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Yesterday in La Crosse

The city council gets its second woman, and its first teenager, 44 years ago

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In 1975, La Crosse voters elected a new mayor, Pat Zielke, and some new city council members. Helen Kelly became the second woman on the council, winning the seat being vacated by Zielke. Kelly was described as a housewife, but she later became an attorney. Kelly’s opponent complained that the winner got too much free publicity for working on women’s issues in the community.

Another council seat went to 19-year-old Brian Carroll, the son of popular county board member “Kootch” Carroll. Brian was a UW-L student at the time, and he unseated a council member who criticized him for being too young, and who claimed that the younger Carroll only got elected because of his father’s reputation.

Hank Aaron was back in Milwaukee in the spring of ’75, where he started his baseball career with the Braves. Aaron was traded by the Braves to the Brewers one season after he broke Babe Ruth’s home run record. And Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was ending his run with the Milwaukee Bucks, ready to switch to the Lakers, yesterday in La Crosse.

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.

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