News: Clark County - Top News Stories (1981)

Contact: Kathleen E. Englebretson
Email: kathy@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Harnisch, Leggate, Hadzima, Brennan, Nagy, Wilkinson, Studinski, Lulloff, Mills

---Source: Marshfield News-Herald (4 January 1982)

If there were rankings for area counties according to news generated, Clark County probably would be far and away in first place for 1981.

Top Clark County stories included a recall attempt on a state senator,, spraying of a banned herbicide on a township's road, derailment of a freight train that caused spilling of a harmful chemical, alleged recruitment in the county by the Ku Klux Klan, naming of a county circuit judge in a lawsuit and the proposed remodeling of the county's the county's health care center.

Other news items of interest included the resignation of and charges levied against the county's weatherization director, the disputed sale of a city's park, resignation of a city's chief of police and the banning of a book in a county school district.

In short, news stories were not hard to find in Clark County during 1981.

The year's longest continuing story has been the attempted recall of Sen. Thomas Harnisch, D-Neillsville.

The Committee to Recall Sen. Harnisch was formed in August, and petitioners turned 13,000 signatures into the State Elections Board to start Special elections Board to start special elections proceedings. The committee needed 11,862 signatures.

When the board had reviewed the signatures however, it was determined the committee did not have enough valid signatures for the recall.

A court action concerning validity of the petition is under way in Clark County Circuit Court, and recall committee leaders said they will start another recall petition in 1982.

Even without the recall, the county had its share of stories.

The year opened with the announcement of the resignation of Walter Leggate, Neillsville police chief.

Leggate's resignation was effective January 31. He took over as Neillsville chief in 1975, and was leaving the force for a position he called, "a step in my career."

Lawrence Hadzima, a former investigator for the Chippewa County Sheriff's Department, was eventually named to fill the post.

The county still was relatively calm in news until March 10, when Clark County Circuit Judge Michael Brennan and Michael Nagy, former director of Clark County Child Support and Investigation Agency were named Defendants in a $1 million lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee.

The suit, filed by leaders of the Posse Comitatus and Life Science Church, alleged that the two defendants, along with 11 other local, state and federal officials, held a secret meeting in the basement of the Shawano County Courthouse to devise a scheme that would inflict punishment on the plaintiffs.

The suit was dismissed in November.

Loyal's Board of Education made the headlines in March, when it banned the book "Saturday Night Fever" from its library shelves.

While the book banning itself raised some controversy, the board went under scrutiny by the county district attorney's office for possible violation of the state's open meeting law while taking the action.

A letter from the district attorney's office to the board members said not enough evidence of violating the law was found to warrant prosecution.

It said, however, "the information this office was suggests a possible violation of the Open Meeting Law in that discussion concerning a complaint about the book 'Saturday Night Fever' reportedly does not fall within the exemptions contained in the Open Meeting law...But there appears to be no violation of the Open Meeting Law.

"The letter appraising the board and the publicity this matter has received should be sufficient to prevent another misunderstanding" it added.

April brought with it reports that the Ku Klux Klan was considering organization of a chapter or state headquarters in Neillsville. The KKK interest, according to reports, was Neillsville's proximity to members of the Posse Comitatus and the absence of large numbers of Jews and blacks.

William Wilkinson, Imperial Wizard of the Invisible Empire of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, said there may be some low-key Klan activities in central Wisconsin, but that national Klan leaders were not aware of plans for a central Wisconsin headquarters.

Klan officials do not usually go into areas that do not have racial problems, according to Wilkinson, and they consider areas on the basis of requests before extending the Klan's arms.

Later in April, the Clark County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to provide $8.5 million for improvements at the Clark County Health Care Center.

The center had been selected as a project site for development of the first chronically ill regional center in the state.

Improvements would represent an opportunity for the center to better utilize its ability to provide specialized treatment of the mentally ill, according to Arlyns Mills, center administrator.

Concern about administration of Clark County Department of Weatherization became apparent in early June, when the News-Herald learned of an investigation by the Clark County Sheriff's Department.

At the same time, a fired field supervisor alleged he was improperly dismissed by Florence Studinski, department director.

Studinski was later charged with and pleaded guilty to misconduct in office for using some of the program's insulation for personal use.

Studinski resigned before the charges were filed, saying the weatherization job and her other job, director of the county's emergency government department, were too much for one person to handle. She continues to work as county emergency government director.

Also in June, a group of Loyal residents started a protest to the sale of two city-owned lots. The protesters contended the lots were used as the city's only park.

The sale of the city's old water tower area to the Federal Land Bank was carried through, however.

As a consolation to the protesters, city leaders started development of a new park on the city's west side. Fund raisers foe the new park have been continuing through the year.

More than 1,500 residents in the Thorp area had a rude awakening July 3, when a 98-car Soo Line freight train derailed about three miles east of Thorp.

Clark and Taylor County authorities evacuated the area, taking people away from a could of the toxic chemical spill.

State Department of Natural Resources workers contained the spill, and fertilizer and lime blown onto the chemical to neutralize it.

Contamination killed crops in the area during aeration of water containing the chemical, according to area landowners. Complaints caused the aeration to be stopped.

Industrial development of Neillsville was a concern of Neillsville aldermen when the (city?) purchased a 37-acre site for an industrial park.

The site, just east of Neillsville on Highway 10, was one of four considered by the city. It was recommended by the West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and the State Department of Business Development.

A week after the purchase was finalized, the Neillsville City Council was criticized by the Clark County district Attorney's office for an alleged violation of the state Open Meeting Law.

The district attorney's office claimed the council had not properly posted its meeting notices.

"The Neillsville City Council just hasn't done it." a letter to the Council from an assistant district attorney said. "There is a regular time and place for the meeting, but no notice."

The letter added however, "I am going to defer initiating prosecution so that I can determine if this pattern of violations continues. If it does, I can assure you that prosecution will be swift and vigorous. I (If) not, I will consider the matter closed."

Neillsville Mayor Robert Lulloff said he and the Council will comply with the law.

**Note: Original article had a few transciption errors that I corrected to best of my ability.