Today, in Wisconsin Carry, Inc. v. City of Madison, Attorney General Brad Schimel filed a motion supporting Wisconsin Carry’s argument that state law preempts certain municipal gun regulations, namely, Madison’s Transit and Parking Commission’s rule banning all weapons from its Madison Metro buses.
Attorney General Schimel argues, contrary to Madison’s claims, that a municipality cannot delegate power that it does not have, and that municipalities do not have the power to regulate firearms in ways more stringent than state law. Since state law allows people to possess and transport firearms in vehicles, Madison may not ban them from its buses.
President Barack Obama’s tournament bracket wasrevealed on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on Wednesday morning, his final bracket as president. Just once in his presidency has he successfully predicted the men’s national champion: That came back in 2009, his first year in office, when North Carolina won the title.
In years past, the President has gone chalk, mostly picking favorites. But he changed it up a little bit this year, putting Texas A&M, a No. 3 seed in the West region, in the Final Four. Joining the Aggies in Obama’s Final Four is No. 2 seed Michigan State and No. 1 seeds Kansas and North Carolina.
For the championship game, Obama predicts the Jayhawks, the No. 1 overall seed, will defeat the Tar Heels “in a squeaker.”
As I said before, the Senate is finishing a pretty good session with a lame whimper. They are unwilling to take on anything even slightly controversial. Sadly, I think that if Trump wins the presidential nomination, Wisconsin Republicans will likely lose the state senate as Conservatives sit home. This may have been the final opportunity for Republicans to get anything done for some years to come.
Also, this indicates just how weak Walker is now. Even a couple of very modest ideas he introduced a couple of months ago are dead. Walker has a lot of work to do if he wants to win reelection in 2018. On the bright side, the Democratic bench is very, very weak.
Pieces of Gov. Scott Walker’s college affordability package, several bills to address Alzheimer’s, and a new round of legislation to curtail heroin addiction are headed to the governor’s desk after the Senate Tuesday wrapped up its final votes of the two-year session.
But high-capacity well legislation is likely to die after the chamber approved the Senate version rather than take up the Assembly bill. In addition, dozens of other bills are unlikely to go anywhere with neither house expected back for the rest of the year.
Walker didn’t get the full college affordability package he pushed in the State of the State. Majority Republicans, concerned about the state revenue numbers, ditched a bill that would have created a new tax deduction for the interest on student loans.
Walker also didn’t get a bill he endorsed to overhaul the rules process. Dubbed the REINS Act by backers, the Senate left the bill off the final calendar, and Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said members had too many questions about the bill to move forward on it. But he said it will likely be back next session after it’s tweaked.
(CNN)Marco Rubio is dropping out of the presidential race after losing the Florida primary to Donald Trump and failing to unite the Republican establishment against the billionaire front-runner.
“We live in a republic and our voters make these decisions,” Rubio said in Miami Tuesday night as his supporters booed Trump’s victory.
I like Rubio, but this is not his year. He’s a young man and I suspect that this won’t be the last time we hear from him.
Clinton continued, claiming Libya can be counted as a U.S. foreign policy success due to the fact no Americans were killed during the ousting of Gaddafi. On the other hand, she added, the same probably couldn’t be said if the United State involved itself in stopping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s bloody civil war.
“Yes, Libya was a different kind of calculation, and we didn’t lose a single person,” Clinton told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.
My column for the West Bend Daily News is online. Here you go:
We all got a glimpse of spring this Saturday with warm temperatures and bright sunshine before gloomy, cold rain settled into southeast Wisconsin on Sunday, but the nation is aglow this week as Sunshine Week commences, celebrating access to public information.
Access to public records sounds like a boring issue that only reporters and politicians care about, but it is a vital issue that is absolutely necessary for we, the people, to govern. As a self-governing people, we have to know what our representatives and employees in government are doing so we can make informed decisions. Without that visibility into the workings of our government, we would be unable to effectively govern ourselves.
But not all people in government like open records laws or strive to adhere to them. Some of them are up to no good, but some just don’t like the scrutiny. Sometimes that resistance comes in the form of legislation or regulations seeking to hide records. That was the case in a bill moving through the Wisconsin legislature that would have deemed some records from medical examiners to be excluded from open records requirements. Thankfully, that offensive language was dropped.
But some of the resistance comes at the point of executing an open records request. Government employees have been known to take an unacceptable amount of time to fill requests for records. They have also been caught charging ridiculously huge fees for records in order to discourage people from picking them up. Some government officials have been caught ignoring open records requests altogether or illegally destroying records.
It is a constant push by the public to ensure our records remain accessible and open for our perusal. To that end, Gov. Scott Walker issued an executive order directing state agencies to take some measures to ensure compliance with the state’s open records laws. Those measures include implementing standardized best practices for processing requests, defining and publishing standard response times for normal requests, clarifying the costs of requests up front, and requiring training about public records for all state employees. These measures will help further the goal of making it easy for the public to access public records.
While some government officials actively resist the public prying into their business, most of them try their hardest to serve the public in good faith. As someone who has filed many open records requests over the years, I have found most government officials to be helpful and thorough in complying with my requests. It helps to know how to ask correctly, so here are a few hints.
First, know the rules. When filing an open records request, you are not required to give your identity or a reason for the request. You can if you want, but it is not necessary. Remember that your request is itself a record that is subject to the open records law.
Second, know what a record is, and is not. A record is almost anything, in any form, that has been recorded or preserved by an authority. It does not include things like drafts, notes, or things unrelated to the public’s business. The law requires the government to surrender records that it has, but if a record does not exist, it is not required to create something new. Also, not everything that passes through government must be kept, much less kept forever. A government is prohibited from destroying a record after someone has asked for it, but they are permitted to dispose of most old records after a period of time. Unless we are willing to spend a fortune to save everything forever, this is perfectly reasonable.
Third, be specific and reasonable. Yes, you can ask for every email sent by anyone in government over three years to go on some fishing expedition, but it will be timeconsuming and expensive to fulfill that request. Someone has to comb through everything to redact information that should not be made public. Try to narrow your request as much as possible and it will make it easier and more likely for you to get what you want. Remember that the bigger the net is, the longer it will take to fill it.
Finally, be nice. While answering public records requests is a part of a government official’s job, it is not their entire job. And they are just a person like you. I have often found them to be helpful and friendly if you are understanding and nice — especially with local government officials. If they are not, then get aggressive.
We need to keep pressure on ensuring our public records remain open through traditional means, but we must also push to utilize modern technology to make records more accessible. For example, the city of West Bend regularly publishes detailed spending reports by amount, department and vendor on their website for public scrutiny. If the public has a question about a particular expenditure, it provides easy access to know how to ask for more details. Putting more records online and making them searchable should be a consideration with every technological improvement our government makes moving forward.
An open government is a prerequisite of a selfgoverning people. As we celebrate Sunshine Week, may that sunshine burn bright and hot.
The Senate also doesn’t plan to take up a bill that would penalize local governments for allowing so-called “sanctuary cities” — a proposal that drew about 20,000 protesters to the Capitol in February — and will take up just three of 10 bills the Assembly passed aimed at combating Alzheimer’s and dementia, according to a calendar released on Monday by Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald’s office.
Among the bills the Senate plans to take up are proposals that would ban the flying of drones over state prisons, ban drivers from using cell phones in construction zones, reduce the amount of money public school districts can levy to offset the cost of school vouchers and a bill that would formally allow churches to have live Christmas trees, regardless of fire hazard.
Because the Assembly concluded its business in February, Tuesday marks the end of the Legislative session and the last shot the bills had at being successful.
Investigators said the shooting happened at the store in White Center at approximately 5:45 a.m. local time. Witnesses said the man entered the store and swung a hatchet toward the customer before turning his attention to the clerk.
As the assailant attacked, the customer pulled out a pistol and fired, hitting the suspect. The clerk suffered minor injuries to his stomach and the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.
The customer who shot the suspect is described as a 60-year-old Seattle man who visits the store every morning to get coffee. His name was not immediately released.
Authorities said the man who shot the attacker had a concealed carry permit and likely would not face charges as a result of his action.
Perhaps we should consider waiting periods for hatchets.
In a surprise move, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to start withdrawing the “main part” of its forces in Syria from Tuesday.
He said the Russian intervention had largely achieved its objectives.
The comments come amid fresh peace talks in Geneva aimed at resolving the five-year Syrian conflict.
[…]
Russia’s intervention has achieved its main goals – consolidating President Assad’s position, enabling his forces to re-take key pieces of strategic territory and ensuring that Mr Assad remains a factor in any future Syrian settlement.
Mr Putin said that Russia’s Hmeimim air base in Latakia province and its Mediterranean naval base at Tartus would continue to operate as normal. He said both must be protected “from land, air and sea”.
Once again, Putin thumbs his nose at the international peace process and acts unilaterally. It just shows what a farce that process is. America would be better served acting according to its best interests as a great power and bringing our allies along rather than trying to do everything based on consensus with our enemies.
Only 187 inmates have had their sentences commuted, far below the thousands expected by justice reform advocates and a tiny fraction of the 2.2 million people behind bars in the United States, which has the world’s highest incarceration rate.
The administration said it wanted to decide on all the applications before Obama’s term ends next January, when the program will automatically expire.
A senior DOJ official told Reuters it is calling on the lawyers’ group — Clemency Project 2014 — to simply hand over the outstanding cases without further vetting, saying it is not working fast enough. So far, the group estimates it has handed over around 200 cases.
But criminal justice experts say the administration itself should bear much of the blame. The idea to tap pro-bono attorneys to help vet the cases originated with the DOJ, and critics say it should have prepared its own staff to handle the large volume of applications.
“It’s unfair to criticize the volunteer group that you asked to help,” said Rachel Barkow, a criminal law professor at New York University who has studied clemency in U.S. prisons.
She estimates that about 1,500 prisoners should be eligible for commutation, saying the 187 granted so far does not “fulfill the promise of the program.”
The DOJ declined to comment when asked for its response to such criticism.
ATLANTA (AP) — The decision by the owner of a small insurance company to require his employees to carry firearms at the office has sparked a debate: Would having a gun on the job make you safer, or is it inviting violence into the workplace?
Lance Toland said his three offices, based at small airports in Georgia, haven’t had problems with crime but “anyone can slip in these days if they want to. I don’t have a social agenda here. I have a safety agenda.”
When a longtime employee, a National Rifle Association-certified instructor who’s been the company’s unofficial security officer announced her retirement, Toland wanted to ensure the remaining employees were safe. He now requires each of them to get a concealed-carry permit, footing the $65 bill, and undergo training. He issues a Taurus revolver known as “The Judge” to each of them. The firearm holds five rounds, .410 shells that cast a spray of pellets like a shotgun.
It is because of stuff like this that I support the death penalty.
Oslo (AFP) – Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik returns to court on Tuesday to accuse the Norwegian state of violating his human rights by holding him in isolation.
The right-wing extremist is serving 21 years for the murder of 77 people in a bombing and shooting assault in July 2011.
He accuses the Norwegian state of breaching two clauses of the European Convention on Human Rights, one which prohibits “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”, and one which guarantees the right to respect for “private and family life” and “correspondence”.
Since the killings, Breivik, 37, has been held apart from the rest of the prison population and his contacts with the outside world strictly controlled.
His mail is censored by prison officials to prevent him from establishing an “extremist network”, according to authorities, and his visits, which are rare, are almost exclusively with professionals behind a glass partition.
He has previously likened his prison conditions to “torture”.
(CNN)Iron Maiden’s personal Boeing 747 collided with a tow truck Saturday at an airport in Chile, causing major damage to the aircraft and injuring two airport workers on the ground, the band said.
The plane, dubbed Ed Force One, was tethered to a truck at the Santiago International Airport and was being moved to be refueled and prepped for the next flight.
“On moving, the steering pin that is part of the mechanism that connects the ground tug to the aircraft seemingly fell out,” the heavy metal band posted on itswebsite. “On making a turn the aircraft had no steering and collided with the ground tug, badly damaging the undercarriage, two of the aircraft’s engines and injuring two ground tug operators.”
Speaking at the South by Southwest festival in Texas, Obama said he could not comment on the legal case in which the FBI is trying to force Apple Inc. to allow access to an iPhone linked to San Bernardino, California, shooter Rizwan Farook.
But he made clear that, despite his commitment to Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, a balance was needed to allow some intrusion when needed.
“The question we now have to ask is: If technologically it is possible to make an impenetrable device or system where the encryption is so strong that there is no key, there’s no door at all, then how do we apprehend the child pornographer, how do we solve or disrupt a terrorist plot?” he said.
“What mechanisms do we have available to even do simple things like tax enforcement because if in fact you can’t crack that at all, government can’t get in, then everybody is walking around with a Swiss bank account in their pocket.”
I agree with him that there needs to be a balance. And if due process is properly rendered, I don’t have a problem with the government accessing private property whether it be a safe, house, car, or computer. The problem that we all have with mandating a government back door to our technology is that we do not trust the government to follow the 4th Amendment before accessing it.
At least with our homes we have some reasonable ways to know whether or not a government agent has entered it. With our technology, however, they could enter our computers, phones, tablets, etc., take whatever they want, and we would never know unless they decided to tell us. And there have been too many instances of that happening for the American people to feel comfortable giving the government even more tools to access our technology.
Perhaps if the government had behaved more responsibly with our civil liberties to date, this wouldn’t be much of an issue.
Paris (AFP) – Gun deaths in the United States can be slashed by over 90 percent through universal application of laws requiring background checks of buyers and easy tracing of every bullet fired, researchers said Thursday.
Conducting a background check on every single gun buyer could more than halve the national gun death rate from 10.35 to 4.46 per 100,000 people, said a paper in The Lancet medical journal.
Background checks for all ammunition purchases would cut the rate to 1.99 per 100,000 people, and “firearm identification” to 1.18 per 100,000.
Firearm identification requirements oblige manufacturers to store images of the unique markings that every gun makes on the bullets it fires, for cartridges at crime scenes to be easily traced to the gun that fired them, and hence its owner.
So if we shred the Constitution and have universal gun registration and a massively expensive infrastructure for the testing and identification of all fired bullets (which already failed in Virginia for obvious reasons), we will be able to lower the number of murderous criminals who use guns?!?!? Great!
Oh, but not really…
But the authors conceded that once laws are implemented, they could take “many years” to start having the desired effect.
Commenting on the study, David Hemenway of the Harvard School of Public Health said the authors had failed to calculate the potential impact of factors like poverty, alcohol consumption and mental health.
And the study was unable to examine actual changes in gun deaths before and after the passing of any given law.
A 20-year-old West Bend woman will never see her dream of becoming a teacher since she is a registered sex offender after sexually assaulting a girl.
She will also spend 60 days in Washington County Jail and will be on probation for the next five years after being sentenced Friday morning on one felony count of third-degree sexual assault of a child. Corrine Springer sobbed when Washington County Circuit Court Judge James Muehlbauer told her she would be going to jail for having sexual contact with the then-13-year-old girl.
Springer’s mother asked the judge for leniency in her daughter’s case, noting it has “ruined her life” and her dream of being a teacher.
“She truly didn’t understand the seriousness of her actions,” her mother told the judge before sentencing. “She only wanted to make her girlfriend happy.”
Given the apparent increase of female teachers having sex with their students, is there something going on in our culture? In this case, the woman seemed to have sincerely been unaware that her actions were wrong. And yet she was presumably of sound mind enough to be on a career path to be an educator. So what made her think that it would have ever been acceptable for her – at 20 years old – to have a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl?
And what’s up with her mom? “She only wanted to make her girlfriend happy?” What the hell is that? Did the mom know that her daughter was “dating” a 13-year-old girl? Did she tell her daughter that her behavior was immoral, illegal, and predatory? And what about the kid’s parents? This came to the attention of law enforcement through an anonymous tip, but they had a relationship for over half a year. Did nobody else know and feel compelled to intervene on behalf of the kid? Friends? Co-workers? Classmates? Relatives?
As we are tearing down the majority of the social constructs that have governed our culture for generations, the one that renders abhorrent an adult having sex with a child seems to be eroding too.
by Owen | 0941, 12 Mar 1616 | Off-Duty | 0 Comments
West Bend loses leaders that left a legacy
A tough week for West Bend as the community lost a number of leaders who left definite legacies. Last Saturday, March 5, R. Douglas Ziegler died at the age of 89 and Virginia O’Meara passed. Jan Petri died last Friday, Bill Lutz died Monday, March 7, and on Friday former Dick’s Pizza owner Dave Wolf died. Jeffrey S Szukalski wrote, “The City of West Bend has taken a huge hit this week. Doug Ziegler, Virginia O’Meara and Dave Wolf along with Mr. Lutz just to name a few. What they meant to us and how they quietly made our town better. Dave Wolf never wanted any credit for what he did in Rotary, parades, church or anything else he donated to. Dave loved West Bend and his friends in town. Dave helped West Bend be one of the best towns in the world to live.”
Below are some memories from Bill Lutz, Virginia O’Meara and R. Douglas Ziegler. Details on funeral arrangements for Dave Wolf can be found later this week at WashingtonCountyInsider.com
Bill Lutz
Bill Lutz, 76, worked at the West Bend Fire Department for over 25 years. “He was one of the original six full-time firefighters when they went to 24 hour days in 1970,” Fire Chief Gerald Kudek said. “Bill was a lot of fun to work with and when I came on he was the motor pump operator.”
Lutz was involved in the community as a member of West Bend Roots and Branch, Action in Jackson and he spent over 25 years with West Bend Germanfest.
“He wanted to help and he believed in Germanfest,” said founder Herb Tennies. “He would do anything,” said Suzanne Tennies.
Lutz helped put up the stages and flags and kept track of the beer kegs. “He was a record keeper and I think Germanfest was one of his main events every year,” Herb Tennies said.
Judy Etta worked alongside Lutz at Germanfest and said he was always somebody you could count on when there was a problem. “He was always there and we could always go and get Bill,” Etta said. “He was key in the electrical; the first years we’d blow fuses and Bill put labels on the cords so we didn’t blow fuses anymore.”
In 2012 Lutz received the American Cross Senior Good Samaritan Award. A funeral service was held Friday, March 11, at St. John’s Lutheran Church.
Douglas Ziegler
A steady stream of well wishers gathered at Fifth Avenue United Methodist Church on Thursday afternoon to pay their respects to the family of R. Douglas Ziegler. The local community leader who left a legacy of civic engagement and dedication to education died Saturday, March 5; he was 89.
“I met Doug years and years and years ago – I was a shoeshine boy at the West Bend Country Club,” said Lee Krueger. “That was 1956 and I was 15 years old.” Krueger recalled writing about Ziegler in his book, ‘A Collection of Histories, Stories and Memories of the Farms and Lakes.’ “I talked to him about the Ziegler Dairy; he was the guy in charge by the old West Bend High School.”
Herb Tennies first met Doug when he was in high school in 1954. “He was always great with you and interested in the community and the growth of our young people and he could help with scholarships,” Tennies said. “Matter of fact my youngest son Stevie was the winner of a Ziegler scholarship.”
Kevin Steiner said he moved to West Bend with his wife in 1994 and the first organization he joined was United Way. “Immediately I found out about Doug Ziegler,” Steiner said. “From that point forward every organization I touched had a stamp of Doug or Sharon Ziegler on it,” he said listing off the West Bend School Board, Riveredge, and the Volunteer Center. “The passion he had for this community was just amazing.”
“Doug and I were in the same class in high school; the class of 1944,” said Marion Otto Ward, 89. “He and Bob Rolfs used to be good friends and they used to race their cars back and forth from West Bend down to Jackson because Phyllis Leisner lived in Jackson. I think they liked her – she was a blonde.”
Bill Meier worked at the Ziegler Company. “I was on the board and when Doug called a meeting for 9 a.m. he didn’t mean 8:55 a.m. or 9:05 a.m., he meant 9 a.m.,” said Meier.
The topic of two-martini lunches came up and Meier quickly debunked that conversation. “True story, we went down to the securities department in Madison to get our licenses for brokerage and Doug went along and he said ‘we’ll take you out to lunch’ and do you know where he took us? McDonald’s! But that was Doug, he was very thrifty.”
Jerry Henckel, 78, grew up on Big Cedar Lake with Ziegler. “I saw him quite regularly. I have a lot of respect for him,” he said. A Memorial Service was Friday and private inurnment was at Washington County Memorial Park.
Remembering Virginia Coffey O’Meara
There was a lovely Christian high cross on the cover of the program for Wednesday evening’s Mass of resurrection for Virginia Coffey O’Meara. A strong turnout filled the pews at Holy Angels Parish. The presiding celebrant was Gregory J. O’Meara – one of Virginia’s seven sons.
Words of remembrance were presented by Kevin and Chuck O’Meara. The brothers brought a list of memorable bullet points of life growing up in the strict, Irish household where Virginia was the boss.
-Seven boys, 16 years, youngest to oldest. Plus wives, grandchildren and great grandchildren. That’s a big career.
-For evening meals we had a schedule, three regular jobs: rinse the dishes, wipe the table, sweep the kitchen.
-Hair. Mother cut hair for as long as we allowed it without too much fighting. Good and short.
-Mother threw footballs and baseballs in the backyard with all of us and she was good at it. She could throw up a ball and hit it with a bat for fielding practice with no trouble.
-It was not unusual for all of us to wear the exact same shirt. My mother took comfort that she could tell authorities what the lost boy was wearing.
-Some of the favorite teachings: open the door for a lady, use please and thank you, take off your hat in the house. If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.
-Sleeping late at our house was never an option. Kitchen closes in five minutes.
-Virginia was a woman of faith and a woman who believed things would work out.
-She was sneaky the way she taught lessons. She always took the opportunity to point out the people in our lives and in the community that were good examples of how to live. This included people from all backgrounds – instilling that success had more to do with living the Golden Rule than status or wealth.
– She taught us to give our time to volunteering and promoted giving to charity.
-Put your brother down, you don’t know where he’s been.
-Daughters in law are always right.
-Respect others, treat them fairly and judge them by merit. Poverty does not equate to ignorance and wealth should not be confused with virtue.
Virginia O’Meara’s coffin was draped with the same Irish linen used to share good times at the table with family and friends. “You’ll notice a few spotted shadows on the linen,” said Rev. O’Meara. “That was from some particularly exuberant parties.”
One the back of the program under ‘Final Commendation’ was a note. “Our sincere gratitude to all who have taken the time to call, drop by, or join us in this evening’s celebration. Please be assured that you will be in our prayers as well.” Signed The O’Meara men and all
Online auction for building on Paradise Drive
There’s going to be an online auction next month, April 18 – 20, for a multi-tenant retail building at 840 W. Paradise Drive. According to BizTimes.com the “46,056-square-foot multi-tenant retail building in West Bend will be sold in an online auction with a starting bid of $500,000.” The building on Paradise Drive was built in 2006 and is anchored by Home Depot. The property is listed by Long Beach, Calif.-based HTX Realty, Inc. The bidding for the auction will take place on www.auction.com
Former WBHS teacher remembers partying at Paul Hornung’s
Former Green Bay Packer Paul Hornung will be at the West Bend Moose Lodge for a card show today.
Back in 1958 Geraldine Birkholtz, a former West Bend teacher, attended a post game Packer party at Hornung’s home. “I was dating a fellow from Appleton, Danny Ornstein,” she said. “His crowd always went out after the game and I think the Packers beat the Bears that day.”
After the game, Birkholz’s date gave her some options. “He said, do you want to go out with my single friends, my married friends out to dinner or do you want to go to Paul Hornung’s for a cocktail party.” Birkholz responded, “There’s no choice – that’s pretty obvious.”
The couple made their way to Fisk Avenue in Green Bay. The party was just getting started when they arrived. “I met him,” she said of Hornung. “He was tall and blonde and a good looking guy.”
Hornung lived in a house with a couple other Packer players including Jesse Whitenton. For several months Hornung had a reporter from True, A Man’s Magazine follow him around; the magazine was described in the 1960s as “high adventure, sports profiles and dramatic conflicts.”
“That whole evening I was there was written up in that magazine,” said Birkholz. Matter of fact, the writer from New York started talking to Birkholz. “He was short but he started shining up to me,” she said.
She recalled Hornung poured her a scotch and they were talking and a version of that came out in the magazine. “We were in the kitchen and the article said this fellow came up and talked to me and then he ‘pushed her toward the pantry.’ There was no pantry in that house,” laughed Birkholz.
After the party ended it was several months before the article on Hornung came out. “One of the teachers, Bob Schumacher, came running up to me and said, ‘Birkholz, what were you doing at that party?’ That was the day I found out what teachers subscribed to that magazine,” she said.
The article described what Birkholz was wearing. “We all dressed up for the games back then,” she said. “I was a size 8 and I had a nice wool dress and 3-inch heels.” Birkholz said the party was great fun. “We would talk to people. At that kind of thing you just walk around and visit,” she said.
At one point in the evening Birkholz recalled there was a knock at the back door. “Everybody was busy so I answered and it was kids who wanted to get the autographs from the players. I said, ‘oh boys… come back tomorrow, they’ve been playing football all afternoon.’”
Birkholz said many of the guests were amazed how she handled the children with such ease. “I just laughed and said, ‘Well I am a teacher.’”
The card show runs 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. and Hornung will be signing autographs at 10:30 a.m.
Last passion play at St. Mary’s School
Students from St. Mary’s School will perform the last passion play on March 20 at 6 p.m. in the church. The tradition of the passion play is 30 years old. Students will perform for the Religious Ed. students on March 15 at 7 p.m. They will also perform for St. Mary’s and St. Frances Cabrini students on March 17 at 1 p.m.
Penny Wars at St. Frances Cabrini
Penny Wars are in full swing this Lenten season at St. Frances Cabrini. During Lent Pope Francis asked us to “give of ourselves to help make others’ lives better.” At St. Frances Cabrini School students and staff are raising money to donate to the Leukemia Center. The Penny War consists of three water jugs in the cafeteria and during lunch students drop a donation into the red, blue, or green container that coincides with their grade level. The container with the most will be given a pizza party by the Leukemia Society. “While that is a nice reward students are reminded we are doing this because we want to help others less fortunate than ourselves,” said Principal Aaron Hilts.
Write-in candidates update
There are a couple of write-in candidates for this year’s Washington County Board race. Denis Kelling is a registered write-in candidate for Washington County Supervisor in District 6. It opened after Supervisor Paul Ustruck of Barton filed papers of non-candidacy.
Andy David is a registered write-in candidate for Washington County Supervisor in District 3. There were two incumbents eligible who could have run for the District 3 seat, Herbert Tennies and Ralph Hensel; both filed papers of non-candidacy.
In County Board Supervisory Districts 3 and 6, whoever receives the highest number of votes will be the winner. There is no minimum requirement for the number of votes to secure the seat. In all other districts, no write-in votes will be counted (unless someone registers as a write-in candidate) since there are ballot candidates.
Olympic swimmers in WB on Saturday
Two Olympic swimmers will be at the West Bend High School pool Saturday, March 12 to teach student athletes in a program called Fitter and Faster. The Olympians work with athletes and the swimmers get 1-one-1 time with an Olympic Gold medalist. “These seminars are great promotion for our sport and West Bend Swim Club,” Emory Salberg Sr., a Swim Club parent, said. “We hope events like this will help promote potential investment from parties to help us facilitate the year-round sport of swimming.”
Updates and Tidbits
-Another notable business property for sale is the old Citgo building, 1613 W. Washington St, West Bend. The 2,050 square feet is priced at $299,900.
– Registration for West Bend Youth Football League is March 15 at 1248 Lang St. starting at 5:30 p.m. The WBYFO is a tackle football league for 5th – 8th graders in West Bend School District. Organizers are also gauging interest in a flag football league for 3rd and 4th graders. Flag football would run in the fall, approximately the same time as 5th – 8th grade football. More information at WBYFO.com
–Absentee ballots for the April 5, 2016 election were mailed out this week. In-person absentee voting gets underway March 21 and City Hall in West Bend is closed Good Friday, March 25.
-Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner is scheduled to have office hours at Jackson Village Hall on Friday, March 18 at 11:45 a.m.
– A pair of pee-wee hockey teams from the Kettle Moraine Ice Center are headed to state this weekend. Washington County Ice Pee-wee C Team is playing in Oregon, Wis. while the Washington County Ice Pee- Wee B Team is playing in McFarland.
– Truck Outfitters is holding a Grand Opening through March 19 for its new storefront, 1325 S. Main Street. Specials include all a full car window tint is $50 off.
-West Bend Leadership Group will be in the West Bend East High School Cafeteria, Tuesday, March 15 from 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. to encourage students to participate in Connect with Nature on Saturday, April 30.
-The Mile of Art Show is underway as student artwork from grades K-12 is decorating windows of businesses in downtown West Bend. The art will be in storefront windows through March 26.
History photo Dick’s Pizza
Today’s history photo, courtesy Steve Kissinger, is of an ad from the 1960s for Dick’s Pizza.
The Cleveland Browns announced Friday, two days after the start of the 2016 NFL calendar year, that the team has released the troubled Johnny Manziel, making the quarterback a free agent and available to sign with any team. The big question is, however, if any team wants him.
