Photo of John Nolan Submitted by: Price County Sheriff's Office
Price County Sheriff Brian Schmidt announced an update for John G. Nolan. According to the sheriff's office, "Nolan was convicted of First-Degree Sexual Assault of a Child, Second-Degree Sexual Assault of a Child, and Repeated Acts of Sexual Assault Against Same Child on March 31, 2004. Nolan was released on April 30, 2024, after serving the maximum time allowed by the court of conviction. Nolan is under the supervision of local probation agents or the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.
"Nolan is a lifetime registrant of the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registration Program. The public is encouraged to visit the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry online as a means for monitoring and tracking an offender’s whereabouts. The purpose of the registry is to promote public safety and help detect and prevent crime." The registry is located at http://appsdoc.wi.gov/public.
Nolan is now residing on State Highway 111 in Catawba in the Township of Harmony close to Lake Ten. He is a 5'9", 242-pound white male who is 87 years old with gray/blue eyes.
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The 4th annual community-wide garage sale event will take place on June 6, 7, 8, and 9, 2024 for anyone with a Phillips address, both in the city limits and in the country.
"The number of participants, both shoppers and people having sales, has grown each year," said Lynne Bohn, event organizer. "For anyone wanting to have a sale, the listing is free. My Price County promotes the event and the list of sales, so getting on the list should greatly increase traffic to each sale. We have had people remark that the community-wide garage sale weekend brings them the most shoppers they see all year at their sales."
My Price County is offering free advertising to residents who would like to have a garage sale on that weekend. To participate, reserve your ad spot by submitting your first and last name, full address of your garage sale location, the days (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and/or Sunday) and the times you set for your garage sale, along with a short list (25 words or less) of some of the items that will be at your garage sale. Either message My Price County on Facebook or send an e-mail to Contact@MyPriceCounty.com with "Garage Sale" in the subject line. While getting the garage sales sent via e-mail is preferred, you can call 715-339-6677 if you do not have access to Messenger or e-mail. My Price County will confirm receipt of all messages and e-mails. The deadline for submitting your garage sale is June 1, 2024. Please note, you will need to place your own garage sales signs and do any additional advertising that you choose.
"The busiest days are Friday and Saturday," Lynne added, "but we will accept sales for Thursday and Sunday, as well, because some people like to run three- or four- day sales. Anyone who hosts a garage sale can choose their days and times; no one has to host a sale on all four days unless they want to."
The community-wide garage sale event is being held to help promote the community. Please help us make others aware of this event by sharing this article's link or the Facebook post. You can also follow and invite your friends to the Facebook event page at https://www.facebook.com/events/347302087815026.
Sales will be posted by the morning of June 6, 2024 at https://www.mypricecounty.com/sales.html. Save that link but realize there are no current sales listed there yet, and the full list won't be published until June 6, 2024.
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The Phillips Middle School has announced the Students of the Month for April 2024.
Claryse Johnson, sixth grade, is the daughter of Amy and Lance Johnson. She has participated in cross country, swim team, and track this year. When asked why she thought she was chosen, Claryse said, “Hmmm...probably because I’m helpful. Otherwise, I don’t know!” Claryse’s favorite parts of middle school are recess, band, gym, and lunch.
Luke Gryznowicz, sixth grade, son of Ann and Matt Gryznowicz, loves playing baseball and basketball with his friends and also enjoys going fishing with his dad. Luke thinks he was chosen for this honor because he tries his best and is willing to help anyone if they don’t understand something. Luke's favorite things about middle school include hanging out with his friends at recess, lunch, and Logger Time.
Matthew Novak, seventh grade, is the son of Annamarie and Tim Novak. Matthew enjoys basketball, recess, talking, eating, and playing with friends. When asked why he thought he was chosen as Student of the Month, Matthew responded with, “I’m funny.” Matthew’s favorite parts of middle school are friends and sports.
Brianna Quinnell, eighth grade, is the daughter of Jen and Nick Quinnell. Brianna enjoys hanging out with her cows, playing dodgeball in gym class, writing, and drawing. Brianna thinks she was chosen as Student of the Month because she is nice to everybody and is just a fun person to be around. When asked what her favorite part of middle school is, Brianna said, “Hanging out with friends and being able to put a smile on someone’s face.”
SPONSOR OF FREE NEWS AND COMMUNITY EVENTS. Robin McCallie is a new florist in Phillips with her shop located at 161 North Lake Avenue. She talked with My Price County about how friends and family members encouraged her to turn her hobby into a career, the emotions she felt when the first truckload of flowers was in her new shop, information about a powerlifting fundraiser and her grand opening event set for May 11, 2024, and the types of products and services she offers in her shop. Read more.
Robin McCallie is pictured in front of her new floral shop located at 161 North Lake Avenue, Phillips.
Robin McCallie grew up in Kennan, attending the School District of Phillips. Over the years, she has worked various jobs, but it wasn't until recently that she found her career niche.
"I've always had a garden and a green thumb," Robin shared. Throughout her life, she enjoyed making floral arrangements for family and friends. Fast forward to one day in 2022, she found herself sitting around a campfire with friends on Madeline Island. Two of those friends were planning their wedding, and the fiancé started picking wildflowers from the ditch. Robin made a bouquet with those flowers, and the bride-to-be liked it so well she said, "Oh my gosh, Robin, you have to do my flowers!" Robin agreed she could make her bouquet.
However, a few months passed, and Robin's grandma and one of her sisters needed her assistance due to health concerns. Her grandma's cognitive abilities were failing, and Robin found herself taking care of all her needs and working with lawyers, social workers, and other officials to implement her proper plan of care, which was stressful and made her feel like she did not see any light at the end of the tunnel. Given her time was limited, Robin asked her friend if someone else could make the bouquet, but her friend insisted she only wanted Robin to make her wedding bouquet.
Robin agreed to honor her friend's request to make the bouquet. She planted flowers from seeds at various stages to be sure she had a large enough assortment of flowers ready at the right time. With the abundance of floral options, that one bouquet turned into a number of bouquets, and soon she was decorating the ceremony and reception space with her floral arrangements. "I got so many compliments that it was overwhelming and a little embarrassing to be getting that kind of attention," Robin shared. "I didn't do it for the attention; I just did it to make my friend feel good."
Robin recently created this floral arrangement.
It was then that Robin realized working in her garden and making the floral arrangements was a great reliever of her stress, and it felt therapeutic to be working with nature, doing a hobby that she loves. "Creating the flowers for the wedding was exactly what I needed when I thought it would be the opposite." This was the spark that would lead her to realize she should become a florist.
Months after the wedding, the grandmother of James Stadter, her long-term partner, passed on. Robin had gotten close with James' aunt, as they bonded while each of them were helping an elderly loved one, and she wanted to do something nice for the family, so she asked what she could do. The aunt knew about the flowers she created for the wedding and asked Robin if she could create a standing spray for the funeral. "I took that as a great honor, so I made a huge 3 ½ foot spray, and we drove it all the way to Sparta with the air conditioning on in the car, so it was freezing cold in there," she laughed, remembering what they all went through to make sure the flowers were kept fresh and perfect for the next day.
After the funeral, she realized that people often want to take the funeral flowers home, but when they are in a large arrangement such as a standing spray, it's difficult to find a place for them in someone's home. For this funeral, she asked the family if she could disassemble the standing spray and make individual arrangements so everyone could take a piece of it home with them. Since the lady who passed on was named Rosemary, she added some rosemary to the individual arrangements, and everyone was so pleased with getting to take home a smaller arrangement. Again, she was receiving compliments and people were asking if she was a florist.
Not long after that funeral, James lost his grandfather, and Robin went to work again making floral arrangements. This is where her defining moment came. "It was when I was getting more compliments, that it just clicked, and I knew this is what I need to be doing. I only had to hear it about five million times before I realized it, but finally I realized it," Robin admitted.
After that realization, she planned to work out of her "she shed," but those plans quickly expanded. "That's how it all happened. Before I knew it, I blinked, and I'm in business with a local grower in town, we harvest our own twigs and will be growing some of our own flowers, and I blinked, and I am in downtown, on main street, and it seemed to happen so easy and like it was just meant to be."
The overwhelming feeling of the enormity of her dream career coming to fruition happened early in the morning on her first day in business. "I had a large order for my opening, and it was 5 o'clock in the morning. It was dark with just the streetlights shining here and there, and everything was quiet. I was there before the truck got there, and I never before heard town so quiet. Then I heard the rumble of the truck. The man jumped out and asked if I wanted to come into the truck to see what it looked like, so I climbed into the truck, and it was like I was a kid and Santa Claus just gave me all the Christmas presents that I wanted. It was overwhelming. We got all the flowers inside, and then he left, and I was there alone for the first time. Before that I had friends in there with me every day helping me with painting, mudding, drilling, and doing this and doing that, and it was so surreal with it still dark outside, but everything lit up and beautiful, and all these flowers were in my shop. It was like the final piece. It was incredible for me," Robin shared, getting a bit choked up reflecting on how far she has come in life and with her career.
She added that James has helped her a lot on this journey. "He really encouraged me throughout all this. He was my constant and continues to be."
While this journey started about two years ago and her first day was about two months ago, her grand opening of Robin's Custom Arrangements, LLC is just over a week away. Robin said there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 11, 2024. She has put together an event that involves the powerlifting team selling plants in front of her shop for a fundraising event, and she let other businesses know that if they will be open that day, they can join in by offering sales or anything beneficial to the store owners and their customers. Deer Creek Angus, LLC and a food truck will be on site or nearby, plus door prizes will be awarded. Robin added, "Mary Behling will be selling her products on the sidewalk next door, and she donates her profits to the creation of cancer bags that help those dealing with the disease." Since the event is the day before Mother's Day, it is the perfect time to buy some plants to support the Phillips High School powerlifting team and purchase some floral arrangements to welcome Robin as a new business owner and get something special for Mother's Day. If you cannot make it on Saturday, or if you would like to find a Mother's Day gift a little earlier, Robin is offering door prizes from May 6th to May 9th during her walk-in hours.
Aside from the grand opening event, Robin said her walk-in hours will be Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. She said the hours are somewhat limited because she needs to factor in time for consultations and deliveries. She knows that sometimes florists need to close for a short time to do those things, and then if someone is traveling from farther away, she doesn't feel it is fair for them to see a sign on her door that she is unexpectedly closed. "I will definitely be open during my walk-in hours," Robin said. She added that she welcomes appointments for floral consultations. Her shop has a comfortable seating area, and she offers complimentary beverages such as coffee, wine, beer, water, or whichever beverage matches the occasion.
Apollo, a service dog, recently visited Robin's shop.
Robin offers floral arrangements for any occasion whether it be a wedding bouquet, sympathy arrangement, Prom flowers, a birthday, Mother's Day, or just because. She has various flowers and woodland vegetation in stock to make your vision a reality. She will construct an arrangement for a funeral and then make smaller arrangements as she did after the funeral of James' grandmother. She can also dry the flowers and place them in a shadow box or glass container, along with the memorial card, if someone would like to keep the flowers as a memorial to their loved one. Robin is open to ideas and also has plenty of her own ideas. She is looking forward to seeing her customer's happy because of her floral arrangements. "It's nice to make everyone's life a little better," Robin said, noting flowers often make people happy and relaxed even in stressful situations.
To welcome Robin as the new florist in town, and to see some of her beautiful floral creations, follow her Facebook page at this link. Her shop is located at 161 North Lake Avenue in Phillips. You can reach her via phone at 715-820-1421.
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U.S. News & World Report recently ranked public high schools across the nation based on the college readiness index, college curriculum breadth index, state assessment proficiency, state assessment performance, and graduation rate. 17,665 public high school were ranked across the nation. 462 public high schools in Wisconsin made the ranking list, including the three high schools in Price County.
CHEQUAMEGON, PARK FALLS
Of the three high schools in the county, Chequamegon High School in Park Falls ranked the highest. That high school ranked 51 in Wisconsin and 1,873 in the nation.
According to the report, there are 17 full-time teachers and 218 students. 85.8% of students are white and 14.2% are minorities. 46% of the student body comes from economically-disadvantage families with 38% receiving free lunches and 9% receiving reduced rate lunches.
The school's overall score was 89.39 out of 100.
Kyle Cronan, district administrator of Chequamegon School District shared his joy. “Congratulations to the students, parents, and staff of CHS. This does not happen without the support of the school board and the entire district staff. This is a team effort across the district over many years."
Chequamegon High School principal John Oswald added, “We are proud of Chequamegon High School's recognition as one of the best high schools in Wisconsin and the nation. This achievement is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our exceptional staff, the determination of our students, the support of our parents and guardians, and the collaborative efforts of all district personnel. It involves the collective effort and teamwork district-wide of everyone involved. Congratulations once again to all involved for this well-deserved honor.”
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PHILLIPS
Phillips High School came in next in the county with a rank of 131 in Wisconsin and 4,000 in the nation.
According to the report, there are 20 full-time teachers and 214 students. 92.5% of students are white and 7.5% are minorities. There was no information given on the number of economically-disadvantage families or students receiving free or reduced rate lunches.
The school's overall score was 77.34 out of 100.
(Article continues after promotional message) SPONSOR OF FREE NEWS AND COMMUNITY EVENTS.Deer Creek Angus, LLC has a large selection of Black Angus burgers, steaks, roasts, and other beef products sold by individual packages and in quarters, halves, and whole. Contact Deer Creek Angus, LLC at 715-550-6156, find products & pricing on their website, and follow their Facebook page.
PRENTICE
Prentice High School ranks 358 in Wisconsin and 13,041 in the nation.
According to the report, there are 11 full-time teachers and 117 students. 94% of students are white and 6% are minorities. 43% of the student body comes from economically-disadvantage families with 34% receiving free lunches and 9% receiving reduced rate lunches.
The school's overall score was 26.13 out of 100.
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SPONSOR OF FREE NEWS AND COMMUNITY EVENTS. Pine Village in Prentice offers affordable, active living in a wooded setting for those 50+ and disabled persons. Rent is based on 30% Adjusted Gross Income. Small pets under 30 pounds are welcome. Contact Pine Village at 715-428-2300.
At various library board meetings, the library director and members have discussed the types of services and materials they should have at the Phillips Public Library in hopes of bringing more patrons into the library.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a shift in how the community uses the library, though the effects of that are lessening as time passes. Plus, while the library encourages any use of the library's materials, when e-books are checked out, the library does not get credit for that. The library director has suggested that if people want to help the library get credit for the library being used, to come in and check out the hard copy, and the person can check out the electronic version at the same time.
The library has created a survey to get input from the community. To take part in the survey, click this link.
YOUTH SERVICES LIBRARIAN LEAVING
Jake Wallace Wyrzykowski, known by many library patrons as "Mr. Jake," has announced he will be leaving his library position at the end of May. He is taking a job in New Richmond, WI. He stated, "I have made some wonderful friendships and memories these past six years, and I can't thank our supporters and patrons enough. There are so many wonderful children in the community, and I think we can learn a lot from them. View the world with wonder and treat your neighbors with kindness. Love unconditionally and help others. Be a kid at heart - no matter what your age may be."
In the early morning on April 18, 2024, Rusk County deputies and City of Ladysmith officers were involved in a high-speed chase. The chase started in Bruce, WI and ended in Ladysmith, WI.
According to Rusk County Sheriff's Office, "The suspect vehicle ultimately stopped and the individuals took off on foot. Deputy Bryce Baier deployed K9 Leo. K9 Leo was able to track and apprehend the individuals."
One suspect was taken into custody and brought to the Rusk County Jail. The case is under investigation.
At approximately 2:24 p.m. on April 21, 2024, multiple 911 calls were received by the Ashland County Communications Center. Reports were that a motorcycle and car crashed at the intersection of US Highway 2 and Maple Street in the Township of Sanborn.
Emergency services from the City of Ashland, Bad River Fire Department, and Ashland County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to the accident. Mutual aid was requested from the City of Ashland Police Department.
According to the Ashland County Sheriff's Office, "Upon arrival, witnesses to the crash reported that the operator of the motorcycle was traveling westbound on US 2 when the operator of a Toyota Corolla, that was traveling eastbound, attempted to negotiate a left turn off of US 2 onto Maple Street and turned into the path of the motorcycle.
"The twenty-eight-year-old operator of the motorcycle sustained serious injuries and was transported from the scene by ambulance. The seventy-four-year-old operator of the Toyota Corolla did not sustain any serious injury."
The crash is under investigation by the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office.
At 2:11 p.m. on April 21, 2024, the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office, assisted by Sawyer County EMS, Wisconsin State Patrol, and the Winter and Radisson Fire Departments, responded to a 911 call. The call was for a car and motorcycle crash which occurred on State Highway 70 approximately one mile east of Koeppler Road in the Township of Winter.
According to witnesses, a 2004 Cadillac sedan, driven by Erin Jones, 39, of Ojibwa, WI, was pulled over on the north shoulder of the westbound lane attempting to turn around. During her attempt, Erin turned into the path of a westbound 2001 Kawasaki motorcycle, which was operated by Daniel Barber, 57, of Hayward, WI. The motorcycle struck the front driver’s side of the car, which caused severe damage to both vehicles.
According to the Sawyer County Sheriff's Department, "The operator of the motorcycle suffered life-threatening injuries and was flown to a hospital in Duluth, MN. The extent of his injuries is unknown at this time.
"The operator of the passenger car was not injured and was arrested pending charges of Knowingly Operate a Motor Vehicle While Revoked Causing Great Bodily Harm and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia."
The accident is being investigated by the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office and the Wisconsin State Patrol.
At 1:43 p.m. on Sunday, April 21, 2024, the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call reporting a man trapped underneath a manure spreader on State Highway 73 in the Town of Jump River.
Taylor County sheriff’s deputies, fire, ambulance, and other emergency services responded to the scene. Upon their arrival, the man, Myron Brooks, 71, of Gilman, WI, was extracted from beneath the manure spreader. Myron was pronounced dead at the scene.
The sheriff’s office has determined that Myron had been pulling a manure spreader behind his tractor in a field. He was southbound and en route to help his neighbor. When Myron was overdue to arrive by the neighbor, the neighbor went looking for him and found him unresponsive and trapped underneath the manure spreader. The tracks in the field indicate Myron had turned around, for an unknown reason, and headed back north. He then struck a power pole, which likely caused him to fall from the tractor and get trapped under the manure spreader.
According to the Taylor County Sheriff's Office, "The cause of the accident is undetermined, but it is believed Brooks may have suffered a medical emergency causing him to lose control of the tractor, which resulted in striking the utility pole and then falling from the tractor and under the manure spreader."
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