A Look Back at THE TIMES

10 YEARS AGO
June 9, 2016
Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) continues to finalize plans for two roundabouts in the Village of Turtle Lake. Construction activities will occur in 2017, from approximately May through November. The roundabouts will be constructed at the intersections on Hwy. 8 with both the Cty K/Norway Street intersection and the Hwy. 63/Maple Street intersection.
This year instead of doing the Hoops for Heart campaign, students at Turtle Lake conducted a fundraiser called “Laker Heroes”. $1,175.00 was raised and half of it was donated to a local family experiencing hard times due to medical issues. Laker Heroes keeps the money raised in the community. This fundraiser will help support any local family in need, including families battling cancer, heart disease, other medical issues, or the loss of a family member.
The Clayton/Turtle Lake boys baseball season came to an end last Wednesday, June 1 when they were defeated by the #1-seeded Unity Eagles in Unity. C/TL managed only one run against Unity’s Pederson. Pederson earned the win, going seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and five walks. C/TL strand- ed 10 base runners in the loss. The lack of run support against a good Eagle team gave Collin Hoffman the loss, scattering six runs on six hits and three walks.
Erik Bauer tied for fifth in the high jump at the 2016 WIAA State Track & Field Tournament held at UW-LaCrosse June 3-4. Bauer finished with a 6’ 2’’ jump to tie for fifth place in Division 3. Josh Pillath of Coleman claimed the state title with a jump of 6’ 6’’.

20 YEARS AGO
June 8, 2006
Loosen up your vocal chords and get ready to belt out the lyrics to those famous jingles – the Oscar ayer jingles! From July 7-9, 2006 the world famous Oscar Mayer Wienermobile vehicle will be making a stop at the Turtle Lake Inter-County Fair giving hot dog and bologna fanatics a chance to see if they can cut the mustard in the Oscar Mayer Sing the Jingle, Be A Star contest.
If you are into Canadian fly-in fishing trips, a local family has created one of the premier Canadian fishing lodges, Dogskin Lake Lodge and Outposts. John and Nancy Slater purchased the fishing lodge just over ten years ago and the lodge has now passed on to Nancy’s sons, Shad, Jamie and Matt Torgerson and their families.
Turtle Lake/Clayton senior trackster, Adrienne Raffesberger, jumped a career best 16’ at the Division III sectional track meet, earning a berth in the State meet. Then on Friday, June 2 she outdid herself again and put together a jump of 16’ 2-1/4’’, placing sixth in the event.
The Clayton/Turtle Lake baseball season came to an end Tuesday afternoon, May 30th in Prescott. Facing the one-seeded Cardinals, C/TL found themselves facing a double-digit deficit, eventually dropping a 16-3 five-inning decision. Eric Halverson was saddled with the loss, giving up twelve runs, seven earned, on seven hits, one walk and five hit batsmen. Chaz Dayton pitched tow-and-a-third innings, giving up four runs, one earned, on three hits, five walks , a hit batsmen and one strikeout. Eric Halverson was two for two with a run scored. Ryan Donath and Chaz Dayton were each two for three hitting.

30 YEARS AGO
June 6, 1996
The Turtle Lake Lakers State Championship sign, in memory of John Bussewitz, was erected Wednesday, May 22 at the corner of Poplar Street and Hwy. 8. A fund raising effort is still in effect for landscaping and lighting of the sign, which will complete the project and make the sign more visible to passerby’s on the highway.
Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery in Almena has been the target of vandals during the past couple of weeks. On three occasions prior to, and including, Memorial Day vandals stole the American flags and Auxiliary flags that had been placed on veterans graves by VFW Post 8512 of Almena and Auxillary. According to a Post member, flags were replaced as late as early in the morning on Memorial Day so they would be fluing when relatives visited the cemetery.
Angela Pich, daughter of Jerry and Cheryl Pich of Turtle Lake, and Greta Nielsen, daughter of John and Nancy Nielsen of Cameron, were two of fifteen Juniors who were recently inducted into the honor society,, Phi Kappa Phi at UW-River Falls. The initiates were chosen from the top 5% of their classmates and from all fields and majors.
Tiffany Moriak, Jamie Danca, Krista Slack and Brad Heyer were second place finishers in the 400-meter relay at the annual spring Elementary Track and Field Meet held Friday, May 24 and Tuesday, May 28. Winning the event was Lindsey Peterson, Jenny LaBlanc, Amanda Hamble and Greta Heintz with a time of 1:08.

40 YEARS AGO
May 29, 1986
“I will not follow where the path may lead, but I will go where there is no path and I will leave a trail.” With this thought in mind, the fifty-six members of the 70th graduating class of Turtle Lake High School will enter the gymnasium at 2:00 p.m. this Sunday, June 1, as the Turtle Lake High School Band, directed by Mr. Arnold Checkalski, plays the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance: for their Commencement Exercises. Faith Strasser, daughter of Bud and Jill Strasser, will deliver the opening address. Jodi Hart, daughter of John and Jean Hart, will deliver the valedictory address.
A get-acquainted dinner was held at the home of Bea and Ole Pederson in Turtle Lake. Their guests were Kristina and Zolo Ostlund of Skelleftea, Sweden, Ruth Miller of Rice Lake, Emma Ecklie of Cumberland and Bernice and Lawrence knutson of Faribult, Minnesota. Zolo Ostlund is a first cousin of Ruth Miller and Bea Pederson. The cousins had never met before and a very happy get together was held.
Turtle Lake will again have a Babe Ruth Baseball program this year. The program will be sponsored by the Turtle Lake Community Education Council and is open to all youth ages 13 to 15 who have not attained their 16th birthday before August 1, 1986. Dennis Zemke will again be the team coach. The season will end by the end of July. A trip to a Twins game is also planned for sometime in the summer.
Tim Darland, a junior at Turtle Lake High School, has been selected to participate at Badger Boys State. Tim was selected by the high school staff and sponsored by the Turtle Lake American Legion to attend the conference. Over 1000 boys from all areas of Wisconsin will meet at Ripon College on June 14 to begin a week of mock governmental activities.

50 YEARS AGO
June 3, 1976
Danny Damico of Cumberland, who attends school at Turtle Lake, was presented an award recognizing his competion of 600 miles traveled on his exercisor bike on May 21, 1976. The award read: “To Proclain with Joy that Danny Damico, Cumberland, Wis., attending school at Turtle Lake, has on this day, May 21, 1976, registered 600 miles on his exercisor bike. This has been accomplished since April 1, 1973. It has been done with much sweat, some disappointment, but always determination.”Dan has cerebral palsy, and has had since birth. Everything this young 18 year old man has accomplished has been quite a struggle. This trip itself was no exception.
A group of eighteen students from Menasha arrived in Range about noon Saturday, May 22, to visit a former classmate of theirs, Tom McQuillan, and to also attend his graduation on Sunday, May 23. While the group renewed friendships and acquaintances with a few Turtle Lake students, and also made many new friends. They also traveled to Barron Saturday afternoon to help cheer the Lakers baseball team in their attempt to defeat Prairie Farm in tournament play.
The Summer Recreation program is a GO!! Registrations passed the minimum required level over the past weekend, assuring the youth of the Turtle Lake area will be able to enjoy a wide variety of activities during the summer vacation.
Members and friends of the Elim Lutheran Church in Range passed another milestone in their church’s history Sunday, May 30, 1976, as they witnessed the burning of the mortgage papers for the new parsonage that was constructed in 1971 during the regular morning worship service. Mr. J. Wally Olson, who gave the remaining amount due on the mortgage as a memorial to his wife, lit the fire as Rev. Samuel Jackson, past and present council members, and the congregation looked on.