I live and blog in a small rural town, of about fourteen thousand people, and one often imagines that such places are preserves of plain-speaking officials and straight-talking politicians. I suppose that many rural American towns are like that. We’re not one of them. Governance — official action first and foremost through law and legal…
City
City, Police, Press
Whitewater’s Police Chief and the Job in Mankato, MN
by JOHN ADAMS •
Update, 6:21 PM: Fixed link for “What Happens in Vegas…” appearing below. Link now leads correctly to that post. Longtime readers of FREE WHITEWATER know that I have been a critic of Whitewater’s long-tenured (too long, really) police chief, Jim Coan. A search of this site offers ample analysis of Coan’s disappointing tenure in Whitewater,…
City
Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters — February 2010 Newsletter
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters’ February 2010 Newsletter is now available, and the latest issue includes a calendar of upcoming LWV events. The latest copy of the LWV newsletter is available as a link on my blogroll, and is embedded below, with coding through Google. I like the simplicity that the Google Document Viewer…
City, Elkhorn
Judicial Candidates for Walworth County Circuit Court
by JOHN ADAMS •
A sharp reader wrote, and asked me about the upcoming Walworth County election, as judge Michael Gibbs is retiring from office. There are four candidates in the race: Mark Bromley, David Danz, Scott Letteney, and David Reddy. The Judgepedia has a page that lists candidates for judgeships across the state. See, Wisconsin Judicial Elections 2010.…
City
Real Data Describe Real People
by JOHN ADAMS •
Although small towns like Whitewater are supposed to be places of clear thinking and straight talk, in a small town like Whitewater, bureaucrats will flack any aparently positive data over the actual conditions of life in town. It’s how simple-minded cheerleading has replaced honesty and integrity as the lingua franca of Whitewater. Consider, for example,…
City, Police
Department of Embarrassing Coincidence, Whitewater, Wisconsin Branch Office
by JOHN ADAMS •
Before a holiday now connected in popular culture with a film, Groundhog Day, in which someone seems destined to live the same day over and over again, could there be any greater irony than publicizing that Whitewater’s police chief is again looking for another job? Here, gone, here, gone, here again. We have lived through…
City, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Planning, Press Release
On the Innovation Center’s Anchor Tenant, Part 2
by JOHN ADAMS •
An official’s weak arguments don’t become better or more convincing on repetition. On the contrary, stubborn repetition only reveals additional errors and mistakes, offering more opportunities for a robust critique. Last week, I wrote about the selection of CESA 2, a taxpayer-funded agency, as the anchor tenant for Whitewater’s upcoming Innovation Center, a taxpayer-funded and…
City, Press
For Whitewater, Wisconsin: No Reckless Pranks Needed
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, a group blog of law professors and academics, there’s a post about the unfortunate conduct of James O’Keefe, an activist. In a post entitled, “One Sting Too Many,” Jonathon Adler writes about allegations against O’Keefe: It’s one thing to pretend to be a pimp when interviewing ACORN employees. It’s quite…
City
Searching for Cows in the City of Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
I sometimes receive questions from faraway places, from readers for whom rural America is the stuff of movies and books, but not direct experience. Someone once asked me how many cows there were in Whitewater. The question’s funny to anyone who lives in the City of Whitewater, Wisconsin, but not to someone who knows that…
City
Whitewater Community Development Authority Meeting
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Community Development Authority meets this afternoon, at the municipal building, beginning at 4:30 PM. The agenda for that meeting, and a list of upcoming meetings, is available online. See, CDA agenda. If there are groups in the city that deserve more scrutiny, the CDA, along with the Police and Fire Commission, would be at…
City, Planning, Press
On Whitewater, Wisconsin’s Recent Bond Rating
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater City Manager Kevin Brunner recently touted an A2 rating from Moody’s Investor Services. It’s what he didn’t say that’s most telling. In his January 15th Weekly Report, Whitewater City Manager Kevin Brunner announced an affirmation from Moody’s Investor Services of the city’s A2 bond rating. The city’s rating is assigned to the sale of…
City, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Planning, Press
On the Innovation Center’s Anchor Tenant
by JOHN ADAMS •
Small-town Whitewater is spending about eleven million dollars in federal money and municipal debt for a Technology Park, with a showcase Innovation Center. The amount is more than the annual budget of the city, and it’s federal deficit spending, and municipal public debt, that will make this project possible. (Note: I will comment generally on…
City, Press Release
New Whitewater Archaeological Group: Friends of the Mounds
by JOHN ADAMS •
We have the great fortune in Whitewater of an archaeological site. A group has formed to help preserve that site. Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission is encouraging people to help maintain and preserve Whitewater’s only archaeological site, the Whitewater Indian Mounds Archaeological Park on Indian Mounds Parkway, by joining the Friends of the Mounds. The first meeting…
City
Top Maricopa officials testify in apparent Arpaio investigation
by JOHN ADAMS •
In Arizona, a federal grand jury has been hearing testimony about the conduct of Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio, self-proclaimed ‘toughest sheriff in America.’ He’s been a disgrace to America’s centuries-long tradition of the rule of law. Some have celebrated Arpaio for his anti-immigrant stand, but he’s threatened the civil liberties of citizens and non-citizens…