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Today is Monday, June 22, 2026
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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.
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 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
Editor’s note: The following announcement was provided by the City of Whitewater.
Starting July 31, 2023, Indian Mound Parkway south of Walworth Avenue [commonly nicknamed “The Bridge to Nowhere”] will be closed to all traffic for approximately three weeks. Construction is scheduled to start on the Southwest water main project connecting the dead-end water main at the water tower to a dead-end water main by the railroad tracks. Due to the amount of expected construction traffic using Indian Mound Parkway, the street will be closed to all traffic, including pedestrians.
Editor’s note: According to the city’s Capital Improvement Program, this project will install approximately 2600 feet of watermain from Well #9 and the new water tower east to an existing water main that is stubbed in under the railroad tracks from Hwy 59. Well #9 feeds water to the distribution system via one pipe along Indian Mound Parkway. If that main would need to be shut down, water could not be introduced to the system from well #9 nor from the new water tower. The city now has only one other functioning water tower, and it is important for the new tower to have dual service to the distribution system.
The image on the homepage is from the Discover Whitewater Facebook page.
Sheriff Fell is pleased to announce that the Rock County Sheriff’s Office will offer two Hunter Safety Education Courses this fall at the Edgerton Conservation Club, 900 Stoughton Road, Edgerton, WI 53534. Anyone born on or after January 1, 1973, is required to complete a Hunter Safety Education Course to legally hunt in Wisconsin. It is recommended that participants be at least 12 years of age or turn 12 shortly following completion of the class.
Hunter Safety Education Courses:
Class #1
Mandatory Registration: August 9, at 6 p.m. @ Edgerton Conservation Club
Class: August 26, from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. & August 27, from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. @ Edgerton Conservation Club
Class #2
Mandatory Registration: September 5, at 6 p.m. @ Edgerton Conservation Club
Class: September 23, from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. & September 24, from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.@ Edgerton Conservation Club
Online enrollment is now open for Class #1. Complete the online enrollment form to reserve a seat. Class size is limited to thirty (30) students. Upon submission of the online enrollment form, the submitter will see an onscreen confirmation message with information on the mandatory in- person registration meeting. Online enrollment for Class #2 will open after Class #1.
Enroll At: https://www.co.rock.wi.us/departments/sheriff-s-office/recreational-patrol/hunter-education
A class fee of $10 per student will be collected at the in-person registration meeting. The student, and a parent or legal guardian if the student is underage, must attend the mandatory registration meeting for the student to take the course. Students will receive course materials at the in-person registration meeting.
Please direct any questions to Deputy Trevor Lund at trevor.lund@co.rock.wi.us.
By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
According to the WE Energies website as of Saturday, July 29 at 11:00 p.m., percentage wise, the city of Whitewater is faring much better than many municipalities in getting its power restored from Friday night’s vicious storm. Early on Saturday morning it was reported that 1995 customers were without power in Whitewater. As of this writing only 246 customers are reported to be without power. This, of course, does not diminish the discomfort and loss of perishable food that these residents may be enduring. By contrast, Fort Atkinson started the day with 5252 customers in the dark. That number actually climbed at some points during the day and remains at 4505.
Shown below are the reported outages in a number of nearby communities. WE indicates that they anticipate that 95% of their customers will have power restored by Sunday night. They state, “All available We Energies crews, including specialized forestry workers and extra contract crews, will continue to work around the clock to make repairs and restore power to customers affected by these severe storms.”
| Municipality | Customers without power | Total customers |
| Cold Spring | 85 | 436 |
| Eagle (town) | 1396 | 1882 |
| Eagle (village) | 933 | 941 |
| Fort Atkinson | 4505 | 6411 |
| Hebron | 490 | 632 |
| Lima | 15 | 669 |
| La Grange | 436 | 2201 |
| Palmyra (town) | 340 | 943 |
| Palmyra (village) | 662 | 935 |
| Richmond | 14 | 1436 |
| Whitewater (city) Jefferson County | 1 | 748 |
| Whitewater (city) Walworth County | 245 | 5359 |
| Whitewater (town) | 6 | 1174 |
City of Whitewater Common Council – Tuesday @ 6:30 p.m.
Agenda includes update on businesses operating without a Conditional Use Permit, campaign planning study for Aquatic & Fitness Center, discussion re: library expansion, discussion regarding city manager evaluation policy, discussion re: water credits practices, discussion and possible action on lakes dredging bid, closed session (followed by possible discussion in open session) re: MOU/MSP with UWW and Aldi development agreement.
City of Whitewater Municipal Building – Community Room
312 West Whitewater St.
This will be an IN PERSON and a VIRTUAL MEETING
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83198282604?pwd=cDdLWjUvTTRqRUQ4UVcwQWcrcW1BUT09
Or dial
1 312 626 6799
Webinar ID: 831 9828 2604
Passcode: 137945
City of Whitewater Landmarks Commission – Thursday @ 6:00 p.m.
Agenda includes Effigy Mounds Preserve recent progress and next steps.
In Person and Virtual
Cravath Lake Front Room
312 Whitewater Street, Whitewater, WI 53190
Join Virtually at:
https://meet.goto.com/986513669
| Print and online guides now also feature Wisconsin’s Scenic Byways |
| Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), announced that the new 2023 Rustic Roads Guide is now available in print and online and offers 124 backroad trips, including the state’s latest Rustic Road, Rustic Road-124. Rustic Road-124 passes rock outcroppings and a trout stream in western Dane County. Also new for 2023, the Rustic Roads Guide devotes 14 pages to Wisconsin’s Scenic Byways, which are composed of five non-interstate highway routes that explore Door County, the Mississippi River, the lower Wisconsin River, the Wolf River, and Lake Superior. “These roadways offer visitors and locals alike the opportunity to explore all our state has to offer, from the natural beauty along the roads to the communities they pass through,” said Gov. Evers. “We’re proud of our commitment to invest in our local roads, bridges, and infrastructure and to continue supporting these programs that bolster our state’s travel and tourism industry, which continues to be a major economic driver for our state. Wisconsin has countless hidden gems to explore and enjoy, and this guide will help you find the next one.” The Rustic Road program began in Taylor County in 1975. With the addition of Rustic Road 124, the program now highlights approximately 750 miles of scenic, lightly traveled country roads through 61 counties. Unique brown and yellow signs mark the routes of all officially designated Rustic Roads. The Scenic Byways Program began in 2005 to highlight non-interstate highways that offer outstanding scenic views, recreation, and cultural or historic amenities. “Both the Rustic Roads program and Wisconsin’s Scenic Byways are the result of local collaboration, and we are thankful for the ongoing efforts that make these programs so strong,” said WisDOT Secretary Craig Thompson. “We are ready to work with community leaders anywhere in the state to show there is always one more great destination in Wisconsin.” “Wisconsin’s Rustic Roads and Scenic Byways are the perfect routes for making road trip memories,” said Wisconsin Department of Tourism Secretary Anne Sayers. “This guide is sure to help inspire people to explore the friendly communities and natural beauty Wisconsin is known for throughout the state.” For a free copy of the new edition of Wisconsin Rustic Roads, visit the Travel Wisconsin website here or contact the Wisconsin Department of Tourism at 1-800-432-8747. Rustic Roads range from two miles to 37 miles in length and have a maximum speed limit of 45 miles per hour. WisDOT oversees the Rustic Roads program; however, the roads remain under local government authority. Learn more about nominating a Rustic Road by visiting the WisDOT website here. |
Obituaries
Marion Jauch Burrows (Feb. 2, 1930 – June 5, 2026) Her sparkling eyes, warm laugh, and generous ways were gifts Marion brought into this world, touching family members and friends alike over the ninety-six years of her life. She was born and raised in Lombard, IL, and in the course of her life lived with her husband and growing family in Abilene, TX, St. David’s, PA, Arkadelphia, AR, Ada, OK, and Colorado Springs, CO, before settling in Whitewater, WI, in 1965. Generosity of heart, compassion toward those in need in and beyond her community, and an unwavering commitment to fairness … Read more
Patricia “Pat” Lynn Bailey, age 70, passed away peacefully on June 1, 2026 with her daughter by her side. Pat was born February 21, 1956 in Ann Arbor, Michigan to John and Ruth (Hudock) Prentice. After a brief time in Ann Arbor, the Prentice family moved to Whitewater, Wisconsin, where Pat grew up as part of the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater community, where her father served as University Registrar. Pat attended the University School and later graduated from UW Whitewater with a degree in Elementary Education. Although she did not pursue teaching, she built a meaningful career in Human … Read more
Gemelino Paris Esperante, 83, long time resident of Whitewater, passed away on Thursday, June 4th, 2026. He was born on January 10, 1943, to his late father and mother, Evaristo and Carmen in Spain. In 1973 he moved to the United States as a sheep herder. On August 21, 1981, he was united in marriage to Cyndie Esperante in Colorado. Gemelino also worked in Mining and construction for many years. He enjoyed the outdoors, fishing, raising sheep and growing things in his garden, and flowers. He will be missed by all who knew him. He is survived by his wife … Read more
Mary Ann Warner died peacefully on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 at Crestridge Assisted Living in Dodgeville. Her physical heart failed, but her actual, loving heart never did. Ann was born June 28, 1939 to Mary and Charles Kearns in Iowa. She moved to Whitewater, Wisconsin and graduated with many dear friends in the class of 1957. Ann married John Warner on September 19, 1959. They lived in Whitewater, Sturgis Michigan, and finally settled in Janesville where they built a beautiful life and raised their family. Together, they ran a business, traveled, played cards, and enjoyed their lives. When they became … Read more
Patricia Ann Jacobson (Bureau), age 81, of Whitewater, WI, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, WI. Born on September 2, 1944, in Marquette, MI, to the late Donald and Margaret Bureau, Pat grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She graduated from Graveraet High School, attended Michigan State University, and later earned her bachelor’s degree from Northern Michigan University. Pat dedicated her professional life to shaping young minds, working as an elementary and junior high school teacher in both Flint, MI, and Whitewater, WI. At the heart of Pat’s life was a beautiful, … Read more
In loving memory of Lois Lauritzen, age 92, who passed away on June 1, 2026 at Lakewood Memory Care in Brookfield. Lois led an active life full of devotion to family and friends. Born July 14th, 1933 in Silvis, IL, daughter of Harry and Elsie Wilson, she grew up in the Quad Cities with older brother Harry Wilson Jr. Lois graduated from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL with a degree in physical education. She met her husband Paul Lauritzen on the college tennis team. Their marriage on June 12th, 1955 lasted 59 years until Paul’s death on September 26th, … Read more
Donald Walter Triebold passed on to his eternal home on May 21, 2026. Don was born on April 23, 1935, in Evanston, IL, to the late Frederick W. and Mildred (nee Stecher) Triebold. Through his teen years, Don lived and worked on the family’s dairy farm, where he developed a life-long work ethic. His first eight years of education were in a one-room country schoolhouse, in which all eight grades were taught by one teacher. He graduated from Whitewater City High School in 1953 and then graduated from UW Whitewater in 1958 with a degree in Business Education. He continued his education, and earned a Master’s … Read more
William Kincaid Davis, age 84, passed away on Tuesday, May 19 at Agrace Hospice Center in Fitchburg. He was born on November 1, 1941, in Madison, Indiana, the second son of Salvation Army Officers Agnes (Dixon) and William C. Davis. He attended several schools in Indiana and Illinois, including University of Illinois Experimental High School (Champaign), and graduated from Galesburg High School in 1958. He earned his bachelor’s degree from UW-Eau Claire in 1964 and his master’s degree from UW-Whitewater in 1972. He had an expansive career in education, beginning as an English teacher in Whitehall, Thornton Township (IL) and … Read more
Magdalene “Maggie” Stetter (nee Fritz), 79, of Whitewater, Wisconsin passed from this life onto the next on Monday, May 4, 2026. She was born on January 16, 1947, to the late John and Mary (Presser) Fritz in St. Stefan, Austria. Maggie immigrated from Austria with her parents and brother, became a US citizen, and grew up and attended school in West Allis, WI and then graduated with a teaching degree from University of Wisconsin – Whitewater. Maggie served as a substitute, English, and German language teacher in the Whitewater, Elkhorn, Delavan, and Palmyra schools and at Divine Word Seminary. Maggie … Read more
Lawrence “Larry” C. Hartung, a proud Marine Veteran of the Vietnam War, and longtime resident of Fort Atkinson, WI, passed away peacefully at his home on May 1, 2026. Larry was born June 7th, 1949, to Levon and Charles Hartung in Chicago, IL. Larry enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 1968 and served 3 consecutive tours in the Vietnam War. During this time, he became pen pals with his future wife, Candy, via a connection through his father. In 1970, he came home on leave to marry Candy. They celebrated 55 years of marriage on October 31st, 2025. During … Read more
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