Sunday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 80. Sunrise is 5:59 AM and sunset 7:59 PM for 13h 59m 34s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 7.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
The accident, itself, and the risk that it brought, should be a reminder of a truth repeatedly recalled: that local government’s role should begin (and end) with the provision of competent, fundamental public services. (See from FREE WHITEWATER Fire & Rescue, Whitewater’s Most Important Public Policy Accomplishment of the Last Generation.) Elected officials in the City of Whitewater and on the Whitewater Unified School District’s board should be focused on basic services for residents. We are a small community in significant need. We are well past the point where various internal discussions, often confusingly or ludicrously addressed, should occupy more than the minimum of our attention.
For those who might have trouble grasping significant priorities, here’s Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, explaining all this rather bluntly:
A serious person, understanding our conditions sensibly, focuses on pressing external priorities — the delivery of services to residents — over internal topics. There is no reason to give license to those who are frivolously occupied otherwise.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:58 AM and sunset 8:00 PM for 14h 02m 05s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 13.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1851, Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.
21-year-old Bridget McCutchen of Ashland is chasing the Guinness Book World Record for being the youngest person to circumnavigate the world on a motorcycle. Her journey started in August of 2022, and you can track her progress at @bike.will.travel.
Alex Rongstad set a goal to run every street in the city of Eau Claire within a 12-month period. The idea was that it would help bring him closer to the community in Wisconsin. He starts each run from his apartment in downtown Eau Claire. It took Alex six months to complete his goal, running a total of 3,378 miles.
Friday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 85. Sunrise is 5:57 AM and sunset 8:02 PM for 14h 04m 35s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 20.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1942, actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones, two-way radio communications, and Wi-Fi.
About 250 more wildfires than normal have ignited across Wisconsin so far this year due to ongoing drought conditions, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The agency’s wildfire dashboard shows the state has seen 871 fires that have consumed nearly 4,400 acres to date. The 10-year average for this time of year is 614 fires and roughly 1,800 acres burned, according to data shared with the Natural Resources Board on Wednesday.
“Prior to this, I think we had a drought stretch in 2012, (which) was the last time we were in this position,” Catherine Koele, the DNR’s wildfire prevention specialist, told the board. “But, again, this year…it’s been up and down. We see a little bit of rain. The grasses green up a little bit, and then it dries out again. So we’ve been on this roller coaster.”
Wildfires have already consumed almost five times as many acres as last year when 923 fires blazed during the state’s fire season. Koele said the number of acres burned this year has largely been driven by large-scale fires in Monroe and Waushara counties, including the Arcadia Fire that spanned more than 3,000 acres at Fort McCoy.
Despite that, Koele said there’s been a steady decline in the number of wildfires on average over the last three decades.
“That is good news for us,” Koele said. “A lot of this is, I think, technology, rapid response time, keeping those fires small. We’re having wetter springs. That’s just the reality of it.”
Wednesday, August 16th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of The Quiet Girl @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Drama/Foreign Film
Rated PG-13
1 hour, 35 minutes. (2022)
Our monthly art film is the Winner of AARP Best Foreign Film; and Academy Award nominee Best International Film. Rural Ireland, 1981. A shy, neglected daughter is sent away to Dublin, where she blossoms with her foster parents. This is the first-ever film in the Irish language to be nominated for an Oscar.
Veterinary services in Cyprus have received a first batch of anti-Covid pills, from a stockpile originally meant for humans, as efforts intensify to stop the spread of a virulent strain of feline coronavirus that has killed thousands of cats.
The island’s health ministry began discharging the treatment on 8 August – long celebrated as International Cat Day – in what is hoped will be the beginning of the end of the disease that has struck the Mediterranean country’s feline population.
“We have taken stock of 500 boxes of medication,” Christodoulos Pipis, the government’s veterinary services director, told the Guardian. “This is the first batch of 2,000 packages that will be made available. Each one contains 40 capsules so we are talking about a total of 80,000 [anti-Covid] pills.”
Distribution of the drugs follows an “alarming increase” in Cyprus of cases of feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) caused by feline coronavirus which, if left untreated, is almost always fatal.
Defined as the “FCoV-23 outbreak”, the virus was first noticed in January in Nicosia, the Cypriot capital. Within three to four months it had spread across “the whole island”, according to the Pancyprian Veterinary Association (PVA).
Thursday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 82. Sunrise is 5:56 AM and sunset 8:03 PM for 14h 07m 03s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 28.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1977, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz (“Son of Sam”) is arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over the period of one year.
Government forms of all kinds — ballot envelopes, tax forms, etc. — should be straightforward. This requires looking at the form from a user’s point of view. There’s good news on this point, as Margaret Faust reports Clerks say new absentee ballot envelopes will prevent mistakes (‘Changes to absentee ballot envelopes aim to help voters understand the process for making sure their ballots are counted’):
The Wisconsin Elections Commission, or WEC, voted unanimously last week to redesign envelopes containing completed absentee ballots. The changes were due to feedback from 250 people, including clerks and voters, in 11 different communities around the state.
Beginning with the 2024 spring primary, there will be step-by-step instructions detailing how to fill out the envelopes. There will be an alert icon — an exclamation point inside a triangle — to remind people what witness information needs to be included on the envelope. WEC spokesperson John Smalle said this is the most significant change.
Claire Woodall-Vogg, the municipal clerk for the city of Milwaukee, agrees. She said the most frequent mistake she sees in her office is envelopes missing the address of witnesses. This is a trend statewide. She believes the alert icon will make a difference.
“The envelope is made to be more user-friendly, less legalese,” Woodall-Vogg said. “Your eye is drawn to where there needs to be action.”
The new design also specifies that envelopes will be color coded depending on the type of voter. For example, domestic and international absentee voters will have different-colored strips on the back of their envelopes. Smalle said this will help clerks and postal workers keep track of ballots.
Wisconsin is joining 18 states that already use this color-coding system.
Yes, and more of this: there are doubtless forms apart from ballot envelopes that could use a simpler design.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:55 AM and sunset 8:05 PM for 14h 09m 31s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 38.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1974, as a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. Vice President Gerald Ford becomes president.
The Senate Labor, Regulatory Reform, Veterans and Military Affairs committee heard testimony from Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay) and Rep. Tony Kurtz (R-Wonewoc) about a package of bills that seek to change how the Wisconsin National Guard addresses sexual assault.
The proposed changes originated from a legislative council study committee, which met last year, that was tasked with developing legislation to address the Wisconsin National Guard’s sexual assault and sexual harassment. The committee, which included Wimberger and Kurtz, was formed in response to allegations that surfaced in 2019 and a report by the National Guard bureau of the Department of Defense that found the body’s programs and systems for handling allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment, were non-compliant with federal law and regulation, and were deficient or failing.
“While the Wisconsin National Guard under the Major General Paul Knapp’s leadership has been diligently working to implement the recommendations contained in the assessment, the study committee identified a number of areas in which legislation will complement the Guard’s genuine efforts to ensure that the men and women who volunteer to serve our state and nation are able to do so in an environment that takes their safety seriously,” Kurtz told the committee.
SB 166 would make several changes to the Wisconsin Code of Military Justice, including by implementing a policy that ensures that victims of offenses, under the code, are treated with dignity, respect, courtesy and fairness.
SB 167 would require the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) to compile and submit annual reports. One report, which would be submitted to the governor and the Legislature, would focus on sexual assault and sexual harassment reported by members of the Wisconsin National Guard. The DMA would also need to submit a report that describes any substantive changes to the federal Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) during the prior federal fiscal year to the Legislature.
SB 168 would require the DMA to establish and maintain a case management system, which would ensure a way for the National Guard to track and manage casework related to misconduct within the Guard.
Sen. Melissa Agard (D-Madison), who also sat on the legislative council study committee, said in a statement that the bills are the “product of bipartisan collaboration.”
The Wisconsin Legislature should pass these bills and Gov. Evers should sign them. (Note: links to the bills in the cited reporting open into new windows for review of each bill.)
Tuesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:54 AM and sunset 8:06 PM for 14h 11m 57s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 48.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
Margaret Rose Bostelmann’s ideals are clear from one glance at her well-kept ranch-style house in central Wisconsin.
A large American flag is mounted near the front door, and a “We Back the Badge” sign on her front lawn announces her support for law enforcement. Bostelmann, a Wisconsin elections commissioner, said she voted for Donald Trump in 2020 and added: “I will always vote Republican. I always have.”
But her fellow Republicans have exiled her and disparaged her, sought to upend her career and, on this day in July, brought the 70-year-old to tears as she discussed what she’s been through over the last several years because she refuses to support false claims that Trump won the state in the 2020 presidential election.
Bostelmann, who goes by Marge, previously served for more than two decades as the county clerk in Green Lake County, overseeing elections without controversy. But two years into her term in a Republican slot on the Wisconsin Elections Commission she became a target, denounced and disowned by the Republican Party of Green Lake County, which claimed she had failed to protect election integrity in the state.
Now a suit filed in June by a Wisconsin man who promotes conspiracy theories about election fraud seeks her removal from the commission. Citing her estrangement from the county party, the suit claims she’s not qualified to fill a position intended for a Republican.
For the evidence-averse, the big election lie is a fundamental truth; challenges to that lie look to them like apostasies.
Monday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 79. Sunrise is 5:53 AM and sunset 8:07 PM for 14h 14m 21s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 58.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Equal Opportunities Commission meets at 5 PM.
On this day in 1947, Thor Heyerdahl‘s balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.
This libertarian blogger has consistently maintained that there is no indispensable person in Whitewater, and that the community, so to speak, belongs to everyone and yet no one. Many people play important roles, in thousands of interactions, each day.
And yet, and yet, some institutions and professions are especially useful to enrich the town and make Whitewater modern and prosperous. A professional press is one of those institutions.
WhitewaterWise.com, published professionally from the team that has had so much success with FortAtkinsonOnline.com, marks the first instance of solid professional journalism in Whitewater since 2005. The Whitewater’s publication’s publisher and editor first began covering Whitewater twenty years ago at another publication, and has covered our city more recently through FAO. (One can see the success of FAO through its many advertisers in that market who have found and stayed with the publication over the last three years or so. Free markets tell important tales.)
As I’ve mentioned before, bloggers are not journalists, but rather modern-day electronic pamphleteers. (For the role of pamphleteering in our history, see Bailyn’s Ideological Origins of the American Revolution.) Like many others, I grew up in a newspaper-reading family, with papers, magazines, journals, and books all about. I’ve my own profession and have no claim of (or desire for) journalistic credentials. That’s it. FREE WHITEWATER is its own, independent publication of a different kind.
I know, however, how important serious, professional journalism is to a community. Genuine professional journalism strengthens a community. While weak, insecure, or shady officials and businesses may dislike solid reporting, it’s easier to say those types simply don’t like or can’t handle good work.
Good reporting (or blogging, truly, by the way) is thorough. It does not, and would never dare, tell people that it “isn’t necessary to watch the entire meeting, or even every meeting, depending upon what’s on the agenda.” In my own case, this libertarian blogger watches an entire meeting before commenting on even a portion of it (as the whole informs an understanding of particular parts). It should be obvious to anyone that a book review requires reading the entire book, a movie review requires watching the entire movie, etc. Any reader should expect as much of serious reporting on a council or school board. That’s what professional journalism (or solid commentary) requires as a minimum standard. No one uplifts a community with less than thorough standards.
There’s a place, however, in communities across America and the world, for other kinds of announcements and pictures: Facebook. While Facebook is not and will never be my choice, it’s a great option to publish and share information. In 2006, Facebook was only beginning its climb to global success; it’s now well-established in every city and town.
A group or foundation that wants to support the sharing of basic information and notices most effectively should transition to Facebook for the greatest reach with simplest ease for readers.
Of the many parts and people needed for a dynamic and prosperous community, professional journalism plays a key role.
Sunday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 79. Sunrise is 5:52 AM and sunset 8:09 PM for 14h 16m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 70.2% of its visible disk illuminated.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s new liberal majority chose an appointee of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker to serve as interim director of state courts just hours after the court’s conservative Chief Justice Annette Ziegler penned a letter Wednesday slamming the majority’s decision to fire the previous director, Randy Koschnick, as being politically motivated.
The court announced that Milwaukee County Judge Audrey Skwierawski will assume the role of interim director starting Thursday. Skwierawski was appointed to the bench by Walker in 2018.
The court’s liberals, who gained control of the body on Tuesday for the first time in 15 years with the swearing in of Justice Janet Protasiewicz, fired Koschnick in a three-sentence letter, writing that he would be let go at the end of the day Wednesday.
Koschnick, who has held his job since 2017, told media outlets earlier this week that he had received a call from Justice Jill Karofsky saying he’d be fired once the new majority was in place.
…..
A news release announcing Skwierawski’s hiring noted that she has worked with people across the political spectrum her entire career, including during a 14 year stint as a prosecutor in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office. She also worked in the Wisconsin Department of Justice under Republican attorneys general J.B. Van Hollen and Brad Schimel.
Skwierawski is easily as qualified as Koschnick, and in any event appointee Koschnick wasn’t entitled to permanent public employment.
See alsoJournal Sentinel Focuses on a Minor Wisconsin Supreme Court Story(‘Koschnick has been lucky, in fact, that he found a conservative majority willing to give him another six years (2017-2023) on the state payroll after he left the Jefferson County bench’).
Saturday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:51 AM and sunset 8:10 PM for 14h 19m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 79.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1864, the Battle of Mobile Bay begins at Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.
Friday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 85. Sunrise is 5:50 AM and sunset 8:11 PM for 14h 21m 25s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 88.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1892, the father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home. She will be tried and acquitted of the crimes a year later.
A federal, state, or local public body begins, continues, and ends its activities only by the law. American government, in any jurisdiction, is a limited and instrumental institution bound by defined rules and procedures.
Throughout America, there is a vision of small-town life in places like Whitewater that depicts residents gathering at a council meeting to discuss calmly and methodically the issues of the day. We are hoped to be — meant to be — steady in public.
Of the last four council presidents, two (Singer, Dawsey-Smith) were notably accomplished at running a meeting well. While this libertarian blogger might have disagreed with some of their particular votes, there was never a time during their respective tenures when they did not manage a meeting well and fairly. Success of this kind is not a matter of ideology (right, center, left) but of understanding of Wisconsin law and proper procedure. They were both successful in leading the council.
Sadly, that doesn’t always happen, to the detriment of the communities where it does not happen. The Tuesday, August 1st meeting of the Whitewater Common Council was afflicted with multiple efforts to depart from Wisconsin law and practice. Those serious mistakes are addressed below.
Immediately below is a clip of the relevant discussion, and comments thereafter. Obvious point: which specific measures on which this city evaluates its city manager is not my concern. That this city council conducts itself within law and procedure in all its proceedings is my concern.
Preliminary reminder: the current council president has been in local office of one kind or another for decades. That’s long enough to learn proper procedure.
Bound by the agenda: As the city attorney reminds the council, all discussions are bound by the agenda. Video begins @ 4:38.
Limits on sessions are set by Wisconsin law. The governing principle of Wisconsin public meetings law is that public meetings are to be open to the public. Wis. Stat. § 19.81 (1), (2). The Whitewater Common Council can meet in closed session only for one of eleven specific reasons. Wis. Stat § 19.85. Talking about a policy is not one of those exceptions (that the statute refers to as ‘exemptions’) to an open session. Video begins @ 10:09.
Simply because a council can change a particular internal policy does not mean that council can change an agenda, or exceed agenda limits, during a meeting. The Whitewater Common Council cannot — and must not — depart from Wisconsin’s Public Meetings Law.
We have no king in Whitewater, acting as he wishes. We have a council composed of seven, a collective body limited under law.
The role of the city attorney. There’s a nutty discussion from this common council president about his view of the supposed pressure that the city attorney is feeling and about the need to hire a second attorney because of something the council president saw on an org chart. Video begins @ 11:05. Honest to goodness. The city has one city attorney, as cities of similar size do, and nothing about what the council president imagines he senses in someone else, or what he saw on an org chart, impinges on the professional responsibility of this city attorney to this municipality.
There is no legitimate reason under law or Wisconsin’s rules of professional responsibility to question this city attorney’s conduct or ability. If in my professional judgment — admitted in more than one jurisdiction, under oath, and recognizing that the law is binding on an attorney at all times — I thought for a moment that there was a concern, then I would raise it. Here, there is nothing to raise. It’s an embarrassingly unfounded claim to contend baselessly otherwise, as mere speculation or supposed mind-reading are not legitimate grounds for claims under Wisconsin law.
A city serious about doing well by its residents requires serious, disciplined leadership. Right, center, or left matters far less than thoughtful, methodical, and composed. There are people from each part of the political spectrum in Whitewater who are like this, and Whitewater deserves no less in her council leadership.
All the rest —kings and mind-readers — look ridiculous —
Did you know there is one country in the world that eats their tea leaves? Resident foodie, Beryl, guides us through this traditional Burmese ingredient, as we travel to Myanmar to learn about Lahpet Thoke, which uses fermented, pickled tea leaves. With local Nyo Nyo Sein as our guide, we explore the process of fermenting, storing, and serving tea leaves – as well as understanding the significant role this dish plays in Burmese culture.
Beryl then takes us to the only Burmese restaurant in New York, here’s what she ordered: – Lahpet Thoke as well as Bu Thee Kyaw (squash temperature with tamarind garlic dip) – Ohn-No Khaut Swe (noodles in coconut broth with egg and lime).
So there we have it. Tea isn’t just for a cuppa, it’s for supper.
Tuesday, August 8th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Book Club: The Next Chapter @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Comedy
Rated PG-13
1 hour, 47 minutes. (2023)
A sequel to the 2015 hit: follow the four book club best friends as they venture to Italy for sightseeing, adventures, and romance. Returning cast includes Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenbergen, Andy Garcia, Don Johnson, and Craig Nelson.
