OCTOBER
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IN SIDE
Minnesota Ballet at SHS See page 11
50-50 funds eyed for downtown improvements
by Regan Kohler SHELL LAKE – The downtown redevelopment committee will be making a recommendation to the Shell Lake City Council on matching funds for Main Street benches and refuse containers, after meeting Friday, Oct. 1, in city hall to discuss funding. The city created a Downtown Revitalization Plan, which the council passed over the summer, for improvements to bring in more tourism and new businesses while making downtown more inviting to the community as well. Benches, refuse containers and cigarette snuffers were some of the suggestions for Main Street in the plan. The benches the city chose are built by Spooner Machine, and would cost about $310 each, labor not included. Refuse containers would be around $359 each, and snuffers would cost $100 each. The city wants to see eight benches, four on each side of Main Street. Friday morning, committee member Jack Dahlstrom, who already purchased one bench that he placed outside his business, the Lakeside Market, said that he hoped everyone agreed that benches downtown are a good thing, as everyone has a stake in Shell Lake’s success. “It’s a center of the community,” Dahlstrom said. Funding suggestions were to use tax-
See Downtown, page 6
Merry Christmas, Dear See back page
SPORTS See pages 12 - 14
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Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Vol. 121, No. 7 • Shell Lake, Wisconsin
Bubbly
Some high-production plays have expensive bubble machines to create special effects. Mia Olson is the bubble machine in the Old Gem Theater production of “Three Billy Goats Gruff.” More photos on page 24. — Photo by Larry Samson
Hubin publishes second book on 1940s area life
by Regan Kohler BEAVER BROOK – Readers like to envision the settings in the books they are reading, and when the reader has actually lived in or visited the place in which the book takes place, it makes the experience even more enjoyable. Local author Pete Hubin’s second book, “Barefoot Boy and Other Drivel,” is a series of short, autobiographical tales from his boyhood in Beaver Brook and the surrounding areas of Spooner and Shell Lake. Hubin grew up on a dairy farm in Beaver Brook in the 1940s and in this book he describes what life in Washburn County was like back then. Hubin and his wife, Betty, live in Beaver Brook still. Hubin is a retired teacher and former county board chair, and his wife is the town treasurer. They raise beef cattle on a farm about five miles from where Pete Hubin grew up. Both have been writing for years, working on genealogy for their children and grandchildren, and Pete Hubin has written for magazines and local newspaper “The Country Today.” About five years ago, Hubin said, he began working on a series of stories about his childhood and history of the area. “We just decided to sit down and write about everything we could remember,” he said.
Local author Pete Hubin, Beaver Brook, donated copies of his new book, “Barefoot Boy and Other Drivel,” and his first book, “The General’s Den,” to Shell Lake School’s 312 library Thursday, Sept. 30. Pictured with Hubin is librarian Sue Pederson. – Photo by Regan Kohler
Half of the stories in this book – there are about 60 – were written for the Hubins’ children. Hubin said his parents hadn’t written down anything from their childhood, so he had to recall a lot of his own memories, going back to when his great-grandfather was alive.
Hubin had been doing some writing for local historian Sharon Tarr and she began asking questions about early area residents, the cranberry marsh in Beaver Brook and the artesian well, which is still part of the Beaver Brook Wildlife Area and owned by the state. Hubin said he began to recall various aspects of life back then while writing for Tarr. Hubin sent one of his stories, about the Beaver Brook school, which is now at the site of the Washburn County Historical Society, to his cousin in Pennsylvania. His cousin had written a genealogical history of the family called “Radicals to Realists” and Hubin said she told him, “You know, you ought to give some thought to doing writing (for publication).” Hubin began working on his first book, “The General’s Den–An Amazing Discovery in the Forest.” Published in June, the book started from an actual experience the Hubins had on their farm, and turned into a fictional story about a deceased Civil War general. At the same time, “Barefoot Boy” was a work in progress. Hubin had a head start with the stories he’d already written for his family, and from his work with Tarr. “I have to give a lot of credit to Sharon,” he said.
See Hubin page 3
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