THE TIME MACHINE
From past files of The Star News
10 YEARS AGO
January 12, 2012
After nearly 42 years, Alan Brandl is retiring from the Taylor County Highway Department. Members of the highway committee on Tuesday approved a resolution thanking him for his decades of service to the county. Thanking Brandl for his service was the easy part, it wasn’t so easy for committee members to decide what to do with the vacancy and if the county should fill it or leave it open in order to save money. The county highway department currently has 25 employees down from 32 employees in 2003. For Dennis Fuchs, the retirement gives the county the option to reduce staff without laying anyone off.
25 YEARS AGO
January 8, 1997
A low unemployment rate is a good thing for workers, but not so good for employers seeking new employees. Taylor County has not seen much commercial or industrial growth in the last few years and there has been a lack of development around the county. This is in large part the result of the unemployment rate catch-22, according to Arlen Albrecht, a community resource development agent at the University of Wisconsin-Extension.
50 YEARS AGO
January 13, 1972
David Ruesch, president of Ruesch Funeral Services, Inc., Medford, has announced that he has sold his interest in the firm to his business associate, John Hemer. The funeral home, located at 555 Cedar St., was constructed in 1964. A funeral director in Medford since 1932, Ruesch has been associated with Hemer the past 15 years. Prior to that, Ruesch was associated with his Brother Earle, Loveland, Colo., and with Pflughoeft and Hartwig Co. in Medford. The late Theodore Hartwig was an uncle of Messrs. Ruesch and Hemer.
75 YEARS AGO
January 9, 1947
The Medford Federal Savings and Loan Association has come a long way since it was organized 12 years ago. According to figures given in a financial statement prepared by L.D. Russell, association secretary, the organization now has a membership of 700, with assets totaling more than a million dollars. When the association was chartered in 1934 there were 30 members with a paid in capital of $2,500.
100 YEARS AGO
January 12, 1922
The Chicago Orchestral Club will appear at the high school auditorium next Wednesday evening, January 18. This is one of the two best numbers on the Medford High School entertainment course. It comes very highly recommended. The club consists of two violinists, a cellist, and a harpist. One of the violinists is a reader who is capable of giving an entire program without assistance. The violinist and harpist are well spoken of in the press comments on their playing.
125 YEARS AGO
January 9, 1897
A dispatch from Tacoma, WA states that the greatest damage by the recent cold weather is just now coming to light. Heavy frosts have caused the total destruction of a large number of orchards, both on Puget sound and across the Cascade mountains. Prune, peach and apple trees have been destroyed by the thousand. The apple trees are thought to be damaged the least. Practically all the Italian prune trees in Thurston county were frozen by the severe weather.
