The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Merrill Foto News, its publishers, Editor, or staff.
To the Editor:
9/11 Memorial in Merrill
I want to extend a big “Thank You” to the Merrill Fire Department, the Merrill Police Department, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department, the City of Merrill, Alderman Paul Russell, the Dornbrack Family, the VFW Post 1638 Honor Guard, VFW Mar-Lin Post Honor Guard, former Mayor Bill Bialecki, Boy Scouts Troop 503, Cub Scout Pack 503, Master Chief Michael Jaeger, VFW Chaplain John Rathke, VFW Jr Vice Commander Ron Ramos, Miss Wisconsin, Travis Niewolny, Michael Chula, Karl’s Transport, Graphic House, Island Engineering, Coyote Karaokee, Ashbrenner Enterprises, all of the organizations of the Northwoods Veterans Post, and the Merrill community for supporting the 9/11 20th Anniversary Memorial and the Northwoods Veterans Post Grand Opening events on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021.
– Tracy Jopek
Jr. Vice President Auxiliary to VFW Post 1638
Merrill, Wis.
To the Editor:
Summer Lunch for Kids and Teens
Summer is over and the Free Summer Lunch for Kids and Teens program has come to an end for another year. The summer of 2021 was a very active time for the Summer Lunch program. This is the program that is sponsored by five churches in the community to provide a lunch for kids and teens who might otherwise not have access to a midday meal during the week.
This year the Merrill Community Food Pantry partnered with the host churches of Our Saviour’s Lutheran, St. Stephens UCC, Christ United Methodist, Trinity Lutheran, and St. John’s Lutheran to provide items for the lunches. The churches were responsible to provide the main course and, in some cases, a side item, and the Food Pantry provided the juice drink, snack bar, and fruit cup. They also provided a few extra treats for the kids from time to time.
The program ran for 12 weeks and served more than 2900 meals.
We would like to thank all of the volunteers from the churches involved for their time and commitment to this program. The program could not have functioned without your efforts. And a special thank you to the Merrill Community Food Pantry for their contributions to the meals.
– Sandy Huxtable
Summer Lunch Coordinator
Merrill, Wis.
To the Editor:
Merrill Community Theater just completed its second play, and very first dinner theater at the Sawmill Brewery.
Many thanks to everyone who supported us by attending Over the River and Through the Woods.
From all accounts, the meals were delicious (thanks Steve Hintze), the desserts were scrumptious (thanks Cindy Voelz and Linda Voelz), the Sawmill venue quaint and relaxed (thanks Zach Kubichek), and the play, funny and poignant (thanks to Larry Kirchgaessner for selecting and directing the play).
The actors had a wonderful time and performed their roles with passion and authenticity. Our hometown was well represented: Four of the actors, Kevin Erickson, Rachel Bergmann, Alyssa Hahn, Chris Hahn, are from Merrill. The others, Jeff McDonald and Darlaen Jansen are from Wausau and Antigo, respectively.
By the way, it took a heckuva lot of behind the scenes work to pull off the play.
In addition to the folks named above, Matt and Jean at VIP Office Products, Lonnie Scott at Bluejay Radio, Linda Becker of Merrill City Band, Ken Neff of the Merrill Chamber of Commerce, Sandy Huxtable at Christ United Methodist Church, Dave “Oscar” Voelz, Patty Procknow, Jean Ravn and her clan, Greg Thurs, Draco Fink from MAPS, Tina Scott of Fotonews, Bonnie Koelsch, Jessica Erickson, Alexis Erickson, Debbie Schleif, and Allyssa Howard, were instrumental in making the play a success.
A heartfelt thanks to everyone!
It truly takes a community to have community theater.
– Ed Kemery
Founder, Merrill Community Theater
Merrill, Wis.
To the Editor:
I wanted to address a situation that will shortly become dangerous for a tenant at Park Place. There is a tenant with mobility issues who is disabled, and who will be forced to walk to another entrance during icy conditions, when a much closer and safer one is readily available, simply because she is accompanied by the tenants dog. This is not only illegal (ADA rules), but has moral implications, and I being a disabled person myself simply cannot say nothing. If we do not get satisfaction from this situation, then at least I will be able to say i did everything I could to fix this error. Policy does not trump law, law trumps policy, every time. To the editor, and the readers of the foto news, I thank you for your time.
– Dennis Gutowski,Jr.
Merrill, Wis.
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