FREE WHITEWATER

Author Archive for JOHN ADAMS

Register Watch™

Register Watch™ for the March 28, 2008 Issue (Part 1)

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This is the first part of my weekly Register Watch™ feature for the March 28th issue of Whitewater’s weekly paper. A second, bonus part will appear later.

As you might expect, the Register, now in its 152nd year, highlights campaign coverage of our upcoming April 1st elections. Three election stories dominate the page: a referendum in the Town of Whitewater on whether to permit alcohol sales, the election of a municipal judge for the City of Whitewater, and the race for the Walworth County Board’s District 4.

I am not a resident of the Town of Whitewater, so the issue does not face my community. What’s missing from the story is what you’ll find only if you visit the website of prominent Milwaukee radio host Charlie Sykes, of 620 AM WTMJ. At Sykes’s blog, you see that a resident of the town sought Federal court intervention to permit him to speak against referendum issue. (See, “A Victory for Free Speech“, Charlie Sykes, March 21, WTMJ AM 620 website.)

You might have also seen these details linked on FREE WHITEWATER, but not the Register.

On the Walworth County Board race between incumbent Jerry Grant and challenger Jim Stewart, one sees that editor Carrie Dampier describes both as public servants. I have no doubt that both candidates love our community; the description, though, is telling. The term public servant reveals a bias toward continued office-holding. One could as easily use the terms politician, long-time politician, or entrenched incumbent. I don’t favor term limits, but a bias toward politicians as public servants, rather office holders or, well, politicians, is evident.

I have not decided on a candidate in this race, but one obvious detail is missing in Dampier’s coverage of the two candidates. One is the publisher of a website that declares it is a “NEWS and SPORTS site.” (In many ways, it offers better coverage than the Register, as I have remarked previously. It’s not, I think, a news site in the conventional sense. FREE WHITEWATER’s not a news site either — it is a website of independent commentary.)

It is surely worth mentioning that one candidate has a daily website selecting stories for publication. Nothing in the story, including the candidate’s biography at the end, notes the fact.

There is no change in the mix of advertisements that appear in the first section of the Whitewater Register: of the nearly four dozen ads in the first section of the paper, only about one quarter are for Whitewater businesses. This local number includes both campaign advertisements for the upcoming election, and advertisements from the Register itself. (The Register is part of the Southern Lakes Newspapers chain, 700 N. Pine Street, Burlington, WI 53105.)

Cartoons & Comics

Friday Morning Cartoon

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The Friday Morning Cartoon features is back. This morning, it’s Betty Boop in Snow White, from 1933. (Cab Calloway even has a part.)

You may have read that someone say that these are just, in his words, “youtube cartoons.” That’s not true at all. They’re creative and clever expressions of American humor, from generations ago. They may appear on YouTube™ now, but they delighted audiences in the theater when they first appeared.

Many of these cartoons appeared when America faced all manner of existing domestic and waxing foreign challenges. We were no timid people then, as we are not now. In the face of these difficulties, we were resilient and creative. That generation left us a legacy both serious and light.

And Betty Boop? As you’ll see, she’s still got it.

more >>

Daily Bread

Daily Bread: March 28, 2008

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Good morning, Whitewater

The week ends with a National Weather Service forecast of sunny skies and a high of thirty-nine degrees. That’s where the Farmers’ Almanac predicted that we’d be. The NWS has a budget approaching a billion dollars; the Farmers’ Almanac has, undoubtedly, far less. Still, the NWS offers a website with super-cool satellite photographs, so the advantage rests with them.

It’s the last day of vacation for students in the district and the campus. That may be of some disappointment to those vacationing. Our city will do benefit and be stronger, though, when students return to the campus. We are better with them than without them — welcome back this weekend.

If the skies are clear tonight, as they are predicted to be, in our southwest sky we’ll find both the constellation Orion the hunter, and Mars above it. Lovely sights await.

Uncategorized

Free Speech for the Town of Whitewater

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Longtime readers know that, for the most part, I have confined my commentary to activities within the City of Whitewater, population 14,296. Not far from the city, however, sits the Town of Whitewater, a separate municipality, with a population of less than 2,000, situated near Whitewater Lake.

There’s a story from the Town of Whitewater that calls out for notice — the sensible decision of a Federal judge to enjoin action against a Town of Whitewater resident. The resident wanted to mail out postcards against a town referendum that would permit liquor sales (the Town of Whitewater is presently dry). Prior use of the campaign finance law against speech from an ordinary citizen dissuaded resident John Swaffer from mailing his postcards out of concern that the campaign finance law would be used against him, too.

Additional details of the story are available at the WTMJ website. (See, “A Victory for Free Speech“, Charlie Sykes, March 21, WTMJ AM 620 website.)

Ordinary citizens have reason to be concerned when politicians threaten use of the campaign finance law to prevent free expression against their political initiatives. Although I am not opposed to alcohol sales to adults, I am strongly opposed to efforts to use campaign finance laws to limit political speech in the way described here.

Our finance laws should not become a tool by which incumbents, or or any political faction, prevent opposition to their plans. This has happened before, in the City of Whitewater, too. If I recall correctly, Whitewater Unified School District board member Henri Kinson wanted to distribute flyers against a spending referendum, and found the law used against him. I was not writing back then, but I remember thinking how use of the law against his distribution of flyers was simultaneously petty and outrageous.

It should never happen anywhere that elected officials use campaign finance laws as a cudgel against expression. It’s not merely bad policy, and over-extension of the law — it’s an unjustified violation of political speech that benefits entrenched interests at the expense of ordinary citizens.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread: March 27, 2008

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Good morning, Whitewater

Spring is now a week old, and there is a significant chance of snow in the forecast. The expected accumulation, through, is less than predicted even a day ago — according to the National Weather Service, perhaps only a few inches. That is, all considered, a good characterization of early spring in Wisconsin.

This is a day without school, in the city or at campus, and without any listed public meetings.

I’ll be posting, though, throughout the day — the private sector carries on.

City

Common Council Meeting for March 18, 2008

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In our small city, we have a Common Council of seven members, and a city manager appointed by the council. Of our seven council members, six have been elected, and one sits as an appointee to fill the remainder of a vacant term.

They do not sit in session alone: the city clerk sits in the center of the group, and the police chief, Jim Coan, sits off to one side, beside the seat for the city manager. The police chief seldom speaks, as there is almost never a need for his participation. From his vantage, though, he stares out into the chamber, and with sloping shoulders and darkly circled eyes, surveys the small town he arrogantly and wrongly dominates.

In the session on the 18th, the city manager was not present. No matter; he had done his work for the town faction two days earlier, when he had endorsed Coan’s shameful witch-hunt against lawful speech as not merely legitimate, but ‘very legitimate.’ City Manager Brunner is not from our town — and will eventually leave for a more lucrative post — but while he remains here, he will have earned the thanks of the town’s most reactionary clique.

Coan walked all over Brunner last fall by upending Brunner’s city budget, but Brunner can do no more on his own account than endorse wrongful and mediocre conduct. Coan may have underestimated some, but he has sized Brunner up just right.

Brunner was not present at the meeting on March 18th. Sitting in for him was Director (yes, Director) of Public Works, Dean Fischer. If there has ever been evidence of inflation in titles and positions, Dean Fischer is surely a confirming example. (I’ll have more to say about Fischer on Friday.)

That Fischer and Coan were sitting next to each other was fortuitous; Fischer will not have to email to request our police department license plates on bloggers in the future. If he’s seated next to Coan again, and finds himself similarly inclined, Fischer need only whisper.

As for the meeting, nothing of great importance was discussed, and that would include council member Nosek’s concern that salt and sand from our recent winter may never fully disappear without human intervention.

Nosek even pined for former council member Hixson’s suggestion that our city purchase a leaf vacuum. Nosek opposed the proposal at the time, I think; desperate times, I suppose, call for desperate measures.

Nosek would put something like the proposed leaf vacuum to work as a salt and sand vacuum. I can help him, as I helped then-member Hixson. I offered a similar proposal in November 2007.

Over at the FREE WHITEWATER Department of Engineering for Better Everyday Living™, the design team built a device for leaf vacuuming. They estimated the cost per unit at only $76.94. Here’s the schematic:

I am not sure if it will work for salt and sand, but if Nosek’s interested, I’ll send one over to the municipal building.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread: March 26, 2008

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Good morning, Whitewater

In our city, only one municipal meeting is listed for today: a 6 PM meeting of the Bicycle Advocacy Group, at the municipal building. We could use such a group, although I was not aware of it previously. Most of us could benefit from more time outside, on a bike, or walking, or running. I walk through the city every day, exploring different sections of town, and there is always something interesting to see.

The National Weather Service reports that it will be mostly sunny today, with a high of 50 degrees. For those much interested in weather forecasts, the NWS puts a discussion of its forecasts on its website. I am not a meteorologist, but the reasoning behind the forecast is available for those who might like to see it.

Over at the Farmers’ Almanac, there’s a notation that Arcturus crossed the meridian early this morning. It reminds me of a story about that red giant star, over thirty-six light years distance from earth.

I once saw a talk show segment where a guest insisted that he was from a planet orbiting Arcturus. He looked like anyone else, really, except he was slightly taller, had a pallid complexion, and spoke in an affected manner. He had all sorts of pronouncements for earthlings. The audience didn’t know what to make of it.

(Apparently, there are many odd UFO theories that beings from a world near Arcturus have, and continue, to visit our planet. A quick Google search leads to webpages that hold all the fantastic details.)

I find it hard to believe that beings supposedly from Arcturus have visited our world; it is even less likely that they’ve made a stop in Whitewater. It’s an incredible tale, but sadly no less credible than the contention that a police chief and one of his lieutenants would visit a citizen’s house merely for the purpose of ‘civil discourse.’

And that, after all, is a tale that our police chief and city manager both dare to tell with a straight face.

Press, Register Watch™

Register Watch™ for the March 20, 2008 Issue

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Here is one of my new features, along with the Daily Bread morning post. I have called it Register Watch™, and it will be a weekly review of the latest issue of our local, but dismal paper, the Whitewater Register. Going forward, it will appear one day after the latest issue of the Register; typically Register Watch™ will appear on Friday mornings.

(Quick note to my ignorant critics in municipal office: You acted wrongly and stupidly against America’s clear tradition of free speech. Your self-justification is both feeble and embarrassing. (See my post to your attention, To the Municipal Opponents of Free Speech.) You’ll not cow someone into silence; I have more to write than ever before. This feature is a small part of that expanded effort.)

The March 20th issue of the Register offers two front page stories on local or county elections, one on Leslie Steinhaus as a candidate for a superintendent’s position in Minnesota, and one more, beyond these. Ready, Whitewater? The largest amount of space, virtually everything below the fold, is devoted to an ode to spring, entitled (ready, again?) “Hope Springs Eternal.” Oh my.

Of course, the biggest story in town, covered only out of town and on this website, is the outrageous, wrong, and embarrassing conduct of our police chief against a lawful blogger. You may have heard something about this, on this website, in a series entitled, “Witch-Hunting a Blogger in Whitewater, Wisconsin.” It was also covered on the frontpage of our state’s leading newspaper, the Wisconsin State Journal. (See, “Front Page: The Wisconsin State Journal Covers Municipal Actions Against Free Whitewater Website.”)

From the Register there’s nothing. That’s nothing, as in not a thing. You should not be surprised. If a story does not support the stodgy, inept, narrow-minded town faction’s position, it will not appear in the Register.

You may guess why that is; I am not sure. I cannot confirm the rumor that the Register publishes the truth only in disappearing ink.

Dampier is listed as an editor at the Register, but that must refer to her editing duties at another publication, because her “Hope Springs Eternal” story is the worst-written and edited since, well…. memory fails, as my third grade studies were so long ago.

The stories on the candidates for election are pedestrian and predictable.

Is the Register really a Whitewater paper, may I ask? In the first section, of over forty-five prominent advertisements, only about ten are from Whitewater concerns (and this paltry number includes political ads for Whitewater candidates, and ads for the Register itself.) Why so few local merchants, and so many (wasting their money) from outside our city? You know why — the Register is the weakest link in a local chain. It’s hardly a Whitewater paper, though.

I knew about the Steinhaus story long before it made its way to the Register, and it’s almost as light as the fluff on spring. I chose not to write about it. Steinhaus is a first-round candidate for a position in Minnesota. All that requires is a brief paragraph. The Register runs the news from the front page to the inside. You’ll excuse me if, upon hearing of the possibility of her departure, I’ll not pour some Chivas quite yet. It’s waiting, though.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread: March 25, 2008

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Good morning, Whitewater

There is no school today, and no municipal public meetings are scheduled in the city.

Our library is open today, as it is most weekdays, from 9:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. It is one of the great treasures of our city. I support plans to expand the library, so that it will be able to offer still more. I am sure that the staff would welcome your visit.

(Our library offers a prominent link for translation in Spanish, too. As we have a significant Spanish speaking population, it’s an example that our local government should follow. I have called for this before; I’ll keep doing so.)

The Farmers’ Almanac says that Orion’s Belt set at 12:24 a.m. this morning. I am not sure if they intend to describe the entire constellation, or if someone at the almanac is being precise about which part of that constellation set at 12;24 a.m. No matter — as Orion departs the northern sky, Scorpius arrives, and summer draws closer. My father and I enjoyed skywatching, and Orion was one of the first constellations he identified for me. Here’s a link to more about Orion, from the Earth & Sky website.

I have received email messages from across America in support of free speech. One correspondent had a signature tag on her email from a clever film —

“It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.”
“Hit it.”

I am old enough that I recalled the line from having seen the movie during its original theatrical release. I asked to make sure I had identified the movie correctly as the original Blues Brothers, and received a reply with which I wholly agree:

“Yup, it sure is. The original Blues Brothers was a sublime parody of modern social disasters. With a really rocking soundtrack.”

Well said.

School District

School Board Meeting for March 17th

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Our most recent school board meeting was on March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day.

School Board meetings are no easy thing: much of the work of a board involves legally required procedures or budgetary matters. They cannot be avoided, but they are no more unique to education than a balance sheet is to a private business. In this latest meeting, we had a discussion of a field trip, addition of snow days to the calendar, and comments on the budget advisory committee.

(One quick note about the Budget Advisory Committee’s use of the term cluster for subgroups within the committee. Considering all our budgetary challenges, is it wise to call a subgroup a cluster? Any number of people have, perhaps, already appended another, shorter word to describe the workings of each cluster.)

No one thinks, though, that education is the same as widget-making. It is a public matter, involving public expenditures, to achieve the difficult end of teaching another generation. As a libertarian, I would prefer a vibrant private school running alongside the public one. I believe that it would offer an incentive for improvement, and innovative, effective approaches, all around.

We are a small city, however, and there is no reason to think that we’ll see a private alternative in Whitewater. That suggests two things to me: first, that we have no option but to commit to the betterment of our district; second, that we should emulate competitive approaches within our public district, using parental choice to spur better teaching and administration.

I suggested one option previously — establish different teaching methods in a given curriculum, and encourage parents to choose in which their children would participate. One teaching method of English literature might be based on a great books curriculum, and another might use a contemporary approach. After a few years, we would be able to see how students fared, in enjoyment and comprehension, in the two methods.

(I’ll reply to the principal from Lakeview School, who suggested that while our summer school does not have a great books class, the class summer school offers would produce a ‘similar outcome.’ I am confident that he underestimates the value and unique consequence of a great books offering. It’s only similar in outcome to current approaches to the extent that in both cases one would expect basic literacy; it differs, I think, in more important respects.)

We are mistaken to confine students, with no other educational alternative, to one teaching approach.

One more thing, I think, matters: that every school board meeting should include, at least, a beginning and ending that emphasizes some clear academic achievement. These achievements need not be confined to basic metrics; there are any number of creative achievements — in writing, art, athletics — that should be highlighted.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread: March 24, 2008

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Good morning, Whitewater

It’s Easter Monday, and the first full week of spring. School’s out, so kids should be running (and enjoying themselves) all over the place.

There are two public meetings scheduled in Whitewater today: the Community Development Authority meets at 4:30 p.m., and the Planning and Architectural Review Commission meets at 7 p.m. Both meetings take place in the municipal building, with the planning commission televised on public access cable Station 13.

The Planning Commission agenda includes discussion of a conditional use permit for a Walgreen’s store, and an implementation plan for a planned Kwik Trip convenience store. Here’s an inspirational picture of Nobel laureate and free market economist F.A. Hayek to guide the planning members.

Not so inspirational perhaps, as a photo of the other Hayek,

but well intended nonetheless.

The Farmers’ Almanac says that it is supposed to start stormy this week, and then turn fair; the National Weather Service forecast is approximately the opposite.

We’ll see who’s right by week’s end.

Holiday

Happy Easter

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When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Mark, 16:1-8

Libertarians, Press

WISN’s Mark Belling on Free Whitewater

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Yesterday, on his afternoon show at WISN radio, 1130 AM in Milwaukee, Mark Belling spoke about Free Whitewater, and municipal actions against this website.

I did not have a chance to catch the program live, but heard about it later, and listed to the segment via the WISN website.

Although Belling’s no fan of anonymous blogging, he’s strong critical of how city officials in our small town have reacted to the website, sharply observes that we are a community without a vigorous, inquisitive free press to keep watch on city government, and notes that FREE WHITEWATER’s content is lawful commentary otherwise lacking in print in our city.

Thanks much to Belling for covering the official actions against this small website.

Second, on anonymous speech, I’ll cite from the 1995 U.S. Supreme Court decision in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission:

“Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views . . . Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society.”

(As referenced on the EFF.org website, and linked through Justia.com.)

That’s not a particular protection for this website — it’s a protection for all fourteen-thousand of us in Whitewater, and millions more beyond.