Little asphalt plant on the prairie, 16 years ago

In 2003, the Mathy Construction Company wanted to build an asphalt factory on industrial land in Brice Prairie, and plenty of people living near the site didn’t want that to happen. There were concerns about pollution, and heavy volumes of noisy truck traffic affecting the quality of life. At one hearing which took place in the Logan High School gym, a local pediatrician argued that having up to 400 trucks a day go in and out of the factory would be a hazard to kids.

President George W. Bush declared the start of the Iraq war in March of 2003, “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” The western invasion of Iraq lasted just over a month, and led to the removal of Saddam Hussein as that country’s leader.

Smoke detectors were a big concern at a La Crosse meeting on fire safety. Representatives of the fire department urged people not to remove batteries from those detectors. One landlord pointed out that some tenants would take down the detectors, because they tended to go off easily, reportedly from the heat of cooking a pizza. Smelling smoke 16 years ago, yesterday in La Crosse.