By Lucas Jagodzinski

100 Years Ago

A Soo line passenger train, departing from Fon Du Lac struck and killed an unidentified man from Waupaca County during its route. The train crew noticed something was wrong only after they found blood on portions of the train when they reached their next stop. The victim of the incident was believed to have been dragged under the train for a few miles before being found. The most likely theory in the tragedy is that the victim did not hear the train coming and failed to get out of the way in time.

20 Years Ago

Local businessman and pioneer of the potato industry, Edward J. Okray donated a total of $1 million to two local organizations; these donations were to be used as a springboard for future growth. The first donation of $500,000 went to the Saint Michael’s Foundation to provide funding for an educational endowment. The endowment would be used to fund research and training for new medical procedures and cutting-edge research in the medical field. The other donation of $500,000 went to the Stevens Point Area Catholic Schools (SPACS). SPACS would use the funding as part of a larger campaign to fund renovations and improvements at its facilities and to provide teachers a higher salary. 0

The University of Wisconsin Stevens Point (UWSP) Men’s Basketball team notched a record-breaking performance in its game against the University of Wisconsin River Falls (UWRF). UWSP player John Iserloth and the Pointers secured a 94-79 victory on the road in River Falls. The conference road win proved to be an impressive show on the team’s record. Iserloth however, broke a record of his own with his stand out performance at River Falls. Iserloth’s 40 points set a new single game scoring record for a men’s basketball player at UWSP. He was able to reach the feat in large part due to his perfect 8-8 3-point shooting on the night.

10 Years Ago

Amherst prepared to host the eight annual Winter Fest at the W. Jensen Community Center on January 28th. The Winter Fest, a Celtic folk, dance and music festival, featured multiple family friendly events and entertainment that were put together to give central Wisconsin families and residents an appreciation for Celtic culture. Of special interest at this edition of the festival, is that indie folk band Green Tea would be performing some of its new material. “One thing that people, especially longtime fans, will be excited about is that we will be performing some songs off of our upcoming album,” said Green Tea guitarist Trevor Roark. The Eighth Annual Winter Fest took place on Saturday January 28th, 2012.

As the city of Stevens Point prepared to take on potential new plans and ideas for the former site of the Center Point Mall, it still faced the hurdle of a lawsuit from the former owners of the mall- Valley Bank. The city had taken possession of the mall on the grounds that the building had blight problems and therefore the city could take possession of the mall and then could condemn the building. The lawsuit centered around the city’s decision to condemn the building.