(Walworth County submission) The Walworth County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has an urgent need for volunteer guardians. Volunteer guardians are court-appointed decision makers for adults with mental incapacities. Guardians advocate for their wards’ best interests. Currently, 13 volunteer guardians serve 31 wards. The upcoming retirement of two longtime volunteers will leave several adults without guardians, creating a critical void.
“Guardians play a vital role in our communities in helping those who can no longer help themselves,” says Walworth County Volunteer Services Director Colleen Lesniak. “The individuals in need do not have family or friends that can be of assistance. Our volunteer guardians fill that critical role of making important health care and financial decisions to ensure these individuals’ needs are being met.”
While the hours are flexible and can vary, volunteers should expect to spend about 5 hours per month helping their clients. Typical responsibilities include working with professionals to make decisions for their wards, giving formal approval of care and services, advocating for and protecting their rights, visiting at least once per month, and making applications for services and financial benefits on their behalf. There is a monthly stipend available for volunteers. No formal experience is necessary; simply an interest in helping others. Volunteers must be at least 21-years-old and have a valid driver’s license.
For more information on the program or to complete a volunteer application, please contact Colleen Lesniak at Walworth County Volunteer Services at 262-741-4223 or email clesniak@co.walworth.wi.us.
A reader who suggested not to use their name shared this photo of crocuses (alternatively, croci) which was taken on March 28. They titled it, “Surprised by Spring on Main Street,” and said the sight “totally surprised” them while walking their dog.
— Our Readers Share: We hope that you might have something that you’d be willing to share. Anything that’s been created by someone else should, of course, be credited, and you should ask their permission if you’re able. We cannot post copyrighted material without permission. We can’t guarantee that we’ll have space for all submissions, and contributions will be subject to editorial board approval. The one definite exclusion is anything politically oriented. We will assume that you’re willing for us to include your name as the submitter unless you indicate that you prefer to remain anonymous. Send to whitewaterbanner@gmail.com or click on “submit a story” near the top right of our homepage. Thanks for thinking about this!
National Vietnam War Veterans Day unites Americans to thank and honor Vietnam veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice.
This special day joins six other military-centric annual observances codified in Title 4 of the United States Code §6 (i.e., Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, Navy Day, Veterans Day).
The Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017 was signed into law by President Donald J. Trump, designating every March 29 as National Vietnam War Veterans Day. However, it is not an official holiday in any part of the United States.
This year’s commemoration of National Vietnam War Veterans Day on March 29th will be virtual this year. The Vietnam Veterans of America’s commemoration will be streamed at 12 p.m. CDT on March 29th at www.honorvietnamveterans.org.
March 29 is a fitting choice for a day honoring Vietnam veterans. It was chosen to be observed in perpetuity as March 29, 1973 was the day United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam was disestablished and also the day the last U.S. combat troops departed Vietnam. In addition, on and around this same day Hanoi released the last of its acknowledged prisoners of war.
November 1, 1955 was selected to coincide with the official designation of Military Assistance Advisory Group-Vietnam (MAAG-V); May 15, 1975 marks the end of the battle precipitated by the seizure of the SS Mayaguez.
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that today there are more than 6 million U.S. Vietnam veterans living in America and abroad, along with 9 million families of those who served during this timeframe.
We make no distinction between veterans who served in-country, in-theater, or who were stationed elsewhere during the Vietnam War period. All were called to serve and none could self-determine where they would serve.
This is from www.vva.org: “Of the 2,709,918 Americans who served in Vietnam, Less than 850,000 are estimated to be alive today, with the youngest American Vietnam veteran’s age approximated to be 60 years old.”
(MSOE submission) The following Whitewater student received academic honors from Milwaukee School of Engineering for the 2021 Winter Quarter: Gwynne Sahyun, is on the Dean’s List. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering.
Undergraduate students who have earned at least 30 credits and have a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or higher (out of 4.0) are on the Dean’s List. Students who have maintained a 3.70 or higher receive “high honors.”
Undergraduate students on the Honors List have earned a GPA of at least 3.20 (out of 4.0) for this quarter and are not on the Dean’s List.
Milwaukee School of Engineering is the university of choice for those seeking an inclusive community of experiential learners driven to solve the complex challenges of today and tomorrow. The independent, non-profit university has about 2,700 students and was founded in 1903. MSOE offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering, business and nursing. Faculty are student-focused experts who bring real-world experience into the classroom. This approach to learning makes students ready now as well as prepared for the future. Longstanding partnerships with business and industry leaders enable students to learn alongside professional mentors, and challenge them to go beyond what’s possible. MSOE graduates are leaders of character, responsible professionals, passionate learners and value creators.
Article and Photos by Laura Masbruch Ferradermis Advisor and Banner Volunteer lmasbruch@wwusd.org
Due to the pandemic, and the varying degree to which teams throughout the world could meet in person and get access to their equipment, the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) suspended all in-person play for the regular 2021 season and implemented a fully virtual set of competitions for teams that were able to participate. Internationally, 3,075 teams (about three-fourths of all existing teams) were able to register and participate in these competitions. Many schools, even some in Wisconsin, did not allow their teams to register due to restrictions on extra-curricular activities. Ferradermis, Whitewater High School’s team, has been able to meet in person in small groups since the beginning of November. We also had a group of students who chose to remain fully virtual and were integral parts of the administrative and CAD teams.
For the traditional Chairman’s, Woodie Flowers, and Dean’s Lists awards, Ferradermis was grouped with the other 29 participating Wisconsin teams. During Spring Break, students took part in virtual interviews with judges for both Chairman’s and Dean’s List. Chairman’s focuses on all non-robot parts of a team including community outreach, diversity, and impact on students during the previous five years. Administrative Team Members Anderson Waelchli, Carson Ellenwood, and Molly Zimmermann put together a 7-minute presentation around the theme of, “staying connected,” for Chairman’s which they delivered prior to a 5 minute Q & A session with the judges. Team members can nominate one mentor for the Woodie Flowers Award, and this year the students selected co-head coach Dilpreet “Chief” Randhawa, who has been with the team since it first formed five years ago. Mentors nominate up to two sophomore or junior students for Dean’s List; this year the candidates for Dean’s List were Elijah Grall and Anderson Waelchli. Wisconsin will be holding an awards ceremony in mid-May to announce the finalists, who will advance to compete on an international level.
Ferradermis chose to participate in two of the three virtual competitions hosted by FIRST, declining only the Game Design Challenge. For the Innovation Challenge, teams had to, “Identify a problem or opportunity and design a solution to help people (or a community of people) keep, regain, or achieve optimum physical and/or mental health and fitness through active play or movement.” A team of students worked from January through March with the guidance of mentor Allison Conrad to develop a modular set of playground equipment which can grow with a child. They researched their customer base by surveying our elementary students, connected with an actual playground equipment company that provided background and eventually reviewed their design, used CAD to develop their design, and then produced a 3D printed model. This past weekend, they delivered their two-minute business pitch to the judges for their product, Rec-Creation, which was then followed by a three-minute presentation, and ten minutes of Q & A. Participating team members included Reilly Aschenbrener, Carson Ellenwood, Andrew Rollette, Anderson Waelchli, Gwen Yeager, and Molly Zimmermann. Ferradermis will be judged as part of the Argon Group, which is made up of 30 randomly assigned teams from across the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, and Turkey. BadgerBOTS, the team from Middleton who helped Ferradermis get started five years ago, is the only other Wisconsin team in this group. Four teams from the Argon Group will be named semi-finalists and will then present again to a new group of judges, competing against the semi-finalists from all other groups, with 20 teams eventually being named finalists.
Technical Flyer Submitted for Infinite Recharge at Home
The third virtual competition, Infinite Recharge at Home, was divided into two parts. Teams first had to submit technical information on their robot for the traditional judged machine awards, and then they could qualify for the Skills Challenge. Students created a technical flyer describing the robot under the guidance of mentors Nick Ackerman and Dilpreet Randhawa. This past weekend, a student team of Reilly Aschenbrenner, Elijah Grall, Andrew Rollette, and Lauren Rollette completed a seven-minute presentation and five minutes of Q & A with judges. Students are now working on submitting video clips of the robot completing various skills challenges including the Hyperdrive Challenge (where the driver must navigate four specific paths as quickly as possible), the InterStellar Accuracy Challenge (where the robot must score power cells from four different distances in under five minutes), and the Power Port Challenge (where the robot collects power cells from the floor and the team scores as many points as possible in one minute). Ferradermis will be judged as part of the Oxygen Group for Infinite Recharge at Home; this group is made up of 30 randomly assigned teams from 16 states, Turkey, and Mexico. Ferradermis is the only Wisconsin team in this group.
Ferradermis is excited to have the opportunity to participate in an in-person off-season competition on June 19. The Lakeshore Robotics Coalition in Manitowoc is hosting Wisconsin teams in June over the course of four days, with up to 14 teams competing each day. Each team will only be allowed to travel with 10 people (7 students and 3 mentors), and one of those members must serve as a volunteer at the event to further limit the number of people in attendance. Remaining team members and mentors will gather at the high school to watch the live stream of the event and feed scouting information to the team in Manitowoc. The winning alliance from each day along with the captain of the second place alliance will get to return for a championship day on July 10. The students are excited for the opportunity to get “wheels on carpet” for the first time since March of 2020. Go, Ferradermis!
Click on our auction and purchase an item to benefit the youth of our community events such as: *Easter Egg Hunt *Youth Appreciation Week *Scholarships (3) *City Park-Optimist Turtle Mound Parkway *Breakfast With Santa * Whitewater Unified School District Emergency Fund *Youth Awards *Toys for Tots *Food Pantry *Fishing Clinic These are some of our programs. Your purchases will help us provide the necessary funds for the programs. We are meeting virtually right now and if you have an interest in the club please contact Al Hutchison @ alnjoyce.hutchison@gmail.com
By Al Stanek Whitewater Banner volunteer staff whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article was generated in response to readers who wanted to know more of the particulars regarding an alleged assault and related underage drinking incident in early March. ‘The Banner’ requested and reviewed police reports relating to the incident. As we reported on March 11, a male who is no longer enrolled at UW-W was cited with disorderly conduct (assault) and underage presence in a licensed establishment. The Banner found nothing particularly newsworthy about the assault investigation, but did research the age requirements for bartenders. No editorial position regarding existing underage drinking regulations is intended.
Further examination of a Whitewater incident that occurred after bar time the night of Thursday March 4 brought to light the fact that in Wisconsin 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds can tend bar in an establishment restricting attendance to those age 21 and above.
The police report indicates that the man and a woman that he is accused of striking were both underage and had been in a tavern before the incident occurred.. The young woman was employed as a bartender at the establishment but was in the tavern as a customer at the time.
Municipal citations for “underage presence in a place prohibited” which require a deposit of $376 were issued to the assaulted woman and the man. A citation requiring a deposit of $691 was issued to the tavern owner for “licensee sell(ing) alcohol (to an) underage person.”
We asked Whitewater Police Chief Aaron Raap about the impact of underage bartenders here in Whitewater and although he was not “overly enthusiastic” about the policy he did not think that preventing underage bartenders alone would have a significant impact on underage drinking in the city. We also asked a WI Tavern League spokesperson to comment on the issue. Pete Madland advised us that, “Thousands of Wisconsin college students have helped pay for college by tending bar.” He added that “Technically an 18-year-old can be the owner of a Wisconsin tavern” and added that past efforts to raise the required age for bartending have failed.
City Attorney Wally McDonell and an attorney for the WI Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) were both asked if the City could pass an ordinance requiring city bartenders to be 21 or older. Both replied that the state law would most likely prevent the City from doing so.
