The Suring School District will have additional $3.5 million to use over the next five years. By a 787-475 margin, voters on April 7 approved a referendum proposal to exceed the state-imposed revenue limit by $700,000 for each of the next five years, beginning with the 2015-­16 school year. “I’m extremely excited,” Superintendent Kelly Casper said.

The town of Abrams will add another bell to its collection after the Oconto Falls School Board agreed to transfer ownership of the bell that was removed from the former United Methodist Church. The bell was removed in March before the church was demolished to make room for a new entrance and more parking at Abrams Elementary School. “The bell is just part of our history,” Abrams Town Chairman Joe Reinhardt told the School Board on Monday. Board m

The historical significance of a Queen Anne-style home threatens to delay the construction of a new law enforcement center in Oconto. According to the Department of Natural Resources, Oconto County must wait for state historical experts to rule whether the architecture of the Antoine Martineau Home located in the footprint of the LEC is historically significant.

Two of three incumbents were re-elected to the Gillett City Council on April 7. Deborah Erickson was re-elected in Ward 1 and Marilyn Mueller in Ward 3.

Mary Lemmen, town of Oconto Falls treasurer for the past 30 years, made a memorable exit from office last week, when she lost in a coin toss to challenger Sue Konitzer. Both candidates received 124 votes in the April 7 election.

Crushed and pulverized rock will create a base on which Oconto County’s new law enforcement center will be built, the committees overseeing the project decided Wednesday. Soil borings showed unsuitable soil in the area north of the courthouse in Oconto where the facility will be constructed, prompting the county’s public property and law enforcement/judiciary committees to debate which underground foundation to use.

Bette R. Brown, 90, Oconto Falls, died peacefully Thursday morning, April 9, 2015, at home, surrounded by family. She was born March 3, 1925, in Wausau to Otto and Minnie (Viertel) Schellin. Bette grew up in nearby Eland and graduated from Wittenberg High School with the Class of 1943.

Earl Roy Vaughn Jr., 73, passed away at home with his wife by his side March 5, 2015, after a courageous battle with cancer. He was born July 19, 1941, in St. Louis, Missouri, to the late Earl and Edith (Martin) Vaughn Sr. Earl married Marcella Denowski on May 13, 1972. He served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Region for five years and was a member of the American Legion.

Few are the gathering places in our county that could rival the Opera House of Suring for the exiting events that took place in the first half of the 1900s. It was built by the Groninger brothers, sons of Michael Groninger and brothers to Ida Groninger Schmidt, of Boarding House fame. It was built in 1909 and replaced the much smaller Liberty Hall, which burned in 1908. Only our imaginations can tell us what these walls heard.