Huge rummage sale Thursday and Friday 9-4 p.m., and Saturday 9-Noon 1/2 price (some exclusions) Aug 3-5th. 502 Ventura Ln, Whitewater. Charming decorative home items like pictures, new couch pillows, candles, lampshades, canister set, entire beautiful king comforter set with coordinating curtains, valances, pillow shams, euro shams, bed skirt, and four decorative throw pillows. Dining chair covers, Twin GB Packers comforter and accessories. Luggage and lots of other miscellaneous household items. LOTS of clean, well-kept name brand clothes. Men’s size M, XL and XXL. Dress shirts and dress pants/jeans mostly 36×32 or 38×32 and women’s clothes SM/M sizes 6-8. Men’s shoes/boots size 12 and women’s shoes size 8.
News
Thursday Concert in the Park: UW-W’s Rock, Pop & Music Production Camp
We are so excited to support our young talent! Please join us on Thursday, August 3rd @ Cravath Lakefront Park starting at 7 p.m. to welcome the UW-Whitewater Pop, Rock, and Music Production Camp.
These young musicians have worked so hard and would like to showcase their talents for the entire community. This event is free and open to the entire community!
Thank you to this years sponsor Whitewater TDS @tdsfiber
Free Narcan Training at the Library
Editor’s note: The following press release was received from the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library.
Join the Jefferson County Health Department at the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library to learn how to recognize, prevent, and respond to an opioid overdose by using naloxone (Narcan). Naloxone is a medication used to reverse an opioid overdose. The community is welcome to attend this free training on Wednesday, August 9 at 5:30 p.m.
During this one-hour training, participants will take a deeper dive into learning what an opioid is, how they affect the brain, and how an overdose occurs. With these fundamentals, participants will also learn how to recognize the signs of an overdose, how to administer Narcan correctly, and provide care for someone who overdoses.
Participants will receive a free kit of Narcan and a certificate of completion wallet card. Additional opioid resources will be available as well.
Please call 920-728-7687 to register in advance or visit the library’s website at whitewaterlibrary.org and click on “Events—Registration Forms.” Note that there must be a minimum of five participants signed up for each training or it will be canceled.
All adult community members are welcome to attend. The library is located at 431 W. Center Street in Whitewater. Contact Sarah French with questions at sfrench@whitewater-wi.gov or 262-568-2782.
Weekly Wednesday Creek Clean-ups
Editor’s note: The following announcement was submitted by Jeff Weigel.
The Creek is looking fantastic due to the consistent efforts of an amazing volunteer crew, but there is still plenty of work to do! Join members of the Whitewater Creek Coalition every Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. at the skate park (Brewery Hill Park) to get involved.
Click on the link below or send an email to friendsofwhitewatercreek@gmail.com for more information. See you at the creek!
We Energies: All Area Outages Restored
According to the We Energies website, as of Tuesday evening there were only 43 remaining outages in their entire system from last Friday’s thunderstorm. Whitewater, Fort Atkinson, and all nearby communities are not shown as having any outages.
Storm Cleanup: Fort the Hardest Hit in the Area? Some in Whitewater Still in the Dark
By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
The multiple rounds of thunderstorms that hit Southeast Wisconsin late on Friday evening, July 28, caused significant tree damage in many communities, but perhaps none were more affected than Fort Atkinson. One resident there told the Banner that at the peak of the storm the view outside his home looked “apocalyptic.” Fort’s power has taken longer to restore than any other community served by WE Energies. As of Monday at 11:30 p.m., WE reported that 328 customers were still in the dark out of their entire service area, with 67 being in Fort. At one point on Sunday it was reported that 90% of that city’s customers did not have power.
Fort’s tree damage was so substantial that its compost site was opened on Sunday. Tree lawns in many areas of the city are lined with mounds of branches. It appears that damage to buildings was limited, however. The appearance of some of the tree damage led some residents to speculate that there had been tornadic activity.
On Saturday the National Weather Service (NWS) indicated that they had not seen any damage reports that indicated tornado damage across their forecast area. They stated, “all the reports we have received so far suggest widespread 60-70 MPH winds, with some embedded areas of winds in the 75-80 MPH range. One thing that was unique about last night is how long the winds lasted in some places — 60-70+ MPH winds for 10 minutes or more in some cases. This likely accounts for the amount of widespread tree damage (especially in places like Fort Atkinson), while there was a relative lack of structural damage beyond that caused by falling trees. Trees are often able to handle short bursts of 60 or 70 MPH winds, but long duration winds like last night put enormous force on the trees, and over such a long period of time many will fall or otherwise be damaged….The damage in Fort Atkinson was due to very strong straight line winds.” On Monday NWS announced that it had determined that a “short-lived tornado did tree damage in a narrow, convergent path along Mill Road” about two miles east of Palmyra. It was a category EF-1 with peak winds estimated at 95 mph. The path length was 1.25 miles and the maximum width was 50 yards.
The Fort Festival store was without electricity for long enough that they had to throw out a large portion of their refrigerated and frozen products, though some had been saved with the use of refrigerated trucks. On Sunday employees were beginning to restock the cases, but most of the shelves were still empty, with the promise of a special delivery on Sunday evening.
The city of Whitewater also sustained considerable tree damage, though it did not appear to be anywhere near that of Fort Atkinson. On Saturday morning nearly 2000 customers here were affected by the outage. As of 11:30 p.m. on Monday, 17 customers in the city were still without power, only one of which was in the Jefferson County portion. It was announced that residents do not need to call for brush pickup, as crews will be conducting chipping throughout the city all the week.
Other area communities still reporting power outages as of Monday evening include Hebron (1), La Grange (6), and Village of Palmyra (2).
UW-W Comments on Miller’s Retirement; Wichser Named Interim
By Angela Kelm
UW-W Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
— Warhawk Men’s Basketball Coach Pat Miller Announces Retirement
Pat Miller, head coach of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men’s basketball team — who led the program to 10 NCAA national tournament appearances and two national championships — will retire after 22 years at the helm for the Warhawks. Athletic Director Ryan Callahan has announced that current Assistant Coach Jarod Wichser will be the interim head coach for 2023-24.
“Pat will go down as one of the most successful college basketball coaches ever,” said Callahan. “His legacy and impact will be felt in Warhawk athletics forever. I am grateful for my time working with Pat and getting to know his wonderful family. His service to UW-Whitewater is outstanding and he has made our athletics department and the Warhawk family stronger.”
Miller took over the Warhawk men’s basketball program prior to the start of the 2001-02 season and quickly rose through the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and NCAA Division III coaching ranks. Leading UW-Whitewater to 20 or more wins in four of his first five seasons, Miller hit the 100-win mark in 2005-06, reaching the milestone faster than anyone in WIAC history. In 2014-15, he was the fastest coach in Division III to hit the 300-win milestone among active coaches. Now after 22 seasons, Miller has compiled a career record of 434-167. His .722 winning percentage is a top 15 mark in Division III history.
In 2011-12, Miller led the Warhawks through an incredible season that culminated in a national title. Coming off of a season that saw the Warhawks make an early exit from the WIAC tournament, Miller helped largely the same cast of players grow and develop as they claimed the regular season crown and garnered hosting rights to start the playoffs. UW-Whitewater rolled through the early games including a 91-62 win over the defending Division III champion St. Thomas in the second round. Cruising all the way to the national championship game, Miller captained his crew to a remarkable comeback from an 18-point deficit for a 63-60 win over Cabrini to secure his first national title as a head coach. Chris Davis was named the Division III Player of the Year while Miller captured Division III Coach of the Year recognition. UWW was 29-4 on the season – a mark that would be matched just two years later.
The 2013-14 season saw another thriller in the finals as Miller and the Warhawks would hoist the trophy once again. With Quardell Young’s last second basket and free throw sealing a 75-73 win over Williams College, Miller had led UWW to its second national title in three seasons and fourth in program history. With the title, Miller, Warhawk men’s basketball and UW-Whitewater in general made NCAA history as the only school in any division of NCAA competition to win national championships in basketball (men’s or women’s) and football in the same year – twice. Miller was again named Division III Coach of the Year.
Miller led the Warhawks through the uncertainty of the pandemic with shortened/canceled seasons, but was faced with an unimaginable test prior to last season. Following the tragic death of Derek Gray, a phenomenal player and member of the Warhawk men’s basketball family, Miller helped the team cope and led UW-Whitewater back to the court in 2022-23. The squad honored their fallen teammate and friend with arguably one of the greatest seasons in Miller’s career. Following an up-and-down regular season campaign, the Warhawks likely needed to win the WIAC Tournament and they were up for the challenge. With Miller at the helm, UWW won three straight including a 92-79 upset of UW-Oshkosh on their home court to claim the league’s automatic bid into NCAA action.
Finding themselves back on the road for the playoffs, Miller and the Warhawks traversed 1,900 miles over a six-game span (dating back to the WIAC Tournament Semifinal in La Crosse), to punch their ticket back to the Final Four. Their incredible journey would end there, but the season still stands as one of the greatest in Miller’s career.
Over his 22 seasons at the head of the men’s basketball program, Miller has led the Warhawks to six WIAC titles and five WIAC Tournament championships. UWW has made 10 NCAA Division III Tournament appearances and won a pair of national titles in three trips to the Final Four.
He has helped guide players to All-WIAC honors more than 65 times including 32 first team honors. Miller coached one national player of the year (Chris Davis, 2012), five WIAC Players of the Year, one WIAC Newcomer of the Year, two Max Sparger Scholar-Athletes, as well as seven All-America honors and numerous All-Region honors.
Miller has garnered numerous accolades during his tenure at the top – he is a four-time WIAC Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year, three-time Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Division III College Coach of the Year, two-time D3hoops.com National Coach of the Year, two-time National Association of Basketball Coaches Division III Coach of the Year, Schelde North America/DIII News Coach of the Year and CollegeInsider.com Glenn Robinson Award finalist. In 2019, Miller was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Miller’s storied career at UW-Whitewater began as a student-athlete in the late 1980s. He played three seasons under head coach Dave Vander Meulen and was a co-captain of the team that won a national championship in 1989, the second title in program history up to that point. That year, he was also named the WIAC Max Sparger Scholar-Athlete of the Year. By the end of his three-year playing career as a Warhawk, Miller had written his name in the program record book in multiple categories as one of the best from beyond the arc, shooting .480 from three-point range. In 2006, Miller was inducted into the UW-Whitewater Hall of Fame.
Following his graduation from UWW in 1989, Miller went on to play a season with the Horsens Idrets Club in the Danish Basketball Federation before returning to the states to begin his career in coaching. His first stop was a two-year stint (1991-93) as the boys’ basketball coach at Harvard High School. In 1993, he returned to UW-Whitewater as an assistant coach while also serving as the head coach of the women’s golf program, as well as an instructor in the health, physical education, recreation and coaching department. He led the Warhawk women’s golf team to a pair of WIAC titles (1996-97, 1999-00) during his six-year tenure. Miller was tabbed the league’s Coach of the Year following both championship campaigns.
Wichser — who has been part of the Warhawk men’s basketball program for the last six seasons, including the last four as Miller’s lead assistant — will take over at the helm on August 14.
“I would like to congratulate Coach Miller on having one of the best careers of any college basketball coach at any level,” said Wichser. “While the numbers speak for themselves, Coach Miller has always prided himself on being about people first. The relationships he has forged and the lives he has impacted during his tenure at UW-Whitewater are what truly sets him apart as one of the all-time greats.”
No Need to Call: Brush Pickup All Week
Editor’s note: The following announcement was posted to the city Facebook page. For your information, the city’s policy for the size/type of brush that may be picked up is as follows: Brush must be between 3/4″ and 6” in diameter. The brush must be a minimum of 3′ in length. Vines, rakings, roots, and root balls will not be accepted. Property owners can dispose of vines, rakings, roots, and root balls at the compost site. The City reserves the right to not collect brush for just cause.” The compost site is open on Wednesday from 3-7 p.m. and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Post Storm Brush Clean up 
Due to the recent storm, the Public Works Department will continuously pick up brush this entire week. Please be patient as the Department works to facilitate this.
Additionally, thank you to the city staff who has worked over the weekend and continues to work on keeping our community safe!
Editor’s note: The photo on the homepage was taken in Fort Atkinson on July 30 by Lynn Binnie.
Gazette: Pat Miller Steps Down as UW-W Men’s Basketball Coach
According to an article in The Gazette, “Pat Miller met with his UW-Whitewater basketball team at 10 p.m. Sunday night [July 30].
The following are excerpts from the Gazette article, which may be viewed here.
“He had to make the difficult announcement that he was not going to be their head coach this coming season.
Miller has decided to take a job with BrandTek, a Middleton-based company that offers customized apparel and other items to clients…
The 1985 Janesville Craig High School graduate coached 22 seasons at UW-Whitewater, finishing with a 434-167 overall record and a 214-114 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference record…
As the Warhawk’s head coach, Miller’s teams earned NCAA Division III national championships in the 2011-12 and 2013-14 seasons…..
“I’ve been going to Whitewater for 34 years,” Miller said. “Between being a student and an employee. There’s a part of me that says it’s time for something new.”
Ferradermis Captains Finalist Alliance, Wins Judges’ Award at MROC
Ferradermis was one of 21 robots from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan that competed at the Mukwonago Robotics Off-Season Competition (MROC) on Friday and Saturday, July 28-29 at Mukwonago High School. The team finished the two-day event as the Captain of the Finalist (2nd place) Alliance and the Judges’ Award Winner.
Friday’s events began with a series of morning workshops on topics of interest to students with varying roles on their FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams. The Ferradermis programmers focused on the topics of using vision to track AprilTags and the use of debugging tools. The electro-mechanical team members attended workshops on strategic design and effective prototyping, while the competition logistics team members learned more about scouting tools. Members who work on the administrative side of the team gathered fundraising ideas, learned about team branding, and heard ideas on how to best advocate for robotics funding. Various team leaders also attended a leadership workshop led by the Director of FIRST Wisconsin, and on Saturday morning, most of the team was able to attend a workshop on structuring team workflow.
The host team for many off-season FRC events will incorporate an aspect of community service into the event. This weekend, the host Mukwonago Bears ran a school supply donation drive, and Ferradermis families were happy to contribute three backpacks stuffed with various school supplies.
Qualification matches began after lunch on Friday, with each team scheduled for a total of 10 matches before playoff alliance selections at noon on Saturday. After 6 matches on Friday, the team compiled a record of 4-1-1 and was ranked #2. Rankings are based not only on wins but also on other tasks completed during matches.
Before heading home on Friday, team members took part in a team social which included options for indoor soccer, dodgeball, and other yard games, allowing students from various teams to get to know each other better. A large focus of FRC is “Gracious Professionalism” which encourages teams to work together to make every team and every robot the best they can be. Relationship-building with other teams is a key element.
Ferradermis (#6574) played their final 4 qualification matches on Saturday morning, going 3-1, and maintaining their #2 ranking behind host Mukwonago. Ferradermis’ final qualification match record was 7-2-1.
As the Captain of the #2 seeded playoff alliance, Ferradermis first invited Team #1714 MORE Robotics from St. Thomas More High School in Milwaukee to join their alliance. Despite being ranked #9 at MROC after receiving a red card which resulted in a match disqualification, the scout team had a lot of confidence in the MORE robot as it had won both the Lake Superior and Wisconsin Regionals during the regular season. To fill out the alliance, Ferradermis invited Team #2062 CORE, a combined team from all the Waukesha high schools that was ranked low after missing quite a few qualification matches but whose robot could successfully complement the tasks that the other two robots could complete during the period at the beginning of each match when the robots operate autonomously.
As this is a double-elimination tournament, the Ferradermis alliance faced off against the #1 seeded alliance after working their way through the rest of the upper bracket, falling 153-142 in a hard-fought match which dropped the Whitewater High School team into the lower bracket. The alliance then set the unpenalized high score for the event, scoring 172 points in the last match in the lower bracket before moving on to the finals.
In the finals, the Ferradermis-led alliance again faced the #1 seeded alliance led by host Mukwonago. Team #930 from Mukwonago High School is considered the best team in the state and is ranked #10 in the world out of 3,381 FRC teams by the Statbotics website which tracks the results of all events worldwide. Mukwonago’s first pick for their alliance was Team #3538 The RoboJackets from Rochester, Michigan, who are currently ranked #7 in the world by Statbotics. Interestingly, Dilpreet Randhawa who served as a Ferradermis coach and mentor for the last seven years is now living and working in Michigan and was at the event as a mentor for 3538. Due to a medical emergency, Dilpreet stepped back into his role as Drive Coach for Ferradermis at MROC, demonstrating 3538’s gracious professionalism. Ferradermis fell in the best-of-three finals 167-124 and 179-102, bringing home the title of Finalist Alliance Captain.
During regular season events, teams of judges roam the pits, interviewing students from each team to determine a variety of awards. MROC implemented this system at their event, presenting three awards. Ferradermis was the recipient of the Judges’ Award for their work promoting STEM in the Whitewater community.
Ferradermis members participating in the event included Class of 2023 alumni Daniel Portwine, Jazmin Cederberg, and Mel Prince, incoming seniors Cosette Wildermuth-Breitzman and Ghati Binagi, incoming juniors Andrew O’Toole, Maddi LaHaie, Emerson Dunham, Zoe Olson, Luc Pomazak, and Andrew Zimmermann, incoming sophomores Ace Hudec, Erison Dreksler, Rae Breisath, Chacha Binagi, Margaret Brown, and Elora Wildermuth-Breitzman, and incoming freshmen Ian Kowalkiewicz and Toby Kapfer.
Ferradermis will be taking a break from large group activities for a few weeks, allowing the 2023-2024 leadership team to make plans for onboarding additional new members in September. However, you can still catch team representatives demonstrating the robot at the Whitewater City Market on August 8 and 22 (weather permitting). There will be a parent meeting for new and veteran members on Wednesday, October 4 at 7:00 p.m. in the high school library.
Article and Photos Submitted by Laura Masbruch
Whitewater High School Robotics Advisor and Banner Volunteer
lmasbruch@wwusd.org