Courier Press

As the final portions of Prairie du Chien’s former hospital building are removed, Crossing Rivers Health looks back with fondness at the legacy of service the building provided, and looks forward to new opportunities the property will offer to area communities.

An update on the project was provided Friday by hospital administration:

•10,000 square feet of the 95,000-square-foot former Prairie du Chien Memorial Hospital facility remains to be torn down, sorted and recycled.

•The extensive asbestos abatement project is complete. This abatement undertaking by Robinson Brothers utilized more than 30 workers for four weeks.

•According to Fred Runde, of Clayton County Recycling, more than 1,000 tons of metal were recovered through the sorting and recycling efforts.

•After the concrete is removed, the site will be seeded to await future possibilities.

By Correne Martin

The local Salvation Army raised a record amount of funds in 2014 thanks to community participation in its holiday Red Kettle campaign. The $18,234 in donations received right here in Crawford County benefitted 98 individuals and families in homeless and emergency situations, with needs such as rental assistance and emergency lodging, groceries, meals, clothes, school supplies, gas to get to work and appointments, medical supplies and prescriptions, domestic abuse refuge, utility bills and some vehicle repairs. The yearly campaign is the Salvation Army’s only means of fundraising.

By Correne Martin

Apples might be a familiar sight on teachers’ desks across Crawford County, but other locally-grown, fresh fruits and vegetables are finding a place in the classroom regularly as well. Haley Mahr, the county’s new AmeriCorps Farm to School coordinator, is one of those who helps introduce and refresh kids’ experiences with such produce.

Every month, the Farm to School program, which falls under the UW-Extension arm, is present in the Prairie du Chien public and Catholic schools as well as Seneca, Wauzeka and North Crawford. As the county’s nutrition educator, Mahr, who came to Crawford County as a recent college graduate from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, focuses on helping people, especially kids, become more connected with their community’s agriculture.

By Correne Martin

Korean War Army veteran Louie Wachter, 85, of Millville, respectfully reflected upon his fallen comrades first when telling about his Oct. 17 Freedom Honor Flight experience: “A person feels kind of humbled because there were so many more who didn’t get to go.”

Louie was one of 69 Korean veterans, 13 World War II veterans and five Vietnam veterans who took the honor flight to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials that stand in their honor. It was the 16th one-day trip from La Crosse since the organization started in April 2008. Two flights have gone every year since then.

Louie applied to the Freedom Honor Flight organization two years ago. In August this year, he received a call saying he was picked to go.

“Everybody said I should go. But, I said the only way I’d go was if my daughter (Susie Mergen) could go too,” he said.

“Most of them on the La Crosse flight were accompanied by family members,” Mergen noted.