The following individuals were either recently charged in Walworth County Circuit Court or recently made their initial court appearance.
Jason D. Cardinal, 38, 1154 W. Walworth Ave., has been charged with possession of narcotic drugs, possession of THC, driving a vehicle without the owner’s consent, and possession of drug paraphernalia. If convicted, he faces up to seven years and ten months in prison and $30,500 in fines.
Alec J. Forret, 23, 232 S. Summit St., has been charged with bail jumping, misdemeanor bail jumping, and possession of drug paraphernalia. If convicted, he faces up to six years and ten months in prison and $20,500 in fines.
Scot H. Inscore, 32, 116 S. Whiton St., B, has been charged with possession with intent to deliver cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years and one month in prison and $100,500 in fines.
Rock County Sheriff’s Dept. Press Release – Aug. 24 – Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic we are all enduring this year, there has been a significant increase in the number of citizens enjoying our rivers and creeks located within Rock County. The most popular method of travel utilized by those individuals new to water sports has been the use of human powered vessels such as kayaks, canoes and inflatable tubes. While the Rock County Sheriff’s Office encourages the public to enjoy the summer weather and the Rock County waterways, we want to remind everyone to do so in the safest manner possible and to adhere to all applicable laws and regulations.
As a reminder Wisconsin State Statute 30.62(3)(A) requires “Every boat, except a sailboard and except as provided in par. (b), shall carry at least one personal flotation device prescribed by federal regulations for each person on board or being attended by the boat, so placed as to be readily accessible and available to the persons.”
This statute applies to all of the above mentioned vessels regardless if they are motorized or not.
(Studio 84 Submission) Studio 84 is hosting their 2nd Annual Chocolate Affair: Cupcake War Fundraiser. They are seeking a dozen bakers to enter into the event. Bakers are required to bake 48 cupcakes that are decorated. The main requirement is that these cupcakes worship chocolate! An entry form to show off your baking skills is available online at www.studio84inc.org Entry fee is only $20.
They are also seeking 48 tasters who will be our judges. The only requirement is that they worship chocolate too and aren’t allergic to it! Tickets for the event are $20 and there are raffle tickets for a chance to win an awesome “Death by Chocolate” candy creation made by board member Julie Witt. Raffle tickets are 1/$2 or 8/$5.
To keep this event safe for all, the event is curbside. Tasters can pick up their cupcakes on Saturday, October 3 from 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. without getting out of their cars. Details and ticket purchases can be found at www.studio84inc.org
Tasters will be able to vote for the best decorated and best tasting via a google form sent to them before the event date.
Director of Studio 84, Deborah Blackwell, states, “We already have two entries and are excited for this year’s event even though we couldn’t hold it in person. With being closed for 3 months and running at a 30% capacity with students in order to keep them as safe as possible, our budget took a major hit. We hated the thought of canceling this great fundraiser, so came up with a creative solution. We hope to gain a dozen bakers and then sell only 48 taster tickets, this way each taster should receive a dozen cupcakes to judge.” Deborah adds, “Last year’s winner, Stephanie Bailey, earned the title of Best Chocolate Cake in the County for her entry. This year we are happy to add a decorating winner along with a best tasting cupcake winner.”
“Only a couple hours after getting the word out we already had two entries, so only 10 positions are left, ” Blackwell stated. The first entry is from Whitewater. Sarah Hoots loves baking and while she’s most famous for her pies, she said, she loves chocolate and is excited to enter and support Studio 84.
First entry: Sarah Hoots hard at work baking
Below: Last year’s winner: Stephanie Bailey earned the title “Best Chocolate Cake in the County”
A special invite to those who think they have the best chocolate cake recipe and for those who love to eat chocolate cake! Watch a fun video on the Cake War: https://youtu.be/T5zwJoE1gaE
(Whitewater Lions Club Submission) The Whitewater Lions Club will be helping to feed hungry children at Lakeview Elementary School this year with their new service project opportunity in conjunction with “Lakeview Loves”. The program gives any student that signs up a bag of food for the weekend. This program ensures that no Lakeview student goes hungry.
Lakeview Loves volunteers had the opportunity to talk to the Whitewater Lions Club about the need to continue to distribute food and the impact that COVID has had on the program.
From Lakeview Loves communications: “Because we can’t have volunteers in our school building, the Lions Club voted to help us store and pack Loves bags on a rotational basis. We will have a plan in place to store food safely at the club and at school to reduce COVID transmission risks. And the Lions will pack for us! That in itself is amazing! But that’s not all. They had a food drive for us too! Several bags of food were donated as well as a check from a dedicated member. As one member commented, ‘It’s all for the kids!'”.
Whitewater Urban Forestry Commission Starin Park Arboretum Subcommittee
Agenda
Initial Meeting Saturday, August 29, 2020 at 10 a.m. at Starin Park Lower Shelter Call to Order by Chair Stanek: Roll Call: Goal of Subcommittee: To form a consortium made up of the City of Whitewater City Forester, City Parks Director, Whitewater UFC, UW-W, Historic Starin Park Neighborhood, Whitewater School District and corporate sponsors to create an educational arboretum at Starin Park in Whitewater to encourage and inspire community members and visitors to understand the importance of trees and to teach stewardship of them in our environment. Expected initial members are: Brian Neumeister, City Forester, Sherry Stanek, UFC Chair, Nick Alt, UFC Member, Rose Mary Leaver, UFC Member, Bill Chandler, Retired Teacher, Jim Nies, Retired Teacher and Morton Arboretum Educational Volunteer & HSPN member and future members who would like to work toward this goal. The plan is to use existing trees at Starin Park as well as native trees to be planted in the future as funds allow using the consortium’s members fundraising. Jim Nies has articulated a detailed proposal for this project and will be used as the template as we begin. Discussion and introduction: Jim Nies will lead this meeting to inform members of his ideas and plans for action to make this proposed arboretum a reality as we outline the steps to begin our mission. Next steps: Action Items: Next meeting: TBD
Community members are invited to “Get creative at home with common household items. Learn how to turn old or recyclable materials into a new creative project. Visit the Library’s Facebook page or YouTube channel to view live programs and past events.” Whitewater Public Library Submission.
WHITEWATER− Lucas A. Burns, age 30, of Whitewater, passed away after his courageous battle with cancer on Monday, August 24, 2020 at the UW Hospital in Madison. Lucas was born in Janesville on December 12, 1989; the son of Jim and Michelle (Edgington) Burns. After graduating from Craig High School in Janesville, Lucas earned Bachelor Degrees in Criminology and Sociology from UW-Whitewater in 2012. While attending college, Lucas played for the Warhawks men’s basketball team, winning the National Championship in 2012. He was an outgoing guy with a great smile; a friend to everyone he met. Lucas was a big “foodie” and never turned down a trip to Taco Bell; he enjoyed spending time with family and friends, watching movies and playing video games. Lucas and his dad, Jim, own and operate 841 Brewhouse in Whitewater, where staff and customers became a second family. Lucas will forever live on in the hearts of his family and friends.
He is survived by his parents: Michelle Burns and Jim Burns; brothers: Derek J. Burns of Racine, Trevor R. Burns of Janesville, and Garett J. Burns of Whitewater; grandmothers: Marlene Edgington and Doris Kuehne; aunts and uncles: Georgiana Edgington, Michael Edgington, Gary (Cynthia) Burns, Girlie Burns, and Ronda (Dan) Bowe; cousins: Kari (Mark) Schuh, Danielle (David) Moyer, Alyssa (Tom) Arneson, and Grant (Shelby) Bowe; and all of the people he knew and loved.
Lucas is preceded in death by his Grandpa Al Kuehne; Grandpa Jim Edgington; and uncles, Greg Burns and Joe Burns.
A celebration of Lucas’ life will be held from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 6, 2020 at 841 Brewhouse in Whitewater. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Lucas Burns Memorial Scholarship, which has been set up at the First Citizens State Bank in Whitewater. SCHNEIDER FUNERAL HOME & CREMATORY is assisting the family. For online condolences and guestbook, please visit: www.schneiderfuneraldirectors.com
Banner note: The Gazette of August 27 has a front page article about Lucas titled, “That was his DNA: Lucas Burns spread goodwill wherever he went.”
Per a press release issued by Director of University Communications Jeff Angileri – In the sunbathed city of Tanta in northern Egypt, where the Nile River delta fans toward the Mediterranean Sea, a girl grew up in a house of poetry.
The house included parents Ibrahim and Layla, who loved books and taught in the high school. Literature, lively discussions and the aroma of cardamom-spiced Turkish coffee were ever-present in the family home.
The child, named Hala, loved to sit with her father, an Arabic language teacher and “an amazing man.” They bonded in front of the television where the two would count the gaffs of television newscasters reading Arabic, which has both spoken and written dialects.
Hala Ghoneim serves basbusa, a dessert recipe from her native Egypt at home on Friday, August 7, 2020. UW-Whitewater associate professor Hala Ghoneim, who teaches Arabic language and World of Ideas courses has received the New Directions in the Humanities International Award for Excellence. (UW-Whitewater photo/Craig Schreiner)
“My dad would recite poetry at the dinner table,” she said, remembering the readings over evening meals of cheese, falafel, olives, eggs and yogurt with her mother and two sisters. “The Arabic word for a line of poetry is ‘bayt,’ which also means ‘house.’ So people literally dwelt in these houses of poetry.”
This love of scholarship carried Hala Ghoneim into university at Cairo and doctoral work at UW-Madison. Now an associate professor in the Department of Languages and Literatures at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Ghoneim teaches four levels of Arabic, a World of Ideas course and a course about Islam.
“I now teach Arabic like my dad, but in a different setting and level,” she said. “My mom taught philosophy, and I teach ‘World of Ideas,’ which involves a philosophy component.”
Ghoneim’s scholarly article based on her study of three contemporary Egyptian playwrights, “Indigenization and Modernization: The Invention of a Truly Egyptian Drama,” has earned the 2020 International Award of Excellence from the New Direction in Humanities Journal Collection.
The research paper, which was published in the International Journal of Critical Cultural Studies, deals with three contemporary, Egypt-born playwrights — Tawfiq al-Hakim, Yusuf Idris and Naguib Surur — and how each sought an authentic Egyptian writing for theatre while coping with inevitable Western influences.
“This literary debate is true to other aspects in real life,” said Ghoneim. “And so it really is not (limited to) literature. How do we achieve progress and not renounce authenticity? What does progress mean? Sometimes it means moving away from tradition. Sometimes it means moving back to tradition.”
“I enjoy reading al-Hakim but I am very critical of his thought process,” she said, showing her father’s love of language and then her philosopher-mother’s quest for truth. “I am capable of liking something and being critical of it at the same time. We (scholars) have to be in the in-between state of embracing something but not the whole thing.”
“All of them are really amazing writers,” she adds. She describes al-Hakim as an intellectual who was in a hurry for Egyptian theatre to catch up with the West. The works of Idris and Surur are more relatable for general audiences, particularly Surur, who, ironically, is not translated in the West. All three playwrights were active in the mid-to-late 20th century and all are deceased.
In her current research, Ghoneim focuses on two contemporary women writers who also are striving for an authentic voice amid forces of male dominance, nationalism and post-colonialism, and who want to be understood, not stereotyped. This can mean simply being seen as brave rather than oppressed, she said.
At UW-Whitewater, undergraduate students in the required World of Ideas class see Ghoneim as a genuine scholar and teacher who loves what she does. They are drawn into debates over such texts as Plato’s “Republic” because Ghoneim brings the ideas from the writings into the here-and-now.
“Every reading of a text is a new birth to that text,” she said “It’s really rewarding when, after a few weeks, they’re valuing the new revelations they acquire as they do this. Every meeting has to tell the students why this is relevant to us today.”
At UW-Whitewater, professors are classroom teachers and researchers in that order, a model which fits Ghoneim perfectly.
“I think people ultimately must teach what they know,” she said. “Just knowing something and not sharing it is like cooking an amazing meal and not sharing it with someone. You’re supposed to do research, with the goal of sharing the knowledge and teaching people what you know.”
“Education opened windows of opportunity for me,” added Ghoneim. “It changed my opinions. It freed my thought. I want what I know to be transmitted to somebody else. That’s what teaching does.”
Per a press release issued by the Whitewater Arts Alliance – As part of the Metals Exhibit at the Cultural Arts Center (CAC), the Whitewater Arts Alliance, in collaboration with the UW-Whitewater Sculpture Department, will be hosting an outdoor aluminum pour on Sunday, September 27, 2:00 pm – 4:00 p.m. at the CAC, located at 402 W. Main Street in Whitewater.
In preparation for the pour, CAC Gallery Manager Taylor McDarison will teach a Scratchblock Workshop on Sunday, September 13, 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. at the CAC. Attendees will learn how to carve a scratchblock to create a metal casting mold. The molds will then be used in the aluminum pour on September 27, and attendees will have a metal tile of their own design to take home with them. The workshop is kid-friendly for ages 5 and up; children under 16 should be accompanied by an adult. In observance of COVID-19 precautions, the workshop registration is limited to 14 people and masks must be worn.
The general public can also participate by purchasing a scratchblock to take home, carve, and bring back for the aluminum pour. The cost of the workshop is $30.00 and includes the scratchblock and tools are provided. The cost of a scratchblock to take home is $25.00. The workshop registration deadline is September 6. Registration is available online here.
Metal pours are fun to watch, and the public is invited to join us on September 27 in the CAC parking lot for the pour. If you have any questions, please contact Taylor McDarison at wwartsalliance@gmail.com.
Big thanks to our sponsor!
Whitewater’s Cultural Arts Center is located on 402 West Main Street in the historic White building near the Birge Fountain. Parking is behind the building, with an elevator available from the parking lot entrance. Parking is also available on side streets.
The mission of the Whitewater Arts Alliance is to promote the visual and performing arts through an alliance of artists, individuals, educational resources, and organizations to promote creativity and diversity that will serve to educate and enrich the lives of the residents of the Whitewater community and surrounding areas.
