life-coping skills and develop the strength of character to become responsible citizens.
Cadets spend 22 weeks at Fort McCoy, learning in a highly structured environment. After returning to their home communities, they work with local mentors for another year to pursue the goals they have set for themselves.
Would-be cadets must apply voluntarily, must have dropped out of school or be at least a year behind in credits and must not have been convicted of a felony.
More information is available from the academy’s admissions department at (608) 269-4605 or www.challengeacademy.org.
As part of Project LEAD, the EPA grant received by the La Crosse County Health Department in October 2007, free blood lead screening will be available the last Friday of each month from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Parents should call 785-9865 to reserve a time and come to the La Crosse County Health Department, 2nd Floor of the Health and Human Services Building, 300 4th Street La Crosse.
As part of Project LEAD, the Nutrition Services Department which houses the WIC Program, will offer the free blood lead testing. The test also is available at other times through public health nursing by making an appointment at 785-9723.
Children younger than 6 who have never been screened are encouraged to have a blood lead test done, and all children younger than 2 who live in a home or spend time in a home built before 1978, should be tested.
The testing is done with a finger prick sample of blood. Children whose screening results come back greater than 10 ug/dl are recommended to have a confirmatory blood draw done through their doctor’s office. There is no cost for the blood lead screening test.
Project LEAD is working with agencies that serve families with children younger than 6 to increase awareness and screening for lead poisoning, which continues to be a risk to children residing in homes built prior to 1978.
Outreach is being conducted to educate home owners, contractors and landlords of the need to remodel with regard to disturbing lead paint which was very likely to be used on surfaces painted in the 1970s and earlier.
For more information, call the La Crosse County Health Department at 785-9872.
Low-income consumers may qualify for assistance programs that discount initial telephone installation and basic monthly service, according to a recent announcement from CenturyTel.
The assistance programs, known as Link-Up and Lifeline, are available to qualifying consumers in every U.S. state (territory and commonwealth). Link-Up helps these consumers pay the initial costs of getting telephone service. Lifeline provides certain discounts on monthly service for qualified subscribers.
Qualifications for participation vary by state. States with their own programs have their own criteria. In states that rely solely on the federal program, the subscriber must participate in one of the following programs: Medicaid, food stamps, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Federal Public Housing Assistance or the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Head Start, the National School Lunch Program’s Free Lunch Program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) or if the household annual gross income is at or below 135 percent of the federal poverty level.
The amount of the discounts also varies by state. This federal Link-Up program offsets one-half of the initial hook-up fee, up to $30, for qualified households.
People living in a CenturyTel service area should call 800-201-4099 or log onto www.centurytel.com/lifeline to inquire about eligibility.
The La Crosse County Health Department once again is offering radon test kits to anyone interested in checking the radon level in their home.
Radon test kits can be purchased for $5 at the following locations:
Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers and kills 20,000 people every year. For more information about radon, call 888-low-radon or visit www.lowradon.org.
Franciscan Skemp Healthcare is offering new moms and babies a chance to find support, friendship and new information through a new weekly program called New Mom and Baby Group.
New moms can listen to speakers and find advice for the new chapter in their lives. The group meets at two locations and is free for everyone.
On Wednesdays, the group program meets from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Franciscan Skemp Onalaska Clinic, 191 Theater Road, in the lower level conference room
On Thursdays, the program meets from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Franciscan Skemp Family Health Clinic in the Sally Olson Conference Room, 815 S. 10th St., La Crosse.
For more information, call (608) 392-4172.
All stories copyright 2006 Onalaska Life and other attributed sources.