Wisconsin National Guard Sendoff

At 10 a.m. in the Tomah High School gym, I had the distinct honor to attend the the sendoff ceremony for the 732nd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, Wisconsin National Guard.

Personal friends and family were among the troops being mobilized for 12 months active duty in Iraq, after spending a few weeks in Indiana up-training before going to theatre.

There were a number of high ranking officers who spoke at the ceremony, most notably, Congressman Ron Kind.  He gave a short speech offering support to the troops and their families.  Kind also made it clear he expects everyone to attend the welcome home ceremony to take place upon their return to Wisconsin, scheduled for Summer 2010.

Keepin’ It Local

Keepin’ It Local & Twitter Tomah News

I’ve already been inundated with inquiries as to why I’m not covering or mentioning anything about the H1N1 Virus, President Obama or other issues that concern the entire nation.  Well…it’s because we’re interested in local news.  If someone in Tomah (or nearby) had a confirmed case of H1N1 – or if something Obama did or will do impacts the local area, they you may find that here. 
Quite honestly, if I’m looking for national news I’m going to turn to cnn.com, or another news website.  However, if there’s an event in Tomah that I want to know about that may be happening now…I’m going to look other places, like here.  We pledge to keep this updated as quickly as possible with local news. 

There were two big things that happened since I’ve lived here that have driven me to create this wonderful blog/news site.  The first was the day Toro caught on fire.  Thank goodness it wasn’t a big deal, but I was working out at Fort McCoy at the time and didn’t have access to a radio so I didn’t hear a word about it until after work.  The local news media didn’t get the story out until about the time that the Tomah Fire Department wrapped up the fire.  I will make sure as soon as I hear about an event – we’ll get it out to you…and to be updated on your phone…or wherever you follow Twitter.

 We’re now on Twitter with 3 different names.  The first is TomahNews, which will be Twittered as needed for news information that is significant and in the Tomah area.  The second is TomahWX, which as you may have guessed, will update you if there is a significant storm developing or impacting the area.  Please note the weather is not designed to be all inclusive or warn about all weather.  We have a manual system, but will update it as often as possible with breaking weather.  Finally, TomahRandom – which will be updated each day with radomly generated thoughts and comments about the town, current events, and people of Tomah.  We’ll provide more info on this later today…

Twitter Names to follow….

TomahNews – breaking news as soon as possible after it happens (only for events in and around Tomah)

TomahWX– used to provide watches/warnings and storm information for Monroe County only…

TomahRandom – radom thoughts and comments related in some way to Tomah, Wisconsin.

Also, we’re looking for a mobile Twitter’er for random thoughts and interesting facts about events or things going on in Tomah – tomahnews@gmail.com

~NewsGuy~

Businesses Come and Go…

Normally, I don’t cover business, but I felt compelled to write this after an afternoon stroll through downtown Tomah yesterday.

During my afternoon walk yesterday I noticed an interesting trend among small businesses downtown: they come and go quite frequently.  One would think some would stay and become an established operation – or at least remain in business.  I found two that are newer, but appear to be more successful than the others and certainly worth mentioning.

Funky Monkey is one of the most unique and captivating small town stores I’ve  have discovered.  What a store!  On the street level you’ll find computer equipment and service small town style, DJ equipment and other electronics.  Up in the loft you’ll find trinkets of wizards and other high quality decorations and knick knacks for your home.  My girlfriend and I found it to be an excellent store to visit together – I, of course, spent much of my time downstairs enjoying fantasizing about that next custom computer and she – spending money upstairs on decorations for our home.  The exterior of this store looks more like a rave club with its fluorescent orange and purple paint, but on the bright side (pun intended), it’s very easy to find!

Another great store is the Party Store.  They have just about everything you need to host a party that you could think of!!  Although not as affordable as the party shops down in La Crosse, their prices are not outrageous.  In fact, unless you are going to be in La Crosse for a different reason, you’ll save on gas and time by shopping at a much more convenient store…and support your community in the process.  I have used the store 3-4 times over the last year and with one small exception (John Deere Tractor Helium Balloon) they have had everything I was looking for.  From the outside, the store lacks any bright signage or window art so you must look for it…it’s on the opposite side of the road from Funky Monkey (I didn’t even know it existed until I walked by one afternoon).  One last tidbit, we had some mylar balloons filled with helium and they floated for over a month!! All of the balloons were victim to our 1970’s style popcorn ceiling, ceiling fans and rambunctious kids before they lost their float!

Some of the ones that have come and gone are even more interesting because I think they all had a good business idea, but poor execution and poor pricing decisions they forced themselves out of business.  Many people think, “If business is down, I’ll charge my few customers more to make up the difference.”  What they don’t understand is that with the current state of the economy, many customers will happily sacrifice quality for a cheaper alternative. 

I’ll save the poor execution cases for another time…

In the meantime, I’d like to know what makes you shop or visit downtown businesses OR what prevents you from doing so?

 

~TomahNews~

Interested in becoming a TomahNews volunteer reporter?  Let us know! tomahnews@gmail.com

Tomah News

We’re officially open now!  Many of you already have said, “Why would you want to cover the news – we already have the Tomah Journal?”  Exactly!  The folks at the Tomah Journal do a great job, but because they are regulated and held to a strict standard of writing, format and editors putting in their 2 cents, it can take time to get things out to the general public.

Our idea is simple…you help report the news so we can make it available immediately to the rest of the city without waiting for everyone else to get their hands on the report.  That being said, if you know how to take pictures with a digital camera, have a computer (or access to one), we invite you to sign up to help us out with getting content on here.  There’s no experience necessary, just an email to tomahnews@gmail.com so we can give you access to post your stories.

We’re looking for people interested in the same thing our followers are interested in, school sports, local bars, special events, restaurants, kids activities amongst other things (including a special blog, the “Rumor Mill”).