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Sunday was the annual Highland Lions Club Fisheree at Blackhawk Lake (between Cobb and Highland). Those fishing said the early part of the day brought good catches, but when the freezing rain came late morning and into early afternoon the catches slowed down. Also the winds picked up and things began getting cold as well as wet. That didn't stop this family from Cobb to head out on the ice to try their luck.
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A while ago I was contacted by a friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, who found a gift certificate they won from a golf outing a few years back. That certificate was for $100 from Hallada Auto Group. This person said if Hallada's would still honor it they would rather put it to good use for some needy agency in the area. After they call Frankie at Hallada's to see if the certificate would still be honored (and it would be) I was contacted to do the rest. Also, this person sent a check along for another $100 gift certificate to go to Hallada Auto Group. They wanted the certificates to go to groups with vehicles that help Dodgeville area folks get around to places and/or do a service to the area. The groups chosen with the OK by the benefactor were the Grant/Iowa County Taxi and the Iowa County Food Pantry, both with vehicles that have the need for service work to be done.
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Boy it's hard to figure that with this issue of the newspaper comes the final day of January 2013! The first month of the year really flew by. February brings us Groundhog Day (2nd), the NFL Super Bowl (3rd), Valentine's Day (14th), the beginning of Lent (Ash Wednesday the day before Valentine's Day), Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday (12th) and President's Day (18th). Oh, and somebody out there proclaimed February 1st as "National Wear Red Day"!
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Talk about a weather change AGAIN! It's no wonder that people get sick in the winter. Last week the temperature dropped some 20 degrees in one day. This week starts out with cold, snow, sleet and rain that will change over to all rain as it warms up to 40 degrees. Temperatures are supposed to drop some and snow is in the forecast and then temperatures are supposed to be around single digits toward the end of the week. It would be nice if things would just stay a little on the level!
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In checking into the fate of the Dodgeville Truck Stop, we learned that it is scheduled to reopen around mid-March. It is supposed to be the same type of restaurant/Gas Station/C-Store as before.
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I got thanked by Iowa County Administrator Kurt Kephart for putting in the good words about the Minnesota driver who stopped for me in the crosswalk the other day. That's the area he hails from, so anytime he hears good words from a Wisconsin person about Minnesota, it's a plus. Well, then there was the UW Badgers/Minnesota college basketball game Saturday. The Badgers beat their third ranked team of the season in another "workman type game" 44-43. I haven't seen Kurt since that game!