The La Crosse Tribune from La Crosse, Wisconsin • 13

Thankful as a pickle on a double burger LA CROSSE TRIBUNE Hometown Thursday, November 25, 2004 Local and regional news City desk: (608) 791 8218 Holiday tradition Donald Volzka, and his daughter, Denise who did most of the genealogy work, look over some of the paperwork. INSIDE Discover tips for researching your family tree, B-4 Familys Thanksgiving dinners date back to Mayflower By LINDA McALPINE La Crosse Tribune GENOA, Wis. The Volzka family should be old pros when it comes to Thanksgiving celebrations, considering one of their ancestors participated in the first one. Recently, Denise Volzka-Krueger of Milwaukee discovered the link connecting her grandmother, Jessie Steffen Volzka, of Elroy, and her father, Don Volzka, to Samuel Fuller, a Pilgrim who came to the new world in 1620 on the Mayflower. "My grandmother is an Util generation descendant, my father is the 12th generation and I'm the 13th, Denise Volzka-Krueger said from the living room of her fathers home in the countryside near Genoa, Wis.

Because the family can document its lineage back to Fuller, they have recently become members of the Wisconsin Society of Mayflower Descendants. You have to be able to prove your family lineage to be accepted to the Society, Don Volzka said. "I wanted to be able to trace the family back for my mother, who is 89 years old." MATT JAMES La Crosse Tribune I am thankful, every year, for the double quarter pounder with cheese meal Supersized. McDonald's has since done away with Supersizing, but Im still thankful for the moments we shared. I am also, surprisingly, thankful for the movie "Super Size Me, the one that may have persuaded McDonalds to dump Supersizing this year.

In the movie, Morgan Spurlock eats at McDonalds three times a day, every day for one month. To any sane person that would seem like a bad idea. So when I rented it, I expected it to be shallow, make fun of McDonalds a lot, and for someone named Morgan Spurlock to be nuttier than a Pee Wee Herman Crunch Bar. I havent been this wrong since I took a swing at Brad Grogan in fifth grade. It was outstanding.

I would give you one of those quotes they put on the video box "A thought-provoking journey that will drag you along, snort-laughing" raves the Tribunes Matt James but I just cant think of anything classy. I am thankful for holidays that promote the mass consumption of home-cooked meals that end with pumpkin pie. You heard anti-Bush people say that students should be required to see "Fahrenheit 911 in school. Well, they should have been talking about Super Size Me. Spurlock has to eat every meal on the menu at least once, and the scene where he eats my favorite meal absolutely will and I hope Im not going too far here change your life.

Maybe I dont need a 48-ounce drink with my 36 pounds of fries. In fact, if anyone else would like to make a funny documentary, there are other things Id be willing to give up. Im starting a exchange program. With that, let me welcome you to the second-annual Thanksgiving column. As always, I am thankful for parents who would drive 15 hours for their sons surprise birthday party, and Kim and Karen, for throwing it for me.

I am thankful for democracy and for baseball and for biscuits and gravy at Mr. D's, though on Saturday mornings, not necessarily in that order. I am thankful for The Morning Sickness on 95.7-The Rock, the renovated Peoples Food Co-op, fireworks over the Mississippi on the Fourth of July and Springsteen on vinyl. I am thankful for Homer Simpson, movies that make me cry See JAMES, B-4 Denise Volzka-Krueger said there had always been talk in the family about a Mayflower connection, but it took some investigative genealogy work to document it. "It can be very tedious and frustrating at times.

she said of digging up the familys roots, much of which has been done on the Internet. But all that fell by the wayside when she finally found the familial link to Fuller. See FAMILY HISTORY, B-4 ATTRACTION ums opened in the last two weeks. As part of the project, the Marcus Cinemas lobby was remodeled and enlarged, and self-serve soft drinks were added. The entrance and hallways also were remodeled.

The complex has an entirely new art deco look and design, said Carlo Petrick, spokesman for Milwaukee-based Marcus Theatres Corp. At this point, all of the auditoriums at the La Crosse theater have digital sound and stadium A COMING At this point, all of the auditoriums at the La Crosse theater have digital sound and stadium seating CARLO PETRICK, spokesman for Marcus Theatres Corp. A four-screen addition was built, and two exisung auditoriums were combined into one large theater. The new auditori DICK RINIKER LA CROSSE TRIBUNE Accused killers mother facing charges By DAN SPRINGER La Crosse Tribune Additional charges were filed Wednesday against the mother of a 16-year-old boy who was charged this week in the beating death of an ill La Crosse man. Connie S.

Morejon, 42, 1123 South Fourth was arrested Tuesday when police raided the home of a suspected drug dealer. She has been charged with two counts of felony bail jumping, possession of marijuana and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Morejons son, Jesse Hughes, has been charged in the Oct. 24 robbery and beating of Ronald Muenchen. She was charged earlier this month with felony drug possession offenses after police reportedly found the drugs in her home while investigating the Muenchen case.

Authorities also removed a 3-year-old child from Morejons home, which authorities said was unsafe. During a court appearance Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Todd Bjerke said Morejon has regularly smoked pot with Hughes. According to a criminal complaint, Morejon also told investigators sometime before her sons arrest, she found a sawed-off shotgun in her sons bed when she went into his room to look for marijuana. Morejon said she did not touch the gun, and instead waited until Hughes came home and then told him to get rid of the gun. Hughes was suspected of being involved in an August armed robbery in which he and other teens used a sawed-off shotgun to rob a man of cash and diugs.

In Tuesdays raid police also arrested Sherry L. Hotchkiss, 58, 1123 South Fourth who was charged with several drug offenses, including possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, possession of narcotics, several counts of possession of prescription drugs and warehousing. Dan Springer can be reached at (608) 791-8269 or tnbune.com. WISCONSIN Student follows his great uncle to become a Rhodes scholar PAGE 2 Marcus Cinema expansion, art deco remodeling is being completed seating, Petrick said Wednesday. With stadium seating, most rows of seats are on different levels.

Stadium seating provides clear sight lines to the screen, Petrick said. And it allows us to put a little extra space between rows, so that you have more leg room. Because it now has 11 auditoriums instead of eight, Petrfck said, the Marcus Cinema will show more movies during the course of a year. It also offers See MARCUS, B-4 By STEVE CAHALAN La Crosse Tribune A major expansion and remodeling project is nearly completed at the Marcus Cinema La Crosse movie theater complex at 2032 Ward where a new Marcus Cinema sign was installed above the entrance Wednesday. Work began in July on the project, which involved increasing the number of screens to 11 from eight in time for the Christmas season.

YMCA receives grant for child care program The La Crosse Area Family YMCA is one of 36 YMoAs nationwide recently selected to receive a $25,000 grant from the KFC Colonels KidsEntertainment Industry Foundation for its infant toddler child care program. The program offers workirg parents an affordable option for child care For more information about child care programs, call 782 9622 ext 232 or visit www laxymea org FROM TRIBUNE FILES Nov. 25, 1944 As part of.the the Tribunes 100th birthday celebration, the newspaper is looking back at stories from its first century of publication. The 1944 Wisconsin deer hunting season opened today Carl Rochelt was the first La Crosse hunter to get a deer, shooting a buck in the McGilvary bottoms near Holmen, Wis. As a safeguard to protect deer hunters in the area, a La Crosse County sheriff deputy shot and killed a black bear today in Kinney Coulee near West Salem, Ws.