News

Editor’s Note: The following was provided by the League of Women Voters-Whitewater Area.

The League of Women Voters-Whitewater Area invites its members and the public to participate in its book club. To become more informed advocates, the club will explore the League’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policy through meaningful discussions of current notable books dealing with public policy issues of interest to the League.

Our next book discussion on White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo will be led by Dwight Watson. Copies may be obtained through the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library (262-473-0530) or the Book Teller (262-269-9109).

The next meeting will take place virtually on Thursday, May 12, 2022, from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. and include a discussion of pages ix – 98, Foreword through Chapter 6. Please contact Deb Gamble (262-458-0077 or shebagam@gmail.com) with questions or to join the group! Remember, you do not need to be a member of the League (or a woman!) to join the book discussions.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy. Visit our website at https://my.lwv.org/wisconsin/whitewater-area and like us on Facebook!

Editor’s Note: The following was provided by Fort HealthCare.

In observance of National Donate Life Month this April, Fort HealthCare has raised a Donate Life flag (April 22nd ) to honor the many organ, tissue and eye donors who gave the gift of life to so many others in need.

Observed in April each year, National Donate Life Month is intended to raise awareness about the importance and need of organ, eye, and tissue donation, to encourage Americans to register as donors, and to honor those that have saved lives through the gift of donation.

“By raising the Donate Life flag at Fort HealthCare, we are honoring the donation heroes that we have cared for within our walls and signaling our ongoing commitment to ensuring that the people who need a second chance at life will get one,” said Kathleen Gebhardt, Director of Inpatient Services. “I encourage everyone who hasn’t registered as a donor to do so today, and then share your lifesaving decision with your friends and family. Registering as a donor relieves your family of the burden of making this decision at a time of sadness and grief.”

Currently, there are more than 100,000 men, women and children awaiting organ transplants in the United States, including more than 1,500 people here in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, not all these people will receive a second chance at life.

 Approximately 6,000 people die each year (17 people each day) because the organs they need are not available.
 On average, 150 people are added to the nation’s organ transplant waiting list each day.
 A single organ and tissue donor can save or heal the lives of up to 50 people.
 In 2021, more than 41,000 transplants from 20,300 donors brought renewed life to patients and their families and communities across the Unites States.

Fort HealthCare encourages residents in the communities it serves to give hope and help save lives by registering your decision to be an organ, eye, and tissue donor at organdonor.gov, in the Medical ID tab of your iPhone Health app, or at the Wisconsin DMV. To those who have already registered their donation decision, thank you! Help continue to save lives by sharing the Donate Life message, educating others about the need and how their generosity can help save and heal lives.

Some important facts about organ, tissue, and cornea donation:
 Anyone can be a potential donor, regardless of age, race, or medical history.
 More than 1500 patients in Wisconsin are awaiting life-saving organ transplants. Thousands of others could benefit from healing tissue transplants.
 Kidneys are the organ in greatest demand—with an estimated 95,000 people across the nation awaiting one—followed by liver, heart, and lungs.
 Because conditions such as diabetes and hypertension often are more prevalent in the multicultural community, these individuals make up more than 50 percent of those on the national organ transplant list.
 Living donation is an option for both kidney and liver transplantation.
 More than 170 million people are registered organ, eye, and tissue donors.

Fort HealthCare is committed to improving the health and well-being of our communities, with a vision to be the healthiest community in Wisconsin. As the leading healthcare provider in the region, it is our goal to reach as many members of the community as possible with health and wellness messages, providing tools and resources to help individuals improve their health and quality of life, while collaborating with several partners to positively improve the population’s health overall on a long-term basis. For more information, visit FortHealthCare.com.

Editor’s note: The following information was received from a political candidate announcing that he is running for office. Any other candidate wishing to seek a political office in the Whitewater area is encouraged to provide information to be published in The Banner.

Jason Dean Announces Run for 31st Assembly District Seat

LaGrange Republican to bring experience as a Marine Corps. Veteran, Father, Businesses Leader and
Community Volunteer to State Assembly

LaGrange, April 18 – Jason Dean, a Republican from LaGrange, today announced his candidacy for the Wisconsin State Assembly. Jason is a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran, father, private sector business leader, and active
community volunteer. He promises to bring experience, commitment, and commonsense conservative
values to Madison on behalf of the people of the 31st Assembly District.

“After serving our country for over 20 years in the United States Marine Corps., I now have a strong
desire to serve Wisconsin, and I see a state in need of help. Politicians in Washington and Madison like
Joe Biden and Tony Evers are leading us in the wrong direction. I’m running to get back our way of life,
empower Wisconsin families and local communities, not big government, and return commonsense
leadership to our state,” said Jason Dean.

Jason served over two decades in the United States Marine Corps and deployed for multiple tours of
duty in Iraq. In 2006, Jason was wounded in action by enemy fire. He was subsequently awarded the
Purple Heart Medal.

Jason held leadership roles throughout his military career and achieved the rank of Master Sergeant. His
final duty station included serving as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in
the Pentagon. The same sense of service to our nation that inspired Jason to enlist in the Marine Corps
motivates his efforts to serve in elected office.

Upon his retirement from the military in 2017, Jason and his family relocated to Wisconsin and settled in
LaGrange. In 2018, Jason began volunteering for Congressman Bryan Steil’s campaign and served as
Field Director, coordinating the grassroots efforts for the campaign. After helping Congressman Steil win
the election, Jason accepted a position at ABC Supply Company, Inc. to serve on a divisional leadership
team.

On a volunteer basis, Jason serves as an Advanced EMT with the Lauderdale-LaGrange Fire Department
and on Whitewater Fire Department (WFD). In 2021, Jason was elected to the WFD Board of Directors
as the Vice-President. Jason holds leadership roles in various veterans’ service organizations in
Wisconsin including the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) where he advocates for veterans and their
benefits.

Jason lives in LaGrange with his wife, Jessica and his teenage son Jeffrey. Jason also has two adult sons
currently serving in the United States Marine Corps.

Editor’s note: The following information was received from Live Life Spiritual Direction, LLC.

Live Life Spiritual Direction, LLC is the newest business to open in Whitewater. Through her healing and wellness business, Denise Maple serves her clients via Reiki, spiritual counseling, holistic business coaching, ministerial services, and workshops.

The Grand Opening will take place on Thursday, April 28th and will include a free seminar titled The Power of Gratitude, refreshments, and giveaways.

Details for the opening are as follows:
Thursday, April 28, 2022
4:30-7:00 pm
202 E. Main St, Whitewater (Editor’s note: For many years this building was the office for Century 21 Realty. Denise Maple indicates that Connie Weihert of Supportive Healing will still provide massage therapy in the building as well. )
4:30-4:45: Ribbon Cutting
4:45-5:30: Refreshment and Tours
5:30-6:00: Free Seminar – The Power of Gratitude
6:00-6:45: Refreshments and Tours
6:45-7:00: Drawing for a Live Life Spiritual Direction session and local business gift cards

Given the stress that so many have endured over the last two years given the pandemic,
business owner, Denise Maple, wants to provide support to her community. “I know I
can help people not only manage their stress, but also live fuller, more joyful and
abundant lives,” says Maple.

Maple’s service offerings are not widely known. She understands that she must educate
her client base and the community on how she can assist them reach their goals. A brief
explanation can be found below of her main services.
• Reiki provides energy healing that promotes overall well-being and aligns
chakras. It is used as integrative care in health programs at medical institutions
like the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic. There are studies that indicate that
Reiki may stimulate the immune system and detoxify the body.
• Spiritual Counseling assists people to uncover and overcome limiting beliefs so
that they can get in touch with and ultimately experience their deepest desires. Working with a spiritual counselor not only can help someone overcome
trauma, but reach their goals and lead a happy, healthy, successful life.
• Holistic Business Coaching not only guides a business owner to best practices for
their business decisions, but also addresses the mental, emotional, and spiritual
obstacles that may block entrepreneurs from their greatest success.

Denise Maple combines her 25 years of financial services experience with her
background in entrepreneurship, teaching, and spiritual training to provide a
comprehensive coaching plan that ensures success in life and business.

About Live Life Spiritual Direction, LLC
Through Live Life Spiritual Direction, LLC, Denise Maple is a holistic business coach,
spiritual counselor, and Reiki Master. Denise started Live Life because she wants all of us
to live our lives in a way that is true to who we are. With deep spiritual training and 30+
years of business and teaching experience, Denise can be your guide in your personal
life and business. As a Clinical Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Illinois
with recognition as a Teacher Rated as Excellent by Students and a Dean’s Impact Award
recipient, she is poised to teach you how to unearth and live the song of your soul and
all of its potential.

Contact: Denise Maple, Chief Spiritual Officer, Live Life Spiritual Direction, LLC
Tel.: (262) 724-0064
denise@livelifespiritual.com
www.livelifespiritual.com
Social Media Links:
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube

Editor’s note: The following information was received from the Walworth County Dept. of Public Works.

(ELKHORN, WI): Adopt-A-Highway volunteer groups will begin roadside cleanup efforts in
April as part of the coordinated, statewide highway beautification program to remove the trash,
recyclables, and litter from state and county roads. Drivers should exercise caution and be aware of
the Adopt-A-Highway groups as they are traveling Walworth County roads.

Volunteer groups in need of supplies should contact Walworth County Public Works at (262) 741-3367. To make this a safe and productive volunteer program, volunteers should remember to be
aware of their surroundings and should not pick up litter on medians, bridges, tunnels, overpasses,
or around other structures that would pose a danger. If volunteers see suspicious items, they should
not touch them and should contact Walworth County Public Works (262) 741-3114, Option 1.

Groups interested in adopting a road section to maintain should contact Walworth County Public
Works for information, (262) 741-3367.

About the Walworth County Department of Public Works: We strive to enhance the quality
of life, health, and safety of all citizens by being accountable and responsible for maintaining
Walworth County’s infrastructure. Learn more at www.co.walworth.wi.us/293/Public-Works.

Editor’s Note: The following was provided by the Whitewater Arts Alliance.

On May 5, 2022, the Whitewater Arts Alliance will be presenting a gallery exhibition of work created by Mary Nevicosi and Jeff McDonald. This exhibition will be on display through June 26 in the Cultural Arts Center located at 402 W. Main St., Whitewater. The gallery will be open Thursdays through Sundays from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. There will also be a virtual display.

There will be a reception on May 7, 2022 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Cultural Arts Center. Both Mary and Jeff will be present. The reception is free to the public. Food and drink will be provided.

“Explorations: Photographs by Jeff McDonald” is one half of the exhibit to be displayed in May. McDonald’s photography has been awarded medals at international photography competitions in the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, Africa, and Asia. His photographic interests include black and white, long exposure, landscape, birds-in-flight, and various types of studio photography.

Born in west-central Iowa in the late 1950’s, he grew up on a dairy farm in southern Wisconsin. After receiving Bachelor of Music and Master of Business Administration degrees from UW-Whitewater, he spent 18 years working in information technology and executive management with a large supplier of musical instruments and related products in the Milwaukee area. For the last five years, he has performed IT, web, and accounting work for a local Whitewater company.

He has served as a board member of the Whitewater Arts Alliance for seven years, including several years as its treasurer. He continues to chair the Annual Fran Achen Photography Competition. Photography has been his passionate pursuit for over 15 years.

“Around and Around” is the other half of the exhibit to be displayed in May. Mary Nevicosi was born in Watertown, Wisconsin, and has spent her entire professional life surrounded by the natural beauty of the state’s Southeast region. Nevicosi enjoyed a successful career of more than a dozen years with what is now George Williams College of Aurora University in Lake Geneva, as an Assistant Director of Marketing and Graphic Designer. During her employment at the university, Nevicosi created and curated the on-campus Gallery for Wisconsin Artists in 1997. Changing her goals in the helping professions, Nevicosi pursued further education at Blackhawk Technical College, Janesville, securing her certification and working as a Medical Technologist.

Nevicosi and her husband, Jim, live deep in the heart of the Southeast Kettle Moraine area, where she now works as a “clean” studio artist. She uses no solvents and no cadmium colors. Rather, she uses walnut oil and natural colors that are close in tone and vibrancy but don’t contain poisonous chemicals—and she uses environmentally friendly lighting and often works on recycled surfaces.

In addition to oil painting, Nevicosi draws intricate portraits and landscapes in ballpoint pen and on her computer. Considered a regional artist, Nevicosi has exhibited her work extensively. Her paintings have been shown at George Williams College of AU; West Bend Museum of Wisconsin Art; Fort Atkinson’s Hoard Museum, Monroe Clinic, Portage Arts Alliance, and the Alexander House Center. Her work has been sold in area galleries and is in permanent collections of several universities and corporations.

An artist’s statement provided by Jeff McDonald: This exhibit represents several ongoing bodies of my work, two of them relatively new.

About a third of the photographs are representative of much of my black and white work. As explorations of the interplay between shadow and highlight, this work tends toward the dark side with lots of shadow detail together with areas of contrasting highlights.

In 2020, I was exploring alternative methods of storytelling through photography. That search led me to the Interpretations collection. These are photographs that have been [re]interpreted using digital post-production software tools to take them in directions more akin with illustration and painting.

Liquidity (The Oil and Water Studies and the Parasols) is a new, ongoing, body of work which consists of photographs made of liquids. The studio setups for these range from the simple and straightforward to the highly technical and complex. The Oil and Water Studies are composed of oil, water, and carefully positioned colored light; the Parasols are a different matter entirely.

The images in the Parasols series remind me of, well, parasols. They are high-speed photographs of colliding drops of liquid. These images were shot using six identical speedlights controlled wirelessly from the camera, four back-lighting a white, translucent piece of acrylic for the background along with two to illuminate the front of the droplets from either side.These were photographed in a darkened room with the shutter open for the entire duration of the drop sequence but using the flash duration to freeze the motion.

Chemical Abstractions, another new and ongoing body of work, are both very real and very abstract. The subject matter, as with many abstracts, is probably not readily apparent. These happen to be photographs of various chemical crystals with birefringent properties. They were photographed in cross-polarized light through a compound microscope. The colors result from projecting polarized light through birefringent crystals, then cross-polarizing the light for your eyes through the eyepieces or for the camera.

An artist’s statement provided by Mary Nevicosi: Everything in nature excites me. I love wild sunsets, birds migrating and even the dark November days. My whole life has been spent in SE Wisconsin and it is the centerpiece of my art. It always reflects my love of the outside. I experience life in the colors of nature and create art that shares those experiences with others.

This newest collection of work represents an ongoing artistic evolution, an extreme departure from my loose, impressionistic oil landscapes to detailed pen drawings influenced by Aboriginal paintings. The work is delicate, intricate and intense.

Interspersed are small, saturated, minimalist oil landscapes which were also created the past two years.

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.

Editor’s Note: The following was provided by the City of Whitewater.

Deb Weberpal recently honored the First United Methodist Church for being the first Dementia-friendly church in Whitewater.

Dementia Friendly Community Initiative, Inc.’s mission is to provide a safe haven that will allow those with dementia and Alzheimer’s to live as independently as possible. A dementia friendly community is where individuals with dementia live good lives, continue to be part of their community, are met with understanding, and are given support where necessary. This enables those with dementia to safely find their way around the community, access local facilities that they are used to and are known and maintain their social networks as they continue to feel they belong. It eases the fear and isolation associated with dementia and increases access to the resources people need to live well with dementia. It is also treating the person with dementia with dignity and respect. They did not ask for this disease.

Whitewater Unified School District School Board – Monday @ 5:45 p.m.
|Agenda (click on “meetings” in upper right corner) – Includes naming of WHS Auditorium
Whitewater High School Library
534 South Elizabeth Street
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5:45 p.m. via Zoom Online
– URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82164869852?pwd=SXU0cEVOaml1OHpNc1AxWndFTFNkQT09
– Passcode: 711682
———————————————-
– Dial-in: 1-312-626-6799
– Webinar ID: 821 6486 9852
– Passcode: 711682
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Closed Session
———————————————-
7:00 p.m. via Zoom Online
– URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89265712057?pwd=M000d041N3pKVFVjZnNLUTkxTEJHUT09
– Passcode: 299151
———————————————-
– Dial-in: 1-312-626-6799
– Webinar ID: 892 6571 2057
– Passcode: 299151

Downtown Whitewater Board of Directors Meeting – Monday @ 6:00 p.m.
Hybrid
150 W Main Street
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86014114373?pwd=b
UZUbnp6M2FFOTBpMm5GdUN4QnB2QT09
Meeting ID: 860 1411 4373
Passcode: 080444
Dial
1 312 626 6799 US

City of Whitewater Board of Review – Tuesday @ 6:30 p.m.
Municipal Building
Agenda

Library Expansion and Renovation Committee Meeting – Wednesday @ 2:30 p.m.
Agenda
Irvin L. Young Memorial Library
Community Room
431 W. Center Street
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87392056990?pwd=OFFTVDk1VVppNUtBb3R4V29BR2hPQT09
Meeting ID: 873 9205 6990
Passcode: sGiLHx0f
One tap mobile
+19292056099,,87392056990#,,,,63632686# US (New York) +13017158592,,87392056990#,,,,63632686# US (Washington DC)
Dial
1 312 626 6799 US

City of Whitewater Community Development Authority Board of Directors – Thursday @ 5:30 p.m.
Agenda includes Planning and administrating the State of Wisconsin Tax Incremental District Affordable Housing
Program and Zoning changes for smaller lot sizes.
Location: Innovation Center
1221 Innovation Drive, Whitewater, WI 53190 in Room #105
THIS IS AN IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL MEETING.
Citizens are welcome to join us in person, or via computer, smartphone, or telephone.
Citizen participation is welcome during topic discussion periods.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87562815738
Meeting ID: 875 6281 5738
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,87562815738# US (Chicago)
Dial:
1 312 626 6799 US
1 877 853 5257 US Toll-free