Good morning, Whitewater

There is a Common Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. tonight. The agenda for the meeting is available online.

The session tonight includes a State of the City presentation. Later, the meeting will go into closed session regarding the extension of the South Whitewater multi-use trail.

On this day in 1868, from the Wisconsin Historical Society, photographer Edward S. Curtis was born near Whitewater:

On this date Edward Sheriff Curtis was born near Whitewater. As a young boy, he taught himself photography. His family eventually moved to the Puget Sound area of Washington state. He settled in Seattle and opened a photography studio in 1897. A chance meeting on Mount Rainier resulted in Curtis being appointed official photographer on railroad magnate E.H. Harriman’s expedition to Alaska.

Curtis also accompanied George Bird Grinnell, editor of Field and Stream magazine, to Montana in 1900 to observe the Blackfoot Sun Dance. After this, Curtis strove to comprehensively document American Indians through photography, a project that continued for over 30 years. Working primarily with 6 x 8-inch reflex camera, he created over 40,000 sepia-toned images. His work attracted national attention, most notably from Theodore Roosevelt and J. Pierpont Morgan, whose family contributed generously to his project.

His monumental work, The North American Indian, was eventually printed in 20 volumes with associated portfolios. Curtis’ work included portraits, scenes of daily life, ceremonies, architecture and artifacts, and landscapes. His photographs have recently been put online by the Library of Congress. [Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin Biography, SHSW 1960, pg. 892]

The Library of Congress has an online exhibit, one of many online, entitled Edward S. Curtis in Context. Curtis’s photographs are often haunting, despite the now-stilted original commentary that sometimes accompanied them.

Two of Curtis’s public domain photographs appear below — White Man Runs Him and Mandan Man Overlooking the Missouri River (c. 1908).

Good morning, Whitewater

The Tree Commission meets from 4-5 tonight, and there’s a Police and Fire Commission meeting at 7 p.m. Here’s the amended agenda for the Tree Commission:

(AMENDED) Agenda
1. Call To Order
2. Roll call
3. 2009 Spring Planting
Planting location Review
Tree variety’s ordered
4. Discussion of McDonald’s removed Trees
5. Review of Changes from Tree commission Ordinance
6. Explanation of Tree Survey
7. Updating forestry guidelines to include tree boots and 2 years of watering
8. Parks Department turf management and how it relates to trees
9. Present tree pruning on Main Street
10. Arts project related to tree boots (report by Ehrenberg)
11. Adjournment

Here’s the agenda for the Police and Fire Commission meeting tonight at 7 p.m.:

 
I. Call to Order, Roll Call 
II. Approval of minutes of November 19, 2008 
III. Citizen Comments 
IV. Old Business ? None 
V. New Business 
A. Oath of Office 
B. Drug Investigation 
C. Chief’s Report 
1. 2009 Management Plan 
2. Citizen Academy Update 
3. Finalization of the Public Safety Report 
4. Personnel 
a) Officer Adam’s Resignation 
b) Hiring Process — PFC Interviews
VI. Adjournment 

Overall, about as much detail and apparent preparation from the Tree Commission as the Police and Fire Commission. Why Fire, by the way? Shorten the title, for goodness’ sake — you’re wasting valuable electrons every time you type a commission title that, by your own practice, requires no conjunction.

On Thursday and Friday, I’ll post on Whitewater’s drug enforcement efforts, and the Citizen Police Academy.

Good morning, Whitewater

There are two public meetings scheduled for Whitewater today, and one election. There’s a meeting of the Whitewater-University Tech Park Committee at 12:30 p.m. today, at the University. Later, there will be a South Campus Neighborhood Association meeting, at 7 p.m., at the Municipal Building.

It’s also election day in Whitewater, because it’s election day in Wisconsin.

In 2002, the Wisconsin Historical Society notes a proud accomplishment for Wisconsin, as 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.

Good morning, Whitewater

The Municipal Building is closed today, for Presidents’ Day. It’s closed for some, but not all, federal holidays. The building was open, and ready for business — such as that is — through the evening of January 19th. Some federal holidays are a day of rest for municipal employees public servants, and some aren’t.

No matter — there will be much more later this week, including a Police and Fire Commission meeting, and a Common Council meeting.

Over at Washington School today, there will be a celebration of Washington’s Birthday, and at the High School, it’s National History Day.

The Wisconsin Historical Society reports on a sad anniversary today, from 1943: “Mildred Harnack Guillotined in Berlin” —

On this date Mildred Harnack was guillotined in Berlin, Germany. Harnack was born in Milwaukee and studied and lectured at the University of Wisconsin. She and her husband, Arvid Harnack, were key members of a German resistance group which assisted German Jews and political dissidents, circulated illegal literature, met secretly with prisoners of war, and worked to document Nazi atrocities in Europe. Known by the Nazis as the “Red Orchestra,” Harnack’s companions were arrested, tortured, and tried for their activities. Mildred Harnack was guillotined in Berlin on the personal orders of Adolf Hitler.

Many fine presidents these last two centuries, but not one a finer citizen, or more worthy of respect for personal sacrifice, than Harnack.

Good morning, Whitewater

There are no public meetings scheduled in the City of Whitewater today.

It’s activity night, though, at the Middle School. If there must be activity in town, the Middle School’s as good a place as any.

And in commemoration of this day…

Good morning, Whitewater

It’s Lincoln’s birthday today. The History Channel has more on the anniversary of Lincoln’s birth:

On this day in 1809, Abraham Lincoln is born in Hodgenville, Kentucky.
Lincoln, one of America’s most admired presidents, grew up a member of a poor family in Kentucky and Indiana. He attended school for only one year, but thereafter read on his own in a continual effort to improve his mind. As an adult, he lived in Illinois and performed a variety of jobs including stints as a postmaster, surveyor and shopkeeper, before entering politics. He served in the Illinois legislature from 1834 to 1836, and then became an attorney.

Good morning, Whitewater

There are no public meetings scheduled in the city today. Surprising, really, yet apparently true. Not even a single committee or commission? Even a tiny task force?

It’s an odd anniversary in Wisconsin history, as the Wisconsin Historical Society observes that in 1842 there was a shooting in the Wisconsin territorial legislature:

On this date the Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin met in Madison, only to be interrupted by the shooting of one member by another. The legislature was debating the appointment of Enos S. Baker for sheriff of Grant County when Charles Arndt made a sarcastic remark about Baker’s colleague, James Vineyard. After an uproar, adjournment was declared and when Arndt approached Vineyard’s desk, a fight broke out during which Vineyard drew his revolver and shot Arndt. [Source: Badger Saints and Sinners by Fred L. Holmes]

So, what happened to Vineyard, the shooter? He benefitted from the incident, as the Wisconsin Historical Society notes:

Pioneer settler, lead miner, politician, b. Kentucky. He moved to the Wisconsin area in 1827, settling near Platteville, where for a number of years he engaged in lead mining and prospecting. A Democrat, Vineyard was a member of the upper house of the territorial legislature (1836-1842), and in 1842 gained notoriety when he shot and killed Charles Arndt (q.v.) during a bitter argument on the council floor. Vineyard was tried for manslaughter, was defended by Moses M. Strong (q.v.), and was subsequently acquitted of the slaying. The incident is described at length in in the Wisconsin Magazine of History vol. 5, no. 3 (March 1922): 264-283.

Despite this incident, he maintained his popularity in the lead region, was a delegate to the first state constitutional convention (1846), and was state assemblyman (1849). In 1850 he followed the Gold Rush to California, later served in the California legislature, and remained in that state until his death. Wis. Mag. Hist., 5; K. W. Duckett, Frontiersman of Fortune: M. M. Strong . . . Madison, 1955]; J. R. Berryman, ed., Bench and Bar of Wis. (2 vols., Chicago, 1898); M. M. Quaife, ed., Convention of 1846 (Madison, 1919).

I am not sure what this means for the Whitewater Common Council. Perhaps, just perhaps, debate has been too tame, too polite, too deferential, and too cerebral.

Good morning, Whitewater

The finest two minute video you’ll ever see. Beautiful for the power of Friedman’s calm reasoning. (Hat tip via Instapundit.com.)

Good morning, Whitewater

There are two public meetings scheduled for the City of Whitewater, today. One of them will enrich our present and next generations, in so many ways, and the other is the CDA Business Park Marketing Committee meeting at 4:30. The one that can shape Whitewater’s future, and places beyond, is the Young Memorial Library Board meeting at 6:30 p.m.

I’d guess one library is worth a dozen task forces and committees, yet even then I likely underestimate a library’s power.

Good morning, Whitewater

So far as I know, there are no municipal public meetings today. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Regardless, even without the gathering of a single municipal task force, somehow our lives will go on. Perhaps, just perhaps, something good will happen today without government intervention. That’s just the optimist in me, I wouldn’t wonder.

It’s Spirit Day at Washington School, proud home of the Golden Eagles.

It’s the anniversary of a great moment in American history: On this date in 1778, representatives from the United States and France sign the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance in Paris.. The website of the History Channel describes the treaties and their happy consequences —

The Treaty of Amity and Commerce recognized the United States as an independent nation and encouraged trade between France and the America, while the Treaty of Alliance provided for a military alliance against Great Britain, stipulating that the absolute independence of the United States be recognized as a condition for peace and that France would be permitted to conquer the British West Indies….

In 1776, the Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee to a diplomatic commission to secure a formal alliance with France. Covert French aid began filtering into the colonies soon after the outbreak of hostilities in 1775, but it was not until the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777 that the French became convinced that the Americans were worth backing in a formal treaty.

On February 6, 1778, the treaties of Amity and Commerce and Alliance were signed, and in May 1778 the Continental Congress ratified them. One month later, war between Britain and France formally began when a British squadron fired on two French ships. During the American Revolution, French naval fleets proved critical in the defeat of the British, which culminated in the Battle of Yorktown in October 1781.

Today is also the anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and the anniversary of our treaties — the first ever for America — with France is one of the reasons that I don’t have to kneel, genuflect, crawl, or bow low to Britain’s doddering impressive & shrewd monarch.

As one need not servilely defer to the monarch of an entire nation, there’s no need to do so for any much smaller, local versions of the same.