The town of Townsend will turn 100 years old April 4, 2016. Centennial Committee members Mary Campion, Dick Culver, Judi Fellows, Jean Fietzer, Kathleen Marsh, Barb Ouellette and Carla VanCamp have been busy for the past two years planning events to commemorate the occasion. The yearlong schedule of events begins at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 2, 2016, at the Old Town Hall Restaurant on state Highway 32.

There’s a very interesting commercial on TV that makes use of some amazing computer-generated art. The commercial is for toilet paper (or do you prefer “bathroom tissue”?), except that the ad doesn’t do anything to extol the virtues of the product.

It’s no surprise to anyone who spends any time in the schools bordering the path around the Falls that schools are a people business. A district can have bright, beautiful school buildings, but they can be cold, uncomfortable places if the people in those buildings do not show a caring attitude about the work they do and the young people they serve. Promoting that caring attitude is a priority for the district.

The 33rd annual Suring Senior Honors Banquet, sponsored by the Suring Lions Club, will be held at 7 p.m.

Meshing two Marinette & Oconto Conference high schools for a co-op girls softball program can be a challenge. For Gillett, it was about survival. For Suring, it was a chance to play ball. Gillett, which finished 5-8 (5-7 M&O) last year with 13 players, lost four seniors to graduation: Kara Brennan, Karli Woodke, Rachel Ransom and Ella Miller. The arrival of five Suring students helped increased turnout this spring to 17. “Last year was no

If Gillett and Suring hadn’t entered into a co-op this season, chances are neither school would be playing baseball this spring, after Gillett had 11-12 players a year ago. With the two schools combining forces this year, there are 16 athletes (nine from Suring and seven from Gillett) to make up the Hornets. “It’s nice trying to figure out who’s going to play what positions,” Gillett/Suring coach Pat Nelson said.

With 10 returning letter-winners, including ace pitcher Makenna Kussow, Oconto Falls High School is hoping for a successful girls softball season. The Panthers finished 8-13 (4-12 Bay Conference) and were one pitch away from reaching the WIAA Division 2 sectional finals last year. Kussow shouldered the load on the mound as a freshman after graduated senior McKenna Larsen missed nearly the entire season due to injury. “She has a couple more pitche

The heirs to the original Shawano Medical Center property will get both a park and a cash settlement under an agreement approved Monday by the Shawano Common Council. The deal puts an end to months of negotiations and opens the way for development of the property after the hospital relocates this fall to a new site adjacent to ThedaCare Physicians on County Road B. City officials will meet in closed session with three potential developers on Apri

Getting a snowfall in late March or early April is almost normal in Wisconsin. It seemed like we in Shawano County might get away without getting any until the 25th arrived. Waking up to snow two days after my birthday was not unexpected. It was predicted.