By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
Multiple fire agencies responded at 3:09 a.m. on Thursday, February 11 to a fire at N833 Hwy 12 (between Cheesebrough Road and Star School Road). Per WKOW, no injuries were reported. Highway 12 was closed for both directions for an extended period of time, but had reopened by 9:00 a.m. Per the Jefferson County website, the property is owned by William and Stephanie Van Treeck.
(Dwight Foster Library and Friends submission) On Thursday, February 18 at 7 p.m. the Dwight Foster Library and Friends of Lorine Niedecker will host a reading by some of the poets featured in “Through This Door: Wisconsin in Poems.” This reading will be broadcast live on Zoom and Facebook Live. To register for Zoom access go to https://www.fortlibrary.org/wisconsinpoems/
“Through This Door: Wisconsin in Poems,” is a new anthology edited by Margaret Rozga and Angela C. Trudell Vasquez. It includes work by a wide range of Wisconsin poets, including the eight people who have been Wisconsin poet laureate: the incumbent Rozga and predecessors Karla Huston, Kimberly Blaeser, Denise Sweet, Marilyn L. Taylor, Bruce Dethlefsen, Max Garland and the late Ellen Kort.
Individuals who will read at this event include:
Lisa Vihos
Chuck Stebelton
Destinny Fletcher
Brenda Cardenas
Beatrice Szymkowiak
Cristina Norcross
Dasha Kelly
Nathan Reid
This program sponsored by the Dwight Foster Public Library and the Friends of Lorine Niedecker.
(UW-W press release) Beginning in fall 2021, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater will offer a major tailored to students who have their sights set on law school or careers in legal professions. The new legal studies major, housed in the Department of Political Science, includes coursework on constitutional law, gender and law, ethics, legal writing and research and a required legal internship.
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved the legal studies major on Friday, Feb. 5, at its regularly scheduled meeting.
The legal studies major will eventually replace a popular legal studies emphasis within the political science major, according to Jolly Emrey, associate professor of political science and chair of the Department of Political Science, which resides in the College of Letters and Sciences. Emrey was instrumental in developing the major and shepherding it through the application process.
“We know there’s a demand for a program that provides students with the transferable skills that will allow them to hit the ground running in any legal profession and give them a leg up when it comes to applying to and being successful in law school,” said Emrey.
Emrey credits Susan Johnson, associate professor of political science, Joan Cook, interim associate provost and director of academic assessment for UW-Whitewater, and Angela Harlan, professor of mathematics, as being critical members of the team that developed the curriculum and a proposed budget for the new program.
The B.A./B.S. in Legal Studies will be a multi-disciplinary program that will allow students interested in careers in a legal field to take a full range of courses in public law, private law (business law), political institutions, public policy, and theory and ethics, and hone their skills in quantitative and information literacy through applied coursework.
“Courses within the major are housed in departments in three colleges across the UW-Whitewater campus,” said Emrey. “Linda Yu, professor of finance and business law in the College of Business and Economics, and Kathy Brady, professor of communication in the College of Arts and Communication, were very supportive during the proposal phase of the new program, and curriculum from both departments is featured in the legal studies major.”
Creating a new major allows for a curriculum more intensely focused on legal topics such as the history of American Indian law and policy, international law, gender and law, environmental law and policy, and journalism and the First Amendment.
“Assistant Professor of Political Science Monica Lineberger, who recently joined UW-Whitewater, brings an expertise in comparative legal systems and international law to our already strong foundation in American legal systems,” said Emrey. “Other critical points of strength in this major are UW-Whitewater’s focus on student success, our department’s track record with placing students in challenging and prestigious internships, and a number of great alumni who are happy to connect with and mentor current students.”
Recent graduate Brian Martinez, who earned a B.A. in political science with an emphasis in legal studies, was afforded a unique view of the legal system through an internship with an alumnus, Chief Judge Jason Rossell of the Kenosha County Circuit Court, who earned a B.A. in history with a minor in political science in 1999 at UW-Whitewater.
“I was able to be right on the front lines of the legal system — attending trials, arraignment hearings, seeing it all. I was given the opportunity to participate in a ride-along with Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department and was able to see the entire legal process: first the arraignment hearing and then the actual trial, all the way to sentencing,” Martinez said. “I got to experience family court, criminal court, juvenile court, and voir dire, which is jury selection.”
Martinez, who eventually plans to attend law school and possibly specialize in election law, now serves as a legislative aide for State Senator Robert Cowles, who represents Wisconsin’s 2nd District. He is already putting the skills he learned in the legal studies program to use on the job.
“Not only am I constantly reading and writing, which is a major part of legal studies, we often have constituent cases that go far beyond basic knowledge of past and current legislation, and you have to call the Wisconsin Legislative Council and ask for all the information they have on a particular issue,” he said. “I’ve been sent 6- to 7-page ‘brief statements.’ I have to read it, understand it and distill it down to something manageable — and to do so you have to understand the statues and terminology. Dr. Emrey really drilled learning your Blue Book inside and out, and I’ve learned to always have my Blue Book on hand, especially when creating citations for letters and emails.”
Alumna Kayla White, who earned a B.A. in political science with an emphasis in legal studies in 2019, first met Emrey when she took her law and society course, POLI SCI 204. White’s experience exemplifies the opportunities the legal studies program provides.
“Jolly was integral to my falling in love with law. It’s the way she teaches it.”
Emrey reached out to White about a prized internship opportunity with the American Civil Liberties Union in Milwaukee.
“I had no intention of interning at the ACLU,” said White. “But she said, ‘You’ve got to do this.’”
Interning for an organization that’s nationally recognized opened up a world of opportunities for White.
“I prize my internship because it opened up my eyes to see that the law can be a helping profession,” said White. “And it led to the opportunity I had to observe the presidential elections in El Salvador, which in turn led to working on a case on El Salvador’s Supreme Court and running an immigration clinic in San Vicente. Now I’m working with a LGBTQ refugee shelter in Sonsonate. That is really the work of my heart, and I’m so thankful the ACLU internship opened that door for me to do such meaningful, life-changing work.”
White, who talks about her experience with Professor Emrey and her internship with the ACLU in “Meant to Be a Warhawk” and elaborates on the opportunities in El Salvador that the internship opened up for her in “Driven to Opportunity,” will be attending law school in the fall of 2021. Her coursework at UW-Whitewater leaves her feeling confident she will be successful.
“The program sets people up for success with the writing course, and the constitutional law I studied is on par with what I can expect in law school. The program gets you a step ahead of where you need to be.”
Emrey added, “Brian and Kayla are two examples of qualified students who found our legal studies emphasis through their coursework in political science and put it to excellent use. By creating a legal studies major, we hope to signal to prospective students who are interested in going to law school that UW-Whitewater is an excellent place to do their undergraduate degree.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in legal occupational areas is expected to increase by 5 percent between 2019 and 2029, representing 67,000 new jobs.
For more information about the B.A./B.S. in Legal Studies at UW-Whitewater, contact Jolly Emrey, chair of the Department of Political Science, at emreyj@uww.edu or 262-472-1124.
LA CROSSE, Wis. (February 9, 2021) – The following area students have been named to the Dean’s List at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse for the fall semester of the 2020-21 academic year, ending December 2020.
Qualification for the Dean’s List is limited to students who have attained outstanding academic achievement. To be eligible, students must have earned not less than a 3.5 semester grade point average and carried a minimum of 12 credits.
UW-La Crosse, founded in 1909, is one of the 13 four-year institutions in the University of Wisconsin System. UWL has more than 10,400 full and part-time students enrolled in 102 undergraduate, 30 graduate and two doctoral academic programs.
UW-La Crosse – www.uwlax.edu- is the state’s top-ranked public or private higher education institution by U.S. News & World Reports for master’s degree institutions and has been ranked among the top Midwestern public institutions for more than a decade. UW-La Crosse remains one of only two Wisconsin colleges to make Kiplinger’s Personal Finance’s list of the top 100 best values nationwide in public colleges.
Students on the Dean’s List from this area include:
Whitewater, WI
Tom Duval, Public Health and Community Health Education Major
Josef Gmur, International Business Major
Josie Hintz, Exercise and Sport Science Major: Exercise Science – Pre-professional Track
Thomas McManaway, Recreation Management Major: Generalist Emphasis
Brady Meudt, Biology Major
Julia Nelson, Management Major
Jacob Riemer, Public Health and Community Health Education Major
Hayden West, Undeclared Major – CASSH
(Our House Senior Living press release) Whitewater seniors at Our House Senior Living are excited for this upcoming Valentine’s Day. As they spread love throughout our home, we are looking for love around the community too! This year, we have a special mailbox for Valentine cards for our residents. Everyone is invited to send a Valentine to a resident(s) at 945 E. Chicago Street, Whitewater, so that we can spread the love. Every HEART sent is a HEART in our home that is touched and filled with love. Love can be spread in many ways. Another fun and exciting way that we can spread love to our residents is to adopt a grandparent. We have contacted our local florist, Floral Villa Flowers & Gifts here in Whitewater. To adopt a grandparent, it is a $10 donation, with the donation one of our special residents will then be “adopted,” as they will receive a carnation and a balloon for Valentine’s Day. Let’s spread the love throughout our Whitewater community.
Per this article from NBC4 in Washington, D.C., WHS 2000 graduate Linda Collins, currently living in Maryland, “decided that her time would be best spent by doing something nice during the pandemic — so she decided to give her kidney to a complete stranger.” She donated her kidney to Kevin Webb, who has had stage 4 kidney disease. Collins and Webb met for the first time on January 27. Both want to raise awareness for organ donation and encourage others to give the gift of life as well. “It was mind boggling, it was life changing,” said Kevin Webb.
(Rep. Vruwink office press release)
State Rep. Don Vruwink (D-Milton) recently accepted the Legislative Excellence Award from the Wisconsin Dairy Business Association.
The award recognizes legislators for ongoing support for farmers, processors and the broader dairy community.
“As a member of the Dairy Task Force, I got to know dairy farmers around the state, and I know the challenges that they face. The dairy industry contributes over $45 billion to Wisconsin’s economy. We need to keep the dairy industry strong and vibrant in Wisconsin,” said Rep. Vruwink.
Rep. Vruwink serves as ranking member on the Rural Development Committee, and also serves on the Agriculture Committee. He is a member of the Dairy Business Association, Wisconsin Farm Bureau, and served on the Wisconsin Dairy Task Force.
(UW-Platteville submission) – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville has announced its Dean’s List, honoring those full-time students who earned high honors in the fall 2020 semester. Included on the list are the following Whitewater residents:
Autumn Bultman, Elementary Education
Allison Heckert, Health and Human Performance
Justin Mitchell, Civil Engineering
Alexis Vidales, Industrial Engineering
College of Business, Industry, Life Science and Agriculture and the College of Liberal Arts and Education require grade-point averages of 3.75 and above for Dean’s List honors, while the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science requires students to reach at least a 3.50.
UW-Platteville, founded in 1866 and located in Southwest Wisconsin, is home to approximately 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to the Platteville campus, the university has campuses in Richland Center and Baraboo. In 2020, UW-Platteville was named the best public institution in Wisconsin for annual return on investment for the fifth consecutive year by Payscale and the best public university in the country for job placement, according to Zippia.
For more information on the university visit www.uwplatt.edu.
(St. John’s Masonic Lodge submission) For the last several years, St. John’s Masonic Lodge has donated and delivered several tons of canned goods to the local food pantries in early December prior to the holiday season. This has been accomplished by donations from within the St. John’s membership resulting from a challenge from one of their esteemed members. Typically, each year the lodge purchases and delivers around one hundred cases of canned vegetables to the Whitewater, Palmyra and Eagle communities. This last December, due to the spike in Covid cases at that time, it was decided to donate money instead. The lodge membership donated $1200 to the Whitewater food pantry and $600 to the Palmyra food pantry in time for the holidays. It is hoped that they can return to the usual practice of delivering canned goods this next December.
(UW-Whitewater Young Auditorium submission)
