AMERY
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2020 VOL. 128 NO. 17 www.theameryfreepress.com $1.00
Stoddard serves in anti-tank regiment BY TOM STANGL TSTANGL@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
Editor’s note: To mark the 75th Anniversary of World War II, interviews were conducted with living veterans. This is one in an ongoing series. Al Stoddard was a week out of high school when he enlisted in the U.S. Army, following his two older brothers into the War. He served in the Army from 1944-1947 with the 71st Infantry. Stoddard arrived at Le Havre, France in January 1945 where they trained at
Camp Old Gold. The embarkation camps at Le Havre were named for cigarette brands: Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Wings, Home Run, Herbert Tareyton, Twenty Grand and Philip Morris. After arriving, Stoddard Stoddard’s unit was loaded into box cars to travel east to the front lines. The 71st SEE STODDARD, PAGE 5A
Public comments continue as issue at Polk County Board BY APRIL ZIEMER EDITOR@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM PAM HUMPAL | AMERY FREE PRESS
Fall Festiday crowns royalty Coronation was held at Michael Park for Fall Festiday Sept. 19 were the new Amery Royalty court was crowned. Back row L-R: 1st Princess Reese Benware, Miss Amery Diedra Meyer and 2nd Princess/Miss Congeniality Ella Gould. Front row L-R: 3rd Princess Lily Marquand, Little Miss Penelope Gehrman and 4th Princess Rylee Thompson-Ziemer. For more Fall Festiday photos see Section C.
Whether a Public Comment portion will continue to be included on future Polk County Board agendas is unknown, as Chair Chris Nelson has voiced the possibility of discontinuing. Nelson opened the meeting with a warning about not using foul language during the meetings. There were situations in July and August that prompted the September statement from SEE COUNTY BOARD, PAGE 20A
City Hall sold to Raveling for $5,000 BY APRIL ZIEMER EDITOR@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
During a short eight-minute virtual meeting of the Amery City Council, it was unanimously decided to sell the building that has housed council meetings since 1950. Mayor Paul Isakson said, “We have an offer for purchase on the City Hall. There are some pros and some cons. The
pros are: it goes on the tax roll January 1. The roof gets fixed, we lease back for a dollar until August 31, 2021 and it saves a negative value if there is no sale of this building. To upgrade this building into a new City Hall, according to a SEH study done in 2013 would be 1.6 million dollars, so no one is going to modernize this building. It was going to be $150,000 for a new roof.”
Isakson said the cons included that according to Parks Lakes Land and Realty, the appraised value came in at $115,000. He said that was not a real appraisal, it was just what Parks said it could be worth. According to City Attorney Paul Mahler, the city does not currently have a policy regarding the sale of public buildings. SEE CITY, PAGE 2A
AMERY CENTENNIAL
City Hall dedication in 1950. L-R: Frank Sylvester, C.V. Anderson, Herb Jones, Lloyd Christensen, Bob Iverson and Dave Palmer.
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