Once more our calendar is turning, and October has arrived. The darkness is falling sooner each day, and after the warmth of the past couple of weeks, the nip is back in the air. Now that frost has struck area gardens, the orange pumpkins are rising above the once green vines. The sights and sounds of geese winging their way south is commonplace as I am outside, doing yard clean up.

We have a raspberry patch adjacent to our garden that’s doing unusually well this year. It’s an everbearing red berry patch, so we had berries in the summer and just now again in September. Our recent Indian summer favorably boosted the production of my berries, plus the fact that we didn’t get an early overnight frost. We had no idea what we were getting when I had ordered a dozen plants about six years ago.

Dorothy Paterick, 91, doesn’t volunteer as much as she used to, but she still helps out several organizations. She was born in Hickory Corners, moved to Suring when she was 2 and lived with relatives after her mother died. When she was 9 she moved to Leopolis to live with her father and stepmom. Paterick graduated from Marion High School and then went to the former Wood County Normal School in Wisconsin Rapids.

The city of Shawano has identified eight locations along Main Street at risk for water main breaks due to potential corrosion. High levels of chloride in the soil were responsible for three water main breaks along Main Street since December 2010 and recent random soil tests found eight other spots where chloride levels are high. The Shawano Field Committee recently approved adding $20,000 to next year’s Capital Improvement Projects budget to cove

Cody Pluger fought cystic fibrosis with courage and perseverance until he lost his life in 2008. The Gresham community continued the fight against the respiratory disease Friday with the seventh annual Cystic Fibrosis Walk in his memory. Ben Smith, Pluger’s younger brother, addressed a crowd of more than 100 at Gresham School before the walk. “My brother’s legacy has nothing to do with the fact that he had cystic fibrosis,” Smith said.

The first of three family co-owners of a Wescott supper club charged in connection with a home-based marijuana operation was sentenced Friday to four months in jail as a condition of three years’ probation. Lynn Himebauch, 67, pleaded no contest in July to felony charges of manufacture and delivery of marijuana and maintaining a drug trafficking place. Sentencing is still pending for her husband, William R.

For the fourth-straight time, the Bonduel High School football team was defeated by Central Wisconsin-Conference-8 foe Shiocton, losing 27-7 Friday in Bonduel. It was a far cry from last year’s 47-0 drubbing in Shiocton, but special teams miscues and turnovers were too much for the Bears to overcome. “They’re a great football team,” Bonduel coach James Westrich said. “They make you beat them; they don’t beat themselves.

The Green Bay Packers are coming off consecutive division victories after a rocky start.

A few big special teams and defensive plays were not enough for the Shawano Community High School football team, whose offense could produce only a pair of field goals in a 19-14 homecoming loss to Luxemburg-Casco on a rainy Saturday. A stout Shawano defense that provided six points when senior Zack Sousek returned a fumble for a touchdown and forced two punts and three turnovers on downs gave the Hawks the lead until the fourth quarter. The defe