Local Antigo Headlines

On Wednesday morning, shortly after 3AM, the Langlade County Sheriff's Office received a report of two horses who were in the road on Highway 47 near Christie Road. A short time later, the owner of the animals called looking for them. Dispatch told the woman their location and she rounded them up. After investigating, it was found this was the 8th complaint about the horses since December of 2013. The woman was advised the next report would result in a citation.

Wednesday afternoon, a manager of an Antigo construction company called to report that a person who had been fired at the end of April, had fraudulently used a company credit card for three days after until it was cancelled.

Read more: WACD

The sun is shining and thoughts are turning to spring planting.

For those new to gardening, or space-impaired, the Antigo Community Garden has several plots available at the site located behind the Antigo United Methodist Church.

“The Community Garden is a great opportunity for anyone looking to learn a little bit more about gardening, or is available to those who do not have the tools or space available to them,” Kari Lazers, a member of the organizing group, said. “It’s also a great way to meet new people and enjoy the great outdoors.”

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

It's been nine days since Wisconsin reported any new cases of the bird flu -- but grocery shoppers are feeling the effects of the virus in their pocketbooks. Market analysts say both grocery stores and their wholesalers are stocking up on eggs, creating supply shortages. But experts say there's no need to worry about a possible shortage of turkeys this Thanksgiving -- although you can expect higher prices. The A-P said the price of a dozen large eggs jumped from 1.19-a-dozen in mid-April to 1.39 now. Commodity market analyst Rick Brown of Urner Barry said there's been a much larger price hike for eggs used in processed foods like mayonnaise and cake mix. Brown said those eggs are now 1.03-a-dozen, up from 63-cents just three weeks ago. Frozen hens are up about three-percent. Iowa's egg producers have been hit the hardest by the recent bird flu outbreak, but a Jefferson County egg-laying operation with almost 800-thousand hens was also hit. In all cases, entire flocks are eradicated so the H-5-N-2 virus does not spread. Neighboring Minnesota has been the hardest hit for turkeys -- which were expected to drop in price in the meat case this year. Instead, they're up slightly.

Read more: WACD

The Antigo School Board met for about an hour and a half for their committee of the whole meeting and heard a presentation from Deb Osborne from "School Perceptions", a company the district hired to conduct their community wide survey last month.

Osborne reports that the survey was sent to 5,571 people, and 17% responded. 24% of respondents were employees of the school district, and there was a 50/50 split of parents/non-parents.

Osborne noted that staff generally had the most positive answers about the schools, with parents being the most negative. Non-Parents were in the middle. On the question of how is the school doing, most answers were "fair" to "good".

Read more: WACD

The Antigo Common Council Wednesday may move forward with a program designed to spur interest in business development in the downtown core.

Action on the new program, known as the Entrepreneur’s Grant, tops a busy agenda for the monthly session, which also includes possible support—but no funding—for adding a canine officer to the police department.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the chambers at City Hall.

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

It was four years ago tomorrow when a suburban Chicago youngster disappeared following a two-day vacation trip to the Wisconsin Dells area. Timmothy Pitzen of Aurora Illinois was six when he vanished after leaving the Kalahari Resort in Lake Delton. His mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, was found dead a motel in Rockford Illinois a few days after her son disappeared.

Read more: WACD

The Antigo School Board Community Relations and Communications committee will meet for their monthly meeting Wednesday evening at 6:30 at the Antigo Middle School IMC.

The school board structure was changed not long after the change in school board power last April, with the board deciding a bulk of discussion would take place at Committee of the Whole meetings, and to create numerous committees.

The public is encouraged and welcomed to come to the meeting and share their thoughts on anything regarding the school district. Board member Patrick McKenna says the parents are very passionate about their child's education, and they want to hear those opinions.

Read more: WACD

The Antigo Little League, an organization that is rich with history and thousands of members who remember being in the park at Second Avenue and Langlade Road, celebrated its 57th season Saturday as 2015 got rolling.

Two men who were there decades ago, Don Strobel and Tom Diercks, addressed the opening-day crowd. Strobel remembered the field when he arrived many moons ago, and Diercks brought out the “play ball” signal that brought the players to the field.

Strobel said that when he was a lad, he thought he had hit the major leagues inside the Little League Park, and it still is a very impassive facility, especially to the new players.

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

Three new designs join the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s offering of specialty license plates. The most recent plate includes one dedicated to the memory of fallen law enforcement officers. The others feature the group-sponsored Trout Unlimited and In God We Trust.

“The newest plate honors all law enforcement professionals killed in the line of duty. We’re pleased that we can offer another way to recognize those who serve our state,” Megan Bergum, Special Handling Section chief, said.

This Law Enforcement Memorial license plate is now available. Unlike the other new releases, this license plate design was not established as a fundraiser. Specialty plates are made available for a $15 issuance fee for non-personalized plates.

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

It was a busy weekend for area law enforcement. On Friday morning, police were dispatched to North Elementary for a student who was out of control. The subject, age 9, was throwing chairs, books, and knocking over tables. He then attempted to punch his teacher, forcing officers to handcuff him. The boy was suspended 1 week from school.

At 4:55PM, a resident on County Road A called 911 to report that a truck had driven through a ditch and had taken out a couple of mailboxes. His mailbox was cemented in, and thought the vehicle would have substantial damage. While authorities were checking the scene, the driver returned, and admitted to striking the mailboxes. The 68 year old Pickerel man faces citations.

At 7:08 PM on Saturday, an Antigo grocery store reported they had again been robbed of liquor by the same person as previous times. The woman was a Menominee resident, and was pulled over on the reservation by tribal authorities. The 30 year old was arrested on charges of retail theft.

Read more: WACD

Antigo city and rural mail carriers will do their part to “stamp out hunger” this Saturday.

On Saturday, the National Association of Letter Carriers, United States Postal Service, Feeding America and other partners will hold their annual food drive that provides assistance to the millions of Americans struggling to put food on the table.

The Stamp Out Hunger food drive, held on the second Saturday in May, has become the nation’s largest single-day food drive. In 2014, Americans donated 72.5 million pounds of food, feeding 30 million people. This was the 11th consecutive year of at least 70 million pounds collected by letter carriers. The drive has collected well over one billion pounds of food since it began.

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

The Good News Project of Wausau will be holding an electronic recycling event on Saturday from 9am to noon in the Multi-Purpose Building at the Langlade County Fairgrounds. They will be accepting computers, laptops, monitors, mice, keyboards, printers, scanners, fax machines, copiers, any size or type of television, microwaves, phones, cell phones, and just about any electronic device with a cord. Data security is guaranteed. The cost is 40 cents per pound charge for recycling your old electronics.

Pick-up service will be available this year (for an extra charge)!

Read more: WACD

In excess of 100 riders are expected to travel through Antigo and north to the Parrish Highland Trails for the inaugural trail ride for the Antigo Area ATV/UTV Club Saturday.

“This is great,” Pete Pennington, president of the club, said. “We’re getting calls from all over and are hoping for a huge turnout.”

The kick-off will be a big one, with ATV and UTV riders assembling with their machines at 8 a.m. in the Peaceful Valley Park located at 420 Field St. It promises to be a big group filled with plenty of camaraderie. A registration table will be set up for those interested in joining the Antigo club.

Full story: Antigo Daily Journal

On Wednesday morning, a man on Wilson Street called police about an ongoing noise complaint on his neighbor. The man had documented the noises, the time of night it occurred, and how many times he contacted law enforcement. Most of the complaints stem from the man's exhaust on his truck, so the man was given a 10 day warning to fix that. The woman was reportedly angry and stormed into the house, while officers continued to talk to the man. While he was leaving, an officer heard the woman outside walking down the street, yelling and swearing. She was given a citation for disorderly conduct.

On Wednesday afternoon, an Antigo man told police that his wife had been the victim of a scam. The woman stated she was on the computer when a blue screen popped up with an error message, stating to call a tech support number to get rid of a virus. The woman said she gave them her credit card number and was charged $199. The woman said the "company" ran tests on the computer all night remotely and she couldn't stop them.

An accident was also reported at Langlade Hospital yesterday. An 85 year old man was in the parking lot, and hit the gas instead of the break.

Read more: WACD