Saturday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 46. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset 5:52 for 10h 27m 27s of daytime. The moon is full with 99.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
Our latest contributor has driven the wackiest looking vehicles. Literally. We’re talking burgers, pencils and even…a snooker table. In Hyderabad, India you can find the world’s first and only handmade wacky car museum called Sudha Cars Museum. Meet Sudhakar Kanyaboyina, the mastermind who from the age of 14, turned his imaginative designs into bicycles and wacky cars. With hundreds of ambitious and creative designs, including the worlds largest tricycle, he eventually had enough to open his own museum with his daughter. His drive for creating the world’s wackiest cars isn’t exhausted yet and we know you’ll be revved up for this Great Big Story.
Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 68. Sunrise is 7:23 and sunset 5:53 for 10h 30m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1775, King George III expands on his Proclamation of Rebellion in the Thirteen Colonies in his speech from the throne at the opening of Parliament
David Tan is a Middleton-based pilot who uses his personal aircraft to rescue animals in need of adoption like goats, dogs, cats, pigs and a bat. He does it all for free.
When you’re traveling, have you ever wondered what happens if your bag gets lost? Well, it’ll probably end up in Scottsboro, Alabama at the nation’s only store for lost luggage. Unclaimed Baggage opened over 50 years ago, when entrepreneur and radio enthusiast, Doyle Owens, had a bright idea. One day, he was on the phone to a friend working at Trailways Bus Lines and learnt that they had more unclaimed bags than they knew what to do with. Borrowing a pick up truck and $300 from his grandparents, Doyle bought his first load of bags back to Alabama, and the rest is history! In the huge store today, you’ll find both far-flung tourists and regulars who have practically become part of the furniture. However all the shoppers share something in common…a hunger for hidden treasure! Prepare to be amazed, amused, and maybe even a little confused by the astounding array of items you can find at Unclaimed Baggage.
Tuesday, October 31st at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Hocus Pocus 2 @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Comedy/Family/Fantasy
Rated PG
1 hour, 43 minutes (2022)
The misadventures continue as two young women accidentally bring the three Sanderson Sister witches back to life in Salem and must figure out how to stop these child-hungry witches in our modern day world. The returning cast really camps it up!
Thursday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 66. Sunrise is 7:22 and sunset 5:55 for 10h 32m 46s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 92.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater Fire Department, Inc. will hold a business meeting at 6 PM.
On this day in 1944, the Battle of Leyte Gulf ends with an overwhelming American & Australian victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy.
In the discussion about whether the Whitewater Common Council should hire an attorney of its own (already having two firms and what should be councilmembers’ own judgment available), Councilman Jim Allen’s remarks are notable both for how nebulous and how limited they are.
Allen’s shifting explanations on 8.15.23 amount to five claims in a six-minute period: (1) “in regard to personnel matters or employees that the council oversees,” (2) separate representation when doing the city manager’s performance evaluation, (3) only as needed, (4) “don’t have a use for it right now, I don’t believe,” (5) “it’s just discretion.” SeeAllen’s Childish Pretexts.
In the two months between those shifting justifications and the 10.17.23 council meeting, Allen has offered nothing to Whitewater more substantial by explanation. He has, however, in that October session received approval for the sole authority to find an offering of possible attorneys to present.
(As it turned out, Allen received his approval from the council majority without ever offering a serious justification for what he needed. It’s not enough to say what others will or won’t do; a rational basis for decision-making requires Allen to explain why he needs a lawyer and why that sole authority should be in his hands.)
Almost as bad, Allen shows impatience with the very discussion to which he, himself, has been so vague and unpersuasive.
During that October session, Allen complained that the continued discussion of the issue would take too long:
Yeah, going out to, uh [cross talk] with, uh, would extend things out to December.
While others have spoken at length in opposition, Allen — a longtime politician — has said next to nothing, and even less of substance.
(His claim on 8.15.23 that “what we’re looking to do here is something different that puts our attorneys in kind of a pickle” reveals a complete lack of meaning. It also suggests, however, through the use of the first person plural that Allen has had an out-of-council and out-of-public-view discussion on this topic with other councilmembers. Video 8.15.23 @ 00:41.)
Allen may think that “in kind of pickle” is an adequate justification. If he’s looking for folksy sayings, however, another expression is more apt to this discussion:
Haste makes waste.
The weak rush; the strong discuss.
A reminder: Whitewater deserves better from its common council majority; this city is better than its council majority. Whitewater deserves better from its community development authority’s majority; this city is better than that authority’s majority.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 68. Sunrise is 7:21 and sunset 5:56 for 10h 35m 26s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 86.2% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1983, the United States and its Caribbean allies invade Grenada, six days after Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and several of his supporters are executed in a coup d’état.
In small towns or big cities, people will often look to a mayor, city manager, parking enforcement officer, dog catcher, etc. as representatives of the government. They are right to see those officials that way.
Those officials are not the only members of the government, however.
Everyone who sits on a council, board, or commssion does so while acting as a member of government. Here’s how to tell: the people in front of the table are private residents, and the people behind the table are, for every moment they are in office, government men and women.
Government in a small American town must be limited and responsible in roles, and that includes those who serve on councils, boards, and commissions. The people in government behind the table serve the private residents in front of the table.
Sadly, some of the government men on councils, boards, and commissions are demonstrably worse than full-time government employees. It’s likely through ignorance or arrogance that these council-and-commission types don’t recognize their inadequacies by comparison.
Principles of limited, responsible, and humble government service apply equally to councilmembers, boardmembers, and commissioners. Those who take office to self-promote (and self-delude, truly) don’t need (and don’t belong) on councils, boards, or commissions.
They should not serve if they are simply attention-seeking burdens on private residents in communities with enough existing problems. SeeThe Shape of Decline to Come (and How to Carry On) (‘bad often goes to worse, and that’s because bad seldom recognizes itself’).
A reminder: Whitewater deserves better from its common council majority; this city is better than its council majority. Whitewater deserves better from its community development authority’s majority; this city is better than that authority’s majority.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 77. Sunrise is 7:19 and sunset 5:58 for 10h 38m 08s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 76.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
Pres. Reagan popularized a Russian proverb for Americans when he spoke of arms control with the Soviet Union under the principle ‘Trust, but verify’ (Doveryai, no proveryai).
The Whitewater Common Council’s majority operates under a different principle: ‘Trust, no verification needed.’
Councilmember David Stone’s remarks from the 8.15.23 session of the Whitewater Common Council are an example of the no-verification-needed approach:
Councilmember Stone
Well, I looked at the statute and I found and I don’t have it in front of me. You could ask the city attorney to do that as well, that it is allowed for counsel to hire outside firms on specific issues as the council sees
City Manager Weidl Did you enter any of that into the public record? Documents to be discussed by the council need to be entered into the public record. So if you do have that information, it should be turned into the clerk so she can add it to the public record.
Councilmember Stone
Okay, I just don’t have it in front of me right now.
A fundamental issue is not that Stone might be right — it’s that he doesn’t present evidence that he might be right. It doesn’t seem to occur to him that he has a responsibility to support his claims at the time he makes them.
Stone wants others to trust his assertions, but does not offer a way for them to see the basis of those claims.
One can guess, and hope, that at Whitewater High School, a student would be expected to cite to his sources in a term paper. It would not be enough for the student to say he forgot, or to ask the instructor to ask someone else to look the sources up.
The proper standard of citation that one would expect of a student at Whitewater High School should be the minimum standard for the Whitewater Common Council.
A reminder: Whitewater deserves better from its common council majority; this city is better than its council majority. Whitewater deserves better from its community development authority’s majority; this city is better than that authority’s majority.
Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 62. Sunrise is 7:18 and sunset 5:59 for 10h 40m 50s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 65.2% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 4:30 PM. The Whitewater School Board’s Policy Review Committee meets at 5:30 PM. The Whitewater School Board goes into closed session shortly after 6:30 PM, returning to open session at 7 PM.
On this day in 2001, Apple Computer releases the iPod.
Typically (but not always), special interests speak deceptively in the language of good government. They will ask for cooperation, partnerships, collaboration, openness, and transparency. To get close, they will speak the language and make the sounds of those they seek to manipulate.
Their technique is effective with well-intentioned people who assume (mistakenly) that everyone else is well-intentioned.
There are other approaches special-interest men will try, if they’re denied their unjustified requests. They may express outrage (how dare you?!insane! outrageous!). This outrage has both a cause and an intended effect. The cause is, most often, an insult to their excessive sense of entitlement. It hurts them that others do not see them as special, gifted, or better than others. So they squeal and shriek when someone reminds them that they aren’t what they think they are, or they don’t deserve an extra portion of dessert, etc.
This expressed outrage often works an effect favorable to the special-interest types: others simply back down to avoid a confrontation.
If speaking in the language of good government doesn’t work, and if outrage doesn’t work, they may try to show how they are, in their view, more deserving than others. They will not do so themselves, however; they will find a catspaw who will praise how deserving they are in grandiose terms (how much these types supposedly love, care, or feel). These claims will not be measurable (one person’s love against another, for example). Indeed, how could they be? Nonetheless, grandiosity will be their starting point.
Finally, special-interest men will threaten to wreck what they cannot have. That’s a last resort, but if it comes to it, they’ll destroy what they cannot manipulate.
They start, however, with the language of good government, in the way that a wolf might approach a flock in sheep’s clothing.
A reminder: Whitewater deserves better from its common council majority; this city is better than its council majority. Whitewater deserves better from its community development authority’s majority; this city is better than that authority’s majority.
Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 55. Sunrise is 7:17 and sunset 6:00 PM for 10h 43m 34s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 54.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1746, the College of New Jersey (later renamed Princeton University) receives its charter.
A robber walks into a bank and presents a note to the teller. The note reads GIVE ALL YOUR MONEY. The teller activates a silent alarm, and the police arrive. Noticing the approaching officers, the robber pulls an eraser from his pocket, and makes a quick alteration to the note that he gave the teller.
The police question the robber and the teller describes the attempted robbery. The robber denies everything and tells the officers that the note he gave to the teller will prove his innocence. An officer looks at the altered note, and finds that following the erasure the note now reads GIVE ALL.
“See!” the robber explains. “It says right there: GIVE ALL! I was simply being motivational, and trying to encourage the teller to do her best work today!”
The police arrest the robber.
No reasonable person would believe the claim that erasing words erases intentions or prior actions.
And poof! The word termination is gone. The intention, however, cannot be so easily removed.
A reminder: Whitewater deserves better from its common council majority; this city is better than its council majority. Whitewater deserves better from its community development authority’s majority; this city is better than that authority’s majority.
Saturday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 59. Sunrise is 7:16 and sunset 6:02 PM for 10h 46m 18s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 43.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
On the agenda of the October 3rd Whitewater Common Council session, Item 25 was listed as “Retaining an outside law firm to advise the common council on employee discipline and termination matters – Allen/Attorney.” Longtime politician and councilmember Jim Allen denied that he had requested an agenda item that included the word termination.
Allen’s denial was false, and demonstrably so. As one can plainly see below, either Allen lied (spoke falsely and knowingly so) or he spoke merely falsely (suggesting he cannot recall what he emails in an official capacity from one month to the next).
Embedded immediately below is a recording of the council session, and a transcript of Allen’s false claim.
Council President Allen 1:52:48
All right. We’ll be back in session then. Let’s move on. Rounding the
corner here. Retaining an outside law firm to advise council on employee
discipline. And uh I have here what I gave personally to [aside] John you’re
rolling your eyes what’s going? To Karri at a meeting with she and John and
said for employee [emphasis] discipline. It didn’t say termination. So I
don’t know how termination got put on the agenda. But there it is.
City Clerk Anderberg 1:53:19
From your email.
Council President Allen 1:53:20
This is right here.
City Manager Weidl 1:53:21
You sent a follow up email to both myself and Karri stating that you
disagreed with our opinion that it was a closed session item and you prefer
it to be an open session and provided new language which included
termination.
Council President Allen 1:53:31
I did not include new language.
City Manager Weidl 1:53:33
We have the email.
Council President Allen 1:53:35
Okay, I’d like to see. Thank you. I didn’t provide new language.
Allen did, in fact, propose language specifically requesting the use of the word termination, exactly as Item 25 appeared on the agenda:
From: James Allen <JAllen@whitewater-wi.gov> Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2023 1:58:53 PM To: Karri Anderberg <kanderberg@whitewater-wi.gov>; John Weidl <jweidl@whitewater-wi.gov> Subject: Emergency request for agenda
Hi Karri, I have an emergency request for an agenda item for next week. It shouldn’t involve any extra work by any city staff. Let me knitter [sic] if you can accommodate us please and thank you.
C-?: CLOSED SESSION. Adjourn to closed session, TO RECONVENE, pursuant to Chapter 19.85(1)(c) “Considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility” ” and 19.85(1)(e) “Deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session.” Item to be discussed: (1) Discussion of an authorize retainer amount and hourly rate for the common council to retain an outside law firm to advise the common council on employee discipline and termination matters.
C-?: Reconvene into open session
C-?: Possible action on retaining an outside law firm to advise the common council on employee discipline and termination matters.
I believe that this request meets the requirements for closed session but since you disagree please add it to the end of the agenda in open session. Thank you, Jim
CLOSED SESSION. Adjourn to closed session, TO RECONVENE, pursuant to Chapter 19.85(1)(c) “Considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility” ” and 19.85(1)(e) “Deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session.” Item to be discussed: (1) Discussion of an authorize retainer amount and hourly rate for the common council to retain an outside law firm to advise the common council on employee discipline and termination matters.
Emphasis added above, screenshot below.
Allen asked (at least) twice for language including the word termination.
(One would have expected that a long-in-the-tooth councilman would understand that a resident might by right under Wisconsin law seek public records in this matter, but then some of these men are shortsighted.)
And look, and look — these matters are not ones simply between different members of the government. They have become matters of residents‘ principles and values. There has never been a time, and there never will be, when this libertarian blogger will represent the government. Never. (Government has enough people to play that role.)
A few special interests in this town have now opened a conflict that is, fundamentally, between residents.
What is this conflict about? This — For a year, Whitewater’s special interests, using their operatives and stooges, have embarked on a campaign to ensure that they continue to control economic development in Whitewater. They view a public institution like the Whitewater Community Development Authority as their private property and will not accept the direction of the current city administration to establish professional, public development as other communities do. A few landlords and bankers in Whitewater will not accept a city that is not under their thumb. That’s what this conflict is about. All the rest is pretext and lies.
This conflict will not, now, end with a change of personnel. It will continue long after even a particular change of that sort. As with the false claims of these men, so it will be a false hope for them that there will be acquiescence.
A reminder: Whitewater deserves better from its common council majority; this city is better than its council majority. Whitewater deserves better from its community development authority’s majority; this city is better than that authority’s majority.
Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 56. Sunrise is 7:14 and sunset 6:04 PM for 10h 49m 03s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 32.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1803, the United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.
On October 17th, four members of the Whitewater Common Council (Allen, Gerber, Hicks, and Stone) voted to give Councilmember Jim Allen the sole authority to bring an offering of lawyers before the council.
The August 15th meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, however, reveals the dodginess of Allen’s representations and claims to the community.
Look at the claims Allen makes at the 8.15.23 council meeting about the need for a third attorney, and in the space of 6 minutes he offers 5 justifications:
1. At 0:28 on the video, he says “All right, I’ll second it” to this motion: “I move to authorize the council to retain a separate attorney for common council’s use in regard to personnel matters or employees that council oversees.”
2. Fewer than three minutes later, at 2:57, Allen says “We need separate representation when doing John’s performance evaluation.”
3. At 5:48, Allen then declares representation will be “Only as needed.”
4. At 5:52, Allen then declares “No. We don’t have a use for it right now, I don’t believe.” (If it’s “only as needed,” or he felt the council didn’t “have a use for it right now, I don’t believe,” then why did Allen make the clear declaration only two minutes earlier that there was a specific and concrete purpose for the attorney?)
5. Then at 6:10, Allen says he’s entitled to hire another lawyer because “It’s just discretion.” (If that should be true, and hiring a lawyer doesn’t require a specific purpose, then Allen must believe that he can say and do anything.)
Allen’s 8.15.23 claims look like a child’s pretexts, the way young children will offer any number of consecutive justifications for whatever they say or do. In those cases, however, an adult guides the child to a more direct way of speaking and behaving.
And yet, and yet, this is the councilmember in whom Gerber, Hicks, and Stone placed authority for compiling an offering of lawyers on 10.17.23.
A reminder: Whitewater deserves better from its common council majority; this city is better than its council majority. Whitewater deserves better from its community development authority’s majority; this city is better than that authority’s majority.
Tuesday, October 24th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Hocus Pocus @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Comedy/Family/Fantasy
Rated PG
1 hour, 36 minutes (1993)
A teenage boy and his little sister move to Salem, where he struggles to fit in, before awakening a trio of diabolical witches (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimi) that were executed in the 17th century. Now, the witches wish to suck the life out of the little children in order to stay alive…Yes, it IS played for laughs.
Robin Sipe’s eyes filled with tears as soon as her doctor entered the examining room.
“My cat had recently died and I was feeling really sad and depressed,” Sipe said she told her pulmonologist, Earl D. King, whom she’s known for 15 years.
King has treated her for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition that blocks airflow and makes it difficult to breathe. Sipe said he’d saved her life three times in an intensive care unit at Sentara RMH Medical Center in Harrisonburg, Va.
So when he asked her what was wrong, Sipe, 67, opened up to him about her loneliness since her beloved cat died over the summer.
“I was really going through a bad time,” she said she told him during her appointment in September.
Then Sipe’s eyes lingered at the item at the top of the list: “Get a cat,” the doctor wrote.
King, 63, has been a doctor long enough to know that “people sometimes don’t follow your instructions,” he said. In fact, patients don’t take medications as prescribed by their doctors about half the time, according to the American Medical Association.
King wrote down his advice so there would be no mistake about what he told Sipe during the appointment.
And so Sipe followed her doctor’s prescription:
When she got home, she said there was no question as to what she should name the frisky 7-week-old feline.
“I decided to name her Earlene after Dr. Earl King,” Sipe said. “He helps with more than just my breathing. He’s always taken the time to look after my entire well-being.”