FREE WHITEWATER

Author Archive for JOHN ADAMS

Business, CDA, City, Development

About that Development Deal Near the Roundabout in Whitewater…

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These last few months, I’ve watched the efforts of out-of-town developers to build a multi-use facility (by their account, a hotel, sports complex, and senior housing) near Whitewater’s east side roundabout.

Two quick, easy points.

First, this proposal was, in virtually every aspect, suspect and disreputable. Review of notes, recordings, and research into the developers’ plans and backgrounds over these last few months only confirms how odd – and substandard – every aspect of this was. Those in office who expressed doubts about this project, including at the Community Development Authority, represented Whitewater’s interests well.

I’ve not written about the project until now because it seemed certain that a majority was sure to see this for what it was. (It is worrisome that a few took longer than others to see these problems, and any discussions after mid December with these unconventional developers – and this is nothing like a conventional deal – would be evidence of poor judgment.)

In this way, as a deal it’s not so interesting; as an example of how some officials show greater insight than others it’s interesting.

Second, if one wanted to see how newspapers fail their readers, one need look no farther than a story in the Gazette: Whitewater City Council rejects proposed development, 2.19.16, http://www.gazettextra.com/20160219/whitewater_city_council_rejects_proposed_development. The reporter treats this as a conventional deal, with conventional developers, and the story even includes a helpful graphic about where this supposed complex was to be located.  A review of the actual documents, presentations, and claims (made over several months) from these developers shows that this proposal was close – much too close – to B-movie science fiction.

Those who expressed doubts, especially those who had doubts early on, were right about this.

Poll

Friday Poll: A 2016 Supreme Court Nominee?

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Today’s poll is a simple one – should Pres. Obama nominate, and should the U.S. Senate vote this year, on a nominee to replace the late Justice Scalia?  (The nominee might not win confirmation; this question is simply whether there should be a nominee and a vote in 2016.)

The poll’s above, and comments are available below.  On this website, commenters remarks are their own, and do not reflect the opinions of this site or its publisher.  I would ask Republicans and Democrats, however, to refrain from too much major-party invective.  (There’s a cure for that, fortunately, and it can be found online.)

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 2.19.16

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday in town will be windy and mild with a high of fifty-three degrees. Sunrise is 6:45 and sunset 5:31, for 10h 46m 30s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 90.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

By this day in 1847, rescuers reach the Donner Party:

The Donner Party (sometimes called the Donner-Reed Party) was a group of American pioneers led by George Donner and James F. Reed who set out for California in a wagon train in May 1846. Delayed by a series of mishaps and mistakes, they spent the winter of 1846–47 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada. Some of the pioneers resorted to cannibalism to survive.

The journey west usually took between four and six months, but the Donner Party was slowed by following a new route called Hastings Cutoff, which crossed Utah‘sWasatch Mountains and Great Salt Lake Desert. The rugged terrain, and difficulties encountered while traveling along the Humboldt River in present-day Nevada, resulted in the loss of many cattle and wagons, and splits within the group.

By the beginning of November 1846 the settlers had reached the Sierra Nevada, where they became trapped by an early, heavy snowfall near Truckee (nowDonner) Lake, high in the mountains. Their food supplies ran extremely low, and in mid-December some of the group set out on foot to obtain help. Rescuers from California attempted to reach the settlers, but the first relief party did not arrive until the middle of February 1847, almost four months after the wagon train became trapped. Of the 87 members of the party, 48 survived to reach California, many of them having eaten the dead for survival.

Historians have described the episode as one of the most bizarre and spectacular tragedies in Californian history and western-US migration.[2]

On this day in 1942, Pres. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066:

Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidentialexecutive order signed and issued during World War II by the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, authorizing the Secretary of War to prescribe certain areas as military zones, clearing the way for the deportation of Japanese Americans to internment camps.

JigZone‘s end-of-the-week puzzle is of a goat:

City, Culture, Misconduct, University

The Claims of Ongoing Incidents on Campus (Updates)

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Update, Thursday afternoon, 2:30 PM.  UW-Whitewater officials are now contending that a photo with students in blackface had a benign meaning.  See, Image spurs concerns about race at UW-Whitewater @ Channel 3000.  From that story: “Kopper later said the students said they just had a facial and took a picture. She said the students did not mean for it to be harmful and did not know the implications.”

There have been campus complaints about the racial environment over more than this picture. See, WSG Discusses Campus Climate, 2.3.16, http://royalpurplenews.com/wsg-discusses-campus-climate/.

No one is likely to be satisfied with this: some will say that Kopper reacted too quickly initially, others will contend there are issues that trouble many students apart from an explanation of single photo (and the explanation, itself, is likely to surprise some).

I’ll contend that there is a need for an ongoing review of the campus culture.  It’s clear that grievances, of whatever merit, do not stem from one incident.

In these matters (and with sexual assault cases), I have advocated airing and reviewing claims, rather than ignoring them.  That way alone acknowledges the rights (and dignity) of individuals as claimants or in their own defense.  The obligation of society is to design a full and fair process to the very height of our abilities.  America is an advanced society – we are more than capable of the task.

Update, Thursday afternoon, 1:30 PM.  Below you will find a copy of the UW-Whitewater announcement from this morning.  One can guess that there will be a discussion about this, and perhaps a modification of the original statement.  If a modification appears, I’ll add it to this post.

Earlier today, UW-Whitewater’s Chancellor, Beverly Kopper, made an announcement about recent, serious concerns from students of racial incidents on campus, excerpted below:

“Dear Campus Community,

Last night a disturbing racist post that was made to social media was brought to my attention. This post was hurtful and destructive to our campus community. While social media can certainly bring about positive change, it can also be a place that deeply hurts and harms others.

Tuesday night I held the first of what I promise will be more Pizzas with the Chancellor. Approximately 80 students attended the gathering and, frankly, they shared with me some truly upsetting stories about their experiences on campus including the use of racial slurs and microaggressions. It took courage and strength for our students to share these painful stories in public and I am deeply grateful for their bravery. Some of our multicultural and nontraditional students feel the environment on campus is not welcoming to all. Over and over, the students in attendance expressed their need to be heard and for campus to do more than just talk.

These are serious issues that must be addressed. I will have another Pizza with the Chancellor with students at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23, in the Hamilton Room of the University Center and will focus on our campus culture.

On Tuesday night, we also talked about how each of us has the responsibility to make sure every student, faculty and staff member is respected, heard and appreciated for their life experiences and their differences. We are a stronger campus, a more vibrant campus because of our diversity….

Online morning of Thursday, 2.18.16, Message from Chancellor Kopper, http://www.uww.edu/news/2016-02-chancellor-message .  Original preserved in full as a screenshot.

Now I’ve been writing for a while, and I’ve seen committees and initiatives come and go, so you’ll excuse me if I mention that the only change that matters – that assures and endures – is fundamental change.

(Needless to say, this subject replaces the weekly feature normally appearing on Thursdays, a feature that will resume next week.)

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 2.18.16

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in town will be cloudy and mild, with a high of forty. Sunrise is 6:49 and sunset 5:30, for 10h 43m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 82.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Common Council meets at 6:30 PM tonight.

On this day in 1885, Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published in the United States:

Huckleberry_Finn_bookTwain initially conceived of the work as a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer that would follow Huckleberry Finn through adulthood. Beginning with a few pages he had removed from the earlier novel, Twain began work on a manuscript he originally titled Huckleberry Finn’s Autobiography. Twain worked on the manuscript off and on for the next several years, ultimately abandoning his original plan of following Huck’s development into adulthood. He appeared to have lost interest in the manuscript while it was in progress, and set it aside for several years. After making a trip down the Hudson River, Twain returned to his work on the novel. Upon completion, the novel’s title closely paralleled its predecessor’s: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade).[13]

As it relates to the actual body of text during the time of publication, Mark Twain composed the story in pen on notepaper between 1876 and 1883. Paul Needham, who supervised the authentication of the manuscript for Sotheby’s books and manuscripts department in New York in 1991, stated, “What you see is [Clemens’] attempt to move away from pure literary writing to dialect writing”. For example, Twain revised the opening line of Huck Finn three times. He initially wrote, “You will not know about me”, which he changed to, “You do not know about me”, before settling on the final version, “You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’; but that ain’t no matter.”[14] The revisions also show how Twain reworked his material to strengthen the characters of Huck and Jim, as well as his sensitivity to the then-current debate over literacy and voting.[15][16]

A later version was the first typewritten manuscript delivered to a printer.[17]

Demand for the book spread outside of the United States. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was eventually published on December 10, 1884, in Canada and the United Kingdom, and on February 18, 1885, in the United States.[18]

JigZone‘s Thursday puzzle is of a car:

Elections, Politics, Walworth County

On Wisconsin’s 2.16.16 Primary

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Results are in from yesterday’s February primary, and there are a few clues about the April 5th election, with one big uncertainty.

First, the obvious uncertainty.  The Republican and Democratic presidential races have offered surprises, and will likely offer more.  One or both major-party contests may still be raging by 4.5.16.  Ongoing interest in either, or both, of those races will affect turnout for Wisconsin contests, including of course the Supreme Court race between Justice Bradley and Judge Kloppenberg.

Second, of the Supreme Court race results from yesterday, there were no surprises: Bradley and Kloppenberg finished close together, with Judge Donald far back.  They were better funded and better known; he was at a significant disadvantage throughout.  (Unofficial results: Rebecca G. Bradley (inc) 251,826 45%, Joanne F. Kloppenburg 243,190 43 %, Joe Donald 68,373 12 %.)

Third, the Walworth County Circuit Court race results were revealing.  Commissioner Dan Johnson finished first, with D.A. Dan Necci and Attorney Shannon Wynn farther back, but close to each other.  (Unofficial results: Daniel S. Johnson 3,356 37 %, Dan Necci 2,922 32 %, and Shannon Wynn 2,799 31 %.) (Disclaimer: I don’t support Necci.)

Necci has been District Attorney for over three years, with all the publicity that affords, and he could only garner 32% of the vote.  This was not an ordinary three-person contest: it was a notable incumbent facing two less-known opponents.  Along with the Walworth County sheriff, the Walworth County district attorney is the only well-known position in the entire county.  (By comparison, about twelve people in Walworth County know who County Administrator David Bretl is, and that’s including his family members.)  I can’t think of a recent county race where an existing officeholder did this poorly.

Attorney Shannon Wynn, who has never held office, came within just 1% (122 votes out of 9,102 cast, including 25 write-ins, of sending Necci home.)

Neeci claimed the support of Supreme County Justice Rebecca Bradley, but he ran far below her vote total in the county.  Out of 9,246 votes for in the county for our high court, Justice Bradley received 5,303.  In his race, Necci received just 2,922.

Necci ran 2,381 votes behind the top-of-the-ticket candidate whose support he trumpeted.  Thousands of Bradley supporters voted for either Johnson or Wynn.

The press won’t cover this race insightfully.  Already, news about the race is how Candidate A and Candidate B are happy to move on to April, from those who must know that a huge issue here is how officials and law enforcement personnel who have dealt with Necci truly don’t want him around.   Huge numbers of Walworth County’s Rebecca Bradley supporters didn’t want him – that’s how odd this situation is.

For the press, including a reporter who certainly knows better, it’s safer to cover this as A v. B heading into April.  No advertisers will be offended while shying from the implications of one’s own past stories.  Presenting this as list of candidates, pictures, and website links doesn’t begin to explain how odd Necci’s position is.

Necci could win in April, but he’ll need lots of unaware voters, lots of money, and probably a hyper-ideological tone that brands everyone else – including obviously conservative officials who work in Elkhorn – as insufficiently zealous.

Interesting times ahead.

 

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 2.17.16

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Midweek in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of twenty-eight. Sunrise is 6:48 and sunset 5:29, for 10h 40m 58s.  The moon’s a waxing gibbous with 73.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Aquatic Center Board meets today at 7 AM, the Tech Park Board at 8 AM, and the TID 5 Joint Review Board at 3 PM.

On this day in 1801, after three dozen votes, the House of Representatives elects Thomas Jefferson President of the United States:

Republicans ultimately won more electoral college votes, but Jefferson and his vice-presidential candidate Aaron Burr unexpectedly received an equal total. Due to the tie, the election was decided by the Federalist-dominated House of Representatives.[105][g] Hamilton lobbied Federalist representatives on Jefferson’s behalf, believing him a lesser political evil than Burr. On February 17, 1801, after thirty-six ballots, the House elected Jefferson president and Burr vice president.[106]

The win was marked by Republican celebrations throughout the country.[107] Some of Jefferson’s opponents argued that he owed his victory over Adams to the South’s inflated number of electors, due to counting slaves as partial population under the Three-Fifths Compromise.”[108] Others alleged that Jefferson securedJames Asheton Bayard‘s tie-breaking electoral vote by guaranteeing the retention of various Federalist posts in the government.[106] Jefferson disputed the allegation, and the historical record is inconclusive.[109]

The transition proceeded smoothly, marking a watershed in American history. As historian Gordon S. Wood writes, “it was one of the first popular elections in modern history that resulted in the peaceful transfer of power from one ‘party’ to another.”[106]

2.17.2002 was a very good day for a Wisconsin skater:

2002 – Wisconsin Skater Takes Gold

On this date West Allis native Chris Witty won a gold medal in speed skating’s 1000 meter at the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games. She broke the world record with a time of 1:13.82, even though she was recovering from mononucleosis. Before Witty competed in ice staking, she was a professional bicyclist. [Source: US Olympic Team]

Wednesday’s JigZone puzzle is of a shell:

Language

This Is What It’s Like To Read Lips

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How do you use one sense to do the work of another? Can You Read My Lips? is a short film about the imprecise art of lip-reading based on the essay “Seeing at the Speed of Sound,” by Rachel Kolb, who narrates and stars in the video. “Lipreading…is an inherently tenuous mode of communication,” she explains. “When I watch people’s lips, I am trying to learn something about sound when the eyes were not meant to hear.” This film was directed by David Terry Fine and produced by Little Moving Pictures.

Via The Atlantic.

University

Outside

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Chancellor Beverly Kopper announced today the selection of Susan Elrod as provost and executive vice chancellor for Academic Affairs.

Dr. Elrod currently serves as the interim provost and vice president for academic affairs at the California State University, Chico. She will join UW-Whitewater on April 15.

“I am so pleased Susan Elrod will join us as our next provost and executive vice chancellor for Academic Affairs,” Chancellor Kopper said. “In my discussions with Susan, she immediately recognized that UW-Whitewater is a university that is doing amazing work with dedicated faculty, staff and students. She is a true believer in the transformational power of comprehensive universities and brings enthusiasm and passion for our unique mission. I trust she will be a great asset to our campus and the UW System.”

See, Susan Elrod named provost and executive vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, http://www.uww.edu/news/2016-02-provost.

What it means for the university, as with a new strategic plan due to be completed in the spring, well, it’s too soon to say.  All this will only work to prevent comparative decline if there’s a fundamental change of course from that of the last administration.

Local insiders, however, staked everything on then-Chancellor Telfer; to head in a different direction for the sake of the university, itself, will be hard for those who thought university developments were (and should always be) perfectly aligned with their own wants and needs.

Education, Poverty, School District

Whitewater’s True and Worthy Success

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33cscreenshotPost 6 in a weekly series.

I posted last week about a State of the Schools presentation, and planned to follow this week with an assessment of that presentation, but there’s a more recent development that should – and so does – take precedence.

On February 10th, one of Whitewater’s schools, Washington School, was named a Title I School of Recognition for significant academic achievement as a high-progress school even in conditions of meaningful child poverty. The award acknowledges what a true optimist knows: that Whitewater’s schools can succeed, regardless of present circumstances, through the work of smart and dedicated people.

Here are the criteria from the Department of Public Instruction:

Wisconsin Title I School of Recognition Criteria
All schools receive federal Title I aid because they have
significant numbers of students from low-income families.
They also meet the state’s test-participation, attendance,
and dropout goals as well as additional award criteria:
High-Achieving Schools
• meet all Annual Measurable Objectives for achievement
and graduation
• have achievement gaps that are less than 3 points
between student groups or show evidence of reducing gaps
• demonstrate high achievement at the school level
High-Progress Schools
• fall within the top 10 percent of schools experiencing
growth in reading and mathematics for elementary and
middle school students or the top 10 percent of schools with
the greatest improvement in high school graduation rates
• have achievement gaps that are less than 3 points
between student groups or show evidence of reducing gaps
Beating-the-Odds Schools
• are in the top 25 percent of high-poverty schools in
the state
• have above-average student achievement in reading
and mathematics when compared to schools from
similarly sized districts, schools, grade configurations, and
poverty levels

The grandiose, the sketchy, the slick: they’re useless, and in fact detrimental, to actual success. Old Whitewater – a state of mind, not a person or chronological age – has run (and now staggers) on a commitment to presentations of that ilk. Real success, however, comes not from a presentation, but from daily hard work that is too seldom mentioned.

It’s all to the good that the genuine success at one of our schools received statewide recognition.

What one school has done, other schools can do also. There’s not the slightest doubt of this, if only we would try.

On our school district’s website this morning, there’s a link to a glossy ‘annual report,’ including some dodgy data and grandiose claims. There’s no link on that main page to this Wisconsin Title I School of Recognition award. Our district might have embedded this file on its website easily, confidently, and boldly, but they’ve not.  Whitewater YES for Education might have mentioned it, but they’ve not.

One can guess why they didn’t – the award rests on the plain truth that many of our children come from impoverished families. Acknowledging that on the district’s website may seem, well, a bit too much for local officials.

It’s astonishing how confused they must be about what truly impresses families thinking of staying in our district, or impresses talented families thinking of coming here.

Truly talented and capable men and women – inside and outside Whitewater – will always prefer direct, honest gains over slick presentations. They can see what the town is really like; sugary language deceives no one.

This recognition shouldn’t be ignored, or simply linked somewhere to be forgotten in a week or two – it should be embedded on the main page of this district’s website, and passed out to every inquiring family. It should be embedded proudly on other websites for others to see.

And so I have done exactly that, on this website.

Well done, to all who achieved this recognition – so very well done.

THE EDUCATION POST: Tuesdays @ 10 AM, here on FREE WHITEWATER.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 2.16.16

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday’s spring primary in Whitewater isn’t really in the spring, but it is likely to take place on a relatively mild day of thirty-four degrees and cloudy skies. Sunrise is 6:49 and sunset 5:27, for 10h 38m 13s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 62.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Fire and Rescue Task Force meets tonight at 7 PM.

On this day in 1923, Egyptologist Howard Carter formally enters Tutankhamun’s Tomb:

On 4 November 1922, Howard Carter’s excavation group found steps that Carter hoped led to Tutankhamun‘s tomb (subsequently designated KV62) (the tomb that would be considered the best preserved and most intact pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings).

Egypt.KV62.01He wired Lord Carnarvon to come, and on 26 November 1922, with Carnarvon, Carnarvon’s daughter and others in attendance, Carter made the “tiny breach in the top left hand corner” of the doorway (with a chisel his grandmother had given him for his 17th birthday.) He was able to peer in by the light of a candle and see that many of the gold and ebony treasures were still in place. He did not yet know whether it was “a tomb or merely a cache”, but he did see a promising sealed doorway between two sentinel statues. When Carnarvon asked “Can you see anything?”, Carter replied with the famous words: “Yes, wonderful things!”[10]

The next several months were spent cataloging the contents of the antechamber under the “often stressful” supervision of Pierre Lacau, director general of theDepartment of Antiquities of Egypt.[11] On 16 February 1923, Carter opened the sealed doorway, and found that it did indeed lead to a burial chamber, and he got his first glimpse of the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun. All of these discoveries were eagerly covered by the world’s press, but most of their representatives were kept in their hotels; only H. V. Morton was allowed on the scene, and his vivid descriptions helped to cement Carter’s reputation with the British public.

Carter’s own notes and photographic evidence indicate that he, Lord Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn Herbert entered the burial chamber shortly after the tomb’s discovery and before the official opening.[12]

On this day in 1862, Gen. Grant is victorious at the Battle of Fort Donelson:

The Battle of Fort Donelson was fought from February 11 to 16, 1862, in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The Union capture of the Confederate fort near the Tennessee–Kentucky border opened the Cumberland River, an important avenue for the invasion of the South. The Union’s success also elevated Brig. Gen.Ulysses S. Grant from an obscure and largely unproven leader to the rank of major general, and earned him the nickname of “Unconditional Surrender” Grant.

The battle followed the Union capture of Fort Henry on February 6. Grant moved his army 12 miles (19 km) overland to Fort Donelson on February 12 and 13 and conducted several small probing attacks. (Although the name was not yet in use, the troops serving under Grant were the nucleus of the Union’s Army of the Tennessee.[4]) On February 14, Union gunboats under Flag OfficerAndrew H. Foote attempted to reduce the fort with gunfire, but were forced to withdraw after sustaining heavy damage from Fort Donelson’s water batteries.

On February 15, with the fort surrounded, the Confederates, commanded by Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd, launched a surprise attack against Grant’s army in an attempt to open an escape route to Nashville, Tennessee. Grant, who was away from the battlefield at the start of the attack, arrived to rally his men and counterattack. Despite achieving partial success and opening the way for a retreat, Floyd lost his nerve and ordered his men back to the fort. The following morning, Floyd and his second-in-command, Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, relinquished command to Brig. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner(later Governor of Kentucky), who agreed to accept Grant’s terms of unconditional surrender.

Today’s Puzzle from JigZone is a butterfly: