Researched by Michael J. Caylor Jr
8-23-78
The FBI has now entered into the investigation of a robbery which occurred last Wednesday in the city of Merrill. According to Chief Inspector Thomas Schotz of the Merrill Police Department at least three women of possibly Spanish decent entered a home on East First Street and made off with over $24,000 in cash. Special Agent Tom Burk (sic) of the Wausau Field Office will be helping Schotz with the investigation. According to the victim she was in the backyard of her home with her husband when the trio of women walked in the front door of the home uninvited. As two of the women distracted the victims the third went through the home and stole the cash which was hidden in three different locations. Burk (maybe Tom was so undercover he spelled his name wrong on purpose?) suspects the case is related to one in Stevens Point that led to the arrest of a woman for theft. Evidence found at the scene has been sent to the crime lab in Madison for testing.
Things continue to grow on Merrill’s east side and now a new grocery store is being planned. Hub City Foods is planning on building what will be a warehouse style grocery store in the area of the Pine Ridge development. The store will be a “no frills” venture meaning no carryouts and cases just stacked on shelves. (Adlen’s Red and White followed by Carl’s II; I never understood and wondered about honesty as this first store had customers writing the price on each item as they selected it). This announcement came within weeks of the city’s decision to send the matter of annexation to a non-binding referendum. Pat Bucket and his real estate group is petitioning the city to annex property to the west of the proposed Hub City development and their work is unaffected by this development announcement. The Whitburns have been developing the area for the last few years, and they sold the property for the grocery store this past Tuesday according to David Weber, general manager. Besides the grocery store the area has seen the Pine Ridge Standard Station open in August of 1976 and Pine Ridge Restaurant in January of 1977 and a Best Western Motel is also set to open in the near future. In another real estate matter Dan and Bob Beckman have completed the purchase of the former Associated Co-Op on North Hwy. 51 north of the City of Merrill. The Beckman brothers plan on using the building to establish an antique auto museum as the boys own over 100 antique Packards, Corvettes and pickup trucks. Ed Chartier brokered the deal.
In briefs: School will start for all Merrill area students on Sept. 5 with orientation for students going to the Junior or Senior buildings posted on page three. The Merrill-Go-Round is requesting you register your student if they plan to take the city bus to school this year. Glenn Crum and Harry Schwartzman demonstrate on page four what happens when they work together. The two are pictured hand cranking together the halves of a modular home. Two homes were installed this past week on the former Jefferson School site. The homes are House of Merrill Homes and were put up by the housing authority for low income housing. Ron Kautz of the Central Labor Council has sounded the alarm over the lack of funds for the annual Labor Day celebration in Merrill. Last year the Council lost $2,000 on the event and Kautz is afraid this year might be the last as costs for the three-day celebration are nearing $10,000. Kautz said ticket sales are down and costs for things such as the drum and bugle corps are up.
8-24-88
Mystery surrounds the buyer of Bill’s House of Guns north of Merrill. A spokesperson confirmed via phone yesterday that the store had been sold and will continue operations in the next 10 days but would not comment on who the buyer is. The spokesperson said owner Bill Winkelman will release further details at the end of the week. An advertiser in Sunday’s Wausau paper tells of an auction at the store for an estimated $500,000 in merchandise scheduled for this weekend. The shop is believed to be the largest retail gun shop in Wisconsin.
The summer the kids dreamed of for months is now over and they will head back tomorrow. Motorists are reminded to watch out for the hundreds of pedestrians and bicycles that will take to the streets. School safety patrols will be out in full force and Merrill PD’s own Faye Clark will be assisting with high volume crossings. She is pictured on page two practicing for the school year with Matt Clark and neighbors DJ and Katie Schneider.
The City of Merrill has a bid for the planned addition to the east side fire station, but the problem is they don’t have the money to pay for it. J&J Lee Construction of Merrill was the low bid for the 54×82 block and steel apparatus room which will be added to the rear of the number one station at 701 E. 1st St. Fire Chief Harvey Emanuel said the building will have three stalls with entry points on both ends. He plans on realigning the makeup of the department by transferring the city’s aerial truck and first out ambulance to the east side of town while moving the rural pumper to the west side along with the city pumper truck. Emanuel also plans on asking for $50,000 for a new rescue truck in order to carry the expanding hazardous materials equipment and $150,000 to $200,000 for the rehab of the 1971 aerial fire truck. The chief said rehabbing the truck would be much less expensive than a new aerial which would run around $500,000.
8-26-98
The Lincoln County Board continues to try and decide where a proposed multi-million dollar justice center will be built. During the board meeting last week Supervisor and Building Committee Chair Wallace “Red” Wurl told his fellow supervisors that recent newspaper articles have just led to a bunch of questions but assured them that they are not considering any particular sites for the project. Moments later, when pressed by Supervisor Melissa Schroeder, Wurl revealed the top sites for the project include the gravel pit north of the intersection of Thielman Street off of Pine Ridge Avenue, North Memorial Drive at Sixth Street on the current skating rink, the Jeff and Kay Simon farm on Grand Avenue next to the MARC Center, and the current site of the safety building. Another site that was not mentioned but is reportedly still on the table is the Jack Pines property on North Sales Street. The proposed new building will hopefully house around 70 secure and 80 work release prisoners according to Supervisor Eugene Simon. Supervisor Norm Heckendorf hoped the added space would be used to house other inmates as a revenue source.
The Merrill Fire Department will be in the Labor Day parade this year, which in itself is not news, but the apparatus they will be showcasing is. The department will be displaying their newly refurbished horse drawn ladder truck. Deputy Chief Dave Johnson led the crew that restored the wagon believed to have been built around 1892. When in service it carried 148 feet of wooden ladder, two six-gallon pump water extinguishers plus lanterns. The department also had a two wheeled hose cart in each station with each cart holding 700 to 1,000 feet of hose. The ladder truck was damaged when a team of horses was spooked and pushed the ladder into the department’s 1948 American LaFrance pumper truck. For years the ladder truck was kept outside at the fairgrounds and brought out for children to play on during the fair. Fellow firefighters were able to rebuild a tool box mounted on the frame which was lost to time and polish up all the brass that is found on the wagon. Johnson is in his 30th year on the department and he noted his fellow firefighters were having fun asking him as they worked on the project what it was like to work on the horse drawn apparatus when he first joined. (It is now housed inside of the fire station near its slightly more expensive modern day equivalent.)