News

Whitewater Police Department’s Second Annual Shop with a Cop Event a Success

The Whitewater Police Department held their second successful Shop with a Cop event on December 10th.

One student from each elementary school within the Whitewater Unified School District was selected to join local law enforcement to shop for the holidays; Gio from Washington, Gavin from Lakeview and Jacob from Lincoln.

Detective Jake Hintz, Officer Shane Brandl, Officer Liz Tlougan, Support Services Manager Kathy Boyd, Records Technician Angela Sahr and Dispatcher Angieleek Lipski and Chief Aaron Raap met with the students and their families at Wal-Mart in Whitewater. Staff split into teams and helped the students find gifts for their families and themselves.

Each student was presented with a $100 gift card from the Whitewater Crime Prevention Fund along with an additional $25 from Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart also gave each family a $50 gift certificate to use for groceries.

“We are grateful for the wonderful partnership we have with the Whitewater Unified School District. They did an excellent job of selecting deserving and respectful students for this event,” said Chief Aaron Raap. “We also value and deeply appreciate our ongoing partnership with our local Walmart.”

The students were driven in squad cars back to the police department where staff helped them wrap their gifts while enjoying cookies and hot chocolate.

“It is incredibly rewarding to work with a professional, caring and dedicated law enforcement team every day. But when we have or can create an opportunity to interact with our community, especially the youth of Whitewater, it really means so much more,” said Raap. “We hope that this event will make the holidays a little more special for these young students and their families.”

Meet Tilla, the Whitewater Police Department new K-9 officer

The Whitewater Police Department will officially swear in their newest canine officer, Tilla, who will be accompanied by his handler, Officer Justin Stuppy, at the December 4th Common Council meeting.

The City of Whitewater Police Department’s K-9 program focuses on drug detection and tracking and will now add the component of apprehension. With the retirement of canine officer Boomer in January 2017 and the passing of canine officer Ruso in July 2018, the addition of Tilla allows for the police department to train in all three techniques.

The department worked with Little Rock K-9 Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas, the same academy that worked with K-9 officer Ruso. This well-respected kennel has received high recognition for their K-9 dogs and training program.

Tilla, a high energy, 2-year-old male, black German Shepard from the Netherlands was chosen as the new K-9 officer. Tilla graduated from Little Rock K9 Academy after months of training. Tilla is certified in narcotics detection, tracking lost persons or suspects and apprehension.

“Tilla is expected to be a great addition to our agency,” said Police Chief Aaron M. Raap. “It has been said that ‘dogs don’t rationalize.’ They don’t hold anything against a person. They don’t see the outside of a human but the inside of a human,” Chief Raap shared. “K-9 Officer Tilla and Officer Stuppy have been properly trained and they will undoubtedly prove to be a force multiplier within our community.”

Officer Justin Stuppy was again chosen to be Whitewater’s K-9 handler. Stuppy began formal training with Tilla in October of 2018. Stuppy was the handler for the city’s previous canine, Ruso. Tilla will be sworn in as the newest member of the Whitewater Police Department’s K-9 Unit on December 4, 2018, at 6:30 p.m. at the Common Council Meeting. The public is welcome to attend.

“We deeply appreciate the community’s continued support of the City of Whitewater Police K-9 program,” said Raap. “This program likely could not have been sustained without the community’s ongoing, generous support as the program is not supported by city tax dollars, but rather as a citizen partnership program. The sustainability of our program will continue to rely on annual fundraisers and private donations. Your generous donation will help to sustain the program and cover annual and/or unexpected expenses.”

Chief Raap stated the K9 program remains a ‘BY THE COMMUNITY, FOR THE COMMUNITY’ initiative.

For the most up to date fundraising events, to purchase police K-9 swag or seek additional ways to financially support Tilla and K-9 Handler/Officer Stuppy, visit the Whitewater Police Department Facebook page, the City of Whitewater website or stop at the Whitewater Police Department.

Volunteer Builds Boot Brush Station at Bluff Creek State Natural Area

Virginia Coburn, The Coburn Company, Steven Witt, and Maggie Zoellner, Executive Director, Kettle Moraine Land Trust at the new wader wash/boot brush station.

There is a new feature at Bluff Creek State Natural Area – a wader wash/boot brush station created by Whitewater resident Steven Witt. Steven, who owns a welding business, volunteered his time to create the wash station with materials provided by The Coburn Company and Kettle Moraine Land Trust.

The brush station is at the west entrance to Bluff Creek on County Highway P south of Highway 12 near Whitewater. Anglers and hikers leaving the creek will be able to clean their waders and boots, which will help prevent the spread of invasive species such as the New Zealand Mudsnail.

Thanks go to Steve, The Coburn Company, and Kettle Moraine Land Trust for partnering on this worthy venture, and to the many Southern Kettle Moraine SNA volunteers who work to protect the habitat at Bluff Creek.

Local skier, Nicole Tomomitsu, performs with Tommy Bartlett water ski show in Wisconsin Dells

Nicole, 18, a senior at Whitewater high school will be “living the dream” which is the Tommy Bartlett motto for the rest of her summer. Nicole, who is an accomplished water skier on the Whitewater Minneiska water ski team has been skiing for 12 years. She is excited to be a part of the popular Wisconsin Dell’s attraction which is in its 65th season.

The show is made up of an amazing group of talented champion skiers from around the world. Nicole is looking forward to entertaining the crowds and perfecting her water ski skills among these new mentors. The Tommy Bartlett show performs everyday rain or shine at 4:30 and 8:30 pm through Labor Day. Nicole performs Thursday – Sunday.

Walton Oaks Park tree damaged in strong storm

Article and photos by Sherry Stanek

Walton Oaks Park, a 2.6 acre park located at the west end of Bloomingfield Drive, is a rare Oak savanna remnant with beautiful Burr Oak trees that are older than the state of Wisconsin. As you approach the park,  a giant Burr Oak, which was used as a model for the Whitewater Urban Forestry Commission logo,  greets you.  A large branch near the middle of the tree came down during the Friday, June 16 storm, taking with it two more large branches of the tree. Fortunately, the tree will survive under the care of city staff arborists. However, today is a reminder that everyone that loves this beautiful park, and those that don’t know they do yet, should go soon and enjoy all of its beautiful trees, the huge variety of birds and native plants because we can’t take for granted that they will always be here.

Former WHS Baseball player garners NACC All-Conference award

WHS Graduate (2016) Julian Sonn completed his freshman season on MSOE’s (Milwaukee School of Engineering) baseball team – an injury red-shirted him his academic freshman year. Playing in the NACC conference, Julian was First Team selection playing first base.

Sonn’s statistics for the 2018 season:
Batting Average- .339,  Runs – 26, Hits – 57, Doubles – 11, Triple – 1, Home Runs – 3, and led the conference with 42 rbi’s.

Sen. Johnson visits with students at UW-Whitewater

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) experienced the excellence of UW-Whitewater first-hand on Friday when he met with a group of University of Wisconsin-Whitewater economics students who took part in the finals of the national Fed Challenge Competition in Washington, D.C.

The team was the first-ever from a Wisconsin university to advance to the finals and competed against regional winners Harvard University, Pace University, Princeton University, and Virginia Commonwealth University.

“I want to thank Sen. Johnson for visiting our campus and spending time with our outstanding students,” Chancellor Beverly Kopper said. “We are pleased to have the opportunity to introduce Senator Johnson to the power of a UW-Whitewater education, which provides students with exceptional experiences both in and out of the classroom, giving them the skills to be leaders in their chosen fields and their communities.”

Sen. Johnson held a listening session at the Mary Poppe Chrisman Success Center and was especially interested in hearing from students.

“I always appreciate when our leaders come to our campus to speak with our students,” Thomas Kind, Whitewater Student Government president said. “Sen. Johnson brought up a lot of great things to students, including the importance of being able to argue your opinions and, if someone else has a better argument, being willing to change your mind. I think it is an extremely important quality to understand the skills that develop a person and prepare them for what their future will hold.”

Chancellor Kopper presented Sen. Johnson with a copy of a book that commemorates the 150th anniversary of UW-Whitewater. The campus began a year-long celebration of its Sesquicentennial on April 21. For more information, visit www.uww.edu/150.

News from Lakeview Elementary

Lakeview School alumnus John Stutzman

John Stutzman, Lakeview School alumnus, meets and greets the current Lakeview kindergarten and first-grade students at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison. John volunteers as a Zoo Docent at the Madison Zoo. On Friday, he arranged to give Lakeview students an “up close” view of some zoo animals.

John is a 2014 graduate of Whitewater High School and a 2017 graduate of UW Madison pursuing his interests in politics, zoology, and wildlife photography. He is currently publishing a Wisconsin Wildlife photography book. Best of luck to John and thanks for the presentation!

Pictured (l to r): Mandi Kolb (Lakeview PTA President), Brian Anderson (Store Manager, Shopko Delavan), and Summer Markham (Lakeview Secretary and Lakeview Loves Chair).

A big thank you to Shopko in Delavan and The Shopko Foundation for providing Lakeview Loves with their second $500 grant!

Lakeview Loves is a weekend food in a backpack program currently serving 27 students at Lakeview Elementary.  This program is FREE for Lakeview Students to sign-up and all students qualify.  Our hope is that all students are fed over the weekend and come to school ready to learn each week!  Lakeview Loves is honored to have such great community support from Shopko to help keep our students fed.

Ferradermis, the WHS Robotics Team, Competes at FIRST Championships

From Tuesday, April 24, through the early morning hours of Sunday, April 29, twenty-six members of the Whitewater High School Robotics Team Ferradermis and seven adult mentors traveled to Detroit for the FIRST Championships. While there, the team competed with and against 405 teams from around the world including France, Poland, Chinese Taipei, the Netherlands, and Canada as part of the high school level FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). The Cobo Center in Detroit simultaneously played host to the middle school FIRST Tech Challenge Championships and the elementary school FIRST Lego League and Lego League Junior Championships.

Altogether, the four events hosted more than 15,000 students from 700 teams and 37 countries. Ferradermis had one practice match and ten qualification matches on Tesla, one of the six competition fields for FRC, with randomly assigned alliances of three robots, finishing with a qualification record of 4-6 and ranked 48th out of 67 teams in the Tesla division. One of the highlights of the qualification matches was playing with the number one overall team in Tesla and helping set a high score for the event.

Ferradermis would like to thank the dozens of businesses, organizations, and community members who came forward to help the team in its fundraising efforts which made the trip possible.

Photos from the event: