Tom Bitters of Lena is the newest member of the Oconto County Board of Supervisors.
Bitters took the oath of office during the County Board’s meeting in Oconto on June 18, after supervisors voted unanimously to approve Chairman Paul Bednarik’s recommendation.
He was appointed to fill the unexpired term of former Supervisor Melissa Wellens, who stepped down in May.
After several postponements of the Lena Lions Club annual fish fry, the club voted at its June meeting to cancel the event due to all the restrictions with the COVID-19 pandemic until next spring.
The club issued an apology for the inconvenience and thanked all the sponsors of the event, who will receive a refund. The club also thanked everyone who purchased a raffle ticket, which will still be drawn.
The exterior walls are up as construction continues on the new Dollar General store across from Lena Public Schools on Main Street. The store is expected to open later this year.
Installation is complete on new safety film on the windows and doors of Lena Public Schools. The protective film is almost invisible from inside the school.
OCONTO FALLS — Oconto Electric Cooperative has announced the award of 13 $2,500 scholarships to area students whose parents or guardians are members of OEC. Scholarship money comes from unclaimed capital credits. Recipients are selected by a committee of seven cooperative members who are not employees or directors of OEC.
The scholarship recipients are:
Brooklyn Bishop, daughter of Jeff and Sheri Bishop, a graduate of Pulaski High School.
Ethan Hischke, son of Dan and Erin Hischke, Suring High School.
SURING — One senior athlete from Suring, Lena and Gillett high schools are headed to colleges within the state with collegiate sports within their sights.
Football
After a strong ending to his high school football season, Suring’s Logan Stuart will look to keep things rolling for St. Norbert College (De Pere) in the coming years.
“It’s truly an honor and a blessing that I have the opportunity to be able to further play the sport I have worked so hard for the last couple years,” said Stuart, who chose St. Norbert because of its pre-med program.
OCONTO FALLS — There was no high school graduation ceremony, no community festival or parade for Memorial Day 2020 in Oconto Falls, as there usually would be, but the community found ways to celebrate the unofficial first weekend of summer anyway.
A “senior drive” Sunday afternoon down Main Street had a parade-like atmosphere, with hundreds of friends and family lining Main Street standing and in lawn chairs, occasionally scrambling to grab candy tossed toward them from the passing vehicles.
OCONTO FALLS — The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision on extending shelter-in-place orders last week let stand Gov. Tony Evers’ executive orders that closed school buildings through the end of June.
The decisions disrupted not only the high school graduation ceremonies, originally scheduled this week and next, but plans to hold summer school starting in mid-June.
After reviewing its options – including an effort to conduct a “virtual” summer school online — the Oconto Falls School Board decided May 11 to cancel this year’s sessions planned for the months of June and July.
OCONTO FALLS — A Lena man died May 16 in a one-vehicle crash in the town of Oconto Falls.
He was identified in an Oconto County Sheriff’s Office traffic report as Dean Dury, 69.
The report said Dury was northbound on Chestnut Road about a half-mile north of Splinter Creek Lane when his car crossed to the opposite side of the roadway, struck a bridge guardrail and overturned in the water.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
The road was closed to traffic for about two hours after the crash, which occurred shortly before 9:30 a.m.
