Aug. 3, 2022

Coming Aug. 9 as prelude to the November general election, Pierce County voters will have a great many decisions to make for state and national candidates. While not all primary races on the ballot are contested as such (i.e. voters can only choose one party and some have only one candidate), the Journal put together a review of the state and national races up for consideration in order to give readers an idea of who each candidate is.

Even though he is no longer Elmwood’s village president, that doesn’t mean Bill Stewart is going to hop on his Harley and ride into the sunset. He just has to focus on his health for a while, but will remain in the town he’s called home for 35 years.

As Pierce County Sheriff Nancy Hove prepares to retire in January, just who is Chad Koranda, the sole candidate running to take her place? Koranda, who will be on the Aug. 9 ballot for the Republican party, has been employed with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office full-time since April 2005. His entire law enforcement career has been spent with Pierce County.

Town of River Falls resident Martin Kretzmann may not have been born and raised in western Wisconsin, but he loves it and has called it home for the past two years. He loves it so much that he’s helping lead a movement to oppose an automotive country club/ road course that’s proposed a scant quarter-mile north of his home.

A cluster of muck boots sit inside the door of the Hince residence in rural Pierce County. Backpacks hang on hooks and notes cover the bulletin board. Jennifer, mother of four and co-leader of the Martell Rushers 4-H Club, is preparing for the Pierce County Fair. So are her kids. Enrolled in projects from pigs to puppets, there is a swirl of energy in the home as they apply the final touches to entries. Jointly, the four siblings ranging from ages 8 to 16 years have entered about 52 entries.

Adolph Johnson was known for his love of Blue Ribbon (Pabst, that is), but for a particular saying as well: “There are no strangers, just friends you haven’t met yet.” Friends and community are what it’s all about down at Adolph’s Log Cabin in El Paso, and for this 35th annual celebration, the El Paso Community Club chose to honor Adolph and Ruth Johnson posthumously.

Wyatt James Blomberg, 17, of Ellsworth, has pleaded not guilty to eight sex-related charges including six counts of sexual assault, one count of underage sexual activity, and one count of exposing genitals. Blomberg and his defense team pleaded not guilty during an arraignment hearing Aug. 9 at the Pierce County Courthouse.

The Prescott Parks and Public Property Committee Monday night forwarded a recommendation to the Prescott City Council for approval of a memorandum of understanding with Freedom Park and the Coulee River Trails Committee and a plan for a mountain bike skills course at Magee Park.

The South Fork of the Kinnickinnic River, which flows west for 7.1 miles from its beginning in the town of River Falls to where it empties into the Kinnickinnic River just below the Junction Falls dam, is a jewel. Just ask UW-River Falls conservation and environmental planning student Reid Dawald.

Bail for a River Falls man accused of sex trafficking his girlfriend, holding her against her will and abusing her for two years was set at $300,000 Aug. 9 in Pierce County Circuit Court.

Aug. 24, 2022

The Prescott School Board will tackle a couple of big things in coming months. A workshop meeting will be held on a date to be determined in September to discuss the possibility of housing sixth through eighth grades in what is now the intermediate school and sending fourth and fifth grades to the current middle school building.

The Village of Bay City is asking the Pierce County Board’s American Rescue Plan Act Ad-Hoc Committee to consider appropriating about $775,000 of the county’s $8.3 million in funds to projects village officials say will revitalize the river town.

If the River Falls City Council approves zoning map and future land use map amendments recommended by the Plan Commission, a new 10,800 square-foot building for the Renaissance Academy could be built at Wasson Lane and Cemetery Road.

Aug. 31, 2022

A former River Falls School District employee is accused of embezzling money from Meyer Middle School book fairs and a felony theft – business setting charge has been filed in Pierce County Circuit Court.

After many closed session special village board meetings and candidate interviews, a new Village of Ellsworth administrator clerk-treasurer has been chosen. Brad Roy will begin in his new role Sept. 26, 2022.

A special history exhibit is being prepared for this year’s Spring Valley Dam Days celebration by the Pierce County Historical Association. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the disastrous September 1942 flood that almost led to the end of the village of Spring Valley as we know it. The display will be unveiled at a special showing at the Spring Valley Community Center during Dam Days, which runs Sept. 1618.