The October 16th issue of the Register‘s out, and it’s an autumn issue. What happened?  I had to put on reading glasses to make sure that I was looking at the Whitewater Register.  The paper has two front page stories on significant fiscal or administrative matters in our school district, and a story on the upcoming Common Council meeting’s agenda. 

Well, that’s suitably different – a Whitewater paper with even, straight-forward front page stories about Whitewater.

Other than a discussion of the district’s bus contract, it’s been a while since we’ve had front page coverage of fiscal matters in the district.  (The bus contract was hardly a significant matter, compared with academic performance or funding substantive programs.) 

The story on the school district’s budget has a simple, clear description of the district’s budget: “Increased tax levy to be on upcoming school board agenda.” The story lists the pertinent facts of district expenditure and revenue, and gives the District Administrator an opportunity to explain her administration’s budget approach. The Administrator describes her method: “We sort of drew a line in the sand with what we estimated we could fund, and if the budget ends up high or low, we adjust the line accordingly.”
 
Yes. 

There’s a below-the-fold story on the District Administrator’s resignation from the WUSD, effective June 30, 2009.  I covered that topic earlier this week. June 30th will come, and it will go, too.  The real questions we face will not depend on a person, but on good policies, sincerely, faithfully, energetically executed.     

There are three photos on the front page, each fall-related, and interesting.  Above-the-fold, there’s a nice photo of the Prairie Tillers mural.

Inside, there’s a mixture of local and area news, but how all this will evolve I cannot say.  I am seldom surprised. 

Whitewater doesn’t lack for smart people, but it does lack people who’ve not grown enervated, offering up the same half-baked excuses for municipal actions, the same clichés.  After a while, the mediocre passes for clever.  It’s not intellect; it’s a dulling of skills, a decline into complacency.  Lack of a straightforward newspaper these last years has made our situation much worse. 

Such a paper would benefit the community.

What will emerge I cannot say; it’s enough to know that blogging – a modern version of a longstanding American traditional – is a permanent part of the landscape. 

The October 9th issue of the Register is the last issue of the paper without an editor listed on the front page. 

(That absence ends with the October 16th issue.  On the masthead of the Register, on page 2, there is still a listing for a community editor, nowhere evident to me on the pages of the paper.) 

Front Page. The front page features Whitewater’s 2008 homing coming events.  It’s a sea of red, with banners, fans, boosters, and two whippets mascots.  (Even the whippets are wearing red.)   

Below the fold, there’s a story entitled, “Fairest if the Fair Stalker wins ‘Insanity Defense’ .” A Walworth County jury in early October found that defendant, Joseph G. Schraeder was under a mental disease or defect, as defined under Wisconsin law, at the time he encountered Sheri Nelson (a pageant winner). 

Under our law, a person may be found to have committed the acts alleged under an offense, but through a mental condition may be found not guilty of those acts. Even though a jury may find the defendant not guilty on this basis, severe mental disorder often lead to placement in a psychiatric facility.

Very few people, in any state that has a legal provision like this, are found not guilty by reason of a mental condition.  There are two reasons for this – (1) juries are reluctant to so find, and (2) clear cases involving an established diagnosis are resolved though psychiatric commitment before a criminal trial. 

There are always victims in these cases – those who are tormented with letters or visits from someone, speaking incoherently or making odd declarations – have every reason for concern. 

As long as the person has been identified correctly, the question is usually whether to commit someone to a psychiatric or criminal institution.  Jurors from the community heard the testimony in the case.  Juries are often resistant to these defenses, and if they found it applicable in this case, one can presume its application was easily sensible to them. 

Whether this resolution might have been reached without trial, one cannot say. 

Inside, Ownership.  One finds inside a traditional “Statement of Ownership, Managent, and Circulation,” on page 2.  The publisher, editor, managing editor, and the headquarters of the Southern Lakes chain’s Whitewater Register all list offices in Burlington.   

By contrast, I live in Whitewater, and have only driven through Burlington a few times when I got lost trying to reach another destination.  I have no idea what goes on there, although I’ve heard it’s a land of milk and honey, streets paved with gold, where publishers are committed to serious, unbiased, conflict-free journalism without favoritism toward career appointees and incumbent politicians.

Who knows?

Inside, Circulation. Over the last twelve months, the paper reports average total paid and/or requested circulation of 1093 copies per week.  In-country paid subscriptions amount to 577, and sales through vendors, etc., amount to 289.  We are a city of no less than 14,296 residents. 

A number of copies are distributed without charge, although, remarkably, I must not be on the list for one of those copies.