Inside the Portage County line By GENE KEMMETER of The Gazette SMALL-TOWN PRAISES: Stevens Point hasn't lost its small-town character. A local resident told The Gazette this week that her daughter in California was singing the praises of the town after a recent experience. The daughter's grandfather had died, but she was unable to make the funeral because she had already purchased tickets for a visit to the area with her children and the expense of exchanging them and everything would be too much. Since she couldn't come to the funeral, she thought she'd treat her family to a meal so she called a locally-owned business in Stevens Point to place an order, giving her credit card number to pay for the meal to be delivered. The business didn't accept credit cards, but after she explained her story, the business owner agreed to deliver the meal and let her charge it, trusting her to pay for the food when she visited Stevens Point. The food was then delivered to the family as scheduled. The mother said the daughter was impressed that the business agreed to deliver the food, trusting her after she told the story. She's lived in California for 19 years and doesn't think any business would do that there, the mother said. When the daughter gets to Stevens Point, the mother said, one of the first things she plans to do is pay the bill and thank the business.