There’s a
Common Council meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. The agenda is available online. (It’s a pdf but not a useful, searchable text pdf like other City of Whitewater agendas.)
On this date in 1934, the Wisconsin Historical Society recalls the anniversary of a step toward bigger government, intrusion in commercial and private life, and less individual choice —
“Wisconsin Progressive Party Formally Organized” —
On this date Wisconsin’s Progressive Party was formally organized near 30 E. 2nd St. in Fond du Lac. It had begun as a “progressive” movement within the Wisconsin Republican Party more than 30 years before, and under leaders such as Robert M. LaFollette its list of achievements brought national attention to Wisconsin.
By the 1930s, a new generation of policy makers, many of whom had been trained under progressive Republicans, were advocating for reforms as part of Democrat Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs (see our page on the Wisconsin roots of Social Security for an example). At the same time, a new generation of Republicans such as Walter Kohler were advocating their own solutions to the nation’s problems. The heirs of the LaFollette tradition organized a third party, the Wisconsin Progressive Party, to keep alive the traditions they valued.
[Source: History Just Ahead: A Guide to Wisconsin’s Historical Markers, edited by Sarah Davis McBride]
From our elementary schools today, there’s a choir concert in the high school auditorium at 1:30 p.m. and again at 7 p.m.
I received the following announcement, that I am happy to post, about a wiki (a collaborative webpage) at the university to which those with memories of UWW can contribute —
“UW-W: Then and Now” created in celebration of the inauguration of Chancellor Richard J. Telfer, is a place where members of the broader UW-W community can share their memories and experiences, engage in conversations with one another, and explore and document our university’s rich history.
As the 2008-2009 school year comes to a close, please take a moment and share your UWW memories from this year as well as past years. To contribute to this living history please visit http://wiki.uww.edu/uwwhistory.
You may make changes on any given page or you may send your comments or stories to thenandnow@uww.edu. “UW-W: Then and Now” is a wiki; as such, any visitor is welcome to contribute and make changes.
Continuing for the next few weeks, it’s Prisoner Monday here at Free Whitewater. Why? Because a longtime reader previously suggested to me that being in Whitewater sometimes felt like living the plot of The Prisoner.
It’s a great British series, that tells the story of a secret agent who resigns from his agency, only to find himself in a mysterious place called The Village.
Here’s the thirteenth, one-minute summary, of an episode entitled, “Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.” (“No. 6 undergoes an eerie transformation that transmits his mind and personality into another man’s body.”)
There are no public meetings scheduled in the City of Whitewater today, but there will be a Common Council meeting tomorrow, and a Police and [sic] Fire Commission meeting on Wednesday.
The Wisconsin Historical Society recalls a student protest in Milwaukee on this date in 1964:
On this date, the 10th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, students from Milwaukee schools participated in the first boycott of the city’s public schools, a critical moment in civil rights and desegregation movements in Wisconsin.
Two months earlier, in March 1964, the NAACP, CORE, and other civil rights organizations formed MUSIC — the Milwaukee United School Integration Committee. Its purpose was to implement mass action to highlight the issue of educational inequality. For two years, sit-ins, picketing, prayer vigils, marches, and boycotts had raised public awareness about segregation but failed to move the school board to action.
In December of 1965, Wisconsin civil rights activist and attorney Lloyd Barbee filed a formal desegregation suit in federal court on behalf of 41 black and white children, eventually decided in their favor in 1976. [Source: Rethinking Schools].
In our schools, there will be a Whitewater Middle School choir concert at the high school tonight at 7 p.m.
The City of Whitewater has one public meeting scheduled for today. At 3:00 p.m., there will be a Police Day ceremony at the municipal building.
According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, on this date in 1911, the City of Janesville sought to ban — wait for it — fortune tellers:
On this date the Janesville City Council proposed ordinances banning fortune-tellers and prohibiting breweries from operating bars in the city. For more on Wisconsin brewing history, see the “Brewing and Prohibition” page at Turning Points in Wisconsin History. [Source: Janesville Gazette].
Over at the Janesville Gazette online, there’s news that Wisconsin’s Hispanic population is about 5% statewide. It is surely far higher in Whitewater, likely over 10% if counted thoroughly.
Fortunately, the population is too large to be intimidated or badgered out of town; Whitewater’s local Know-Nothings are out of luck – our future is a better, truly American and multicultural one.
The City of Whitewater’s Planning Commission meeting will take place tonight, beginning at 6 p.m., at the municipal building. The meeting agenda is available online.
There will be a Whitewater Middle School Band Concert, held at the High School Auditorium, tonight at 7 p.m.
There are no public meetings listed for the City of Whitewater today. There will be others later this week; you’ll not go too very long without public regulation of your productive, private activity.
On this day in 1846, Congress granted President Polk’s request for a declaration of war against Mexico. Many prominent Americans, including Lincoln and John Quincy Adams, opposed the war.
It’s worth noting that their dissent from a generally popular American action was honorable; it’s also worth noting that the war ended in 1848.
Continuing for the next few weeks, it’s Prisoner Monday here at Free Whitewater. Why? Because a longtime reader previously suggested to me that being in Whitewater sometimes felt like living the plot of The Prisoner.
It’s a great British series, that tells the story of a secret agent who resigns from his agency, only to find himself in a mysterious place called The Village.
There are three public meetings in the City of Whitewater today. A 5 p.m., there is a combined meeting of the Community Development Authority and Common Council. Also at 5 p.m., the Park and Recreation Board will meet. Later, at 6:30 p.m., the Irvin Young Memorial Library Board will meet.
In Wisconsin history, from the Wisconsin Historical Society, one finds a tale of Prohibition, from 1931:
On this date Clifford Conn of Crandon was apprehended by Janesville police officers with 90 gallons of moonshine in his car. This was the largest single seizure of illegal alcohol by local law enforcement to this date. For the offense, Crandon was fined $700 and sentenced to two months in jail. [Source: Janesville Gazette]
I received the following press release that I am happy to post —
The Walworth County Genealogy Society invites the general public to a free informal presentation for those who have an interest in beginning genealogy. The program will last about one hour and will be held at the Irvin Young Memorial Library on Saturday, May 16 at 9:30 a.m.
There are no public meetings listed for the City of Whitewater today.
It’s a big day for big government in Wisconsin, and America. The Wisconsin Historical Society notes that on this day in 1891, Arthur J. Altmeyer was born. I didn’t know who he was, either, but the Society’s website supplies the answer:
On this date Arthur J. Altmeyer, the “father of social security,” was born in DePere. Altmeyer was one of the seminal figures of the Social Security program in America. He was part of the President’s Committee on Economic Security that drafted the original legislative proposal in 1934. He was a member of the three-person Social Security Board created to run the new program, and he was Chairman of the Board or Commissioner for Social Security from 1937-1953. Altmeyer died on October 19, 1972 and is buried in Madison’s Forest Hill Cemetery.
I’ve been writing at FREE WHITEWATER for nearly two years, and I’ve described all sorts of galling, shocking, or just plain ridiculous events.
No need for thanks — it’s my pleasure, I’m sure.
Yet, I’ve never encountered a fraud quite so disturbing as the one that dupes unsuspecting visitors to the website of Whitewater High School.
That’s Whitewater High School, in Whitewater, Wisconsin, my town.
Our public high school’s mascot is the whippet, a fine and speedy canine. The American Kennel Club notes that
Having evolved for over a hundred years, it was not until 1891 that official recognition was given to the Whippet by the English Kennel Club. Used for racing early on, the breed was nicknamed “the poor man’s racehorse.” Whippets were first brought to America by English mill operators of Massachusetts, which for many years was the center of Whippet racing in this country. Later the sport moved south to Maryland, particularly in Baltimore.
We should be proud to have the whippet as a school mascot. Gosh darn proud, Whitewater!
What, though, awaits parents, and children (think of the children!) who visit the website of our high school? Others may be afraid to discuss it, but I’m not. (Quick note — there’s a legal fair use right to display these images, one worth exercising and defending.)
This is what greets these innocent, impressionable visitors….
The high school site doesn’t say that this is a whippet, yet it’s supposed to be. See for yourself, though, what others have whispered about, but I’ll discuss openly —
Well, well, not so unique and local after all, are we? I keep hearing how wonderful local ties are, and how important it is to have lived here forever and ever, to have been born in a Whitewater cow pasture, or eaten a Whitewater brat, or played in Whitewater’s dirt as a child, etc., etc.
And yet…and yet…our high school’s supposed whippet logo looks an awful lot like the logo of the Greyhound Bus Lines. That’s a greyhound, from a company headquartered in — wait for it, proud boosters of localism — Dallas, Texas.
Consider the points of similarity between the supposed website whippet and the greyhound of Greyhound Bus Lines: the forepaws are in the same position, the hind paws are in the same position, the dogs’ heads are in the same position, the tails are in the same position, the dogs’ bodies are of the same proportions.
Yes, one’s colored red, but that could be food dye, or spray paint, or whatever they colored the Whitewater dog with.
It’s still a greyhound underneath.
Greyhounds are different from whippets, as a chart from the AKC website plainly shows —
As you can see, greyhounds and whippets are separated by eleven — count ’em, eleven — other breeds of dog. Now I’m not some fancy dogologist, but even I can read an AKC chart. They’re obviously different animals.
No how, no way should a spray-painted greyhound serve as our high school’s webpage logo.
I have nothing particular against the Greyhound Lines. (In fact, I once suggested a suitable use for their services.) It’s just that the youth of Whitewater deserve a better website mascot than the logo of a company with a lamentable reputation for its vulgar clientele and foul-smelling terminals.
If we’re trying to attract newcomers, skid-row bums shouldn’t be our target demographic. We probably have enough of our own, anyway.
These are hard times, but even in this recession, someone should be willing to find and photograph a real whippet for our website. It doesn’t even have to be a live one — there must be a local taxidermist who has a stuffed one lying around in an attic somewhere. It just has to have been a real whippet once.
Good enough, I’d say.
Yet, a real whippet it should be. It’s the very least we owe our children.
