Researched by Michael J. Caylor Jr
6-13-79
The Merrill Common Council postponed for at least a month making a decision on closing Ott’s Park beach. The Park and Recreation Committee wants to close the beach for the summer as they are not able to attract life guards despite the $2.70 hourly pay rate. ($9.37 in today’s money) The council instead referred the matter to the Personnel and Finance Committee in hope that they can find the funding to increase the hourly wage and attract lifeguards to staff the beach. Aldermen postponed a plan to annex eleven acres of land in the Town of Pine River on the east side of town. The council voted to table the measure until next month; it is anticipated a shopping venue will begin construction. Ted Schnagl, owner
of the Merrill View Motel spoke out against the annexation saying he did not want the city to expand its borders out to the freeway saying it would be too costly and without benefit to the community. Giles Howland of Howland Ace Hardware told the council that Merrill has all the drug, hardware, and grocery stores it needs and does not want to see the property annexed. The council also approved all 35 tavern licenses for the biennium; the council did ask Senator Clifford Krueger to introduce state legislation to allow Merrill to have one more tavern license. If this is done the license would be made available to Hon Radke who is constructing a tavern at 104 S Foster St. (we went from 35 taverns to 14 open today by my
count). Despite the heroic efforts of a passerby a man jumped from the South Center Ave viaduct last Thursday morning. The woman, Karen Hrdlicka, a nurse at Wausau Hospital, was walking over the span at 9:55 a.m. when she saw a jacket on the sidewalk and noticed the man hanging from the other side of the bridge over the water. The woman grabbed hold of the man’s arm and talked him into coming back over the rail but he slipped from her grasp and then jumped. Police and firefighters were quickly on the scene and with the help of Miss Hrdlicka, brought the man from the water to a waiting ambulance. The man, believed to be in his 60’s and from Eagle River, was taken to Holy Cross Hospital. It is estimated he fell 29 feet.
6-14-89
Hey kids, it is the coolest deal this summer! The Merrill Common Council voted last night to issue season passes for the outdoor pool. The cost per child will be $10. For those who wish to pay as you go the cost will be .50 a visit. In other council action, the city engineer was instructed to immediately begin the process of procuring stop and go lights to be installed at E 3 rd St and N Center Ave.
In brief: With nearly 130 years of experience, four educators retired from MAPS this past week. Robert Opsahl, of central office, Virginia Kohnke, Pine River principal, David Donner, Franklin Principal, and Roy Hull, guidance counselor at MHS have all called it a career. The Merrill Fire Department is urging residents to educate themselves on the new laws regarding underground storage tanks. The new law covers who can remove the tanks and has a whole list of other issues regarding the soil they were once buried in. The Ward Paper Company in Merrill invites you to their open house this Saturday. The paper mill traces its roots back to 1904 when it was established as the Merrill Paper Manufacturing Company, later known as the Grandfather Falls Paper Company. This is the first public open house of the plant since 1940.
You might not have known him, but a man who likely made you breakfast a time or two has died. Ted Zettler passed away Saturday at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield. Zettler owned Zettler’s Bakery in downtown Merrill for nineteen years. Prior to getting into the dough, Zettler was a cheesemaker and later a maintenance man at Metal Industries.
6-16-99
By a vote of 3-2 the Lincoln County Building Committee has voted to send a plan to the full county board to keep the jail downtown. The plan is to use the existing jail as office space for the sheriff, emergency management, and the coroner. A separate building will be built next to the current jail and the two would be connected by a tunnel. The new building will house jail support, a Huber dorm, and the courts of Lincoln County. A second floor of the new building will only be used to house prisoners in a pod format. The matter will go before the board next Tuesday.