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Merrill Unveils New Street Sign Recognizing Dolores Kelly

Published on 11/24/2025 under News The City of Merrill continues to recognize citizens who left an indelible mark on the community. Today they'll honor a resident who became an advocate for the elderly, while also planting the seeds for what became the Merrill-Go-Round bus service and local Meals on Wheels program. Three years ago, the Merrill Historic Preservation Committee began a Memorial Street Sign program. Each year they select a small number of citizens by dedicating a street segment in their honor. At a ceremony this morning they'll unveil a sign honoring Dolores Kelly. The Committee offered some of her accomplishments. In 1970, Kelly joined the city's Committee on Aging where they focused on housing, nutrition, legal services and most importantly transportation for the senior community. That led to the Dial-A-Bus program in 1973, the predecessor to the Merrill-Go-Round. That led to Kelly's recognition as the 1975 Merrill 'Woman of the Year.' The street segment being marked today is outside former Merrill City Hall at the corner of 2nd and Cleveland. The family chose this location, as it was where the first Dial-A-Bus ride launched. The sign unveiling will take place at 11am with members of the Kelly family, city officials and a Merrill-Go-Round bus. This is the fourth of five signs being dedicated this year.

Published on 11/24/2025 under News The Tomahawk High School Drama Department sent their one-act play to the State Festival, and they didn't come home empty handed. This year's production was Epic Adventures in a Rinky-Dink Art Museum. The cast and crew performed on Friday afternoon. The judges presented the Hatchets with All-State honors along with an ensemble award. In addition to the group awards, some individuals were also recognized. Alena Cerkas and Exxie Walbeck each earned outstanding acting awards. Michele Balda, Corey Colburn, and Katie Pritzl were honored with an outstanding directing award. This year's state festival was held at UW Stevens Point. It marked the 10th consecutive year THS has sent the one-act play to the state festival.

Published on 11/24/2025 under News One person died in a single vehicle rollover in Vilas County over the weekend. According to the Vilas County Sheriff's Office, responders were called to a crash on Highway 45 near Abalan Lane in the Town of Conover Saturday evening at shortly before 11pm. The initial call reported a semi cab on its roof. Upon arrival, they located the driver who was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver's name is being withheld pending notification of family. According to the news release, Preliminary reports indicate that the driver likely lost control of the vehicle due to icy road conditions at the time. The crash remains under investigation.

Published on 11/24/2025 under News Whether you bagged a buck opening weekend or are hoping for better luck in the second half of the season, successful hunters can help out the Wisconsin Lions Club by donating the hide. Local Lions Club chapters are working with the state organization to collect the deer hides as a fundraiser for their Lions Camp in Rosholt. The Lions Camp youth program provides week-long, summer excursions for around 1,300 youth with special needs each year. The Lion's sell the donated hides to a processor where they're used to produce leather goods. The Lions typically raise around $80,000 through the hide collection. There are nearly 200 deer hide drop-off locations around the state and the Lion's have an interactive map for those that would like to donate. Locally, the Tomahawk drop-off is at the Hometown Feed Mill. As we've previously covered, the DNR has a venison donation program to help those with food insecurity. Animal rescue facilities like Wild Instincts also accept deer hearts and unprocessed trimmings to help feed the animals in their care.

Published on 11/24/2025 under News A new survey shows most Wisconsinites are buckling up. November 14 with National Seat Belt Day. The Department of Transportation and Wisconsin State Patrol celebrated record-high seat belt use at 94%. Throughout the year, the DoT and Wisconsin State Patrol partner with UW-Whitewater to conduct an observational survey across 160 observation sites around the state. At 94%, it is the highest percentage of seat belt use reported since WisDOT began doing the survey 25 years ago. Wisconsin State Patrol Superintendent Tim Carnahan says, "Wearing a seat belt is one of the simplest things a vehicle occupant can do to protect themselves on the road." Carnahan added, "The results of this survey are encouraging, but they also show there's more work to do." For the other six percent, he says, "We'll continue to do our part to educate drivers about the importance of buckling up, but we hope drivers will do their part and make it click." Results from the survey are reported annually, and are used to inform and evaluate WisDOT's traffic safety campaigns like Click It or Ticket and Buckle Up Phone Down.

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Sports Headlines

Hatchet Girls Basketball Team Wins Season Opener

Published on 11/21/2025 under Sports Tomahawk's girls' basketball squad opened up their season with an impressive second-half performance in Butternut Thursday night, defeating the Midgets, 56-42. After leading by just two at the half, the Hatchets switched to a zone defense to cause turnovers and turn into easy transition points. Freya Alberg finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and six blocks. Sophomore Anita Ziert finished with 18 points in her first start of the season. The Hatchets start their season off with a win for a second consecutive season. Tomahawk will begin Great Northern Conference play December 2nd at home against Medford.

Published on 11/10/2025 under Sports Tomahawk's football squad's dream season would end in the WIAA Division 5 Sectional Championship against three-time defending state champion Stratford at Hatchet Field Friday night, 29-0. The Hatchet defense stepped up in the first half and forced three turnovers, including intercepting Tiger quarterback Brady Berg twice. However, Tomahawk would fail to score off of those three turnovers and mustered just over 100 yards of offense. Jett Reilly would lead the Hatchets in rushing, running for 31 yards on eight carries. Tomahawk was also held under 100 yards for the first time this season. The Hatchets finish the 2025 season with a 10-2 record, the most wins in school history. Tomahawk also graduates 11 seniors. They are Wally Horabik, Jason Watkins, Rex Reilly, Jonah Dickens, Nathan Reimer, Logan Norman, Kenny Turner, Ethan Gibeault, Kaiden Kapellusch, Nathan Norman, and Michael Samundsen. The Hatchets also finished with their first playoff win since 2015 and their first trip to the Sectional Championship since 2007.

Published on 11/03/2025 under Sports In the WIAA Division 5 Football Playoffs, #1 Seed Tomahawk would advance to the Sectional Championship for the first time since 2007, defeating #5 Seed Spencer/Columbus Catholic Halloween Night at Hatchet Field, 34-12. The Hatchets jumped out to a 21-0 Halftime lead thanks to a stout defense and two time-consuming touchdown drives. After Spencer/Columbus Catholic cut it to nine heading into the fourth, Tomahawk forced two of the Rockets' three turnovers on the night. Jonah Dickens would come up with a key interception that would pave the way for touchdown runs by Tiegan Sarazin and Max Larson. Sarazin would rush for 100 yards and two touchdowns. The Hatchets also got a touchdown run from Rex Reilly and a 19-yard scoring pass from Jett Reilly to Jonah Dickens. The win gives Tomahawk its first double-digit winning season in school history, moving to 10-1 on the season. The Hatchets will play for their first state semifinal berth since 1990 in the Sectional Championship next week against three-time defending state champion Stratford. Tune in for the Fehrman Orthodontics Kickoff Cabin at 6:10 and the opening kick at 7:00 next Friday. Alex Koch and Jon Long will be in the broadcast booth.

Published on 10/24/2025 under Sports On Friday night, the Tomahawk Hatchet Football Team won their ninth game of the season, with a 41-14 Level One WIAA Playoff victory over Omro. Tomahawk dominated the line of scrimmage all night, as they rushed for 290 yards and had over 35 minutes of possession offensively. On the other side of the ball, Tomahawk held Omro to just 39 yards rushing. Rex Reilly had three rushing touchdowns, and carried the ball 13 times for 59 yards. Jonah Dickens also had three touchdowns, two touchdown catches, both from Jett Reilly, one from 43 yards out the other from ten. Dickens also added a nine yard touchdown run. Jett Reilly, along with those two touchdown passes and 72 yards through the air, had 76 yards on the ground. Tomahawk is now 9-1 on the season and will host Spencer/Columbus Catholic on Friday night at Hatchet Field. Spencer/Columbus defeated New Holstein 31-12. The #1 seed Hatchets and #5 seed Spencer/Columbus will play at Hatchet Field on Friday night at 7:00 pm. Northwoods 92-5 will have the Fehrman Orthodontics Kickoff Cabin at 6:10 pm, and the opening kickoff at 7:00 pm. In other scores from Level One action: In D-5: Stratford beat Richland Center 41-9 In D-4: Mosinee defeated Turner 41-7 In D-3: Merrill defeated Lakeland 38-12, Rhinelander lost to Edgewood 35-7, Wausau East lost to Mount Horeb/Barneveld, and Medford lost to Grafton 49-14

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