News & Events

During the rest of the year, the Municipal Building is open until 5:00 p.m.

(WHITEWATER – June 4) The Whitewater Arts Alliance will be hosting the Wisconsin Regional Art Program (WRAP) exhibit that features the works of non-professional Wisconsin artists at Whitewater’s Cultural Arts Center, 402 West Main Street, from June 4 through June 27. Visitors will be asked to participate in health and safety measures recommended by the CDC for COVID-19, to include wearing a mask if not fully vaccinated.

Artists from Wisconsin will be exhibiting art in a variety of media including 3D, acrylic, oil, and watercolor paintings, mixed media, and drawings. Artists and art-advocates alike are invited to view the exhibit free of charge. The exhibit will run from 2 to 4 p.m. beginning June 4th and running through June 27 Fridays through Sundays. The show can be viewed virtually from the Association of Wisconsin Artists website: https://awa-artwork.org/wrap/whitewater-2021-06-27/# or at Whitewater Arts Alliance’s website: https://www.whitewaterarts.org/wrap-2021

WRAP was established to encourage Wisconsin citizens with a serious interest in art – people who make art purely for the love of it, rather than for fame and fortune. The purpose of WRAP is to encourage nonprofessional artists to develop their abilities. The Wisconsin Regional Art Program consists of many artist workshop/exhibits that meet throughout the year statewide. Each one has a different artist demonstration or slide lecture and a different judge to lead the afternoon critique. Artists may enter as many Wisconsin Regional Art Workshops as they like. The program is run by the Association of Wisconsin Artists (AWA), formerly named WRAA.

Artists winning a State Exhibit Award are eligible to compete for monetary awards at the State Day in Madison. In order to enter the State Exhibit you must be a member of the Wisconsin Regional Arts Program – you can join the organization at any time before the state exhibit by going to wiscartists.org and click on the tab to register.

The first Rural Art Exhibit was held at the Memorial Union during Farm and Home Week in 1940. Under the guidance of John Stuart Curry, the exhibit grew rapidly, expanding from 30 nonprofessional artists in 1940 to over 100 by 1947. The energy and enthusiasm of Curry’s successor, Aaron Bohrod, the WRAP directors, James Schwalbach and Ken Kuemmerlein, and the help of the AWA have continued to make the exhibition and workshops cornerstones of activity for nonprofessional artists throughout the state.

WRAP is developed and administered by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Liberal Studies and the Arts. WRAP exhibits and workshops began in 1940 to encourage the creative growth of non-professional artists from rural areas.

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.

The image on the homepage, “Hello, I Am Zinnia,” is by Alexandra Doaga, oil on canvas, 18″ x 24″ x 1.5″

By Al Stanek
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

The Whitewater Common Council met in person for the first time in over a year on June 1^st in what is being labelled as a “hybrid” option that includes both in-person attendance and participation via computer or telephone. The new option was not without some technical difficulties.

Live broadcast on local access cable was temporarily not available and audio for remote attendees was nearly indistinguishable at times but City Manager Cameron Clapper said that steps are being taken to make technical improvements. In a previous meeting several Council members offered the observation that during the pandemic restriction period citizen participation via phone or computer was greater than previous in-person attendance because it was more convenient.

COVID-19 pandemic impacts were still reflected in the Common Council agenda for Tuesday’s meeting as the City of Whitewater’s facial covering ordinance was officially repealed and City Finance Director Steve Hatton’s report on the city’s 2020 financial audit detailed the pandemic’s financial impacts to city operations last year.

Hatton told council members that the audit revealed what he described as a “clean” review of the City’s financial performance. Revenues were down from projections in most categories as the result of reduced income from licensing fees, Aquatic Center revenue and delayed implementation of increased water rates that were suspended to help soften the financial impact of COVID-19 on city residents and businesses. A federal “Routes to Recovery” grant of $268,000, however, helped balance the 2020 city budget, which resulted in a surplus of over $280,000. The audit also documented success in reducing city debt and increasing city reserves.

In other action the Common Council renewed city alcohol licenses including the much-publicized renewal for Pumpers & Mitchells with an agreement that requires improved management practices and suspends the tavern’s operations from September 1 through the Halloween holiday weekend. The suspension agreement came in response to a Whitewater Police Department review of the large amount of police activity tied to the college student-oriented establishment.

The Council also authorized entering into an agreement with a company offering to provide battery powered e-scooters that will be stationed at various locations around town. Adults will be able to use scooters after using a charge card to activate the device. A representative of “Bird Rides” indicated that the anticipated charge per ride would generally be in the range of $5 or less depending on the number of minutes rented. The agreement is subject to final negotiations between the company and city staff and can be terminated at the city’s request after a trial period.

The Council also took steps to fill the seat of second district representative Matthew Schulgit who recently graduated from UW-Whitewater and has moved on to medical school. The second district covers an area that extends to the western boundary of the city and to the north ends at the Jefferson County line. The southern and eastern edges are more difficult to define. This map shows the district (click on “layers,” “aldermanic districts,” in the upper right hand corner), but the City Clerk can answer questions. The position will be up for reelection next April. District residents who are interested in knowing more about what is required of someone filling the vacant position are asked to contact City Clerk Michele Smith at msmith@whitewater-wi.gov or 262-473-0102. Applications will be accepted for 30 days with interviews planned for the July 20 Common Council meeting.

(UW-W Press Release) After Paul Lauritzen arrived on the Whitewater State College campus in the fall of 1964 to start a special education program in its college of education, he soon found himself providing informal services for students with disabilities through the admissions office. 

One day he took a call: “I have a student who uses a wheelchair. Can I admit them?” 

Lauritzen said yes — mostly on determination and faith that the campus would make that student their own.

Lauritzen had kindred spirits in many places on campus.  

One of them was Patrick Monaghan, an assistant chancellor and budget manager who helped Lauritzen apply for grants, a principal source of funding for support services and staff. Also in the Chancellor’s Office was Chuck Morphew, a vice chancellor and advocate whose wife, Jane, used a wheelchair as her primary source of mobility from having contracted polio.

With their support, dedicated services for students with disabilities began in 1968.

Then, during the 1970-71 academic year, a force of nature rolled across campus. John Truesdale — by all accounts a “character,” “a tireless advocate” and “a wonderful human being” — arrived to work at Whitewater through a joint project with the state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, which was founded the same year. He began the college’s Disabled Student Services office, which served about 10 students. 

“That’s something that I think this campus can be very proud of for a number of reasons,” said Truesdale. “Number one being that — well before there was any legal requirement to provide students with disabilities access to programs and services — UW-Whitewater had been doing for quite some time. And, in fewer than 30 years, the university was nationally recognized by student affairs professionals as one of the best programs of its kind in the nation.”

Truesdale and Monaghan succeeded at stitching inclusion for disabilities into the very fabric of the campus mission statement, which is the university’s spiritual governing principle. In 1973, campus administration adopted a mission for serving students with disabilities at UW-Whitewater, and the UW System Board of Regents approved it. That set the stage for new possibilities.

These days it isn’t uncommon to see a wheelchair user hop from their chair into the driver’s seat of a vehicle, disassemble their chair, toss it in the back and drive away. Truesdale promoted the teaching activities of daily living through physical therapy. 

“That’s where you learn to be as independent as you can,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to get a degree and not be able to work. We were going to provide services to help you live and work in a community just like everyone else.”

Truesdale is also credited with starting adaptive sports, including wheelchair basketball, and even coaching the team for eight years. Curb cuts and ramps for wheelchairs began to appear on campus and around the city well before it was required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. 

Wade James Fletcher, a business major who graduated in 1978, remembers how his wrestling coach, Willie Myers, worked with Truesdale to help keep the campus accessible. Myers had written his graduate thesis on how to prioritize removing architectural barriers to provide access to an institution.

“At UW-Whitewater, Willie was also the director of facilities management,” said Fletcher. In the winter, as part of a work-study project, Warhawk wrestlers worked to clear the snow and ice from sidewalks so that students with disabilities could safely and easily get around campus.

Truesdale’s department grew from a staff of one to more than eight professionals and 50 student employees. The mission to serve students with disabilities has been included in all updated campus mission statements and endorsed actively by every UW-Whitewater chancellor since 1973. 

Looking back, Truesdale credits the success of the Center for Students with Disabilities to colleagues across campus — from faculty who see that an accommodation for a disability can improve learning for all students to the facilities worker who shovels the sidewalks.

By the 1990s, UW-Whitewater was recognized as a best-practices campus and a national model. The program was serving more than 300 students when Truesdale left in the early 2000s. Elizabeth Watson, who served as the director of the Center for Students with Disabilities for the majority of the time since Truesdale retired, remembers her first day as director, when former Chancellor Richard Telfer walked into her office. Telfer then was in transition from provost to becoming chancellor, and he wanted to meet Watson.

“He walked into my office to say ‘hi’ and it was about 20 minutes into the conversation before I realized this was someone important,” she said. “He said, ‘Do you think you could recruit 50 more students (with disabilities) a year?’”

“We left our comfort zone,” said Watson, as her staff began making recruiting visits to secondary schools. Some of the students they met had been told they never would go to college. 

“These students became Warhawks. With CSD services and a campus-wide community, they went on to earn degrees.”

Meanwhile, Telfer and other administrators supported CSD with funding and put Watson at the table during architectural and design decisions. This was a revelation for Watson, who had been used to fighting for the spoils before coming to Whitewater. Accessibility, she said, is expensive. But the commitment was there.

“The university is creating thousands of disability advocates as they translate their college experience into the working world,” said Watson.

Over the years, the scope of the CSD mission has expanded to include services for students who are Deaf and hard of hearing, as well as students who have learning, psychological, chronic health and vision disabilities. The connections around campus extend into each of the colleges and to Warhawk Athletics. The center serves more than 1,200 students a year. And, in 2021, UW-Whitewater was named a Top 5 Mobility Friendly Campus in the nation by Mobility Magazine.

“It’s amazing to think about how the program has given so many graduates who happen to have disabilities the opportunity to live and work in Wisconsin communities,” said Truesdale. “And how UW-Whitewater has succeeded in carrying out its unique mission to develop and provide services for students with disabilities.”

Happy early Memorial Day and #FlashbackFriday from the Whitewater Historical Society!

This week’s photo shows members of the Whitewater American Legion Post Color Guard parading on Main Street. One of the oldest Posts in the United States, Post 173 was named after William Graham. Graham joined the Army in 1912 after attending the Whitewater Normal School and was the first Whitewater soldier killed in action in World War I.
Join us next week for more from the Whitewater Historical Society collections!

(5762P, Whitewater Historical Society)

The Whitewater Historical Society collects, preserves, and interprets the history of Whitewater and the surrounding area. Be sure to join us next week for more from the Society’s collections. Please “like” us on Facebook, and check out our website at whitewaterhistoricalsociety.org!​