Courier Press

By Rachel Mergen

On May 23, Healthy Roots of Crawford County brought community businesses, professionals and officials together to discuss how they could work to push Prairie du Chien and the county as a whole to become a healthier place to live. 

The organization, whose mission statement is “promoting healthy living across the lifespan for all residents,” is attempting to reach its vision of creating a culture rich with wellness and opportunities to be as healthy as possible. Their priorities are “connecting individuals and families to active places and spaces,” “expanding access to healthy foods” and “increasing access to community resources.”

By Correne Martin

The State Highway 27 reconstruction project, from just north of Prairie du Chien through Eastman (April 3-Nov. 21), is about two months in already and seems to be on schedule. The contractor finished roadway grading from Cipra Lane to Irish Ridge Road just prior to Memorial Day, according to project manager Jeremy Krachey. Now it’s on to the next section of grading, which is Radloff Road to Limery Road/Wachuta Road. The current section will take approximately one month to complete. 

The Kraemer Company is placing select crushed subgrade improvement and base aggregate from Cipra Lane to Irish Ridge Road to complete the connection at Irish Ridge Road, Krachey said. They will continue to follow the grading contractor as they progress north to Limery Road/Wachuta Road.

Matthew G. Harris, 52, of Bagley, and formerly Garnavillo, Iowa, passed away Friday, June 1, at the Crossing Rivers Hospital due to stage four metastatic colon cancer. 

He was born Aug. 30, 1965, in Racine, the son of John and Martha (Salisbury) Harris. He married Michelle Adams on Sept. 7, 1996, at Pike’s Peak State Park in McGregor, Iowa. Matthew enjoyed faming and spending time with his grandchildren. He loved participating in Mini Rod Pulling. 

He is survived by his wife Michelle, of Bagley; his children, Nathan Bode, of Cuba City, Darien (Natalie) Adams, of Millville, Iowa, and Nicole (Daniel) Bohr, of Spillville, Iowa; his sister-in-law Debbie Harris, of Oaktown, Ill.; his grandchildren, Lyle Spiker, Piper Adams, Evan Harris, Vivian and Donovon Bohr. 

He was preceded in death by his parents; his sister Cyndy Harris-Bohringer; a brother John Harris Jr.; and his stepfather James Mitsch.

Several area high school athletes competed in the State Track and Field Championships Friday and Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium in La Crosse.
Prairie du Chien junior Gabby Ritchie finished in 10th place in the Division 2 shot put with a toss of 36-3.5.
The River Ridge girls scored 1 point as a team in Division 3.
Sophomore Skylar White scored the point by finishing eighth in the pole vault at 9-6. White also finished 14th in the 800-meter run in 2:29.83.
The River Ridge 3200 relay team of White, Taylor Langmeier, Riley Klein and Faith Schier took 11th in a time of 10:30.71.
Wauzeka-Steuben’s Allison Oswald, unfortunately, was disqualified in the preliminaries of the 300 hurdles in Division 3.
Wauzeka-Steuben senior Drew Zimmerman finished 16th in the preliminaries of the 110-meter high hurdles in a time of 17.25.