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Prairie du Chien Board approves extensions of administrative contracts The Prairie du Chien School Board approved administrative contract extensions for High School Principal Andy Banasik, Bluff View Principal Joan Wick, B.A. Kennedy Principal Adrienne Schneider and High School Assistant Principal/Athletic Director Ron Sedgwick at its regular meeting Monday night. Possible salary increases for the four administrators were not discussed by the board. District Administrator Jim O'Meara will be retiring. His retirement will be effective at the end of this school year. The district is seeking to hire people for the newly created positions of bookkeeper and Bluff View Dean of Students. In December, the board decided to eliminate the position of business manager and to create the position of bookkeeper instead. In other business, the board approved the rollover of contracts for two high school teachers and one middle school teacher. The board approved the reduction of the least-seniored art teacher to 50 percent. Superintendent O'Meara said that the reduction was due to a drop in enrollment. In further business, the board: ´Heard a presentation by Cory Schmidt of 3M about workforce development, whereby the school district and its students will get more involved with area businesses in the future. ´Approved of Phil Stiemke and Luana Stiemke as high school spring play head and assistant directors. ´Approved of a request by six band students to attend the Dorian Festival at Decorah, Iowa. Public meeting set to discuss plans for Highway 18 relocation The proposed relocation of US 18 in Prairie du Chien will be discussed at a public information meeting February 28, 2007, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) announced today. The meeting will be held at the Prairie du Chien City Hall, 724 E. Blackhawk Ave., from 5-7 p.m. The proposed US 18 project begins at the intersection of W. Wisconsin and Main Street and extends 2.1 miles in a southerly, then easterly direction. The work will consist of relocating US 18 and constructing new storm sewer and pavement. The meeting will be conducted in an open house format with exhibits and maps available for review. Attendees will have the option of making written or verbal comments. Persons who are unable to attend February 28 meeting can contribute comments about the US 18 project by contacting WisDOT Project Designer Jaime Boado at: Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Southwest Region - La Crosse Office, 3550 Mormon Coulee Road, La Crosse, WI 54601-6767; (608) 785-9062 or Jaime.boado-jr@dot.state.wi.us. Persons with hearing impairments who wish special interpreter accommodations for the meeting should contact the WisDOT Telephone for the Deaf (TDD) at (608) 246-5385. Online school meeting scheduled for Feb. 15 Insight School of Wisconsin is the newest free, public online school option open to Wisconsin families. On Thursday evening, February 15, members of Insight School will host a public information session in Prairie du Chien, coinciding with the state's open enrollment period (February 5 through Feb. 23). The meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Country Inn & Suites, 1801 Cabela's Lane in Prairie du Chein. The meeting is free and open to the public. Marquette Road crossing guards risk life and limb on a daily basis They aren't given extra pay for hazardous duty; nonetheless, the city's school crossing guards, particularly those who have to stop traffic on Marquette Road, have a very hazardous job. Part of it stems simply from circumstances which can't entirely be remedied until Marquette Road is rebuilt in 2011 and 2012, but part of it is due to speeding or unobservant drivers. No final decisions have been made, but possibilities for improvements during the 2011 and 2012 construction include adding a stop light in the school crossing area, creating an island in the median of the highway or constructing a pedestrian overpass. In the meantime, the road presents problems. Jackie Friederich, who is the crossing guard at Marquette and Wells, explained that Marquette itself poses hazards because it has heavy traffic and four narrow lanes. When she moves out to the middle of the road and gets traffic to stop, drivers on the inside lanes can see her, but drivers coming up in the outside lanes don't always see her, particularly if a large truck is obstructing the view. However, if she moves out of the middle to alert drivers on the outside lanes, drivers on the inside lane think she's finished and start moving again. Said Friederich, "If I get the inner lanes to stop, traffic in the outside lanes doesn't see me. If I move off the yellow line in the middle to alert them, traffic in the inner lanes starts moving." This poses a risk not only for her, but for children waiting to cross. Friederich said they find it hard to understand that they can't begin to cross as soon as she reaches the middle of the road. Although all four lanes of traffic should be stopped by then, that isn't always the case. In addition, because of the narrow lanes, the traffic cones are always being hit, especially by large trucks. Because of the dangers posed by wrestling the heavy cones in and out of traffic twice a day, said Patty Yager, Administrative Assistant of the Prairie du Chien Police Department and supervisor of the crossing guard program, the guards have been instructed to leave them in place during the week and remove them only on the weekends. The cones are put in place Monday morning and removed Friday afternoon. Despite the difficulties posed by the road itself, the job of the crossing guards„and the pedestrians, especially children, they are trying to protect„would be made much safer if drivers would stay alert and obey the traffic laws. At present, she said, "I'm taking a risk by stepping off the curb. My husband was watching as a car blew by me the other day, and he just freaked." Specifically, Friederich said, it would help if drivers would obey the 30 mph speed limit and respect pedestrians' rights. A pedestrian in a painted crosswalk has the right of way as long as he or she is exercising due caution. Moreover, traffic is required to stop when a crossing guard enters the crosswalk carrying a stop sign, and remain stopped until the guard leaves the crosswalk. Crossing guards are on duty from 7:15 to 8:15 a.m. and from 3 to 4 p.m. at Marquette and Mooney, Marquette and Wells, Wells and Fremont, Wells and Dousman. Guards are on duty from 7:30 to 8:30 and from 3 to 4 p.m. at Wacouta and Cass and Wacouta and Webster. They would appreciate all the cooperation they can get from drivers who are on the streets at that time. "Our crossing guards do a great job," said Yager.
Many activities scheduled for Bald Eagle Appreciation Day Prairie du Chien will host Bald Eagle Appreciation Day on Saturday, February 3, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Running concurrently with the 57th Annual Fisheree, bald eagle activities will be centered along the Mississippi River at the location of the Prairie du Chien Chamber of Commerce offices on the grounds of the Wisconsin Welcome Center, 211 S Main Street, and the adjacent AmericInn Lodge and Suites. Complimentary hot beverages will be available at the AmericInn. Bald Eagle Appreciation Day will offer outdoor viewing of bald eagles through spotting scopes and other educational opportunities for families and outdoor enthusiasts Š including live bald eagle programs, eagle and raptor exhibits and presentations, children's craft activities, a life-size eagle nest replica, eagle drawings by Prairie du Chien students, and artwork and photography by local artists. Birding experts will be on hand at the primary event locations; maps and information related to other nearby bald eagle watching locations will be available for those interested in self guided eagle watching field trips. In addition to wild eagles in view along the river, live bald eagle programs will be presented by Mary Beth Garrigan, Director of the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota, at 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. in the lobby of the AmericInn. These live bald eagle programs will be preceded at 9:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. by "Bald Eagles at Home on the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge," presented by McGregor District Manager Tim Yager, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Eagle-related artwork by Ed Lawrence, eagle photographs by Don Valley and eagle sculptures (in wood) by Ali Spurr will be on display throughout the day. As part of the Annual Fisheree, ice sculptures will be located at the AmericInn and other Prairie du Chien locations. The Upper Mississippi River is home to the largest concentration of wintering bald eagles in the lower 48 states. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Upper Mississippi River Refuge is believed to host more eagles and nests than any other refuge in the United States, excluding refuges in Alaska. Nearly 100 active bald eagle nests were counted and an estimated 79 eaglets were produced from those nests within the McGregor District. In 1972, there was only one known eagle nest on the whole Upper Mississippi River Refuge. Bald Eagle Appreciation Day is a collaborative project of the Prairie du Chien Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Council; partner agencies providing staff and expertise include Effigy Mounds National Monument, Wyalusing State Park, Pike's Peak State Park, Wisconsin DNR, Iowa DNR, Upper Mississippi Wildlife & Fish Refuge, Upper Iowa Audubon Society and Osborne Nature Center. The AmericInn co-sponsors the event as one of the host sites. City's first Ice Fisheree was almost its last Although the warm winters of the last few years have presented a challenge to those hosting the annual Ice Fisheree, 57 years ago the very first Fisheree was almost done in by weather problems of the opposite kind. The temperature was 32 degrees below zero, and very few fishermen were willing to risk frostbite standing on the open lake. The event, then sponsored by the VFW, had been organized to pay off debt incurred by some ill-fated stock car races. Many members favored scrapping the Fisheree, too, before going deeper in debt, but a few members saved it by offering to make up any losses on future events. That was the last year the VFW lost money, and within a few years, they were able to pay off all their debts. According to Day's notes, the aim from the beginning was to make it the largest winter sporting event in the Midwest, and it must have come close. Tate Cummings, a well known radio and TV sports commentator from Cedar Rapids, broadcast his sports program live from the Fisheree banquet and jamboree. Members of the committee appeared on his TV show regularly to generate publicity. In 1953 the event was held on two consecutive weekends. The VFW hosted an open house for out-of-towners, and they initiated a queen contest and banquet. Day noted that the queen contest "developed into one of the most popular contests ever held in this city." The banquets and dances were held at Geisler's Blue Heaven, located in what is now the Lori Knapp building, the Checkerboard Ballroom, which which is now Fireworks and More, and the armory. It was noted that, in 1953 or 1954, 1100 people were served at the banquet. To keep things rolling, the Fisheree committee started planning the next event just as one finished. Within two or three weeks after the event, they sent letters to all who attended, thanking them and giving them the next year's dates. One year, they had 2,000 advance reservations from four states. Motels, Day noted, were filled within a 50 to 60 mile radius. They sponsored tours for spouses and other people who didn't want to fish. The date isn't noted, but Day's notes say "I remember one year when Bruce Hutchins was sheriff. He and a deputy came to...control traffic. Almost immediately he put in a call for more deputies. Bruce estimated upwards of 10,000 people were at the Ice Fisheree site." As the contest grew in popularity, committee members noticed that many people didn't know how to drill their own holes, so they purchased an ice driller. That, attached to a tractor, worked beautifully except for one year when the ice was thicker than the 30-inch reach of the drill, and fishermen had to do it by hand from that point. One year, however, the drill and its operator almost met with disaster. Jake Keane, who was to operate the drill, didn't see a patch of open water and drove right into it. Day and a friend stood on the ice and grabbed Keane's hair and jacket to pull him out. The drill and tractor, however, had to be removed with a wrecker. Day noted that it cost $600 to restore the tractor, belonging to John Cota, to operating condition. In 1964, the Chamber of Commerce became a co-sponsor, and assumed total responsibility for the event between 1999 and 2000. |
