Home » Uncategorized » 2014: Year in review

2014: Year in review

The year brought changes in leadership at the Waupaca County courthouse, Manawa schools and Waupaca Foundry.

Royalton opened a new town hall, and a community art project that began in the summer of 2013 at Arts on the Square was installed at the newly renovated South Park.

This is the second in a two-part review of the top stories for 2014.

July

The city of Waupaca dedicated its new pavilion at South Park. Residents pledged $535,000 in private donations to help fund the project.

The Royalton Town Board voted July 10 to buy a vacant building for its new town hall.

Dean of Students Jim Quinn was named Manawa’s interim school administrator.

Administrative staff with Waupaca schools learn they face another $500,000 in state funding cuts for the 2014-15 academic year. The district has seen its state aid cut by $3.4 million over the past five years.

Waupaca County and Waupaca County Zoning Director Ryan Brown sue the Waupaca County Board of Adjustment after the board voted 3-2 to grant a variance that allowed a kitchen in a cottage on the Chain O’ Lakes.

August

On Aug. 1, an investiture ceremony was held for Judge Vicki Clussman at the Waupaca County Courthouse.

Clussman, who had been an assistant district attorney for the county, was replaced by Veronica Isherwood.

A jury convicted Barbara Thiry, 72, of one count of failing to provide proper food to one of her horses. She had been charged with 15 counts after Waupaca Cunty officials seized her horses.

Charles Hebert, Russ Johnson and Scott Rice were appointed to fill three of four vacant seats on the Manawa School Board. The seats were vacated after four school board members resigned.

Dale Trinrud announced his resignation as Farmington town chairman and Waupaca County Board supervisor. Trinrud had served on the town board for 25 years and had been elected to the county board in April 2014.

KPS Capital Partners, a New York private-equity firm, agreed to sell Waupaca Foundry to Hitachi Metals Ltd.

Based in Tokyo, Hitachi Metals had $7.8 billion in 2013 revenues in metal products, electronics and IT devices. It purchased Waupaca Foundry for $1.3 billion.

Dr. Melanie Oppor was named the new administrator of the Manawa School District.

September

The year 2014 marked the 20th anniversary of one of Waupaca county’s most tragic events: the abduction and murder of Cora Jones, a 12-year-old Weyauwega girl.

The Waupaca community art project was installed at South Park. The project began during the 2013 Arts on the Square when local residents made sand molds and visiting artists, with help from the foundry, poured molden iron into the molds during the summer festival. Waupaca Foundry employees then built a cylindrical structure for the tiles.

During the Sept. 16 Dayton Town Board meeting, Chairman Chris Klein disclosed that the town had been billed for more than $55,000 in legal fees to date in 2014.

Waupaca Common Council named Kathy Kasza as the city’s new financial director. She started her position full time in November.

October

After a federal appeals court reversed a federal district court decision to block a Republican voter ID law in Wisconsin, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against implementing the law during the 2014 general election, noting that there was not enough time for citizens to obtain the documents they needed for state-issued identification.

Joseph A. Jackson, 28, Waupaca, was charged in the death of his 2-year-old stepson.

Kevin Will became the new town chairman in Farmington.

Agropur in Weyauwega announced a $55 million expansion project.

Police arrested a 16-year-old boy after a crime spree of nine burglaries in two weeks in downtown Waupaca.

November

Jesse Cuff was hired as the the new veterans service officer for Waupaca County. He replaced Wayne Knutson who passed away.

The Weyauwega Common Council appointed Keith Najdowski to fill the remaining term of the late Jim Zandrow.

Joanne Johnson was appointed to the Manawa School Board to fill the last of four seats that had been vacated when four school board members resigned.

A daylong community summit was held in Manawa to address the growing problem of heroin addiction in Waupaca County. More than 125 people attended.

On Nov. 11, the town of Dayton held a public hearing on the Little Hope dam at Waupaca High School. Only Dayton residents were allowed to speak, and all correspondence on the subject had to be notarized. Those who lived on the former mill pond spoke 21-5 in favor of restoring the dam. Those who did not live in the Little Hope area spoke 30-7 against the dam. Of the 32 notarized letters the town received, 29 opposed restoring the dam.

At a 3 1/2 hour annual budget hearing, Dayton electors voted to cut $345,000 from the town’s proposed $1.28 million transportation budget.

December

Waupaca County took steps to amend its Farmland Preservation Plan. Only farmers in eight townships will now be eligible to participate in the program that encourages measures to protect water from agricultural runoff. The program also shifted from long-term contracts to annual applications.

Waupaca police warned residents of a telephone scam targeting taxpayers. The callers identified themselves as being with the Internal Revenue Service and threatened their victims with penalties and prison if they failed to send them money via debit cards or wire transfers.

Dawn Rosicky, a mother of three, delivered the commencement address at Fox Valley Technical College on Dec. 13.

Agropur employees in Weyauwega raised $9,000 to help support the Bread Basket in Waupaca.

Waupaca Online was awarded a grant to expand its broadband Internet service.

Health care officials reported cases of the whooping cough in Waupaca and Portage counties.

Scroll to Top