News & Events

Julie Hill, Horticulture Outreach Specialist at the UW Extension office, is giving a presentation at the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library about the variety of factors contributing to the declining health of trees in our landscape, in particular the oaks. In addition, spongy moths have become a well-known pest in the past couple years. Join us to learn about the stressors facing oak trees, how to promote healthy trees, and options for managing spongy moths in your yard. The presentation is in the library’s community room on Tuesday, May 7 at 5:30 p.m.

There is no cost or registration to attend. The library is located at 431 W. Center Street in Whitewater. Contact the library at 262-473-0530 with questions.

Editor’s note: The above press release was provided by the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library.

Correction: The headline has been corrected to indicate that the closure is between Prince St. and Elizabeth St., not Prairie and Elizabeth. The Banner regrets this error.

The Walworth Avenue Storm Sewer and Drainageway Project will begin on Monday, May 6, 2024. Walworth Avenue will be closed to thru traffic between Prince Street and Elizabeth Street. The project entails replacing storm sewer, curb and gutter, and street repairs. The completion date is tentatively scheduled for May 24, 2024. Questions may be directed to Brad Marquardt, Director of Public Works.

Brad Marquardt, Director of Public Works, (262) 473-2239, Bmarquardt@whitewater-wi.gov

Reminder: Fremont Road closures till approximately September 1:

Fremont Street from Starin Road to Lauderdale Drive is now closed to through traffic. The intersection of Starin Road and Fremont Street will remain open to traffic; however, the intersection of Lauderdale Drive and Fremont Street will be closed to traffic. Work in this portion of the project includes replacement of sanitary sewer mains and laterals, replacement of water mains and laterals, storm sewer improvements, replacement of sidewalk, curb and gutter, and new asphalt pavement. The project also includes work to abandon, in place, sanitary sewer and water mains that run under Treyton Field.

Phase II of the Fremont Reconstruction Project will begin later this summer. During work on Phase II, Fremont Street will be closed to thru traffic from Starin Road to Whitewater Creek. Work includes the pulverizing of existing asphalt, new asphalt pavement, and ditch work between Lauderdale Drive and Whitewater Creek. The intersections of Schwager Drive and Fremont Street and Burr Oak Drive and Fremont Street will also be closed to traffic during this phase. Additionally, there will be periodic closures of the Starin Road and Fremont intersection to facilitate curb and gutter replacement and repaving of the intersection.
Fremont Street from Starin Road to Whitewater Creek is tentatively scheduled to be open to traffic by September 1, 2024.

Editor’s Note: The following was provided by Whitewater Unites Lives.

The Whitewater community has the opportunity to help fill the shelves of local food pantries to serve those in need on Saturday, May 11. There are two ways to donate food and help our hungry neighbors.

– For more than 30 years, USPS has conducted an annual nationwide food drive on the second Saturday of May- the largest one-day food drive in the country.  In Whitewater, the food drive is supported by the Hunger Task Force to help the Whitewater Food Pantry. Residents will be receiving postcards and/or plastic bags in the mail as a reminder of the food drive. Just put your nonperishable contribution in or near your mailbox on Saturday, May 11, and your mail carrier will take the food to the Whitewater Food Pantry. Questions? Laurie Giorno, lead volunteer in Whitewater, can be reached at 262-903-9416. 

– The Community Space [TCS] in Whitewater has been in operation for just five years, but has already ramped up to give out more than 300,000 pounds of food a year through its collaboration with Feeding America and other organizations and its dozens of volunteers. Whitewater Unites Lives is hosting the food drive at the Community Space this year to help meet the increased demand TCS has experienced. To help, bring your nonperishable donations to TCS on 834 East Milwaukee St., drive around the back, and WUL volunteers will happily collect your donation from your car between 8:30 and 11:45 a.m. on Saturday, May 11. Questions? WUL co-founder Rosalinda Martinez can be reached at 920-222-0749 and co-founder Marjorie Stoneman can be reached at 414-861-4126.

Suggested donations to both pantries include peanut butter, jelly, individual packets of oatmeal, canned tuna, dried cereal, canned fruits and canned vegetables.   

Whitewater Unites Lives (WUL) is a locally-focused civil and human rights group that works to connect the people in our community and to create opportunities for all people to learn and support each other in our common humanity.

For more information about the Community Space, visit their website at communityspacewhitewater.com/

For more information about Whitewater Community Food Pantry, visit facebook.com/WhitewaterFoodPantry/

Editor’s note: Per the SSM Health website, applications are being accepted at St. Mary’s Hospital/Janesville for Apprentice Nurse Aides who have successfully completed nurse aide training and the exam. There also are openings for Apprentice Medical Assistants in Family Medicine in Janesville; these positions do not appear to require nurse aide training.

Students will earn as they learn necessary skills for a variety of health care careers

SSM Health is recruiting high school students for a paid apprenticeship program across its hospitals and clinics in Wisconsin that will offer valuable hands-on experiences while providing a pathway to rewarding careers in health care.

The Wisconsin Youth Apprenticeship Program offers high school juniors and seniors enrolled in related courses industry-recognized completion certificates for their work in one of eight health care career areas, which include:

Medical Assistant	Medical Office Assistant	Phlebotomy Assistant
Medical Imaging Assistant	Nursing Assistant	Physical Therapy Aide
Medical Lab Assistant	Pharmacy Assistant

“Health care offers many rewarding career paths, and we are delighted to welcome these young people into our hospitals and clinics to experience these important roles for themselves as we seek to help train a new generation of exceptional caregivers in the communities we are privileged to serve,” says program coordinator, Sandy Riley.

Those selected for the one-year program are required to work 450 hours and can elect to begin their apprenticeship in the summer or at the start of their fall semester. SSM Health hopes to interest 50 students to apprentice throughout the 2024-2025 school year within its care teams throughout its hospitals and clinics in Wisconsin. 

Interested students and their parents can learn more about the available apprenticeships and apply online at the SSM Health Wisconsin Youth Apprenticeship Program page.

The apprenticeship program is led by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and is offered in collaboration with: the Dane County School Consortium in Greater Madison, Southwest WI Workforce Development Board, Inc. in Green/Rock Counties and the Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESA 3) in Iowa County, (CESA 5) in Sauk County and (CESA 6) in Greater Fond du Lac, as well as a host of area high schools.

Editor’s note: The Whitewater Banner reached out to SSM Health to confirm that Whitewater High School students are eligible to participate. The short answer is that they are welcome to apply, as are students at Fort Atkinson and Elkhorn Area high schools, as well as home school students. The long answer from Sandy Riley of SSM is as follows:

“The Youth Apprenticeship (YA) program has been in existence in Wisconsin since 1991 (to clarify).  Ours was the first state to implement YA and it has been adopted by many other states across the U.S.. YA in Wisconsin operates through partnerships between high schools, consortia partners, employers, DWD, parents, and of course students.

Some schools work with a consortia partner who serve as a liaison between employers and schools.  Other high schools operate the program independent of a consortia partner. The vast majority of high schools participate in YA.  In addition, students completing a home school program may also qualify. 

To find out more about specific school districts, visit  https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/apprenticeship/contacts.htm#youthApprenticeshipConsortiums and search by school district to find the contact information for each school’s YA Coordinator.  All three schools above [Whitewater, Fort Atkinson, and Elkhorn] are listed on the DWD site. Alternatively, this page also has a clickable button labeled “See Consortium Info” which will link to the consortium partner that supports the program in each region. They are wonderful subject matter experts and are often a bit easier to connect with, particularly during the summer.

Finally, a simple email or call to the Department of Workforce Development YA contact is also an option: ya@dwd.wisconsin.gov or 608-733-3930.  If a school does not participate and there is no consortium partner, DWD would be the best information source.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Tick exposure can occur year-round, but ticks are most active during warmer months (April-September).” Some Whitewater residents are reporting that already this year they’ve seen or pulled off themselves many ticks. It’s important to protect ourselves against Lyme disease and other diseases that may be spread by ticks. Johns Hopkins Medicine reports that, “Depending on the location, anywhere from less than 1% to more than 50% of the ticks are infected with it [Lyme disease.] While most tick bites are harmless, several species can cause life-threatening diseases.”

There are many steps you can take to protect yourself from tick bites.

Use repellent on skin and clothing

Use insect repellents on exposed skin and clothes to prevent tick bites. Repellents should contain one of these:

• 20–30% DEET
• 10–20% Picaridin
• 15–20% IR3535
• 30–40% oil of lemon eucalyptus

Parents should apply repellents to children. Use caution and avoid hands, eyes, and mouth. Don’t use oil of lemon eucalyptus on children under 3 years of age.

Permethrin is a pesticide that kills ticks when they crawl on your clothes. Apply it to clothes, shoes, and gear to prevent tick bites. Don’t apply directly to skin. After applied, permethrin lasts through several washes.

Carefully apply repellents according to the label instructions. Some products should be applied more often than others.

Find the Repellent that is Right for You on the Environmental Protection Agency website.

For more details, visit our webpage on Tick and Insect Repellents. Learn more with the Insect Repellent Essentials: A Brief Guide (PDF) from the Northeast Regional Center for Excellence in Vector-borne Diseases.

Wear the right outdoor clothing.

• Wear long sleeves, long pants, and tall socks. This helps keep ticks on the outside of clothing rather than on your skin.
• Wear light-colored clothing to make ticks easier to spot.
• Tuck shirts into pants, and tuck pants into shoes or socks. This keeps ticks on the outside of clothing.
• Take extra care if you’ll be outdoors for a long time. Tape pant legs where pants and socks meet so ticks can’t crawl under clothes.

Avoid direct contact with ticks

• Walk in the center of trails
• Don’t brush up against plants on the edge of trails.
• Avoid wooded and brushy areas with tall grass and leaf litter.

Check for ticks after being outdoors.

• Perform full-body tick checks after being outdoors in areas where ticks may be present. This could include your own yard. Check yourself and family members every day after being outdoors where ticks may be present.
• Check all parts of the body carefully. Pay special attention to the armpits, behind the knees, scalp, in and around the ears, inside the belly button, and groin.
• Parents should check their children for ticks.
• Before going inside, make sure your clothing, gear, and pets don’t have ticks. For pets, use a treatment recommended by a veterinarian to prevent ticks.
• Take a bath or shower within two hours after coming inside. This helps you find and wash off any ticks on your body.
• Tumble dry clothes in a dryer on high heat for 10 minutes. The heat kills any ticks still on your clothing. If clothes are damp, tumble dry on high heat for 60 minutes.

Tick removal—dos and don’ts

Don’t panic if you find a tick embedded on your body. Simply remove it as soon as possible following these recommendations:

Do:

• Grasp tick with a narrow-bladed tweezers as close as possible to the skin.
• If tweezers are not available, use fingers shielded with tissue paper or rubber gloves.
• Pull upward and out with a firm and steady tension.

Don’t:

• Don’t use petroleum jelly, a hot match, nail polish, or other products.
• Don’t handle tick with bare hands.
• Don’t squeeze, crush, or puncture the body of the tick, which may contain infectious fluids.
• Don’t twist the tick, since this can cause the mouthparts to break off and stay in the skin.

After removing the tick, use rubbing alcohol to clean the bite site and wash your hands with soap and water. It is important that a tick be properly removed as soon as it’s found.

Visit your doctor if you have a rash or fever within 30 days of removing a tick or after possible tick exposure. Tell the doctor when and where you may have come into contact with the tick.

If I’ve been bitten by a tick, should I get it tested?

If you have been bitten by a tick, getting it tested for any diseases isn’t recommended. The only way to know if a tick bite made you sick is through an evaluation performed by a health care provider. Learn more about tick testing at Ticks in Wisconsin: What You Need to Know.

Editor’s note: The image on the homepage is from here.

It’s farmers market season here in Wisconsin. As the Whitewater City Market gears up to launch its outdoor season, we’re excited for our 9th season in the downtown commercial district. The market, built to celebrate local foods, products, and community, is thrilled to announce an exciting partnership with Generac Power Systems and TDS Telecom, as sponsors of the season’s musical performances.
 
Generac, a pioneer in backup power solutions, and TDS, a leading provider of high-speed internet and communication solutions, are both deeply committed to supporting local initiatives that foster community engagement and enrichment. Their generous sponsorship highlights their dedication to enhancing the quality of life in Whitewater and beyond.

As part of this sponsorship, the Whitewater City Market is delighted to feature live music by the talented Wendy O’Lynn (pictured above) to kick off the season. Wendy O’Lynn’s talents are the perfect backdrop for a season-opening celebration.

“We are thrilled to welcome back Generac Power Systems and add TDS Telecom as sponsors for our outdoor market season,” said Lisa Dawsey Smith, volunteer of the Whitewater City Market. “Their support not only allows us to continue providing a platform for local musicians, but also local farmers, producers, and artisans.”

In addition to music, patrons of the market can look forward to children’s activities, giveaways, local foods, local crafts, information from area non-profits, and don’t forget the food trucks/prepared food vendors. From exciting giveaways to an abundance of fresh local produce, plants, flowers, and artisanal goods, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

The outdoor market season kicks off on May 7, 2024, from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm, and will continue every Tuesday through October. Located at the Historic Train Depot, 301 W Whitewater Street, the market promises to be a highlight of the spring and summer seasons in Whitewater.

For more information about the Whitewater City Market and upcoming events, please visit www.downtownwhitewater.com or follow us on social media @WhitewaterCityMarket.

About Whitewater City Market: The Whitewater City Market is a vibrant community market that celebrates local artisans, farmers, and food producers. With a commitment to supporting local businesses and fostering community connections, the market offers a diverse array of goods and activities for visitors of all ages.

Contact: Lisa Dawsey Smith, volunteer, Whitewater City Market whitewatercitymarket@gmail.com