Courier Press

By Correne Martin

As the adage, “If you build it, they will come” implies, the Rivers and Bluffs Animal Shelter facility has been 10 years in the making, but it’s finally complete and open in Prairie du Chien, and volunteers have shown up. So have the cats and dogs.

Two months after the shelter officially opened Dec. 4, an average of two dozen cats and kittens along with about 10 dogs and puppies are living at the shelter. It seems, when some are adopted, others often arrive. Most have been surrenders thus far, though a few cats have been strays.

The important thing is that, now, if people have to give up a pet, there’s a place for them to go, be cared for and treated with love.

By Rachel Mergen

For the past 36 years, Lori Hemmer has been teaching elementary students at Prairie Catholic School, including first graders presently and, in the past, second and third grade students. The school has been a part of her life long before those 36 years though, as she attended St. John’s Catholic School as a child, which eventually became a part of Prairie Catholic.

She recollected some of her fondest memories from her education at the school, “My favorite teacher was Sister Angeline. I remember her as being very kind. You just knew she cared about you. I remember always hanging by her on the playground. Back then the nuns wore full habits. My friends and I were very curious about what Sister Angeline’s hair looked like under her habit. She always told us she had purple and pink feathers for hair. We were always hoping to catch a glance.”

Eric L. Bedward, 22, of Prairie du Chien, passed away unexpectedly Sunday, Jan. 28. 

By Correne Martin

In Prairie du Chien, we’re PdC proud, or #pdcproud—in terms of hashtags.

The Courier Press has adopted the hashtag #pdcproud as a means of collectively showing our pride and support for our hometown Olympian skeleton slider Matt Antoine. The hope is that, as some of Matt’s biggest fans, community members can jump on board and start taking and posting pictures on social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and then include #pdcproud with those posts. Examples might be pictures of you cheering him on; displaying USA or red, white and blue colors; holding signs you made for him; or perhaps posing in front of his street sign in Prairie du Chien, his picture at the high school, or the posters you’re going to start seeing in business places around town.