By Craig Marx, Editor

The Tuesday, June 21 meeting of the Langlade County Board of Supervisors began with a presentation by the dean of NTC’s Antigo Campus Bobbi Damrow. The head administrator thanked the board for choosing the campus’ Wood Technology Center for Excellence as the hosting site for their meeting.

“We hope you are proud of our facility. We currently have 232 full-time students [enrolled at our campus], but as many students also work while attending classes, we actually have anywhere from 350 to 400 students currently,” Damrow said.

“We are happy about the increase in the number of high school students we’ve recently had and are excited about our dual-credit program that is available. We’ve been able to waive approximately $957,000 for entry-level courses for high school students so far. Our flagship program is the wood technology program, now called ‘wood science.’ For every wood technology student that enters the program now, they receive a $500 scholarship right off the bat,” Damrow added.

Kari Lazers and Joy Pecha were both honored for their service to the county. Pecha was in attendance to receive her recognition plaque.

All resolution items passed unanimously 18-0, including the creation of a new casual employee position for the treasurer’s office and a GIS (geographic information system) position for the county’s Land Records Department.

Langlade County Crime Stoppers also made a short presentation concerning the creation of a crime prevention funding board. The organization, present in the county since 2006, currently has 13 board members. The majority of a potential influx of new funding for the program would be used directly for payments in tips leading to criminal arrests and convictions, as well as information and technology processing.

The county is also selling a small portion of forest land to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation applicable to the State Highway 52 project. Allowing for easier access to road shoulders and guard rails, the withdrawn land totals only 1/3 acre, approximately.