‘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
FEBRUARY 3, 2011 – A pickup truck driven by James Crowley of Lyndon Station collided with a snowmobile operated by Jacob DeWitt, 12, on Highway 131 near Ontario. The youth who was wearing a helmet and protective boots sustained multiple injures to the pelvic area and lower extremities and was transported to Vernon Memorial Hospital by ambulance… Charlie Heisz is pictured snowboarding during a big sledding party on Aspen Road last Saturday.
TWENTY YEARS AGO
FEBRUARY 1, 2001 - Seneca High School juniors Shelly Sutton and Nicole Olson have constructed a track plaque entitled ‘Seneca’s New Millennium Track and Field Records.’ The plaque was made in woodworking class with the help of their instructor Bruce Biggin… Jamie and Lacy Olson of Soldiers Grove are pictured with their mother Annette. With the help of many friends, businesses and individuals the group has saved 26 gallons of aluminum pull tabs. The tabs will be recycled and the money donated to the Ronald McDonald House in Madison.
THIRTY YEARS AGO
FEBRUARY 7, 1991 – Members of the Yankeetown Homemakers Club met at the Soldiers Grove library last week to sign and address Valentine cards to service men and women from the soldiers Grove area… Jay Anderson, Wauzeka, was the individual first place winner at the 1991 UW Center-Richland High School Mathematics Competition. He was awarded a $50 prize, a trophy, and will receive a $300 scholarship should he decide to attend UWC-R. Daven Howard, from North Crawford High School, was the second place individual winner.
FORTY YEARS AGO
FEBRUARY 5, 1981 – Earl Winsor, son of Mr. and Mrs. Austin Winsor, Gays Mills, is the local winner of the 1981 Good Citizen Award sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution… A Gays Mills landmark the “Lewis Store” will be dismantled for salvage in the spring. The building was built in 1909 by Frank J. Lewis and Frank A. Onstine who operated the general store until it was purchased in 1920 by Frank Jameson and Carl Anderson.
FIFTY YEARS AGO
FEBRUARY 11, 1971 – A semi-trailer truck went off Highway 171 and hit a tree near the Earl Lester farm two miles west of Gays Mills Monday afternoon. The driver of the truck, Maynard Hill of Iowa City, Iowa, had gotten out of the wrecked cab and started walking down the highway when Ray Hayden picked him up and brought him into Gays Mills, from where he was taken to a Viroqua hospital for treatment and released. A low-hanging branch demolished the top of the truck cab… A long-time favorite with the younger set, Woody Herman and his “Thundering Herd” will give a concert at Campion high school in Prairie du Chien.
SIXTY YEARS AGO
FEBRUARY 1, 1961 – Science students at the Mt. Sterling school gave two minute reports as a part of their oral language practice. The talks were tape recorded for evaluation and future comparison. The speakers were initiated to the use of the microphone by reading favorite poems from their reading books… The Blackhawk-Kickapoo Watershed Association will have its annual meeting in the Gays Mills Community Building February 6 Amel Oppriecht, president of the group announced today.
