WCR|March 5|2014

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W A S H B U R N   C O U N T Y

Wednesday, March 5, 2014 Vol. 125, No. 29 • Shell Lake, Wis.

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INSIDE

March 5, 2014

See story, page 3

75¢

Welcome home, dad

Let the games begin Back page

A play about President’s Day Page 2

Playoff action roundup

Gracie and Emilynn gave their dad, Daniel Botty, a kiss during the annual father/daughter Ball, held Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Shell Lake Community Center. Botty, a Marine, returned home just in time to attend the ball. More photos of the event on page 9. - Photo submitted

SPORTS Pages 10-12

BREAKERS

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STATEWIDE — Remember to turn your clocks ahead one hour on Sunday, March 9, as daylight saving time will begin at 2 a.m. ••• SPOONER- Congratulations are in order for JoEllen Weathers, manager of the Palace Theatre in Spooner, for successfully reaching the $60,000 theater project fundraising goal. “The campaign had great momentum and everyone really got behind us and the campaign which has really been wonderful,” said Weathers on Monday, March 3, in an email. The funds will be used to update both of the theater’s film projectors to digital cinema. A fundraiser held at the theater on Friday, Feb. 28, raised nearly $1,000 in addition to over $59,000 raised on the fundraising website kickstarter.com. “As of a few years ago I was so worried we wouldn’t be able to make this transition and now we can, thanks exclusively to those who contributed to this campaign. I am just so excited to be able give the next generation of moviegoers a glimpse into the wonderful world of film,” Weathers said. Four hundred eighty-four individuals from across the world are listed as donors on the Palace Theater’s fundraising project website. - Danielle Moe

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Arrow Building Center in Spooner lost part of their storage shed when the roof gave way due to the heavy snowfall. The building has seen many winters. — Photo by Larry Samson

Winter’s toll

SHELL LAKE — This year’s winter has laid down extreme snow depths and temperatures. The snow has brought people to the area to enjoy it from snowmobilers to cross-county skiers. The snow accumulations have also been causing their share of problems for commuters, schools and even the crews in the snowplows. From the town to the state level the main concern this winter is keeping track of the costs. Long hours spent for crews to maintain roadways combined with equipment and fuel costs has made the bottom line a question mark, especially with how the rest of this year’s winter may play out. “I would say the fuel is one of the main costs in the whole deal,” said Mitch Brown, public works director for the city of Shell Lake. The tab on a full tank of fuel for a city dump truck is about $300, a costly but necessary expense in the snow removal process. The Washburn County Highway Department has also had its share of problems this winter. “The challenge now is how do we balance

these high costs, that we have been having this winter now, through the rest of the year,” said Jon Johnson, Washburn County highway commissioner. For the county the challenge is making their budget last until December. For January and February 2014, the department is over budget, but Johnson is hoping for a quiet March to help balance out the 2014 winter season. Last year the county went $60,000 over budget because of a heavy winter in January through April, leaving the department with only about $80,000 to cover November and December. “This winter has been really severe … and we are making projections to where our needs are and we are redirecting salt to locations where it is needed,” said Todd Matheson of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. As of last week WisDOT had used 619,500 tons of salt. At the beginning of this winter season the state DOT had 775,000 tons of salt in inventory and under contract from vendors. Every year the See Winter’s toll, page 3

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