Brian Jopek
Recent Stories
Local spring 2026 election is a wrap
There weren’t many contested races in the April 7 election for county boards, town boards and school boards The Lakeland Times regularly covers but there were some interesting outcomes.
‘I always wanted to be a pilot’
It was in the northern Wisconsin village of Poplar in Douglas County that Richard Ira “Dick” Bong was born on Sept. 24, 1920. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in May of 1941 and eventually was sent to the Pacific theater of operations.
Former Minocqua town chairman Don Gauger dies
Former Minocqua town board member Don Gauger died at the age of 93 on March 17. Originally from southern Wisconsin Gauger, after years of public service in the village of Grafton that included his election as village president in 1971 and membership on the Grafton fire department and its rescue squad, first moved his family to Minocqua in 1975.
Hazelhurst man involved in March 23 UTV accident dies
A Hazelhurst man involved in an accident involving a utility task vehicle (UTV) on March 23 has died of injuries sustained at the time. Paul Vedder, 58, was found trapped under the UTV he had been operating in near the edge of Lake Kaubashine in Hazelhurst.
Minocqua considers joining Lynne in push to shift road costs
A jurisdictional transfer request submitted to the Oneida County board’s highway committee by the town of Lynne was on the committee’s April 2 meeting agenda. The request centers around Willow Road being transferred from the town’s road inventory to the county highway system.
Questions delay airport land decision until April 29
Another special meeting of the town boards for the four towns — Minocqua, Woodruff, Lac du Flambeau and Arbor Vitae — that own the Lakeland Airport in Arbor Vitae has been scheduled for April 29.
The search for Melissa Beson continues
More than a year has passed, and Lac du Flambeau resident Melissa Beson is still nowhere to be found.
