News & Events

Steve Watson writes,
A surprise on Trippe Lake trail. 
A free range zucchini, 
Endeavors to prevail.

Our thanks to Steve Watson for sharing his surprise with us.

— 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. Thanks for thinking about this!

Studio 84, a nonprofit arts organization located in Whitewater, Wisconsin, is announcing the expansion of its newest programing….dance! As art, dance is a very expressive art form.

Ben Kelly, director of Studio 84 states: “the Dance Theatre has grown from just two participants to six in a very short time.” Kelly goes on to say: “This year, in May, the dancers put on a beautiful performance of three dances called “Dare to be Different” at
Whitewater School District’s Multicultural Heritage Showcase. Dancers moved to the music “Invisible” by Hunter Hayes, “I Hope You Dance” sung by Lee Ann Womack and written by Tia Sellers, and to Paul McCartney’s song “Blackbird.”

Dance instructor and choreographer, Margaret Wheeler, has been a dancer all her life and earned her Master’s in Dance from Mills College, Oakland California. She has taught and choreographed since the 1980’s.

Deborah Blackwell, Studio 84’s Founder and Executive Director says, “Having also earned a certificate in Adaptive Dance from Boston Ballet, Margaret does an incredible job adapting dances for all abilities. It doesn’t matter if you can’t move your arms or legs
like others, or if you are even in a wheelchair, she will find a way to adapt the moves for the individual to make them shine.”

This fall the City of Whitewater Parks and Recreation is collaborating with Studio 84 and in the city-wide recreational programs. They will host classes that are inclusive to all at the Armory Dance Studio in Whitewater, as well as at Studio 84.

Classes are held: Tuesdays from 1-2 pm are at Studio 84, 121 W Center St and at the Armory Dance Studio on various days and times at 145 W North St. Whitewater.

For Studio 84 location, visit www.studio84inc.org for details and registration.
For Armory location, visit www.wwparks.org for details and registration.

By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

In a press release on Saturday afternoon, the Whitewater Police Department reported that the fatal shooting on Friday evening, August 30 occurred at 147 W. Whitewater Street, apartment #203. This apartment is located above M.E. & My Pets. Officials identified the victim as Kara Welsh, age 21, of Plainfield, Illinois. In a post on the university’s website, Chancellor Corey A. King described Welsh as a “standout member of the Warhawks gymnastics team, winning an individual national title on the vault in 2023.” According to the Facebook post shown above, Welsh was a senior. The chancellor indicated that counseling services will be available to students and faculty. “We know the news of Kara’s death is heartbreaking for our close-knit university community. It is a time when we are all called upon to support one another, to process, and to grieve,” King stated. Fall classes begin on Tuesday, September 3, and the chancellor ordered the university’s flag to be lowered to half-staff that day in Welsh’s memory.

The suspect, a 23-year-old male has been arrested and is confined in the Walworth County Jail. Per the Whitewater Police Department’s usual protocol, the suspect will not be identified until he is charged. The charges that are being forwarded to the Walworth County District Attorney’s Office are First-Degree Intentional Homicide, Endangering Safety by the Use of a Dangerous Weapon, and Disorderly Conduct While Armed.

The department indicated that no additional information is being provided at this time due to the fact that this is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information relevant to this investigation should contact the Whitewater Police Department at 262-473-0555 option #4. Anonymous tips may also be shared using P3Tips.com.

A previous Banner article regarding this incident may be found here.

Update: Police Chief Dan Meyer confirmed to the Banner that the shooting took place at 147 W. Whitewater Street, above the M.E. & My Pets store.

According to a press release, Whitewater police responded at 11:54 p.m. on Friday, August 30 to an apartment in the 100 block of W. Whitewater Street [in the Wisconsin Dairy Supply Co. apartments] for a report of a person with a gunshot wound. Upon arrival officers found a deceased 21-year-old female with multiple gunshot wounds. A 23-year-old male who was known to the female was also present in the apartment. Investigation revealed that an altercation between the two individuals had led up to the shooting. The male was taken into custody.

An investigation is ongoing, with police indicating that they do not believe there is any ongoing threat to the community. Further information will be released as it becomes available. Whitewater Police request that anyone with information relevant to this investigation should contact them at 262-473-0555, option #4. Anonymous tips may also be shared using P3Tips.com.

The Police Department offered condolences to the family of the deceased. Appreciation was expressed to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab, the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office and the UW-Whitewater Police Department for their assistance.

Richard Ehrenberg writes, “On May 18, 2024 a Painted Turtle from Trippe Lake created an egg nest in the Clay St. Nature Park.  After 3 months and 8 days, 13 hatchlings emerged from the soil on Monday, August 26, ready to begin their new journey above ground by walking over a hundred feet to the North shore of Trippe Lake. 

 However, the lawn grass under which they hid in right-away, and some plastic netting laid near the shoreline to help restore some seeded lawn grass, both posed obstacles for these little one inch diameter hatchlings to make it all the way.  I therefore carried them to the lake.  Once in the water among the Floating Duck-weed (a native aquatic plant) they dispersed immediately up to 12 inches distance and then poked their small heads out of the water and pause to look around at their new watery habitat, on a warm, sunny, Summer day.”

Our thanks to Richard Ehrenberg for this fascinating story and photo.

— 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. Thanks for thinking about this!

Hannah Smith, a communication major at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, took the words of her mother to heart when she was recently recognized for her generosity in front of a national audience at a premium sports awards show.

On July 11 in Los Angeles, Smith was honored as a winner of the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award at the 2024 ESPY Awards for her efforts to create opportunities for athletes with disabilities in and around her hometown of Richmond, Virginia.

“My mom always told me — if you see a need and have the means, fill it,” Smith said. “There was a need (for growth of accessible opportunities) on the East Coast.”

Smith was recognized on the ESPYs stage alongside two other award winners by women’s tennis legend Serena Williams, who hosted the annual awards show.

When Smith learned she had won the award about a month before the ESPY Awards, she was “shocked and grateful.”

Attending several pre-show events in Los Angeles, Smith met sports celebrities and several champions of accessibility and inclusion in sports, including the person who started American sign language broadcasts for National Hockey League games.

“I was so excited to meet everyone at the red carpet at the ESPYs, but what was equally as meaningful was meeting my role models — other people with disabilities who have paved the way for me to even get an award at the ESPYs,” she said.

Drawing on her own experience playing youth wheelchair basketball, Smith teamed with Sportable, a Richmond-based organization that creates sports and recreational opportunities for individuals with physical disabilities and visual impairments, to launch wheelchair basketball camps and clinics and an adult women’s wheelchair basketball team. In 2023, she started the “See It, Be It” social media campaign, which highlights individuals with disabilities succeeding in sports, careers, and everyday adventures to inspire youth with disabilities and those with new injuries or diagnoses to pursue their dreams.

Smith became a part of Sportable when she was 11 and began competing in wheelchair basketball two years later. She remembers playing in her first national tournament at age 13 in Louisville, Kentucky, and feeling a sense of belonging.

“It was a giant building (with) 12 basketball courts, and there were more people with disabilities or using mobility aids than people who weren’t,” she said. “For the first time in my life, for the entire week, no one asked me ‘what’s wrong with you?’ or ‘what’s your disability?’ or ‘why are you in a wheelchair’? They looked at me as competition, not as different. That meant a lot to me.”

As a high school student, Smith immersed herself in wheelchair basketball, playing and coaching with Sportable and speaking at local schools as a champion of inclusivity. During the pandemic, she trained in Richmond with Cor’Rales Dupree, who played for the men’s wheelchair basketball team at UW-Whitewater and graduated with a degree in communication in 2021.

Smith attended wheelchair basketball camps at four different colleges, including UW-Whitewater. She was impressed by the hospitality and care shown by the coaching staff, which at the time included head women’s coach Christina Schwab and head men’s coach Jeremy “Opie” Lade, as well as the other camp coaches, including Warhawk alum Lindsay Zurbrugg, a member of the Team USA women’s wheelchair basketball team playing for Schwab at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Smith also noticed the way the community supported the wheelchair basketball programs — she saw a schedule poster posted at a local restaurant and knew Whitewater was a place where she would be valued.

Since joining campus, Smith has been a member of UW-Whitewater’s Campus Crusade for Christ and Delight Ministries chapters. She was a member of the Warhawk women’s wheelchair basketball team from 2021-23, earning National Wheelchair Basketball Association All-Rookie Team accolades as a freshman and Academic All-America honors as a sophomore, and was a peer mentor with the First Year Experience office in fall 2023. She has also worked with students in the Pathways for Success and LIFE programs on campus.

After starting as an elementary education major, Smith switched to communication while maintaining special education as a minor. She cited several faculty members who’ve supported her academic journey, including communication faculty Corey Davis and Kathy Taylor and special education professor Rowand Robinson. Smith specifically called out the support of Taylor, who she took a class with in cross-cultural communication.

“Being at Whitewater proves to me every single day that this is where I belong,” Smith said.

This fall, Smith plans to work with the American Sign Language Club to improve her communication skills with those who are deaf and hard of hearing.

She is on track to graduate this December with a B.A. in communication and a minor in special education and a certificate in event planning and promotion.

After receiving her degree, Smith plans to return to the Richmond, Virginia, area — where she’s already made a giant impact — to seek a job incorporating communication and her desire to work with people with disabilities.

Smith looks to continue working with Sportable in wheelchair basketball, including joining the women’s team she helped start. She also hopes to expand the “See It, Be It” project to connect people with disabilities to opportunities for career exploration and athletic development.

For the next year, Smith will engage in the Sports Humanitarian leadership program with current and past winners of the award with the goal of raising awareness and support for her work in accessibility.

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Written by Chris Lindeke | Photos by Craig Schreiner and submitted

M.E. and My Pets posted an announcement on their Facebook page in April indicating that the owners were thinking about retirement and were looking to sell their two stores, one of which is at 147 W. Whitewater St. in Whitewater, with the other being in Fort Atkinson.

In a Facebook post on August 30, the business announced the sale of the Fort Atkinson location, while also indicating that the inventory of the two stores will be consolidating in Fort. The Whitewater store will be closing on September 14. A July, 2024 post stated that the Whitewater store was celebrating its 23rd anniversary.

The August 30 post closed with the message, “We appreciate the support we have received from our Whitewater customers for over 20 years and we hope you will continue to support the Fort Atkinson location. The Fort Atkinson store will be under the new ownership beginning September 16th, and Eric will stay on board until the end of September to help with the business transfer.”

The City of Whitewater is excited to announce a new feature on our municipal website: a dedicated Community page that is designed to host the links to local organizations’ calendars. Currently included are the links are to the city Parks & Recreation Department, the school district, the university, and the Chamber of Commerce. This centralized platform is designed to keep residents and visitors alike informed about activities, celebrations, and gatherings happening throughout our city.

As part of our commitment to fostering a vibrant community atmosphere, we invite local organizations, clubs, and community groups to share their event calendars with us. By featuring your events on our Community page, you can reach a wider audience and ensure greater participation.

How to Get Your Events Featured: To have your calendar included on our Community page, please send your link to Becky Magestro, Chief of Staff, at bmagestro@whitewater-wi.gov. We are looking forward to showcasing the diverse and dynamic events that make Whitewater a special place to live and visit.

Editor’s note: This announcement has been adapted from a press release from the city.