‘Years Ago’ is a compilation of newsy tidbits as published in the Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Scout on this week ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or sixty years ago.
TEN YEARS AGO
APRIL 29, 2010 – Crawford County has received $80,000 from the Ho-Chunk Nation and will potentially get that same sum for up to 25 years under the agreement with the Nation. The Ho-Chunk Nation’s gaming compact with Wisconsin requires that the Nation make annual payments to the state partially based on the winnings from its gambling facilities. An amendment to that compact allows the Nation to give $1,000 per acre to each Wisconsin county that has tribal trust land… North Crawford’s building and construction Class got some practical experience in Gays Mills under the direction of instructor Aaron Ottum. Wyatt Copus is pictured removing vinyl siding from a house on Grove Street that will be removed because of flood damage. Other students assisting Copus were Tyler Jackson and Jason Martin. The recycled materials will be cleaned and reused in the building of playhouses.
TWENTY YEARS AGO
APRIL 27, 2000 – The proposed Viola to Bell Center recreational trail will be the subject of a meeting to be held at the Readstown Village Office. Organizers have applied to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for a grant for trail location and design. A landscape architect class at UW-Madison has taken on the trail as a class project. Students working in small groups will travel the entire distance from Viola to Bell Center. They are identifying plant and animal life, which will be necessary when the environmental assessment is done before state or federal dollars are spent for construction.
THIRTY YEARS AGO
APRIL 26, 1990 – Judy Vangen, Judy Hanson and Barb Gordinier, local singers, will compete at the region Sweet Adelines competition at the LaCrosse Center. There will be 13 quartets on Friday evening and 13 choruses on Saturday afternoon with the Showcase of Champions on Saturday night… Jim Finnell, 13, delivered his last evening LaCrosse Tribune on Friday, April 20 to the downtown Gays Mills area. The Tribune, an afternoon paper for 120 years, became a morning paper April 21, 1990. Sarah Olson is the carrier for the north end of town.
FORTY YEARS AGO
MAY 1, 1980 – Five days after the Gays Mills Library was completely destroyed by fire it was reestablished in a corner of the community building. Nuzum Lumber Company loaned blocks and boards for shelves; Bill and Nancy Curley gave a desk, table, chairs and typewriter; the Bob Carters gave a table and Blakely Hardware gave shelves and paint. Some fine books have been donated and many volunteers have helped by scrubbing shelves, refinishing furniture and assisting the librarian by listing and cataloging books. Librarian, Dorothy Halloran, has given much extra time and labor. She and Lola Kopan attended a workshop at the Library Center in Fennimore and brought back a fine selection of books donated by the Center. The Blue Grass musicians have offered to give a benefit concert in the near future.
FIFTY YEARS AGO
APRIL 29, 1970 – Joni Guernsey, 14, and Mike DuCharme, 15, both of Eastman, are hospitalized in critical condition after they were involved in a severe motorcycle accident occurring at 10 p.m. Friday on Highway 27 near Eastman… At the annual FHA mother/daughter banquet Carol Moldrem, retiring FHA president, presented the gavel to the new president, Pam Byl… Charles Horner and Steve Stussy planted a tree on the grounds of the Gays Mills elementary school on Arbor Day. A basswood tree and yellow birch were planted on the front lawn of the school to replace two large elm trees that had to be removed last year when they were killed by Dutch elm disease.
SIXTY YEARS AGO
APRIL 28, 1960 – Dr. Raymond S. Hirsch, 56, prominent Viroqua physician and a senior partner in the Hirsch clinics he founded in Viroqua and Gays Mills, died Monday at the Mayo Hospital, in Rochester. Dr. Hirsch established his medical practice in Viroqua in 1931 following graduation from Marquette University Medical School the year before. A year ago, the Hirsch Clinic at Gays Mills opened. Surviving Dr. Hirsch, besides his wife, are two sons, Thomas and Robert, a daughter Mrs. Lynn Hodge and several grandchildren.
