February 25: News from around the Driftless Area
‘News from Around the Driftless Area’ is a compilation showcasing the excellent work and interesting tidbits from the community journalists sprinkled throughout our area.
VIROQUA –Students in Carissa Brudos’ first semester art and design class at De Soto High School had the opportunity to create designs for Wonderstate Coffee for a logo design challenge. Brudos said she wanted to incorporate real world art and marketing in students’ everyday lives, so she reached out to Wonderstate, which is based in Viroqua, with her idea of a logo design challenge. Brudos sent the designs to Wonderstate, where the winners were selected. Mya Radde, a ninth-grader, and Zoey Boardman, a senior, were the winners of the logo design challenge… The Viroqua School Board voted to approve offering a summer school program this year at its regular meeting, Monday. District Administrator Tom Burkhalter said the program will look different this summer. He said last year’s summer school program had limited participation because of a shortened schedule and concerns of being back in the school buildings due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic… The Vernon County Zoning Committee discussed the approximately 500 septic tank violations reported by department head Ashley Oliphant at their February 9 meeting. According to Oliphant, some of the violations stretched back nearly 10 years. Though February and March are considered bad times for pumping, Oliphant reported plans to send the letter with final notice of the violations to septic tank owners. Some of the violations involve court cases. Committee chairman Will Beitlich asked if town boards could assist in talking with the violators, with others recommending a public listing of the violators. Oliphant stated that she felt that this kind of “shaming” would increase her department’s already bad reputation. Vernon County Towns Association chairman Ole Yttri stated that the situation would be an agenda item on the Association’s next meeting. Zoning Committee chairman Eric Evenstad stated that citizens might want to know if their neighbors have a bad system that could be polluting nearby groundwater and wells.