Lynn Binnie

Order online https://www.avon.com/fundraiser/studio84whitewater?rep=akokan

Editor’s note: We are grateful for you, our reader, and wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. We’d also like to express our appreciation to the many individuals and organizations that provide event announcements, Readers Share submissions, obituaries, etc. for us to share with the greater Whitewater community.

***********************************************************************************

Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Liberia. It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessings of the harvest and of the preceding year. Similarly named festival holidays occur in Germany and Japan. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and around the same part of the year in other places. Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well.

Prayers of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among most religions after harvests and at other times of the year. The Thanksgiving holiday’s history in North America is rooted in English traditions dating from the Protestant Reformation. It also has aspects of a harvest festival, even though the harvest in New England occurs well before the late-November date on which the modern Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated.

[The above information is from Wikipedia.]

The Banner appreciates having permission to use the image on the homepage by Sue Junky from Pixabay.

It’s time once again for #FlashbackFriday with the Whitewater Historical Society. This week it is Flashback Friday on a Thursday as we use this opportunity to offer everyone a Happy Thanksgiving via one of the penny postcards in our collection. We hope you are all having a wonderful holiday.

Join us next week for more from the Whitewater Historical Society.

Paul Jhona writes, “A no fly zone exists around Holy Hill for drones. You reach a point in height and closeness where you are stopped by an invisible barrier from going any higher or closer. What an impressive Religious Site!”

Our thanks to Paul Jhona AKA “A Bird’s View” for another beautiful drone photo.

— Our Readers Share: We hope that you might have something that you’d be willing to share.  Anything that’s been created by someone else should, of course, be credited, and you should ask their permission if you’re able. We cannot post copyrighted material without permission. We can’t guarantee that we’ll have space for all submissions, and contributions will be subject to editorial board approval. The one definite exclusion is anything politically oriented. We will assume that you’re willing for us to include your name as the submitter unless you indicate that you prefer to remain anonymous. Send to whitewaterbanner@gmail.com. Thanks for thinking about this!

Share This

John’s Disposal will be closed on Thursday, November 23, 2023, in observance of Thanksgiving Day.

Please note the following route changes:

• Thursday’s (Thanksgiving Day) route is delayed to Friday, November 24.

• Friday’s route is delayed to Saturday, November 25.

Additional questions may be directed to John’s Disposal at (262) 473-4700.

By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

It was standing room only at the Common Council meeting on November 7, and it seemed evident that most of the crowd was there to show support for the inclusion in the ’24-25 budget of the proposed $3,000,000 borrowing for the Irvin L. Young Library renovation and expansion. The council had presented the library with a challenge in 2021 to raise half of the estimated cost, with the city borrowing the other half in January, 2024 if the library completed the fundraising in time. The library raised more than $2,300,000 to be added to the library reserves of $840,000.

As was known when the challenge was made, a council cannot guarantee that a future council will support a promise of this nature. Three current councilmembers were newly elected since 2021. Recently there had been some concerns expressed about the pledge. Jill Gerber had raised the question as to whether two council members who had supported the fundraising campaign would have a conflict of interest and consequently might need to recuse themselves from voting on the library funding. Additionally, one council person is a member of the Capital Campaign Leadership Committee. Jonathan McDonell, city attorney, provided an opinion that the contributions and committee membership would not represent a conflict of interest.

At the November 7 meeting, Gerber expressed concern that the public be aware that in addition to the proposed library project, the city has “a full agenda of costly projects to prioritize,” including: $1.7 million for reconstruction of Ann, Fremont and Forest Streets and resurfacing of Walworth Avenue, demolition ($300,000) or rehabilitation ($1.5 million) of the Starin Park water tower, a $10 million streets garage, the Police Department needing three new additional officers, increased expenses for the Aquatic and Fitness Center, and possible increased costs under a new agreement with UW-W for the Innovation Center. In addition, last year the citizens approved a $1.2 million referendum for fire and EMS services. Nonetheless, Gerber appreciated the many messages of support she had received for the library, and she indicated that she would continue to support the borrowing. Positive comments were also made by James Allen, David Stone and Brienne Brown.

Lukas Schreiber obviously anticipated that there would be a large number of public comments, as he offered to use a timer to keep track of the three minute limit. The first three speakers were all leaders in the fundraising efforts: Jim Winship, Jon Kachel, and Gayle Stettler. All reflected on the rewarding experience they had in garnering support for the project. Kachel stated that when asking for money, sometimes you get the door slammed, but “the door never shut.” Kristine Zaballos reminisced that her late grandmother served on the library board, whom she knew would say “thank you” to all who have contributed to the project. Zaballos called the facility a “gem.” Allen seemed surprised when no other citizens approached the podium. City Manager John Weidl opined, “I think they heard what they wanted.”

The proposed $3,000,000 borrowing in January, 2024 for the library project will be included in the budget that is presented to the council for consideration on Tuesday, November 21.

At the