A new controversy for a La Crosse principal, 40 years ago

Principal Myron McKee of Longfellow was back in the news in January of 1977. The school district asked McKee to explain an incident where he saw a student holding a marijuana pipe a few blocks from the school, and then took the boy back to Longfellow where he was arrested.  Because of that and other incidents, the school board voted in March not to renew McKee’s contract, which led to a summer recall election in which five board members were ousted. 
 
On this day in ’77, Jimmy Carter was sworn in as the 39th President.  Just one year earlier, the ex-governor of Georgia was given little chance of winning the election, until he got the highest vote total among Democrats in the Iowa caucus.  Carter campaigned in La Crosse twice before the ’76 election…appearing on a public radio show at U-W-L, and then speaking at Valhalla on campus before the Wisconsin primary. 
 
At the next inauguration in 1981, Ronald Reagan would take the oath as president.  Reagan had run for the Republican nomination in ’76, and did commentaries on radio stations across the country, including WKTY in La Crosse.  KTY listeners in ’77 could hear local programming from news anchors Paul Lowrey and Larry Green, along with Eric Parsons, Mike Kearns, and the Lead Balloon Show hosted by Charlie Kearns.  Bill Hoel did morning news on WLCX, which had recently hired Chris Bury as a reporter.  Bury went on to work for ABC-TV on ‘Nightline’ and ‘Good Morning America.’  Stars of local radio 40 years ago…yesterday in La Crosse.