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Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Culture, Education, Elections, Law, Local Government, Politics, School District, University, Waste Digesters

Policy Topics for the Spring

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In October 2014, I wrote about Four Public Topics for the Fall.  They seemed to be the city’s prominent public policy questions, looking ahead from 10.20.14.  Those topics were (1) the 2015 City of Whitewater budget, (2) Whitewater Schools referendum, (3) UW-Whitewater’s social relations, and the (4) City of Whitewater’s waste digester proposal. Now, as…

Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Crime, Law, Open Government, University

Former Coach Fader Vindicated Five Times Over

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It’s been over nine months since Chancellor Richard Telfer suspended former UW-Whitewater wrestling coach Tim Fader, and later effectively fired him (Fader’s contract was not renewed).  In April 2014, a woman alleged that a wrestling recruit assaulted her, and Fader has consistently said that he contacted the Whitewater Police Department about the incident, and that…

Crime, District Attorney, Law, Misconduct, Sheriff, Walworth County

Seventeen Questions: Injustice in Walworth County Wrongly Sends a Fourteen-Year-Old to Jail

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Yesterday, I posted about an appellate court decision that reversed a juvenile’s conviction and remanded the case for a new trial.  See, Injustice in Walworth County Wrongly Sends a Fourteen-Year-Old to Jail.  Today I’ll post several questions concerning the decision and two published accounts about of it.  The appellate decision (“Appellate Decision”) is online at…

Agriculture, Business, Food, Law, Press

Gazette Thinks Janesvillians Are Too Stupid to Buy Milk of Their Own Choice

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Among the items in its ‘Monday Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down’ editorial, the Gazette argues against allowing Wisconsinites to drink organic milk (subscription req’d).  It’s not merely that the paper’s editorial board thinks that drinking raw imprudent (pointing to illness from a recent incident), it’s that the board thinks sales should remain illegal.   Without a law, the…

Crime, Law, University

The Dean’s Drug-War Equality Argument

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I’m sorry I didn’t get to this sooner, but one of UW-Whitewater Dean of Students Mary Beth Mackin’s remarks about drug busts on campus deserves a reply.  She’s offered an argument for equality of treatment on and off campus.  Her argument implies that she either misunderstands the underlying justification for equality arguments, or that she…

City, Law, Local Government

A Game It’s Not

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There’s a story in the Gazette about a Janesville resident who’s looking for a litigation fund to support lawsuits against the City of Janesville.  See, subscription req’d, Citizens group wants to mount legal offensive against City Hall. The story’s too funny – it’s part overwrought idea, and (I would guess) part effort of the Gazette…

America, History, Law, Liberty

Understanding America Backwards

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There’s a longstanding maxim of liberty that Americans inherited from England: ‘those things not prohibited by law are permitted.’ The burden is on the state: if there’s no express ban under law, then a person is free to act.  Since government has to enumerate restrictions if it wants to enforce them, a free society places…

City, Law

Caution on Publishing About Criminal Investigations

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In the servile rush to defend every big institution, it might help to consider that publishing about a criminal investigation, while simultaneously writing in the same item about an employee’s administrative suspension, can leave an innocent employee looking like a criminal suspect. Following up with a ‘clarification’ a day afterward is better than no follow-up,…

City, Law, Police

Interviews & Citizen Oversight

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The responsibility to interview a candidate should – and reasonably does – require that one interviews with one’s independent judgment. If the interviewer, himself or herself, is under someone’s else’s watch, then the interviewers aren’t truly independent (and candidates see that, too). There’s a Police and Fire Commission meeting tonight, at 6 PM. The principal…

America, City, Law, Local Government

The No-Prior-Discussions, Wheelchair-Access Lawsuit Against Whitewater

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Weighty claims require that claimants present their grievances deliberately. A serious presentation ordinarily includes (1) signaling that one has a grievance, (2) offering a chance for a negotiated resolution, and only later (3) letting others know that one might seek recourse to the courts if negotiations should prove unproductive. (This last point only applies if…