After more than two decades of waiting, Oconto County has secured state funding to expand its assistant district attorney position from half time to full time. A biennial budget signed June 30 by Gov. Scott Walker includes $77,800 for a 0.5 full-time-equivalent assistant position. Robert Mraz, Oconto County ADA for 32 years, has decided to move to full-time work.

Rita M. Fehrman, 82, of Clintonville, formerly of Embarrass, passed away Monday morning, July 8, 2013, at the Pine Manor Health Care Center in Embarrass. The Eberhardt-Stevenson Funeral Home & Crematory of Clintonville is assisting her family with the arrangements.

New Gillett Secondary School boys basketball coach William Greenwood II says his teams and his program will focus on character, and the result will be winning basketball. “I think building a program must be based on character,” Greenwood said.

The old adage that pitching and defense win championships couldn’t ring more true for the 1973 Oconto Falls High School baseball team. The Panthers (16-1) used their defensive prowess to run off eight straight postseason victories while allowing just 10 runs en route to the program’s first state baseball championship. Forty years after the team’s remarkable run, players and coaches still recall many memories quite fondly.

Lake associations statewide spent the Independence Day weekend educating boaters and other water enthusiasts about invasive species and the threat they pose to native fish and plant life. Berry Lake drew about 40 people Friday morning at a boat landing blitz as officials talked about phragmites, eurasian milfoil and other invasive species and how some boaters could be transporting them from one lake to another without realizing it.

The trial of a rural Shawano man accused of killing his former mistress and her brother has been postponed. The trial of Daniel Lee Schmidt, 30, scheduled to start on Monday will be delayed until Oct.

A rural Gillett woman with seven years of accounting experience is the new clerk/treasurer for the city of Gillett. Beth Rank has been hired to fill a vacancy following the resignation of deputy clerk/treasurer Stephanie Schmutzer, who handled the city’s bookkeeping since November 2010. Seventeen candidates applied for the position, and Rank was among three final ists.

This is one of those years where disparity and differences abound. Some fields haven’t been planted yet; others appear normal. Some areas are rather wet; others could use rain. And so it goes. The one aspect of managing crops that doesn’t change too much from year to year is the need to manage pests. The trick is that the pests can differ significantly from year to year.

For those who may be venturing out on the highways leading to or from the path around the Falls this week, word from the Wisconsin DOT is that travel will be a bit easier, since most construction projects are shut down for the week. Even so, the orange cones will remain.