Local News

By Correne Martin

Helping families be the best they can be for little or no cost, the Crossing Rivers Health-Family Resource Center is one of Prairie du Chien’s best kept secrets. Family Resource Center services are available to everyone, regardless of income, status or location.

The Family Resource Center opened 25 years ago in downtown Prairie du Chien with a grant from the Children’s Trust Fund. It has since operated as a service of Crossing Rivers Health. For some time, its office was in the basement of Crossing Rivers Health Daycare Center (formerly Wee Care) and, in 2001, it moved to its current home at 800 East Taylor Street. In July of 2011, the Children’s Trust Fund grant system was restructured and the grant was unable to be maintained. At that time, Crossing Rivers Health began fully supporting the Family Resource Center, allowing the services to continue and the community needs to be met.

Contamination from a fire last year inside the Pattison Sand Company mine in Clayton, Iowa cost a neighboring company more than $500,000, according to a federal lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court for Northern Iowa.

The lawsuit was brought by Consolidated Grain and Barge Company and claims that smoke and soot from the July 10, 2014 fire spread from the mine onto its property and tainted grain, salt, fertilizer and other products.

Following the fire, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration ordered the mine and Consolidated Grain’s property to be evacuated due to concerns about air quality, the lawsuit said.

The Louisiana-based shipping company also hired experts to assess damage and make sure the company’s facilities were safe for employees and the storing of products. The company also paid extra charges due to disrupted shipments, the lawsuit claims.

By Correne Martin

A 16-year-old boy was medflighted to Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse after he reportedly jumped from the Prairie du Chien High School roof Wednesday morning, Dec. 2, according to the PdC Police Department.

“We were called to assist EMS at the high school,” Police Chief Chad Abram said. “He was treated at the scene by Tri-State Ambulance and later sent by MedLink Air to La Crosse.”

Abram wasn’t aware of the boy’s condition on Thursday.

The chief noted that when officers arrived on scene, they did not speak to the boy, as the primary emergency was medical attention at that point.

The Prairie du Chien Police Department received a kick start last week toward its fundraising efforts for a K9. Chief of Police Chad Abram, Sergeant Kyle Teynor, and Officer Casey Cox received a check for $2,791.66 from the Cabela’s Campfire Committee to begin the implementation of a K9 unit for the department.

The Campfire Committee and employees of Cabela’s, along with police department employees, have raised funds over the last 12 months to support this donation.

“Community partnerships like these are the corner stones for embedding trust and enforcement relationships within the community in which we serve,” Abram said.