*Charles Pollex is hired as the 
county's first corporation counsel. 
* Fourteen inches of snow fall in one 
24-hour period in January. 
*The Friendship village board votes 
to stop paying the city of Adams $500 
a month for police patrol and to rely 
on the sheriff. 
'Bad News: Fire destroys the Mound 
View Lake Resort Restaurant, Friend- 
ship. 
* Bad News: Vandals "raised such 
havoc with it," that the Friendship 
star is not lit for Christmas this year. 
1972 
* The Adams County State Bank 
becomes part of the Marshall and 
Isley chain. 
*The Chicago and North Western 
becomes the first employee- 
owned railroad in the country. 
*The school district board is 
authorized by the state to levy 
its own taxes and the county 
board relinquishes its authority 
to levy school taxes. 
*The village of Friendship and 
the Chamber of Commerce light 
the Friendship star once again. 
1973 
* After an address by Joan Jones, 
the county board creates the 
Adams County Library. 
*The Meals on Wheels program 
begins. 
*The county board refuses to 
participate in the North Central 
Regional Planning Commission. 
*The county Social Services 
Department moves to new 
 
Above: The Sand County Players Jug 
Band in the late 1970s: (l-r) Carole 
Janssen, Nancy Theisen, John Rung, 
Debbie Segina, Carmen Pufall, Kris 
Schaetzka, Robert Warren, Ron Pufall, 
Carla Jefferson, Joan Jones, Linda 
Machan, Martin Janssen, Clark 
Staehling. 
Below: The cast of Merriman's 
Children's Play, 1979: (l-r) Rob 
Warren, Laurie Woodruff Director 
Connie Waterman, Jim Roy and Carla 
Jefferson. In the late 1970s and early 
1980s, A-F High School Forensic and 
Drama programs regularly ranked 
among the best in the state. 
 
offices in the former Roche-A-Cri 
clinic building in Adams. 
*Work begins on a third lake in 
Rome, Lake Manchester, later re- 
named Lake Arrowhead. 
*The Rome Shermakers Homemakers 
Club is oganized. 
*The state decides not to open its 
youthful offender facility and instead 
leases the property to the federal 
government for use as a medium- 
security facility called the Oxford 
Federal Prison. 
1974 
*The county build s a $450,000 jail, 
meeting room and office addition on 
the south side of the court house. 
*Following the national fad, the 
county's first "streaker" makes his 
way down Main Street, 
Adams, in his birthday suit. 
*The Rome Fire Department 
receives its first fire truck. 
*A USDA Service Center 
opens in Adams. 
*The Adams County Humane 
Society is established. 
*Bad News: An ice storm in 
April is declared the worst in 
its history by Adams- 
Marquette Electric Co-op, 
which has 18 crews working 24 
hours for four days to restore 
power and repair equipment. 
* Bad News: Marvin Collins 
and Ervin Schilling are mur- 
dered in Brooks; Kenneth R. 
Reichoff is charged with the 
crime, tried, convicted, re-tried 
and acquitted. 
 
167