Dustin Reichwald

Memory Café Meeting at Irvin L. Young Memorial Library

The Irvin L. Young Memorial Library, in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association, is hosting a monthly Memory Café for individuals who are living with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), early-stage Alzheimer’s or other dementia, and their care partners. This free social event is held on the second Monday of every month in the Library Community Room at 431 W. Center St. in Whitewater, at 10:30 am.

The next meeting will be January 14th. The theme will be Lawn Games, with indoor picnic games.

The Memory Café offers participants a safe and fun way to share their stories and socialize with others who have similar experiences. Learn how staying physically, socially and mentally active is good for the brain.

Registration is required for first-time attendees. Please call 800-272-3900 to register.

December 2018: A very busy month for the UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club.

Article by Jeanine Fassl of the UWW/Community Optimist Club

Shown above are some of the more than 50 volunteers who help to make the annual UWW/Community Optimist Club’s Breakfast with Santa a huge success!

For over 25 years, December has always been a very busy month for the UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club. The members of this community service group love to spread Christmas cheer throughout the Holidays with their involvement in Whitewater’s Annual Holiday Parade, the club’s annual Breakfast with Santa, Toys for Kids toy drive, and Mitten Tree events!

Again this year, Frosty the snowman got a first class ride in the city’s Christmas Parade on Dec. 7th. He was also present for our Annual Breakfast with Santa the following day.

These three “characters”, John Foss, A’viand’s food service Gen. Manager of Esker Dining Hall, Santa and Frosty were major highlights of Breakfast with Santa on Dec. 8.

On December 8th, Breakfast with Santa served a total of 671 people this year; 365 adults and 306 children. Over 50 volunteers of the UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club, UW-Whitewater Student Optimist Club, and Whitewater High School Octagon Club helped run this event where families could enjoy breakfast, meet and take pictures with Santa and Frosty, listen to Christmas carolers, and the music of the brass duet of Dr. Don Deal, retired Band Director of Whitewater High School, and Griffin James, who is the current band director at Baraboo High School and a WHS grad.

This year, the Toys for Kids drive helped families in the Whitewater area. Children’s names were distributed to area churches and businesses for community members to pick up and buy gifts for. A special thanks is given to the First Congregational United Church of Christ, First English Lutheran Church, First United Methodist Church, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, for hosting the Toys for Kids drive in their facilities. The UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club would also like to thank the UW-Whitewater Student Optimists, who helped our members sort and wrap more than 300 presents on Monday, December 17. The gifts were distributed through the Whitewater Food Pantry.

Marjorie A. Connell, 90, of Elkhorn, WI died peacefully Friday January 4, 2019 at Aurora Lakeland Medical Center surrounded by her family.

She was born July 16, 1928, in Chicago, IL the daughter of the late Walter H. and Antoinette A. (Wink) Schweik. She was united in marriage to John Jay Connell on September 15, 1951, in Chicago, IL. John died on February 22, 2012. She enjoyed traveling, fishing, and playing cards. Marjorie was a homemaker who was a loving and devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother who will be deeply missed by her six children: John J. (Lisa) Connell of Crystal Lake, IL, Cathleen A. Connell of McHenry, IL, Eileen M. (Vincent) Marzano of McHenry, IL, Richard W. (Karen) Connell of Elkhorn, WI, Randall A. (Teresa) Connell of Janesville, WI and Maureen C. (Wayne) Quass of Whitewater, WI, daughter-in-law: Taina Connell of Myrtle Beach SC and son-in-law: Pat Martin of McHenry, IL, twenty two grandchildren and twenty great-grandchildren, two brothers: Lawrence (Nanci) Schweik of Bartlett, IL and Harold (Anita) Schweik of Schofield, WI and by a host of other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, John, her son Gary Connell and her daughter Christine Connell-Martin.

Visitation will be 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM with Rosary recited at 7:45 PM Thursday January 10, 2019 at Haase-Lockwood & Associates Funeral Homes and Crematory 730 N. Wisconsin Street Elkhorn, WI.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held 11:00 AM Friday January 11, 2019 at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church 107 W. Walworth Street Elkhorn, WI with Bishop Raymond Goedert officiating. Burial will be at St. Patrick Catholic Cemetery McHenry, IL at a later date.

On-line guestbook is at www.haaselockwoodfhs.com.

Whippets take down Fort Atkinson, 39-38

Comments From Coach Lippens:

This was a big win for us coming off of a 3 game losing streak. Key factors in this win were communicating on defense, keeping our turnovers down, and being patient on offense. Kacie Carollo led with 11 points followed Emma Sellnow with 10, and 7 from both Jocelin Beecroft and Abby Grosinske.

Wrestlers takedown Kettle Moraine Lasers coming off winter break

Article by John Schimming

David Cushman finished 11th. (Photo by Bob Mischka)

On Thursday, the students were back to school after their winter break and the wrestlers took the mat on Thursday evening to take on the Lasers from Kettle Moraine. The wrestlers were given some time off after participating in a competitive Mid-States Classic tournament that featured 42 teams, many of which were ranked as well as numerous state place winners from last season. This was a well deserved time off as the team wrestled their hearts out. Reaching day 2 and finishing in the top twelve were Marcus DePorter (12th), David Cushman (11th), Carter Friend (10th) and Amaru Casas (12). Well done by these four young men.

Thursday the team defeated Kettle Moraine by a score of 46-24. Kettle Moraine did forfeit a couple of weight classes but those student-athletes that they have are tough. Coming away with big wins for themselves was Trenten Zahn and David Cushman. Zahn took his state ranked opponent into overtime before Zahn was able to take him down to his back for a 10-5 victory. Cushman also defeated a very good opponent by a score of 8-4.

This victory pushed the team’s record on the season in dual meets to 4-0. The teams next competition is on Saturday when they travel to Big Foot to participate in the Rock Valley Conference Duals. This will prove to be a big test for the team as they will have five dual meets versus; East Troy, Evansville, Edgerton, Jefferson and Turner. All five of these duals will be very competitive with many good student-athletes going head to head. Wrestling begins at 9:00 with the Whippets competing in the East Gym at Big Foot High School.

Public Art Project Kicks off January 27

On Sunday, January 27 at 2:30 p.m. the Whitewater Arts Alliance will kick-off its 2019 Public Art Project- Portals to the Past: Portals to the Future of Our Community, with a special presentation by Carol Cartwright, at the Cultural Arts Center, 402 West Main Street. Cartwright is a local historian and president of Whitewater Historical Society. Cartwright will inform and inspire prospective public artists with an interesting look back at Whitewater’s history.

The portals are to be painted on plywood boards measuring 24 x 42 inches. The plywood for the boards will be provided free of charge to anyone who wishes to participate in this annual project.

The art will hang during the summer from the light poles in the downtown area. Each artist can include a story of his/her vision, and it will be included on the Whitewater Strive On app. Strive On utilizes the GPS on smartphones and will take individuals on a walking tour of the portals.

The annual public art project aims to provide a fun way for businesses, individuals, families and friends to participate in a fun and educational experience. Artists are encouraged to make their portals creative, whimsical, colorful, and fun!

The Whitewater Arts Alliance will have materials and instructions ready for pickup on January 27 at 2:30 p.m. If an artist would like to participate but can’t transport the boards, an Arts Alliance member will deliver them. Opportunities to sponsor a portal will also be available. This is one of the major fund-raisers for the WAA each year.

The boards will also be available at the Cultural Arts Center during gallery hours, Thursdays through Sundays from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. beginning February 1 during the Quilt Show.

Pack 173 & Troop 173 spent time over the holidays thanking the following businesses for their support .

The groups would like to thank First Citizens State Bank, American Legion, Lion’s Club, Whitewater Park & Rec, Whitewater Police Department, Casey’s General Store, SweetSpot, Walmart, Culver’s, True Value, Triebold’s, Uncle Bucks Gas Station, Dalee Water, Home Lumber and First English Lutheran Church for their support.

Junior Varsity Wrestlers take part in Challenge Series Tournament

Article by Juan Gomez

Saturday, the Whitewater JV Wrestling team took part in the 5th annual Wisconsin Wrestling Challenge Series Regional. There were eight Regionals going on throughout the state. The JV wrestling team wrestled at Middleton High School. Unlike the regular state tournament series The Challenge Series is made up of all three divisions so the Whippets competed against athletes from any school in their region, including Stoughton, Lake Geneva, and Elkhorn. This served as a good test for the Whitewater JV wrestling team to measure up on the mat. The whippets had fourteen wrestlers who took part in the tournament. The team started the day off strong although some wrestlers did take some hard losses. The coaches are proud to have four wrestlers reach the semifinals and elated to have two of those four athletes move on. Diego Tovar and Denver Isbell took third place in this really tough wrestling tournament and will be representing themselves and our school at the Wisconsin Wrestling Challenge Series. They get an opportunity to take part in one of the largest in-season jv wrestling tournaments on Saturday, January 19 is Wausau, WI. They should be proud of their accomplishment.

Other student-athletes that did well during the tournament included; Dylan Duclos and Crisitan Reyes, each taking fourth and will be alternates for the challenge series finals. Gavin Fritz, Brianna Staebler and Victor Hernandez each took 6th place and Blake Wegner placed 8th out of 19 in his weight class. Cooper Hammond had a very nice day coming away with a record of 3-2 with a couple pins but was one win short of placing.

Crazy Rich Asians – Tuesday, January 8 at 12:30 PM, Seniors in the Park

Crazy Rich Asians is a 2018 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jon M. Chu, from a screenplay by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Kevin Kwan. The film stars Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Nico Santos, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, and Michelle Yeoh. It follows a Chinese American professor who travels to meet her boyfriend’s family and is surprised to discover they are among the richest in Singapore.

When: Tuesday, January 8 at 12:30 PM

Where: Seniors in the Park

Movie Info: Rated PG-13; 2 hours (2018)

Upcoming City & Community Meetings: Week of Janaury 7 – 13

***Canceled*** Whitewater School District Policy Review Committee – Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at 8:00 am at the Whitewater Unified School District Central Office (Agenda)

City of Whitewater Finance Committee – Tuesday, January 8, 2019, at 6:00 pm at the Whitewater Municipal Building, City Manager’s Conference Room (Agenda)

City of Whitewater Public Works Committee – Tuesday, January 8, 2019, at 6:00 pm at the Whitewater Municipal Building, Cravath Lakefront Room (Agenda)