Fire kills 37 cattle, destroys dairy barn: A barn fire Thursday night claimed 37 dairy cows and destroyed the barn of Mike and Lynn Wilson and their three children on their five-generation farm.

This is the third barn the Wilsons have lost to flames. The first fire swept away a large barn about 12 years ago. In the summer of ‘98, their second barn caught fire after being struck by lightning.

The last blaze is the only fire in which the unlucky farmers have lost livestock, an estimated $50,000 worth of cattle.

“It couldn’t get any worse,” said Wilson.

Nick Brownlee spotted the fire at about 9 p.m. while driving along Hwy. 303 between Portage and Shawville. Brownlee stopped at Kerry Sharpe’s house nearby to phone the fire department.

“There was nothing left to save,” Brownlee said.

An hour earlier, the family had been in the barn, milking the cows.

Shawville Milling elevator coming down: The Shawville Milling elevator will finally come down this June about 10 years after going out of operation.

“It should have been down years ago but it takes a lot of commitment,” said Andy Crozier, who has been managing the mill for four years.

Crozier said it was a matter of getting the board of directors together to sign the agreement.

“It’s a lot of high maintenance for something we’re not using,” he said.