Local Antigo Headlines

To paraphrase: You ain’t got a thing if you ain’t got that bling!

While Green Bay Packer faithful will be covered in wool and down at Lambeau Field on Sunday, millions more will be watching the divisional playoff against the Dallas Cowboys at home, parties or their favorite hangout.

And while much of the attire will revolve around green and gold sweatshirts and T-shirts, there will likely be plenty of sparkles, spangles and rhinestones.

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

As Larry Ourada puts it, Lambeau Field would have to “hold 4 million people” to accommodate everyone who claims to have been at the Dec. 31, 1967 Ice Bowl, perhaps the most acclaimed game in NFL history.

Or, as Kay and Roger Doran, say, “it was like Woodstock, everyone says they were there.”

Dallas is paying its first postseason visit to Green Bay Sunday since losing 21 to 17 on Bart Starr’s quarterback sneak with 13 seconds remaining on that frigid day 47 years ago. And while many are hoping for a repeat of that 1967 classic, those who were there know it can never be replicated.

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

State Representative Mary Czaja was sworn into office during the inaugural ceremonies held Monday at the State Capitol, an event that a year ago could have seemed rather unlikely.

The Irma Republican, whose 35th Assembly District includes Antigo and all of western Langlade County, enters her second term after completing nearly a year of treatments for a Stage 3 breast cancer, a disease she thought she had beat a decade earlier.

She split much of her spring and summer between working for her constituents and undergoing treatments, but avoided the rigors of a re-election campaign when no one came forward to challenge her for her seat.

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

Remember the Ice Bowl? We bet many Green Bay Packer fans from Antigo do.

As the Packers prepare for a rematch with the Dallas Cowboys of that 1967 classic, the Antigo Daily Journal is asking readers to share their personal Ice Bowl experiences. Maybe you were at the game, or watched it with friends in an unusual location. Or maybe something from that day just created an indelible memory.

The idea was born when we learned that a local couple had pictures from their attendance at that ‘67 game and we thought there may be more memories in our community.

Read more: Antigo Daily Journal

It’s looking like another big winter for snowy owls in Wisconsin.

Numerous sightings have been reported of the big birds staging their annual mass migration south from Canada, including reports from across Langlade County.

“Four are gracing the landscape in Langlade County,” Marge Gibson, executive director of the Antigo-based Raptor Education Group Inc., said. “If you go to take photos please keep a respectful distance as they hunt during the day and human interference distracts them for hunting and in fact may keep their prey away from them. In their natural environment they eat lemmings, which is a rodent. Wisconsin does not have lemmings, but many other rodents including mice, rats and rabbits.”

Read more: Antigo Daily Journal

Antigo crackled with subzero temperatures again today, conditions that were great for making ice but dismal for skaters wanting to enjoy the rinks.

At noontime temperatures in the city hovered at five degrees below zero and conditions are expected to remain in the subzero range through the end of the work week, perhaps surging to the single digits on Thursday and again Saturday.

The winds are only making it worse, with chills as low as 25 to 35 below this morning and even more severe conditions possible tonight, with indices as low as 30 to 40 below during the overnight hours. The National Weather Service will likely issue wind chill advisories and/or warnings during this period and, after a day in the classroom today, it’s likely schools will once again remain shuttered on Wednesday.

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

A deep chill is to be expected in northern Wisconsin during January, and in 2015 it came early.

Not even a week into the new year the National Weather Service showed that the reading in Antigo dropped to a frigid 19 below zero and then coupled with a touch of wind. The chill during the overnight was 32 below and at 6:30 it got even worse at 41 below zero.

It made sense to call classes off in schools throughout the area, including Antigo, White Lake, Elcho and communities surrounding this area including Wausau, Rhinelander and just about everywhere in the northwoods.

Read more: Antigo Daily Journal

Richard Schuh, a longtime town of Elcho firefighter and emergency medical technician, was honored by his peers Saturday night.

Schuh received a special plaque for his half-century of service at the fire department/EMS recognition dinner held at the Jack LaMar Pavilion.

“He has been a real asset to the town of Elcho,” Fire Chief Bob Jensen, reading from the plaque, said.

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

Gas priced at below $2 a gallon—a level not seen in Antigo in years—is moving northward.

In May, 2011, gas had marched to over $4 a gallon locally. Now 43 months later, a precipitous drop in oil prices worldwide has nudged the price below $2 in nearby Wittenberg, which traditionally offers the lowest prices in the area.

In Antigo, most stations were selling gas today at just under $2.25 a gallon, ahead of the $2.19 statewide average. The last time gas was below $2 in Antigo was in mid-2008.

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

Just about everyone’s favorite contest gets underway in just a few hours.

The clock will begin ticking at midnight toward the First Baby of 2015, with the winner receiving hundreds of dollars in prizes from area merchants.

The Antigo Daily Journal contest has been a community tradition dating back decades, and the bragging rights for the new baby and parents are lifelong.

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

The northwoods will ring out 2014 and welcome 2015 at parties and special events across the region on Wednesday.

Dining—with menus featuring everything from prime rib to lobsters—dancing, hats, and horns will ring in the new year. And then just a few hours later sports fan will gather again to watch the Wisconsin Badgers football team play in the Outback Bowl.

A look ahead, taken from the Antigo Daily Journal’s advertising columns, follows:

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

The stakes have gotten substantially higher for an Antigo man accused of striking a teen in the head with a baseball bat in retribution for an unpaid drug debt.

Dylan Madderom, 18, of 235 Park St. now faces life in prison for the Aug. 25 beating after he was bound over for trial in Langlade County Circuit Court Monday on four felony charges — one for first degree attempted homicide.

The count replaces an earlier charge of reckless endangerment of safety. He is additionally accused of felony battery, physical abuse of a child and the delivery of marijuana.

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

The bells went silent on Christmas Eve, but not before Antigo’s Salvation Army campaign surged to a new record.

Coordinator Bill Kelly said this year’s fund-raising campaign—with dollars targeted to local needs—will exceed $85,000, up substantially from 2014, when $71,000 was collected.

“Overall it went very well,” Kelly said. “We got off to a shaky start, with the November weather and lack of bell-ringers, but in the final three weeks people really stepped up.”

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

By this time next year, Antigo skaters may be enjoying some new indoor ice in an outdoor setting.

Planning is quietly continuing for the new Peaceful Valley pavilion, and one potential use for the all-season structure would be as a covered ice skating rink, maybe connected to the park’s warming house and outdoor rink by ice pathways.

“We already have a rink dthere,” Sarah Repp, the city’s director of parks and recreation, said. “We could create an entire skating hub, connected by ice paths.”

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal