June 3-5 2002

June 5, 2002

ACS Relay For Life this Friday, Saturday
There is strength in numbers. Florence Kozelka has amazing numbers: 51 years as a cancer survivor.
MPC Manufacturing has amazing numbers as well: 300 MPC Prairie du Chien employees raised over $10,000 in last year's Relay for Life.
Our city has amazing numbers: Prairie du Chien's Relay For Life was ranked among the top ten in the nation for dollar contributions for communities of comparable size. They raised over $100,000.
All of the money raised at the Prairie du Chien Relay For Life strengthens national American Cancer Society initiatives in cancer research, education, advocacy and patient services. Locally, the money powers programs like the Community Action Team-which includes smoking cessation classes and colo-rectal cancer information seminars. The money helps fund other local ACS patient support services like "Reach For Recovery," and "Look Good Feel Better." The money also goes to fund at-home, free equipment, including automated hospital beds and wheelchairs. There's even an ACS "Loan Closet" where cancer patients receiving chemotherapy can pick out wigs that best match their own hair.
There will be 65 Relay For Life teams this year. Teams are sponsored by local businesses, churches, hospitals, clinics, schools and families. Each team has between 10 and 15 members-that adds up to more than 1000 people - all volunteers... all with the same powerful hope: The hope that those with cancer can be cured. 1000 people with the same powerful dream: To end cancer in our lifetime.
One hundred cancer survivors add their strength to a thousand volunteers. Volunteers and survivors, doctors and nurses, neighbors, grandparents, teachers, children and clergy. For the people of Prairie du Chien and the surrounding communities, the Relay For Life is a source of great strength.
If you didn't know that the Relay For Life was a fundraising event of the American Cancer Society, you'd think it was just the best, biggest party ever. It's held at the Prairie du Chien High School-it's all outdoors around the high school track. It's alcohol free and tobacco free. There's something for every age group - games for the kids, mouth-watering home cookin', prizes, raffles, Karaoke, and top notch musical entertainment all night long. There are some amazing raffle items this year, including two tickets to see the Green Bay Packers, two tickets to a Wisconsin Badger Football game, six getaway weekends, a golf outing, and many other prizes. Raffle tickets can be purchased for one dollar each at Dick's Supermarket, Food Pride, and at Prairie Prescription HealthMart. Parents can get a welcomed break from their kids, thanks to the free baby-sitting services provided by Sally Davies and the Girl Scouts from 6 -9:30 p.m. Friday. It's a party with a purpose. What better way to celebrate!
The Relay kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday evening with an introduction of this year's honorary chairperson, Lloyd Beers. Challanie Adams will once again honor all in attendance with the singing of the National Anthem. There will be a special presentation of this year's Danny Ruehlow Dream Catcher Award winner. The VFW Honor Guard will lead a group of more than 100 cancer survivors around the first lap of the high school track. The second lap will be for all caretakers-and then all team members will meet on the track and begin walking and continue throughout the night.
At dusk, around 8:30, there will be a special Luminary Ceremony honoring those who have survived cancer and in memory of those who have lost their lives to cancer. Luminaries are on sale at Prairie Prescription HealthMart. They will also be on sale the night of the Relay. Last year the luminaries completely circled the high school track. Team members take a break to participate in this hauntingly beautiful ceremony. Norb Aschom from WPRE Radio will read the names of those being honored.
Following the Luminary Ceremony, the teams return to the track. It's really a lot of fun out there.
Stoehr Photography Studio will be on hand to professionally photograph team pictures-all proceeds will be donated to the Relay For Life.
Prairie Catholic is once again providing the food service for this year's Relay. Prairie Catholic's hot turkey and dressing sandwiches are back by popular demand. There will be brats, hamburgers, and hot dogs, pizza by the slice, tacos in the bag, nachos and cheese, popcorn, chocolate shakes, candy bars and chips. And the church ladies are baking irresistible pies to sell by the slice, so be sure to bring your sweet tooth.
McDonald's Courtesy Corporation of La Crosse will provide Hi-C Orange Bowls throughout the night.
There's music playing all night long and Saturday until noon. Featured artists include Challanie Adams at 8 p.m. Friday, Country Express at 10 p.m., followed by Hotdish, a seven piece Madison area classic rock band at midnight. Steward Slaman's Ultimate Entertainment will keep 'em rockin' from 2-4 a.m., when disc jockey Russ Wright with WQPC takes over until dawn. At 6 a.m. Saturday morning there's a karaoke contest. And the Eagle's Club begins serving a egg and sausage breakfast. They will be serving breakfast until 9 a.m. All proceeds are donated to the Relay. At 7 a.m., the Prairie du Chien Pom Pom Squad will energize the field-just in time for everyone's favorite, the Back Home Boys. The Relay will wind down at noon Saturday.
It's important for all of us to come out and support the Relay for Life. For only complacency can stop the strength of our hopes and our dreams from becoming a reality. The hope for a cure and the dream of a world without cancer can be achieved with the strength of our combined support.

PdC City Hall closes for move
Prairie du Chien City Hall will be closed on Thursday and Friday, June 6 and 7, for the move to their new location at 228 W. Blackhawk Avenue. No business will be handled during these two days, nor will the phones be answered. They will be open at the new location on Monday.

Council addresses Haydn RR crossing closure, new city hall
The Prairie du Chien Common Council had more questions than answers about the rehearing for the Haydn Street Railroad Crossing closure at the regular June meeting.
Questions ranged from who will pick the new hearing examiner to when the rehearing will be held. No one knew the answers. The city will be forming a committee of council members and citizens to look at what needs to be done prior to the rehearing.
The council's longest debate Tuesday night was about cleaning bids for the new city hall and user fees for the community room. Since it is unknown how much cleaning the new building will require, it is difficult to estimate the amount of time required. It was decided to go with Stevens, Inc. as a cleaning service for the next six months with the city administrator authorized to adjust the contract as needed. Fees for community room usage was referred to the Property Committee.
The council was also informed about the city's water system report from the state. The city's water system, the second oldest in the state, has an unaccounted water loss of 22 percent. They may also need to investigate future water reservoir needs to meet future usage.
A $43,344 bid from McHugh Construction for the sanitary sewer and street project in the Bloyer Industrial Park was approved.

'For every combat man, seven support units took care of him'War veterans recognized: Part 1
Writer's note: Starting today, I will present a series on war veterans that have served our country. I will be looking at wars from World War II to the present "War against Terror."
I will look at the reason why the United States was involved with these wars. I will also present the accounts of veterans to tell you what their life was like before and after the war, and I will recount with them, the things they went through during the war.
For the first day of my series, I will focus on World War II.
WORLD WAR II
The European Theater
There was a lot of anger in the German government after World War I due to the harsh conditions of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. They felt that they were being blamed for the war.
They had to give up land in Germany and Africa. One key piece of land was the 9,450-square-mile Rhineland. Under the conditions of the treaty, it became a demilitarized zone. This condition was violated when Hitler invaded the Rhineland on March 3, 1936.
Austria and the Czech Republic were also annexed to Germany in 1937 to give them more living room.
The League of Nations, a United Nations of that time period, ignored Hitler's thirst for land. They hoped that Hitler would not invade any more land if he got his wishes in these disputes.
This was not the case. On Sept. 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany.
The Pacific Theater
Japan had become burdened by the lack of land on their small island. There was little farming land and natural resources left. They decided to turn to China occupied Manchuria for answers.
Manchuria was important to Japan because it was rich in iron, coal and other resources. The Japanese also wanted a buffer state between Russia and their Korean holdings.
The Japanese used a bombing of a Japanese-owned railroad yard in Manchuria as an excuse to invade. The bombing had actually been done by Manchurian agents of the Japanese.
Japan kept pressing further into China, but China had been in a civil war between the Chinese Nationalists and the Chinese Communists in the 1930s. They were too busy fighting each other to fight the Japanese. They later made a pact to unite against Japan.
A small skirmish on July 7, 1937 between the Chinese and Japanese started a war between the two countries. Japan kept advancing and China retreated to keep their remaining forces intact and to wait for a power like Britain or the United States to help them. No help came.
Japan, meanwhile was expanding its empire to the Pacific Islands. After Japan took control of Saigon and Danang in July 1941, the U.S. put an embargo on all oil shipments to Japan and froze all Japanese assets in America.
Japan decided it had to move against the U.S., and they had to strike first to gain surprise so that they could defeat America. They knew the U.S. Pacific Fleet was a tremendous threat to their empire. They decided to attack Pearl Harbor and take out a huge portion of the fleet.
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. The United States declared war on Japan.
Veterans Remember
According to the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs in Madison, 210 Crawford County citizens served during World War II.
Joseph Spielbauer, 75, Prairie du Chien, served as a repairman of destroyers during his service. He said that "for every combat man, seven supporting units took care of him."
Spielbauer joined the Navy at the age of 17 in 1944. He said that he enlisted because it was in the middle of the war and most young adults registered when they turned 18. He also did not want to be in the Army where he would be shot at.
Of those who did not register, many were drafted. Virgil Enke, 84, of Prairie du Chien, was drafted into the Army during World War II. He served from September of 1942 to November of 1945.
Enke said that each person who was eligible to be drafted was assigned a number. Those numbers were thrown into a bowl and a number was drawn.
When Enke's number was drawn, he was informed that he was drafted.
Jack Howe, 77, of Prairie du Chien, was 18 when he enlisted in the Navy in 1943. Like Spielbauer and Enke, he did not see any battles, but he was a willing individual who wanted to serve his country.
"I was a willing individual to bleed for my country," he said.
Spielbauer was working at Flexsteel Furniture in Dubuque when he enlisted. At the time, one could opt out of the draft if they were working in the farming or industrial industry, but only if their job was seen as essential to the war cause.
Spielbauer said that he would have been drafted because making furniture was not essential for the war.
"They pulled you in when you were 18," he said, concerning the draft.
Spielbauer left San Francisco for Okinawa aboard a troop ship. He arrived there in June 1945. The Battle of Okinawa, which had started on April 1, had ended a couple of weeks earlier.
He said that there were frightening times when he was on Okinawa. He said that his comrades and he were fired on almost every night by the Japanese.
They were not issued guns since they were repairmen in the Navy. Spielbauer and his comrades had to figure out ways to defend themselves.
One day they sneaked into a Japanese camp and stole three guns and three samurai swords while their enemies were away. Spielbauer said that a gun that he stole was stolen from him after a couple of days.
He said that a friend of his also tried to steal a samurai sword while he was with a group of comrades. His friend was found later with a bullet hole in his head.
He said it was common for men to go into the jungle to look for Japanese camps so that they could find a sword for their collection.
They also had to deal with kamikaze fighters. He said that he knew something was going on when the suicide planes stopped coming. This was about the time when the atomic bombs were being dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
The USS Alcor arrived at Okinawa during September 1945. Spielbauer said that they had to stay after the war to repair ships because some had been so heavily damaged. The Alcor would "park" about 12 miles offshore of Okinawa and the crew would ferry back and forth to fix ships as they came in.
The Alcor crew repaired the external and internal structure of the destroyers. "We had electricians, carpenters, you name it," said Spielbauer. There were also doctors, he said. The crew of the destroyers called the Alcor "a floating hotel."
Spielbauer said that the Alcor crew did some repair work on the USS Laffey. The Laffey had 22 attacks on it with 10 hits, the most of any ship in World War II that still stayed afloat after the attacks.
Spielbauer said that he was caught in a couple of typhoons during his stay in the Pacific. He battled the rough waters with his comrades during the second one in order to get to the shores of Okinawa for better protection.
The crew also had to help a kid with a broken arm get on a ship while they were battling waves that were roughly 25 feet high. The shore was 13 miles away and it took them six hours to get there.
When they got to Okinawa, they lived in the caves for four to six days while a hospital corpsman that they had brought with them fixed the kid's arm. Spielbauer said that this time period was very scary for him because he had no idea when and if the Alcor would come back for them. It later came for them though.
Spielbauer said he had an incident that almost cost him his life. He was on a 30-foot landing craft in which he was the coxswain, the steerer of the boat. He was tied up to another boat and a crane was moving shipments in a cargo net about 30 feet away.
He said that the crane looked like it was swiveling too fast, and that it would not be able to stop quickly. He said he heard the engine and saw the boom swing towards the two boats.
"Something just didn't feel right," he said.
The crane could not brake quick enough and it tipped over with its cargo, onto Spielbauer's boat. He leaped to the boat he was attached to and cut the rope attaching the two boats with one swipe. The boat he jumped on was saved because of this.
The Alcor stayed at Okinawa until about a month and a half after World War II. Then they headed up to Sasebo, Japan.
He went to Yokohama, Japan next. He stayed there until he was honorably discharged from the service in May of 1946.
After he got back from the war, he went to work in the furniture factory. He married Deleros Wilker in May of 1950. He later started farming with his wife at the age of 28.
Spielbauer had never farmed before, but he felt that his experience serving his country made him a stronger man. "If I made anything work like I did on that ship, I could do farming," he said. He moved to Prairie du Chien in 1989.
Virgil Enke was 24 years old when he was drafted into the Army. He had been working at the woolen mill, which was where the 3M sponge plant was on N. Main St.
He went to train at Camp Stewart in Georgia in September 1942. He was trained as an antiaircraft gunner. He then went overseas to Oran, Africa, a city in northwest Algeria, in late September.
He was relieved of his duty as an antiaircraft gunner after he had two surgeries. The first one was for removing a kidney stone and the second one was a leg surgery. After his second surgery, he became a military policeman.
Enke went to Naples, Italy in late 1944. Italy had been out of the war after Mussolini and his government were overthrown, and the new government surrendered to the Allies on Sept. 8, 1943. Enke's duty was to help guard warehouses, gasoline pumps and ports.
Enke used V-mail to keep in contact with his loved ones while he was overseas. V-mail was simply a photographed letter that was shrunk in size to save shipping space.
After being based in Naples, Enke went to Leghorn, Italy before being honorably discharged on Nov. 7, 1945.
He went back to the woolen mill for a little while before he went to work at Weighner's Garage for 18 years. Then he worked at Paul Schmidt's Ford Garage before finishing out as a machine operator at 3M.
Jack Howe was 18 when he enlisted in the Navy in 1943. He had gone to the UW-La Crosse for one year prior to that.
He said that his hope had been to become a Naval flyer, and he did fly a "Flying Jenny." The "Jenny" was a warplane in World War II that was named after a comic strip character named Jenny Dare from the 1920s and 1930s.
He was later commissioned as a line officer, the same thing as a second lieutenant in the Army. He then volunteered for a scout and raider group that ended up in Calcutta, India, which is near the current border of Bangladesh.
It took 43 days to get to Calcutta. They were only going at a maximum speed of 18 mph. He said through these long trips, he learned patience and perseverance that later helped him with business.
He had a scary moment during one of his trips overseas, he said. He said the waves were so rough that the bow would come flying out of the water and come down hard. He said he could feel the ship shiver with each impact.
Howe also did not know how long that he would be overseas. He just said he was "willing to serve." He also said that "being young, I don't think you think into those things."
He stayed in Calcutta for a while before leaving for the U.S. He headed back to Calcutta after a short stay.
When he was in Calcutta he said that his fellow comrades and he stole a couple of officer's jeeps in their spare time.
Howe was also not far from the Ganges River. "People would be relieving themselves in the river. It was filthy," Howe said. He also said that the amount of waste was high in this area. He said that people would build up "a pile of filth" and they would just push it off to the side.
He also said that he saw how overpopulated India and China were. He said that there were "hordes of people." They would be hanging onto the outside of buses and riding on top of them to fit as many people as possible, he said.
He was supposed to fly a mission into Chungking, China, but news of the atomic bomb being dropped came and the mission was called off. To this day, he does not know what the mission was for.
Howe went to Okinawa after the war and was based in Buckner Bay. They had to be very resourceful during their stay. There was no oil or water for them on the island. Everything was shipped to them.
They used water vaporators to get their drinking water. The steam from the vaporators would turn into condensation for drinking water.
Eventually he earned enough points to go home. In order for any serviceman in World War II to be honorably discharged they had to earn points. They would start out with a specific number of points and after each month of their service, points would be subtracted. When a serviceman had no points left, he could go home. Howe was able to go home in early 1946.
He said he was happy to be home and fortunate to be alive. "I was damn fortunate to not have to fight," he said.
He said that he missed home and doing the things that he loved so much. "When you're thousands and thousands of miles from home, you get lonesome," he said.
He was also able to get back to his business running the Courier Press and Howe Printing which his mother and father had been running while he was overseas.

June 3, 2002

Young performer knows all the tricks
Nathan Suckow saw his first magic show when he was five years old. When he was eight, he got his first magic set, and when he was 12 or 13 he did his first paid act. Now, at age 18, he seems addicted to watching people's eyes light up as he performs.
Nathan has mostly self-taught himself the numerous tricks he knows. (He can't even estimate how many.) He did gain a mentor in 1998. Neil Webster of Guttenberg, a magician for more than 60 years, took Nathan under his wing and has been sharing the tricks of the trade and the equipment to go along with the tricks ever since. The only catch was Nathan had to promise to someday pass the skills and tools of the trade onto someone else someday.
That probably won't happen anytime soon though - this recent high school graduate earned a full-ride entrepreneur scholarship to Grace-land University in Lomoni, Iowa based on his magic business and skills. He hopes to be a full time magician in the future.
He has more stage presence than most performers twice his age, and says he loves to incorporate humor (or "bad jokes," as he calls them) into his act. He recalls a story when he was doing a rope trick for a large corporate Christmas party and he accidentally cut his finger. He kept working with the crowd talking as he went to the bar to get a napkin, and later a bandage. He finally ended up wrapping his finger in a napkin and tape to get the bleeding to stop. People came up to him afterwards and asked how he did the "blood trick."
Nathan has performed twice at the Iowa State Fair Talent Show, which has more than 1,000 contestants, and placed in the top 20. He has done hundreds of shows over the years, and he hopes to start doing some restaurant shows in the near feature.
He belongs to the Society of American Magicians, and is joining the International Brothers of Magicians.
Although he won't tell people how tricks are done because that would take the fun out of it for them, he does occasionally show a youngster who shows interest how to do a trick.

Looking for the past part of preparing for the future
Beth Price, DOT Project Manager, answers questions during the public meeting about the Highway 18 corridor study held last week in Prairie du Chien.in addition to the fact the 'Lowertown' was located in this area. Lowertown was the heart of Prairie du Chien in the mid 1800s.
A sampling of some of the artifacts they had located included very early pottery, projectile points, a soldier's brass button and ensign and square nails.
A team of archaeologists from the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center (MVAC) are looking for pieces of the past along S. Main Street in Prairie du Chien as part of a environmental study for the Highway 18/Marquette Road Corridor Study.
The La Crosse office of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) and the consultant team led by CMH2HILL, have chosen to further investigate four alternatives after studying long-range options for improving travel and safety on US 18/Marquette Road, including the possibility of developing S. Main as an alternative to using Marquette Road.
Additional field investigations to search for possible archaeological sites are underway.
Ryan Howell, staff archaeologist with MVAC, was digging with a crew last week on the grounds of Wyalusing Academy. Howell said that there are records of Native American mounds in that area,
Howell says according to federal law archaeological and historical sites must be taken into account on any project which may use federal funds. First they survey the areas, and then test the areas. Both the surveying and testing is currently ongoing.
After they know what they are working with they begin mitigation to decide how to best move forward with the least impact on the sites.
Upgrading S. Main is one of the alternatives which is being considered to resolve the future traffic needs in Prairie du Chien. If chosen as an alternative, S. Main would divert about 4,100 vehicles per day from Marquette Road. The road would be raised above the 100-year flood elevation, and six homes would be displaced. Other alternatives include widening areas of Highway 18/Marquette Road and additional traffic lights.
A second local informational meeting was held last week to answer the public's questions about the study and the alternatives chosen for further study. CMH2HILL and the DOT will be refining the alternatives based on public and agency input and continue preparing environmental documents.
The environmental impact study will be completed by this fall. Functional plans should be in place by February of 2003.TIME CAPSULE - Early Native American pottery fragments, pieces of projectile points, a soldier's button and a square nail are some of the artifacts found thus far.

Dairy Breakfast set for June 8
The Crawford County Dairy Breakfast Committee has finalized plans for this year's Dairy Breakfast. The event will be held Saturday, June 8, at the Terry, Tim and Char Steger farm located 3 1/2 miles north of Prairie du Chien on Highway 27 toward Eastman. Parking is limited, so buses will be running every 15 minutes from the Commerce Court Mall/Food Pride parking lot in Prairie du Chien.
Serving begins at 6 a.m. and tickets are priced at $1 per person, children under three are admitted free. The menu includes pancakes, ham, cheese, cottage cheese, dairy pudding, coffee, Culver's custard, dairy shakes and milk.
All entries in the 2002 Crawford County Dairy Poster Contest will be on display at the breakfast. In addition, persons attending can see cows being milked between 6:30 and 7:40 a.m. and visit a petting zoo. Cheryl O'Brien, the 2001-2002 Crawford County Dairy Queen, the 2002-2003 Crawford County Dairy Queen and queen candidates will be on hand to greet visitors. Door prizes will be awarded throughout the breakfast.
A full feature story about the Steger family will appear in the special Dairy Section of the Courier Press next week.

Sports World has been in the Yeomans' family for many years. From left to right are Scott Yeomans, Penny Cejka, Larry Yeomans, Phyllis Yeomans and Todd Yeomans.
Local store offers world of sporting opportunity
The next establishment to be featured in our continuing series on longtime downtown Prairie du Chien businesses has been a stalwart in the community and in the same family for more than 70 years.
Sports World, now located at 113 W. Blackhawk Ave., began as a Tiger Store on East Blackhawk in the late 20s and was owned and operated by John Curry. Around 1932, the store was moved to its current location and became part of the Gambles chain, selling hardware, appliances, furniture, auto supplies, fishing and hunting gear, paints and toys, along with many other items.
The building had previously been Nugent's Livery Stable and had also been a fire station.
Cy Yeomans, who had worked in the store, took over in the 1930s and managed the store until his death in 1950.
In 1950, Aleda Yeomans began to run the business with the help of Roy Gokey.
The current owner-operator of the store, Larry Yeomans, began working at the store in 1953 while a junior in high school. Larry became a full-time employee in 1955 and has helped run the business ever since. Larry's brother Richard also helped run the business for several years.
During the 1960s, the store was the largest major appliance dealer of the 2,900 Gambles stores.
The store was operated as a Gamble's store until 1978, when it changed to a sporting goods store.
In January 1979, the store officially changed its name to Sports World and ever since has been offering an expanding world of sporting items to men, women and children on the go.
Sports World offers a wide array of major brands of clothing, including shoes, athletic wear and team apparel to go along with items such as baseball gloves, bats, basketballs, footballs and other sporting goods.
Sports World also offers screen printing and digital imaging for full-color photos, logos, designs and lettering on T-shirts, sweatshirts, jerseys and other apparel.
The state-of-the-art embroidery department also offers custom-made lettering, designs or logos for sportswear.
Vinyl graphics are available for use as commercial signage, vehicle graphics, banners and lettering on store windows.
Organizations, teams, and individuals can purchase trophies and plaques that can be custom-made through laser engraving, which can also be done on glassware, cupboard doors and gun cabinets to name a few.
Since its relatively humble inception in 1979, when it began with six models of shoes and one heat press machine, Sports World has expanded greatly to meet the ever-changing needs of its clientele. The business now offers 1,000 models of athletic and casual footwear for men, women and children, a variety of lettering and imaging options and an array of casual clothing from top names such as Calvin Klein, Silver, LEI and Union Bay.
The women's department has nearly doubled in size in recent years, said one of Sports World's fourth-generation managers, Todd Yeomans. In addition, Yeomans pointed out that Sports World opened its Outlet Store in 1995 across the street at 110 W. Blackhawk Ave.
The business now has about 20 employees. Siblings Todd Yeomans, Scott Yeomans and Penny Cejka manage the business, along with their parents Larry and Phyllis, who said they may be getting ready to retire. Penny's husband John runs the screen printing department and their sons Nate and Adam, who would represent the fifth generation, work during the summer.

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