Madison Drain J486

Tuesday Oct. 3, the common council met to discuss the issues with the new University of Wisconsin-Whitewater parking system, the proposed budget, and address issues with the Landmark Commission.

Over the summer, the university removed a majority of their meters and replaced those spots with permit parking. Since this has been done, students have been found parking all over town to avoid paying for a permit. This has been done in an attempt to make the parking lots more self sustainable.

Chancellor Beverly Kopper, the Vice Chancellor Grace Crickette, and Police Chief Matt Kiederlen were sent by the university to address concerns of the city. Whether it is blocking the homeowners on Franklin or filling up the Fairhaven lot, the parking change is affecting the entire city of Whitewater.

A vast majority of the university parking permits have gone up $20, and the tickets have gone from $15 to $20. These prices have pushed students and staff to find free street parking within the city of Whitewater. This has directly affect the public’s accessibility and parking throughout the city.

Councilmember James Allen explained that this change “feels close to double taxation,” and most residents would agree. They are being put in the position to buy permits to park across the street from their homes. Although the university has spaces specifically designated for students and staff there is no guarantee that they will comply.

“We’re trying to encourage people to use those spaces, but if they’re not willing to I’m not sure what to do,” said Kiederlen. The police chief said they would be willing to allow the city to take back and manage Prince and Prairie Street if they’d like.

Pam Zarinnia, a retired worker of the university, found it “absolutely outrageous what they have done with the streets on either side of the campus.” She believes it needs very careful examination from the city to take care of the issue.

Zarinnia brought up the tragic event of the handicapped student killed at the crosswalk by the library, and thinks more focus should be brought to that. The flashing sign does not stop cars, and another death is inevitable if it is not quickly changed. “I really don’t want to see another dead person on that crossing,” said Zarinnia and asked that it be put on the agenda for the next meeting.

Budget Proposal

City manager Cameron Clapper proposed the new 2018 budget at $9.1 million, and that is a $37 thousand decrease from 2017. The revenues come mainly from taxes and intergovernmental revenues, and most expenditures are going public safety, administrations, and transfers.

Transfer in and out of the general fund was one of the larger areas for change. Transfers into the general fund were reduced by $55 thousand due to the elimination of certain larger funds such as cable television and parking permit fund. There was also $76 thousand for a trail fund that died and has been sitting since 2010. That project has paid back the state and will return to the budget.

The capital projects fund received $74 thousand last year and has been redirected to cover operations completely. There would be a reduction in health insurance for employees among the city, and offset by a wage increase of 1.5 percent.

The city is also looking to contract with Ehlers and Associates for financial advising services, and that motion will be discussed in the next meeting.

The finance committee will go through the official document on thursday evenings for the next 3 weeks before the budget is finalized. The final form of the budget will be presented again Nov., 7.

Landmark Commission

The Landmark Commission had protesters standing outside the doors of the common council meeting with signs that read “Save Our Landmarks,” but did not speak up during the meeting itself.

The council passed the motion of Landmark designation for property owned by the city. They found that issues had only occurred due to miscommunications, “the city manager received notice, but the council did not,” said the district four representative, Lynn Binnie.

Christopher Grady, the district 3 representative, asked the landmark commission that if they think they like to create a city owned property as a landmark let the city manager know and they bring it to the common council so it could be better discussed.

President Patrick Singer went further to describe the hopes for “open and predictable communication process” to avoid any future confusion. This first ordinance was was passed unanimously.

The second motion was a suggested ordinance to allow the Common Council to rescind Landmarks Designation for City of Whitewater owned landmarks. The goal of this change was to treat publicly owned landmarks as equally as privately owned.

However, this ordinance was not seconded and did not go on for a further debate. It was agreed that the Landmarks commission is fully capable of handling the situations as they occur.

The No. 10 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (10-7 overall, 3-2 WIAC) faced No. 5 UW-Parkside Rangers 28-15 and battled at UW-Eau Claire’s Don Parker Open this past week where no team scores were kept.

Head coach Ned Shuck said the ’Hawks used the non-conference meet to give the team’s usual starters a chance to rest. Six freshmen and three sophomores competed against the Rangers, while nine freshman and five sophomores competed in the Don Parker Open.

The team utilized these past two competitions to give the team’s underclassmen a chance to compete and grow. With only two graduating wrestlers this season, there is a large focus on giving the team’s younger wrestlers as much experience on the mat as possible.

“We don’t have our for sure Regional starters until Regionals,” head coach Ned Shuck said. “They’re young… they’re going to have bright moments and some lack of experience, but the lack of experience is over with almost a full year of college wrestling under them.”

With the WIAC conference championship right around the corner, the excitement grows but the mindset of the team remains unchanged.

“We’re always pushing to get better no matter what time of year it is,” said senior Joseph Brodman. “We’re going to go out and do our thing.”

Brodman placed second at last year’s WIAC Championships and will have a chance for redemption against UW-Platteville’s Scott Arneson again this year. “We’re not trying to peak at the WIAC, we’re trying to peak at Regionals and Nationals,” said Brodman.

With a game plan in mind, the focus of practice is to improve weaknesses and capitalize strengths. “It is not the time to do new and different things,” Shuck said. “It is the time to do what we do best and focus on what we know.”

Last season, the No. 13 ’Hawks earned their fifth straight WIAC Championship title as well as five individual titles, and Ned Shuck was named WIAC Coach of the Year.

This will be Shucks third season coaching the ’Hawks. So far, he has led the team to back-to-back conference championships and is excited to fight for their team’s sixth conference championship.

“I hope the guys rise to the occasion and give it everything they have, if we do that then really really good things are going to happen,” said Shuck.

The Warhawks begin their postseason play with the WIAC Championship Friday at noon at UW-Platteville.

I would not consider myself to be someone who follows hard news closely. I am interested in national and international news that involve foreign affairs. I do not follow much on the state level, but I stay up to date with the local news of my hometown. For my hometown, I follow everything from high school sports to local charities and elections. I find the news from our local newspaper’s website and links that I usually come across on Facebook. Most of the information I get is from a link I see on Facebook or Twitter. My uncles are very into state and nation news, they are also very opinionated about it so I like to read what they post. My favorite news site to use is Fox News because it is a simple layout with very few ad interruptions. I use Google a lot when I am interested in a specific news topic. It makes finding valid information very simple, but usually sends me on a nonlinear path to a completely different topic by the end.

The most effective way for me to consume news is by reading text and watching news videos. My favorite format is watching videos because I can watch them while I workout and they keep me engaged. I will listen to news on the radio as I am driving, but usually get bored and change it to music. I have never interacted with a news site. I do not think it is necessary because people get offended very easily and like to start fights. I follow a lot of famous athletes on Twitter that lead me to more sport news. Facebook has led me to many different types of news stories both real and fake. When I read something that I believe may be fake I will Google the topic and try to find more sources on it. The only time I have fallen for a fake story was a celebrity’s death, but I quickly realized it was false when I saw the celebrity tweet about the topic. As for blogs and podcasts, I only listen to them for entertainment and not for news.

Although hard news is very important, I know that news channels like to show a lot of negative news. I do not do well with the negative aspects of the news, it is something that frustrates me and I have a difficult time writing about. That is not to say I would not be able to cover a devastating hard news story. However, I prefer stories about sports and athletes careers. Site such as ESPN are saved as bookmarks on my laptop, but I also have the apps on my phone. The app will send me any news of a team I have favorited. I check ESPN at least once a day to try and keep up with ay trades, injuries, and wins/losses. When it comes to TV, I will watch ESPN for hours before or after specific sporting events. Sometimes I turn that channel on so I have background noise while I am doing other things.

I have been trying to follow the news more closely simply because of everything happening with the new presidency, foreign affairs, and women’s marches. Overall, I am more interested in sport related news than any other type of news, but I am slowly broadening my horizon.

At a young age of 49, Steve Jobs has been able to create a company called Apple, NeXT (a company later bought by Apple), and played a huge role in the startup of Pixar. This is the same man who dropped out of college, got fired from his own company, and looked death in the eye. Today, Jobs shared his story with the graduating class of Stanford urging the students to “stay hungry,” and “stay foolish”.

If Jobs had never dropped out he never would have dropped in. A college education was something that Steve Jobs’ family, biological and adopted, lacked. It was something that became expected of him. He committed to Reed College in Portland, Oregon but dropped out after he felt as though his time and parents money were being wasted. After he dropped out he began dropping in on classes that actually interested him. “Follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path and that will make all the difference.” Steve Jobs did follow his heart. He had no idea that the one calligraphy class he sat in on would have given the Mac the typography to make it stand out from the rest. Him and his good friend from highschool Steve Wozniak (Woz) worked in a basement to create the computer that launched Apple. He trusted in himself, and he trusted in Woz. Within 10 years they went from two people in their parents’ garage to a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees.

Steve Jobs became a public icon by following his dreams and creating the new innovative Apple company. Aftering being fired from the company he started he deemed himself as a public failure. He had been rejected from his own creation, but refused to lose faith. Jobs felt “the heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.” This was the time when Jobs created NeXT and invested in Pixar. NeXt was bought by Apple which brought Jobs back into his company and Pixar made the world’s first computer animated film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio.

After fighting his way back to the top, his body began to give him a scare. He was told he had an incurable type of pancreas cancer and needed to start figuring out how to say goodbye to his loved ones. When Jobs thought he was staring death straight in the eye he found out that he had a rare type of cancer that could be cured with surgery. He got the surgery and is a healthy cancer free man now. He took that familiar fear of death and uses it every day for inspiration. Death is one thing everyone has in common. It is the balance to our world, it wipes away the old to make room for the new. Jobs found out first hand that “your time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” After that experience he has not wasted a day doing something he was not fully into.  

Steve Jobs has found ways to make the most out of life. He follows his heart and embraces his passion. With his accomplishments come his hardships but instead of giving up he pushes through to make a greater outcome. “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become.” This is exactly what Jobs did. He followed his heart and never gave up on himself. He stayed hungry and foolish and because of this he is considered to be incredibly successful. His stories give reasons why these 2009 Stanford graduates should never give up on their dreams. Life is not going to go the way you expect, you have to be ready for the changes and be willing to embrace them. The college education you got will only take you as far as your passion will push it. Never give up on what you want… “stay hungry” and “stay foolish”.  

The UW-Whitewater (19-7) women’s basketball lost to UW-Eau Claire (14-12) 69-59 Tuesday night at Kachel Gymnasium. This was the first round of play in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship. *The fate of the Warhawks season will be announced during the selection show Monday at 1:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.

Eau Claire jumped early with an 8-0 lead in the first quarter. Although there were seven ties and 19 lead changes, the Blugolds outworked the ‘Hawks. They out rebounded the Warhawks 32-27 and made more appearances at the free throw line.

“It was a good game on both ends, we needed to capitalize on their mistakes to take the lead and we just couldn’t do it,” said one of the assistant coaches for Warhawks, Kristen Hammer. The Blugolds were able to out pace the Warhawks in all four quarters.

Blugold Teenie Lichtfuss led her team with 23 points and five assists. Erin O’Tool had 20 points and 12 rebounds to give her a double-double for the night.

“It’s hard losing a game like this,” said Warhawk senior Lisa Palmer. “This could be the last game of my career and we were so close to winning it.”

Warhawks Andrea Meinert led the team with 14 points and was 50 percent with her shots. Brooke Trewyn trailed her with 9 points along with six rebounds. Lisa Palmer also contributed six rebounds.

Blugolds had a 29-27 advantage going into halftime. They were able to extend their lead early in the third quarter but Meinert cut it back down and trailed 44-43 at the end of the third quarter. Warhawks hit shots but the Blugolds hit more making the final score 69-59.

A senior Warhawk fan said “It was hard to watch the team possibly end their season this way, being a senior I understand how much it hurts to have your sport come to an end… it sucks.”

The Blugolds will hit the road to take on UW-River Falls for the semifinal round of the WIAC tournament. The game is set for Thursday at 7 p.m. The Warhawks will sit and wait to see where they are left standing on Monday at 1 p.m. 

Today Kittatinny, Pennsylvania  mayor Gustavus Petykiewicz released his budget proposal for 2016. He plans on eliminating a police shift from 4 a.m. until noon, raise taxes, and have residents pay for their garbage pickup.

“I come to you with a heavy heart. These are not actions I take lightly. We are having a fiscal crisis in the city of Kittatinny and we must respond to it,” said Petykiewicz.

Kittatinny has suffered greatly since closing the Susquehanna Steel Corporation last year. The loss of this production has created a 10.2% decrease in the industrial tax base. Roughly 600 people lost their jobs and still remain unemployed today.

The largest concern is cutting the police shift. From 4 a.m. until noon every day there will be no officers on duty, all emergency calls will be sent to the county sheriff’s office. Police Chief Roman Hruska said “I cannot stand idly by and watch the city of this size be deprived of regular police protection a third of each day.” Along with this shift cut, it is in the proposal to cut two officers. It would cost about $70,000 to employ each officer and Hruska is doing what he can to come up with the money to save their jobs and proper police protection.

One proposed idea was to raise the taxes above what the mayor suggested. The original proposal was to raise the taxes from 4 mills to 4.3 mills. If you take an average house worth $100,000 the owner would pay about $400 in property taxes. By raising taxes to 4.3 mills the owner would now pay $30 more. The proposal from Denelda Penoyer, president of Kittatinny City Council, suggested the taxes get raised to 5 mills. Instead of paying $400 in property taxes, the owners will now pay closer to $500. This raise would prevent the cutbacks in the police department, but so many citizens are still out of work and may not be able to meet the increase.

Some people question the necessity of equipment purchases such as a driveable weed-removal machine and a combination dump truck/snow plow machine. Petykiewicz finds them necessary to keep the town looking nice and more attractive to tourists.

Garbage collection is another area that is proposed to be cut. Citizens should not notice a difference in their garbage pick up, Tioga Sanitation Co. will continue to pick up garbage once a week. The difference will be the extra $30 fee added onto your water bill. This change could save the city $187,000 a year. Petykiewicz said “we all have to make sacrifices, it is going to be tough.”

In the current proposal all city personnel have a salary freeze. After speaking with the city officials today, they are all willing to look into taking a 10% cut of their salary. Penoyer said “we have to show we are part of the solution rather than the problem.” Martha Mittengrabben the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 644 and Bjarne Westhoff the president of the Pennsylvania Police Association Local 34 both agreed to talk to their members about re-opening their contracts.

Penoyer and Petykiewicz urge citizens to contact them directly with their concerns. The city council will be holding public hearings starting this week, a schedule will be released soon, and all citizens are encouraged to come and voice their opinions.

Have you ever known someone with really bad luck? Someone who can never catch a break or always get hurt? I have, her name is Camille Drain. She is a 14 year old girl from Crystal Lake, Illinois, who was born with a birth defect, legally drowned, and choked on her tongue. Camille was born with what is known as an imperforated anus along with a blockage in her intestine. An imperforated anus means that the opening to the anus is missing. As soon as she was born she was sent into emergency surgery to correct the blockage and was given an opening in her stomach to secrete waste. A few months later she was brought back to the hospital to have her anus built. Once the doctors could see that her body was working properly with the new anus she had to undergo yet another surgery. This third surgery was used to close the opening in her stomach that was originally created to rid of her waste. Camille lived in the hospital her first year of life but was able to live a somewhat normal life afterwards. When she hit the age of four she had complications that sent her back to the hospital and forced her into one more surgery for corrections. This final surgery made her life incredibly difficult. She had over 20 stitches that prevented her from going to the bathroom on her own. She had to have someone sit with her and rinse the stitches after every time she used the bathroom. Most of the time it was a family member, but at school it was usually one of the nurses. An inflatable donut became her best friend when it was time to sit down but her worst enemy because it never failed to spark questions from her peers. Not being able to have privacy in the bathroom or even be able to sit down for too long and then struggle to stand up was embarrassing to Camille. The feeling of helplessness overtook her and ate away at her confidence. To this day, Camille does not have the normal amount of control over her urinary system. She is unable to hold in her pee and suffers from frequent constipation that has given her multiple trips to the ER. This experience gave her a fear of doctors, she always expected to get poked or prodded while in their office.

Although she was put through multiple surgeries, Camille was still able to go to things like her brothers baseball games. She was kept in a stroller but was still somewhere other than a hospital. One day at the field her brother had a tournament so it was a long day. Camille was in her stroller being pushed by her mom when a foul ball shot over one of the fences and hit Camille in the head. The impact caused her head to get knocked back and her tongue went backwards down her throat, she had swallowed her tongue and started choking on it. The ambulance rushed her into the concession stand building and began to try and release her tongue from her throat. They were successful in opening her airway and she was able to breathe. As a precautionary measure she was taken to the hospital but released later that night.

After her final surgery when she was four, she was able to start living a normal life again. Her stitches healed and she was able to gain the privacy most people take advantage of. The trips to doctor offices became less frequent and she was able to start going on playdates and enjoy her childhood. Less than a year after the final surgery, Camille went to the beach with her sister and close family friends. It was a beautiful day and she loved to swim even though she was still learning. Floaties were forced on her arms and her bathing suit had a built in air pack that helped keep her head above the water while still inexperienced. Around noon, everyone she was with got called out of the water for a lunch break. She was freed from her floaties. When Camille finished eating she was ready to jump back in the water. She saw some older girls playing a game called “Dead Man Float”, this is where you lay on your stomach and float in the water until you need to come up for air. The goal is to see who can float the longest without coming up. Fun loving little Camille wanted to play, so she sat off to the side and started to float on her stomach. Without her floaties she struggled to sit back up and only pushed herself deeper into an area where she could not touch the ground. Her lungs filled with water and she had to be pulled out by the lifeguard. There was no beat coming from her heart and her face was blue, she was legally dead. The lifeguard gave her CPR followed by mouth to mouth resuscitation. Three minutes of this repeated action gave Camille the strength to spit out the water and breathe in air. She was then immediately rushed to a hospital and was kept overnight.

At the age of five this little girl had already been through so much. She had spent so much of her life in hospitals bouncing from doctor to doctor for various procedures and check ups. Her history made her scared. She had security issues with people she was not familiar with and although she was young she remembers the different kind of pain she suffered from. Whenever she heard a siren she would get scared that “they were coming to get [her]”. Her history created a certain amount of pain and fear, but it never stopped her from overcoming them. Camille never wants to leave the pool during the summer, she loves going to baseball games, and is able to see an ambulance without crying. While talking to Camille about her experiences she seemed to focus more on the good of what happened to her. She explained that all the doctor visits gave her time to bond with her aunt and mom who would always go with. While she was in the hospital recovering from the drowning, she went to the gift shop to find a present for her sister just because she wanted to make her smile. After her surgeries her siblings would get to stay home from school to play games with her and keep her company. Camille still has confidence issues due to her birth defect and the side effects she suffers from, but she doesn’t let it weaken her. She transformed from a strong little girl to a powerful young lady. With all that has happened to her she still finds reasons to smile. Not once has Camille looked back and asked why, she has taken her experiences and used them to shape herself for the better. Camille Drain is a role model and an inspiration to the people of her hometown.

My team playing football during a rain delay

I grew up in a family that played sports. Very active, very involved family. My brothers played baseball, football, and basketball while I was growing up. I went to every game and was always became a mascot/batgirl for their teams. Seeing how much fun they had playing these sports and creating new friendships made me want to play sports. Growing up I did everything I could. I failed at soccer, attempted football, cheerleading, basketball, volleyball, and baseball. None of these really stuck with me until I was forced to play softball because I was not a boy. I knew how to swing a bat before I could walk because my dad somehow knew it was my calling. I fell in love with the game instantly. It became a part of who I was and how I defined myself. I found myself asking my dad to constantly go throw or make a trip to the batting cages. I also admit to being a complete dork and coming up with the most ridiculous cheers with my teammates. Softball became my safe zone, when I step on the field nothing can touch me. It surrounded me with people who understood me and I could be myself around. Every team I have been on has been filled with the most unique people who have created some of the best weekends of my life. It continues to be my favorite sport and I hope some day to play it professionally although there is not a wide variety for that. Softball has given me my best friends, my confidence, my biggest challenges, my stress reliever, and most importantly it opened my eyes to unconditional support my family will always have for me.

My team after taking 1st in a tournament