| School Board Appreciation Week set for Oct. 6-12 The Wisconsin Association of School Boards has set Oct. 6-12 as Wisconsin School Board Appreciation Week as a time to build awareness and understanding of the vital function an elected board of education plays in our communities. The Superintendents from Cambridge, Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, Johnson Creek, Lake Mills, and Whitewater are joining together to celebrate Wisconsin School Board Appreciation Week to honor local board members for their commitment to our area school districts and the children and families they serve. The six area superintendents share the sentiment that it takes strong schools to build strong communities, and the men and women of our school boards devote countless hours to making sure our schools are helping every child learn at a higher level. Our school boards make tough decisions every month and spend many hours studying education issues and regulations in order to provide the kind of accountability our communities expect. The key work of school boards is to raise student achievement by: ● Creating a vision for what the community wants the school district to be and for making student achievement the top priority; ● Establishing standards for what students will be expected to learn and be able to do; ● Ensuring progress is measured to be sure the district’s goals are achieved and students are learning at expected levels; ● Being accountable for their decisions and actions by continually tracking and reporting results; ● Creating a safe, orderly climate where students can learn and teachers can teach; ● Forming partnerships with others in the community to solve common problems; and ● Focusing attention on the need for continuous improvement by questioning, refining and revising issues related to student achievement. All six superintendents further state, “School board members give the Cambridge, Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, Johnson Creek, Lake Mills, and Whitewater community members a voice in education decision making. Even though we make a special effort to show our appreciation in October, their contribution is a year-round commitment.” The members serving the Whitewater Unified School District and their years of service are as follows: Casey Judd, President (10 years); Kelly Davis, Vice President (5 years); Steve Ryan, Clerk (9 years); Jim Stewart, Treasurer (25 years); Tom Ganser (3 years); Jennifer Kienbaum (1 year); Miguel Aranda (1 year) |
Lynn Binnie
Walworth County Clean Sweep Household Waste Collection in Elkhorn TODAY from 8 a.m. – noon
FRIDAY, 10/4, 3-5 p.m. – City of Whitewater, Public Works Complex, 150 E. Starin Road, Whitewater
SATURDAY, 10/5, 8 a.m. – noon, Walworth County Public Works Dept., W4097 County Road NN, Elkhorn
Clean Sweep is dedicated to the collection & proper disposal of household hazardous waste products. Services are available to Walworth County (including all of Whitewater) household residents, free-of-charge, and preregistration is not required.
What is household hazardous waste? It is the unusable portion of a household product containing volatile chemicals that are flammable, corrosive, explosive, reactive, or toxic. These products are identified by looking at labels, which are generally marked CAUSTIC, ACID, DANGER, FLAMMABLE, WARNING, or POISON.
EXAMPLES: AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCTS – Motor oil, brake fluid, old fuel, carb cleaner, vehicle batteries, antifreeze, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, engine cleaner, ALL aerosol cans
YARD & GARDEN PRODUCTS – Herbicides, cyanide, weed-n-feed, fungicides, rodent bait, ketone, lindane, insecticides, stump remover, pest control products, arsenic, heptachlor, silvex, DDT.
HOME PRODUCTS – Mildew cleaner, silver polish, drain cleaner, fluorescent bulbs, mercury thermometers & thermostats, spot remover, dry cleaning fluid, pool chemicals, rechargeable batteries.
WORKSHOP PRODUCTS – Lacquer, mineral spirits, turpentine, gun cleaning fluids, tar or asphalt-based driveway sealer, varnish, glues, adhesives, paint stripper, photo chemicals, oil-based paints or paints with additives (latex paint is not accepted.)
Clean Sweep DOES NOT ACCEPT alkaline batteries, computer/electronic items, household cleaners in usable condition, ammunition/explosives, radioactive materials, hardened petroleum-based products like seal coat, compressed gas cylinders, vehicle tires, latex paint.
WASTE HANDLING & TRANSPORTATION GUIDELINES: Keep waste products in their original containers. Place products in a cardboard box lined with plastic. Do not mix any products together. Transport products in the trunk of your vehicle.
Whitewater’s 29th CROP Hunger Walk – This Sun., 10/6
50 years since the first Walk in 1969!
10/3/19 Article in The Gazette: “Whitewater Boy Dies Five Months After the Happiest Moment of Life”
Lincoln Elementary School student Christian Valdez, age 7, passed away on September 29. His obituary may be found in that section of The Banner.
Please click here for the article in the 10/3/19 Gazette: https://www.gazettextra.com/news/local/whitewater-boy-dies-five-months-after-the-happiest-moment-of/article_02799ba9-d246-5413-b32c-286e22773b26.html
Help Wanted: Clerk/Treasurer for Town of Whitewater
HELP WANTED
The Town of Whitewater is looking to fill the part-time Clerk/Treasurer position.
Salary and hours will be determined on an individual basis.
Please check the state website for State Statutes 60.33-60.34 for duties of Clerk/Treasurer.
Please send your letter of interest and a resume by October 15, 2019 to
Town of Whitewater
For more information please email Carrie Hintz, Clerk/Treasurer at townofwhitewater@yahoo.com
Whitewater Tennis Completes Regular Season with 15-8 Record
From Coach Tim Nelson
Whitewater Tennis at Beloit Memorial
The Whippets wrapped up their 2019 regular season with a 6-1 victory over Beloit Memorial. The win gives Whitewater a final record of 15-8.
We got a few kids healthy from last week, but had one more go down over the weekend and another playing not at full speed. I was pleased with how we played; we were able to work on some things and get some match play in.
Anisa Dauti filled in for us at #2 singles and played probably her best match of the year winning 6-2, 6-2. Tessa Papcke at 3 singles and Josie Hintz at 4 singles came back strong after fighting illness last week to win their matches convincingly 6-2, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-0.
All three doubles teams, Odessa Sonn and Sophie Olson at 1, Melanie Reyes and Mariana Cano at 2, and Katelyn Lashley and Emily Scherer at 3 were solid tonight. All three won with identical 6-1, 6-0 scores.
The Whippets begin tournament play this coming Monday, Oct. 7 at 9 am with sub-sectional play at Racine Prairie High School.
Christian Daniel Valdez, 7, Whitewater, passed away as a result of an accident.
Christian was born on April 22, 2012 in Fort Atkinson to Israel and Ana (Jimenez Tagle) Valdez. He was a second grader at Lincoln Elementary School in Whitewater. Christian loved playing with his brother, sister, cousins and his cat. He was a happy child who loved giving his mother hugs and kisses. He is survived by his parents and siblings Erick and Brianna. He was baptized at St. Patrick Catholic Church.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Patrick Catholic Church 1225 W. Main St. Whitewater, WI 53190. Burial will follow at the Calvary Cemetery in Whitewater. A visitation will be held on Wednesday at the church from 9:00 a.m. until the time of the service.
Donations may be made to the family.
The Nitardy Funeral Home, Whitewater, WI is assisting the family, www.nitardyfuneralhome.com
“A Cat in the Ghetto” Book Discussion Thurs., 10/3 (Date corrected): Discuss the book at the library and watch the play on campus.
A Cat in the Ghetto
Thursday, October 3
4:00 p.m.
The library is partnering with the UW Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department with their productions for the year. We will be discussing the book “A Cat in the Ghetto”, the book that the play, “Resort 76” is based on. Come discuss the book at the public library and watch the play on campus. This event is free and open to everyone.
DOT Update on Hwy 12/CTH N Intersection
On September 30 representatives of the WI Department of Transportation (DOT), the City of Whitewater, and the Walworth County Sheriff’s Department, together with State Senator Janis Ringhand, and State Representative Don Vruwink met with the public to discuss the recent improvements to the 12/N intersection and receive feedback.
A double-fatality crash had occurred on August 1, followed by a single fatality crash on August 8. DOT had indicated that improvements to the intersection were scheduled for the summer of 2020. A meeting between DOT and state, county and local representatives was held on August 20 to discuss what could be done on a more timely basis. DOT installed a camera from August 22-28 to monitor the intersection. On August 24 they implemented flashing yellow left turn arrows for traffic in all four directions. DOT representatives indicated that the surveillance for the several days after the installation of the flashing arrows showed that most drivers were waiting to enter the intersection until oncoming traffic was clearing, and that the northbound Hwy 12 traffic turning to Hwy N was generally allowing for larger gaps in oncoming traffic before turning. No crashes have been reported since that date.
Members of the public generally expressed the feeling that the flashing yellow turn lights have improved the safety of the intersection. Friends of the families who were involved in the first crash emotionally stated their belief that the DOT waited too long to make improvements, as there have been approximately 40 crashes since January, 2015.
Suggestions from community members for other possible safety enhancements included: 1) Reduce the speed limit at the intersection or throughout the bypass to 45 m.p.h.; 2) Change the left turn signals to red and green; 3) Install warning lights approximately 800′ before the intersection to flash when the signals are about to change; 4) Install on/off ramps.
DOT indicated that they would take the suggestions into consideration and will continue to monitor all three bypass intersections. Some additional improvements are still scheduled for next summer. The representatives acknowledged that the bypass was designed to be a four-lane highway, with that configuration not anticipated to be constructed for the foreseeable future.
Janesville Cross Country Invitational
In the 82nd running of the Janesville Midwest Cross Country Invitational, the Whippets walked away with a slew of personal bests in what was the fastest course and best weather so far in the 2019 season. This meet has 45 teams represented from across Wisconsin, neighboring states and a team from Houston, Texas. With the size of this meet, there are 3 races contested for each gender, they include the varsity race, blue race and white race. With a tremendous amount of large school representation, this meet can have a little bit of a “small fish in a big pond” type of feel to Whitewater. Rubbing elbows with the best runners, no matter what division, helps the program take a step forward both in growth and experience as they move closer to the goal of running their best in the championship portion of the season.
Every varsity boy ran a personal best either for the season or a lifetime personal best. Trenten Zahn placed 50th with a time of 16:57. He was steady in his pacing and was rewarded with a nice time and place in the loaded field. Gio Anello, Cooper Hammond, Peter Zimdars, CJ Tomomitsu, Will Hofmann and Mason West all ran gutsy races and propelled the team to a 5th place finish within D2 schools and 26th overall. The blue race was led by Manny Rodriguez who debuted in his first race after a nagging knee injury to place 171st in 19:20. Jack Mayer, Evan Schepp and Jaden Salmieri all ran personal bests for the season in this race. They finished in 23rd overall as a team.The white race featured Broderick Frye leading the team to a 38th place finish. He ran a new personal best of 22:00 and was flanked by teammates Josiah Holder, Keith Cameron and Ben McCulloch throughout the race. Seeing them pack together and feed off each other in the race was great to see as that was a team goal for this meet. They were all rewarded with big time drops. Senior Justin Mitchell also cut more than a minute off his person best.
On the girls side, the varsity girls placed 35th and led by sophomore Gwen Truesdale. She dropped her personal best down to 24:18 and placed 225th. Sabrina Bomberg is crushing every time she toes the line and cut just over a minute off her previous best which was set last week. Rounding out the varsity team were Olive Coburn, Sophie Walton and Nikole Pelot. In the white race the Whippets were led by Jenny Villarreal as they place 29th overall. She blazed the course in 27:53 and looked strong. Emma Weigel and Caelyn Caputo really rocked it and smoked the course together. They each cut in excess of 2 minutes off their previous season bests. Not to be left out of the fun, Jeannette Falcon equaled that time drop by posting a new person best of close to 2 minutes as well.
This is the first of three meets the Whippets will be racing over the course of the next six days. On Tuesday the teams travel to Jefferson for a 12-team invite and finish on Friday at the 4th annual Nightfall Classic, which is a meet contested entirely under large flood lights. It’s gonna be a great week!
Full Results: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/161479/results
