Inside the Portage County line By GENE KEMMETER of The Gazette NO RECORDS SET: Portage County residents are reeling under the hot, muggy weather conditions, but for the heat, there's still a ways to go to set new temperature records. With the heat index hovering above 100 and 105 the last several days, the high temperatures have fallen 5 to 10 degrees, or more, below the record highs for the dates. The warmest temperature this year was 94 degrees between 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 7, and 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 8. That is 5 degrees below the record of 99 degrees set in 1947 on Aug. 7. The previous high in 2001 was 93 degrees for the 24-hour period ending Aug. 1, which was 6 degrees below the record of 99 for July 31 set in 1917. While today's temperatures sometimes make it seem like it's unbearable outside, people can seek relief from the heat by moving indoors to air-conditioned buildings. Years ago, few buildings were air conditioned, so people had to find relief from the heat in other ways. Most of the heat records were set decades ago. The most recent record-highs for July and August were the 97 degrees recorded on Aug. 2 and 3 in 1988. The four highest temperature days on record were set in succession in 1936. On July 13 that year, the temperature was 107. Then it warmed up to 108 on July 14 and 15 before falling to 105 on July 16. * * * STEVENS POINT'S LOSS IS MOSINEE'S GAIN: The Rev. Bernard McGarty, a retired priest in the La Crosse Diocese and former editor of the Times Review who had been filling in at St. Paul Catholic Church in Mosinee, wrote in the July 15 parish bulletin about the Rev. Don Przybylski, a Junction City native, coming to Mosinee. "Water in the Wisconsin River generally flows North to South. River water from Merrill and Wausau passes through the dam at Mosinee, and continues past Knowlton to Stevens Point. "For the past three weeks the above phenomenon has been reversed. Gallons and gallons of tears from sad people in Stevens Point are flowing South to North, up the Wisconsin River. "Bitter tears contradict the laws of nature. How that happens I do not know. But I see the Wisconsin rising, and I know the source of the inundation. "Parishioners at St. Stanislaus and Citizens of Portage County's premier city are mourning the loss of a popular pastor. Losing to Mosinee in a basketball tournament is difficult. Losing Father Don Przybylski to Mosinee is downright disheartening. "As I prepare to take my leave, I ask that you good people open your arms and hearts to Father Don, as you did to me. You are getting a good deal, similar to trading a 1949 automobile in on a 1974 model. That is a 25-year update. "You will be in good hands."