Politics intruding on a Supreme Court race, 22 years ago

In 1997, Justice Jon Wilcox was running for a full 10-year term on Wisconsin Supreme Court. Speaking to La Crosse reporters, Wilcox, a former state legislator, said that his opponent, attorney Walt Kelly, was trying to politicize the race. Wilcox said justices have to leave politics and a philosophy at the door, and look at each case individually. Wilcox won easily, and retired at the end of that new term.

The Lady Cards of Bangor won a basketball championship that winter. Bangor’s girls’ team captured the Division 4 WIAA title. Their school was the smallest in the tournament, with a student body of less than 200. The ’97 team would also be the last Bangor varsity team to play in the old high school built in 1917.

And shock rocker Marilyn Manson was coming to the La Crosse Center to perform a concert, despite the concerns of some area residents that anyone who attended the Manson show would be doomed to Hell for doing so. Manson was backed up by his band, including Twiggy Ramirez on bass, Ginger Fish on drums, and Madonna Wayne Gacy on keyboards…in 1997, yesterday in La Crosse.