Inside the Portage County line CAREER OPTIONS: Career Expo 2000 offered about 4,100 students from 25 area junior and senior high schools the opportunity to learn information about careers from area employers Wednesday, April 26, at the Holiday Inn. Almost 170 display tables and exhibit areas were set up, split into six career clusters: arts, communication and human relations; business and marketing; environment and natural resources; health and medicine; industry, engineering and transportation; and special services. Seminars were also offered on "The Inside Scoop" and "Managing Your Career." Students certainly had exposure to learn about a variety of careers. Some were more showy than others, such as the helicopters from the Wisconsin National Guard, "The Spirit of Marshfield" from St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield and the U.S. Coast Guard. The Career Expo 2000 Education Committee of Stacy Bessette, director of Partners in Education for the Portage County Business Council, Bruce Kilsdonk, school to work coordinator for the Stevens Point School District, and Jeff Meidam, department chair for Stevens Point Area Senior High School counseling, deserve congratulations for their efforts in the presentation. With the help of others, they got area educators, universities, technical colleges and business representatives together to allow students to investigate careers. And they attracted schools to the event, including Almond-Bancroft, Auburndale, Granton, Iola-Scandinavia, Port Edwards, Marion, Menominee Indian, Mosinee, Necedah, Pittsville, Rosholt, Tigerton, Tomorrow River (Amherst), Tri-County (Plainfield), Wausau East and West, Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln, Wild Rose, Wittenberg-Birnamwood and Stevens Point (SPASH, Ben Franklin, P.J. Jacobs, Pacelli, St. Peter). The expo was an opportunity for the participants to set up in one location and reach a large audience, certainly better than setting up at several career venues. * * * WHAT DID YOU SEE?: On April 5, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ran a story that James Hughes was driving near Granton in Clark County when he saw an 8-foot tall, two-legged shaggy creature carrying a goat about 5:15 a.m. on March 28. The creature could have been a Big Foot, Sasquatch, Yeti or Abominable Snowman. Jim Hughes of Junction City said his telephone began ringing after the incident and one of the callers was from the Journal-Sentinel who told him he was one of only two James or Jim Hughes in telephone listings with the 715 area code. Jim said he hadn't sighted the creature, but he got about 30 calls about the incident, including one from a man British Columbia, Canada, who reported seeing a similar creature. To make him a part of the story, Jim said friends talked about taking a picture of him with another friend dressed in a hairy costume holding a stuffed goat that had been left in a local watering hole after a party.