Editor’s note: The following announcement was received from UW-Madison.
About 7,700 students received degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison on May 13 and 14, including students from your area.
There were two live ceremonies: one at the Kohl Center on May 13 for doctoral, MFA and medical students; and one at Camp Randall on May 14 for undergraduate, law and master’s students.
The commencement speaker was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who encouraged students to take risks.
“If you stay comfortable – if you stay in your comfort zone, sticking to what you know – then you are making a bet,” she said. “You are betting that your life, and the world, will stay the same. And let me tell you, you will lose that bet every time.”
It was the last Badger commencement for Chancellor Rebecca Blank.
“In my nine years leading this great university, some of my most memorable moments have been with our students,” Blank told graduates Saturday. “You have inspired – and occasionally challenged me – with your passion, enthusiasm, and curiosity. And I’ll admit you’ve given me a good laugh with some of your ‘Becky Blank’ memes.”
Barni Shiferaw, the senior class vice president and Saturday’s student commencement speaker, said the celebration came with mixed feelings.
“In the past few days, there have been a lot of lasts,” he told his fellow graduates. “The last class. The last test. The last day at The Terrace. The last night out on the town. And I’m not going to lie, it’s a bittersweet feeling. But that feeling means something. It’s a testament to the place this university holds in our hearts.”
Jesenia Cuevas, School of Nursing, Bachelor of Science-Nursing, Nursing Ali Ketterhagen, School of Business, Bachelor of Business Administration, Business: Marketing Rebecca Littlefield, Col of Agricultural & Life Sci, Bachelor of Science, Genetics and Genomics
By Lynn Binnie Whitewater Banner volunteer staff whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
Residents who were in the general area of Main & Whiton Streets in the late evening on Monday, August 1 may have noticed a large police presence including county sheriffs and police from other communities. Interim Police Chief Dan Meyer told the Banner that the Whitewater Police Department “received a report [at 8:46 p.m.] that a male wearing a ski mask and carrying a rifle had pointed the rifle at a passerby in a vehicle near that location. When officers arrived they could not confirm if a male that was running was the suspect or not. A perimeter was set up as we attempted to locate the individual and confirm the legitimacy of the report.”
Update, 8/2 @ 9 a.m.: On Tuesday morning, Meyer indicated that upon further investigation there was less clarity regarding exactly what had been seen, and the search was completed without having identified a subject or a weapon.
Editor’s note: On July 25 the Police & Fire Commission conditionally approved the appointment of Dan Meyer to be the police chief, subject to negotiation of salary and benefits with city staff and approval of Common Council. This process has not yet been completed.
By Lynn Binnie Whitewater Banner volunteer staff whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
As was indicated in a previous Banner post, beginning on July 30 the city’s Fire and EMS services are now being provided by a municipal department rather than by the independent not-for-profit Whitewater Fire Department, Inc. (WFD) In summary, after nearly a year of discussion and negotiation, the City of Whitewater Common Council on July 28 approved an agreement with WFD for this transition. WFD has capably served the city since its founding in 1871, but, as has been the case with nearly all volunteer fire departments across the state, staffing challenges under the Paid-on-Call model made it increasingly difficult for the department to respond to increasing call volumes particularly for emergency medical services. Over the past year WFD migrated to a Paid-on-Premises (POP) model for EMS, where four positions are now staffed twenty-four hours a day, providing a two-ambulance response at all times. Recruitment is improved as reliable hours can be provided, and as a number of employees will become eligible for health and retirement benefits.
At the July 28 special Common Council meeting, Steve Hatton, Finance & Administrative Services Director, gave an extensive presentation regarding the recent escalation in costs for providing Fire & EMS Services. Total operating expenses in 2021 were $1,004,095. The budget for 2022 was $1,509,341, but it is projected that the actual operating expenses will be approximately $2,016,000. Additionally, the department has vehicles and other equipment for which the estimated replacement cost is nearly $8 million. That equipment is expected to be replaced on schedules that vary from 5-30 years, and to fund that replacement an additional $384,000 would be needed annually.
Total Financial Overview presented by Hatton:
Annual operating expense
$2,016,089
Capital expense
384,000
Total expense
2,400,089
2022 City funding
182,529*
2022 Towns funding
202,301
Fees for service, etc.
645,537
Total funding gap
1,369,722
* It should be noted that the city additionally covers a number of other expenses for the department, such as utilities and facility maintenance.
Hatton indicated that he has been unable to identify the methodology that has been used to arrive at the annual contractual funding that has been expected to be paid to WFD by the six towns that are served in whole or in part by the department. He has been reviewing the funding formulas used by other municipal departments that serve multiple constituencies. His suggested method, pending further research, was to establish the contributions of the city and the towns based on equalized property value. Utilizing this method would allocate approximately an equal split to the city and to the combined towns. The city’s share would be approximately $880,000, or an increase of approximately $700,000 per year.
Although the towns have been alerted to the need for increased funding of the department, no numbers have been provided to them as of yet, and it is not possible for them to absorb the increases without a referendum. The state’s levy limit program prohibits any county, city, village or town from increasing its “base” tax levy in any year by more than the percentage change in the local government’s January 1 equalized value due to new construction. The only exception is when a referendum is passed by the citizens, and the deadline for publishing a referendum for the following year is August 31. Hatton’s suggestion is to provide for a gradual increase in town contributions such that they would meet their full allocation, for example, within four years.
The Common Council on August 2 will be asked to authorize placing a referendum on the November ballot. As of August 1, Hatton told the Banner that a decision had not yet been made as to how much to recommend that the Common Council authorize be requested on the referendum, but he expected it would be at least $700,000. According to Hatton’s calculations, such an increase in levy would result in an increase of approximately $200 in property tax per year for a home with an assessed value of $200,000.
Editor’s note: The following announcement was posted to the city’s website on August 1.
In December of 2021, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) – the federal regulation designed to control lead and copper in drinking water. Those revisions require our Water Utility to create an inventory of public and private service laterals by 2024. The City of Whitewater is beginning the process of identifying any private unknown service laterals within the City. Examples of materials may include copper, iron, plastic or lead.
Water Utility employees will be going door to door to inspect the type of material used in your water line. Normally the water line is located in your basement, near the water meter. If you do not have a basement, it may be located in a closet on the first floor.
The inspection will only take a few minutes. If you are not home at the time that a water utility employee comes to your door we are asking you to call the Water Utility at 262-473-0560 to make an appointment for a representative to come back and identify the type of material you may have. You only need to make this appointment if you receive a letter on your door with this information. The representative will have identification and will show it to you upon request. We ask if you have any records or knowledge of your private side water lateral ever being replaced or repaired that you share this information during the time of inspection.
Editor’s note: The image on the homepage is by Jan from Pixabay
An article in Spectrum News1 on July 23 features an interview with the developer of the Bower’s Building, which he has indicated is the name he would prefer rather than the commonly used White Elephant. The following are quotes from the article.
“For many, the White Elephant is just another empty building in downtown Whitewater. However, Greg Aprahamian said he saw it as an opportunity.
“The big reason I wanted to purchase the building, it was one of the larger buildings in the downtown area. It was built in 1880. It has a lot of potential with the size of it,” said Aprahamian.
The Bower’s Building (Photo credit: Spectrum News1)
The White Elephant was also called the Bower’s Hotel until the 1970s.
Aprahamian said his vision includes a commercial space on the ground floor and about a dozen apartments on the upper floors.
“The ceilings are really tall. The windows are really large. It has that old atmosphere of living and it’s going to be more than just student housing. We are also hoping to get young professionals living in the downtown area by providing them a nice place to live,” said Aprahamian.
To read the remainder of the article click here. It appears that it is not necessary to be a Spectrum/Charter subscriber in order to access the article.
Editor’s Note: The following was provided by the Whitewater Arts Alliance.
Beginning on August 4, the Whitewater Arts Alliance will be presenting a gallery exhibition of work created by Karolyn Alexander and Virginia Epps. This exhibition will be on display through August 28 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 August 6, 2022 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Cultural Arts Center. Both Alexander and Epps will be present. The reception is free to the public. Food and drink will be provided.
Virginia Epps and Karolyn Alexander Tscharnack
Karolyn Alexander Tscharnack
Bridges from Connections series by Karolyn Alexander
“Abstracts: a Series of Series” is one half of the exhibit to be displayed in August. Karolyn Alexander Tscharnack is a lifelong resident of Whitewater. An early influence in art came from her father, Richard Kettwig. Her childhood interest in art was put on hold as she focused on employment and family responsibilities. After an early retirement from UW-Whitewater, Alexander immersed herself in artmaking. She has worked in clay and painted with watercolor, acrylic, and collage. In 1993, Alexander began taking clay classes with Susan Alexander at Clay Loft Studio in Palmyra. This interest in working with clay blossomed, leading her and her husband, Hugo, to purchase a kiln, slab roller and lots of clay and glazes. In 1999, Alexander and her husband started participating in summer art fairs around the state of Wisconsin.A passion for watercolor led Alexander to classes with Marilyn Keating at L’Atelier Art Studio in Janesville. She took numerous watercolor workshops with other talented watercolor artists. Eventually, Alexander began teaching watercolor painting to others in Janesville and Whitewater. Alexander’s interest in creating abstract art using acrylic and mixed media developed slowly. In 2015, she decided to concentrate on painting abstracts. Her current work includes mark making, texture, and layers of paint, mixed media and sometimes collage. Alexander has been a member of the Whitewater Arts Alliance since its inception and a member of the Janesville Art League for almost 20 years. She has shown her paintings in various venues in Southeastern Wisconsin and now exhibits her art primarily in Whitewater and Janesville. Locally, her art can be found at the Book Teller in downtown Whitewater and Raven’s Wish in Janesville.
Virginia Epps
Let Courage Reign by Virginia Epps
The other half of the exhibit to be displayed in August is “Enjoying Regenerative Play” by Virginia Epps. Epps was raised in eastern Kansas where she grew up on a prairie that developed her deep adoration for the environment, as stated on Woodwalk Gallery’s Facebook page. Epps spent many years teaching middle and high school students in science before leaving the schooling system to work on her visual arts. During her time away, she completed her graduate degree in Fine Arts Design, 3D at the University of Kansas, as stated on the Woodwalk Gallery’s Facebook page.
Due to practical considerations, Epps went back to teaching high school classrooms in science and visual arts. She took night courses at the same time until she graduated with a doctoral degree in Science Education. In 1991, Epps applied for and received a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in elementary and secondary science education.
Upon completion of a career as a science educator in 2007, Epps retired and returned to exploring and enjoying the visual arts. During the years as an educator, regardless of the specific title of the class or the age of the students in the classroom, the following ideas usually gained importance when Epps was teaching: 1) our species will be known by what it throws away because away is somewhere; 2) the earth is fragile and deserves respect; 3) openness to the results of the random forces of nature or events is generative; and 4) astute, disciplined, contemplative observation of nature and its systems ground sound science as well as the arts, particularly visual arts and design. Both as a science educator and a visual artist/designer, Epps wished to share the joy of encountering the world as both a fascinating and an aesthetic experience.
Epps has exhibited her pieces in the Museum of Wisconsin Art, the Wisconsin Regional Arts Association, the Wisconsin Regional Arts Program, and the Whitewater Arts Alliance. She regularly exhibits with the Alliance and is a member. She also has both collage and color totems on exhibit at the Woodwalk Gallery in Egg Harbor and Anderson Arts Center in Kenosha.
An artist’s statement provided by Karolyn Alexander: I have been creating art regularly for the past 30 years. About 10 years ago, abstract painting found its way into my heart. Since 2015 I have focused on painting abstracts with acrylic paint, mixed media and sometimes collage. I work on gallery wrapped canvas, cradled panel, and paper. For the past several years I have been working in series. The theme or subject for a series varies for me but the task of creating paintings that are related in some way offers the possibility of exploring a subject or technique in greater depth.
The series included in this exhibit are “Home,” “Connections,” “Windows,” “Grids” and “Dots.” The “Home” series paintings were created during the pandemic. Each contains a rather generic house shape without detail. The “Connections” series started a few years ago and continues today. This series focuses on mark making and layers of veiling and/or covering with more mark making in each layer. I consider a painting finished when I love it! The “Windows” series was also created during the Pandemic as I found myself spending more time looking out my windows, especially to watch the birds at our feeders. Grids are a common compositional format. My “Grid” series started with a black underpainting.
Layers of paint and mark making followed with attention paid to color mixing and opacity vs. transparency. The black lines of the underpainting were left to separate the shapes. The lines were not intended to be perfectly straight, nor were the shapes. I enjoy the irregular edges. My newest series is the “Dot” series which consists of layers of paint and marks. During the final layer, five dots were added to each piece with considerable thought given to placement, color, and value. I enjoy working in series as each series allows me to explore an idea more fully than a single piece of art would allow.
An artist’s statement provided by Virginia Epps: Discarded paper products such as tissue wrapping paper, grocery bags, corrugated cardboard, shipping cylinders, and mat board leftovers serve as my primary medium. When working in low relief, I cut and laminate mat board scraps and/or corrugated cardboard to build the base design. To this structure, I add loops or columns that I quill from papers I have cut from discarded papers such as wrapping tissue, envelopes, dressmaker patterns, handouts, or maps. I also add colored pencil or graphite to the assembled low relief. When working in two dimensions, I laminate multiple layers of discarded or scrap papers on Masonite or on mat board. Once the laminated papers are dry, I sand the surface and often add additional layers of paper. The sanding and layering process becomes a cycle exposing unexpected random shapes and colors. As a final step building collages, I either draw on the sanded surface with graphite, ink, or colored pencil or tone the surface with acrylic glazes. In response to the widespread fear, anxiety, isolation, and depression driven by the pandemic during recent years, I wanted to give persons living behind masks reason to smile behind their masks. The eyes of a smiling face smile too. The two indoor stands in this exhibit are cut from a used shipping cylinder that I painted with bright yellow, orange, cyan, green, and red acrylic paint. The figures suggested kites or balloons adrift above the beach. They were intended as invitations to think of a cheerful, playful place, experience, or activity. The bases of the stands are made of leftover wood pieces. The two-layer tops of the stands also are made of wood and coated with bright acrylic paint. I extended my central concern for the use of cheerful color and light to the other, free standing three dimensional pieces that I refer to as “color totems” that are intended for outdoor use in the yard or garden. Year round, they keep cheerful color and continually changing shadows in view. Each color totem has a spine of rebar and cubes of cedar. Some viewers have found the totems dependably cheerful and calming to view during the difficult years of late.
The exhibit also includes a set of “wall boxes” containing treasures from the prairie ecosystem remaining at the close of fall and beginning of winter. The specimens used in the boxes were collected from private prairies or prairie roadsides. The forms left at that time are strong forms of grace and determination leading to another year of prairie life and beauty. They are the essence of resilience, a spirit much in need during these years of the pandemic.
Big thanks to our sponsor, First Citizens State Bank.
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.
Over the weekend of July 30, the Whitewater High School Boys’ and Girls’ Tennis Program sponsored the first annual Tim Nelson Doubles Tournament. It was a blast! Over 24 alumni participated in the inaugural event. The proceeds from the alumni tournament will go to the WHS Tennis Program.
The Whitewater community had the opportunity to watch some outstanding tennis. Congratulations to John Chenoweth and Tim Nelson, who won the event. A solid 2nd place finish went to the doubles team of Jim and Gina Foucault. Medalists include Elijah Grall, Colin Chenoweth, Sydney Treder, Hannah Delaney, Emilia Houwers, and Mariana Cano.
Jim and Gina FoucaultTim Nelson and John Chenoweth
WHS Tennis Coach Baron West would like to thank all who attended and participated. He would also like everyone to know a date for next year’s alumni tournament. It will take place on July 22, 2023. All alumni and members of the WHS tennis community are welcome.
Article and Photos Submitted by Greg Stewart WHS Staff Member and Former WHS Tennis Coach gstewart@wwusd.org
Steve Watson writes, “On my morning walk about, I spotted this big fellow up in the trees on Cravath Lake.”
From Hillside Cemetery. It’s not uncommon for this species to rest with their wings spread.
From Cravath Lakefront Park (Photos courtesy of Steve Watson)
After some detective work (Elementary my dear Watson), I discovered that it is a cormorant, a new and unexpected sighting at Cravath Lake.
Copied from Oceanwide Expeditions: Cormorants are expert divers. Some dive as deep as 45 metres (150 feet). They speed along underwater via their webbed feet, using their wings as rudders. Some colonies of cormorants have been observed herding fish for more efficient hunting.
Our thanks to Steve Watson for yet another interesting photo from his morning walks.
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City of Whitewater Urban Forestry Commission – Monday @ 4:30 p.m. Agenda includes Arboretum update Cravath Lakefront Room – 2nd Floor 312 W. Whitewater St. Please join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone. https://meet.goto.com/920889877 You can also dial in using your phone. United States: +1 (646) 749-3122 Access Code: 920-889-877
City of Whitewater Common Council – Tuesday @ 6:30 p.m. Agenda includes 1) Commendation honoring Cameron Clapper, 2) Resolution authorizing referendum question (to increase tax levy) for November, 2022 election, 3) Presentation from Running, Inc. (formerly Brown Cab) regarding shared ride taxi staffing, 4) Amendment to contract with Bird Scooters, extending contract dates, 5) Discussion regarding hiring structural consultant for Starin Park water tower, 6) C&R Family Trust offer to sell three parcels of vacant land (approx. 47 acres) on south side of Highway 12 to city, 7) Discussion regarding entering into an agreement to assist with promotion of referendum City of Whitewater Municipal Building – Community Room 312 W. Whitewater St. This will be an IN PERSON and a VIRTUAL MEETING. Citizens are welcome (and encouraged) to join us via computer, smart phone, or telephone. Citizen participation is welcome during topic discussion periods. You are invited to a Zoom webinar. Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81724335979?pwd=VU4wY2VrTS8rWnJmczJWQXJrQ2pxdz09 Passcode: 610930 Or Telephone: Dial: 1 312 626 6799 Webinar ID: 817 2433 5979 Passcode: 610930
