Get up, get out, get going!

In this week's column, I'd like to address the growing divide and disinterest in local government. A lot of attention has been paid to what is going on at the state government level lately because of Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill and his proposed biennial budget, but local and county governmental bodies have remained largely unnoticed, at least from what I have seen.

As a reporter for the Sun Prairie Star, I cover the Dane County Board of Supervisors and the majority of Sun Prairie city meetings. When it comes to city meetings, attendance is pretty much non-existent. Whenever I attend Transit or Tourism Commission meetings, the only ones in attendance are board members, myself and individuals presenting to the board, if any. The Sun Prairie City Council Committee of the Whole meetings aren't any better. Occasionally a resident or two might attend, but that usually only happens when an issue pertains to them, such as when the committee discussed changing parking regulations for recreational vehicles [RVs].

I can't really speak to the actual City Council meetings, as that is something my boss covers, but the couple I attended were sparsely attended, with maybe 1-4 people there. Again, the only exception was the meeting a couple weeks ago when they approved changing the RV parking ordinance.

And Dane County Board? Pitiful. Now, I realize that the meeting is televised, but I find it disgraceful that 98 percent of the time, I am the ONLY media outlet actually in attendance at the meetings. Usually a couple Madison media outlets have a brief about the meeting in the couple days following the meeting, so I can only assume there are a couple reporters watching the meeting from home with a glass of wine.

Residents aren't any better. Unless there is a “hot button” issue or someone is being honored, residents don't bother showing up. Yes, there was an instance back in November when the county was proposing cutting funding for Human Services in the 2011 budget process when more than 100 residents showed up to oppose it, but most of the time between 0-12 people show up – a dozen out of the county's 488,000 residents.

Yet we love to complain. We complain about Walker, and the Wisconsin Legislature, about cuts to schools, libraries, state aid to municipalities, how come our taxes keep going up? What people don't realize is the connection between everything. The federal government gives aid to states for projects, the states give money in the form of shared revenue to county governments. County governments then decide how that shared revenue will be distributed among the local municipalities and the municipalities decide what is important for their city, town or village.

To me, the lack of people showing interest in their local governmental bodies says “we don't care about what happens in our town. Just make all the decisions without our input. After all, you know what is best.”

Now I'l admit, I never once attended a city meeting in my hometown of Antigo, Wis., so I can't tell you what it is like in the north end of the state. However, as part of my journalistic education at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, I had to attend Whitewater Common Council meetings for Professor Sam Martino's Reporting Public Affairs class.

In truth, the majority of people that showed up to those meetings were from our class, which had roughly 24 students, plus the teacher. However, at every single meeting I went to, I noticed between 5-15 residents in attendance, sometimes more. While even that does not sound like a lot, you have to remember that of the city's 14,000 population, roughly 10,000 are university students. So in a city of technically 4,000 people, 5-15 people is decent compared to other places.

I'm going to be completely honest here. I find the increasing trend of ignoring our own local governments to be very disappointing. With everything that goes on in our own lives, how can we think that what the government, be it local, state or federal, does not affect us and our everyday lives?

So as my title says, get up, get out and get going!

Related articles:

How Walker's biennial budget will impact Dane County:

http://sunprairiestar.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=22&ArticleID=7113&TM=58836.8

How Walker's biennial budget will impact Wisconsin libraries:

http://sunprairiestar.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=52&ArticleID=7149&TM=59432.26

Victory!

Yes, yes, I’m aware. I haven’t had a blog posting in oh, about three months now. Frankly, with everything that has been going on, I’ve been more than a tad bit busy, so I’ll be brief. So far this year, I’ve:

• Attended the Monster Truck Nationals at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison;

• Did the Polar Plunge in Madison (which was pretty gross. Next year I’m back to jumping in Whitewater);

• Covered a bit of the craziness that went on at the Capitol the past five weeks;

• Learned one friend is moving. He has decided to be a deusche and deal with it by cutting me out of his life; and

• Learned another friend is going to be spending the next six years in prison;

Like I said, brief. Now, onto the main event!

On March 12, the UW-Whitewater Warhawk Karate Club traveled to Dubuque, Iowa (well technically Peosta, Iowa) for its annual martial arts tournament. I traveled with the team last year, but at the time decided to represent Halama’s Martial Arts. This year I have decided to cast off those shackles and consider myself dedicated to the Warhawk Karate Club.

Anyway, my weekend stared out crazy, as I worked until about 7 p.m. Friday and then picked up some chicken from Buck n’ Honey for supper before heading home to pack. I don’t know if it is because I am a woman or what, but it took forever to pack, and I actually wound up staying up until 12:45 a.m., and then waking up again at 2:30 a.m. Why, you may ask? Well, simple. Because we were leaving from Whitewater at 6 a.m. and I neede to be on the road by 4:30 a.m. in order to ensure I had enough time to get there, meet everyone and head out. Skipping ahead through the boring drive over details (I rode up in an actual former police car), we got there a little after 9 a.m. and the tournament began at 10.

I must admit, I didn’t get to watch my teammates a lot until the very end of the tournament, which was disappointing. Instead, I wound up helping out with tallying scoring in between my events. However, I did get to see some white belt sparring (good job Mike, Alex and Zach), the black belt sparring and Pete’s weapons form (the things that guy can do with a stick, lol).

Of course us Warhawks dominated, bringing home 16 trophies between 14 participants. Our own Laura Kiskunas walked away champion in the ladies forms and sparring. It was quite nervewracking in sparring as I wound up facing her in the championship match. Despite being up 4-0 at one point, I could not seem to clinche that last point and wound up losing 5-4. I think I got too caught up with “Oh my God! I’m beating Laura. Somebody call NASA because the Earth must be imploding!”

Anywho, Laura captured first in sparring and forms for the women (the division did not include red and black belts), and after sudden death in forms, I came in third.

After the competition (and after getting my butt spanked by David, along with half of the team) we hit up Buffalo Wild Wings for food before drinks at the hotel. Although not quite as many people as last year, we still had about 18 people squashed into two hotel rooms.

I could go into more detail about the goings-on at the hotel that night, because it definitely is a night that I’m going to remember, but I shan’t. The craziness stays within the group, lol.

Next blog: The growing disconnect in local government (hey, they can’t all be fun...but they are interesting.)

2010 Highlights

Well, another year has come and gone, and I have had many firsts this year. From finishing school to my first tandem skydive, I have slowly begun to come out of my shell and start living my life to the fullest. 

To summarize, here is a list of my top 2010 highlights:

January

Ouch! My first serious injury: 

Jan. 7 started out like any regular day. My last Christmas break was coming to a close, and I decided to take advantage of it by furthering my martial arts training with Halama’s Martial Arts, in Wausau. Each class ends with a few bouts of sparring, and that night was no exception. 

Now, my instructor always said to try the more complicated kicks when sparring against a lower belt because higher belts will be able to evade them. So I decided to try a tornado kick against Denise, a yellow belt. During the kick, there is one brief window when both feet are in the air. Unfortunately, at that point Denise hit me with a front kick. As a result, I landed sideways and fell and next thing I know, I can barely walk. After three months, I finally got the correct diagnosis: a sprain in my achilles tendon. It took almost a year, but is finally healed.

February

Polar Plunge: 

For the first time, I participated in the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics. My mother told me that I should probably reconsider after my injury, but it was something I had wanted to do for years, but never knew about in time. I participated in the Polar Plunge in Whitewater, where participants jumped into a large pool instead of Lake Cravath, due in large part to the fact the lake is pretty gross. I wound up raising more than $350 for Special Olympics, and although I was jumping into a pool instead of a lake, it was still really cold, although not quite as bad as I thought it was going to be. 

March 

Dubuque Tournament: 

I participated in my first martial arts tournament this past March in Dubuque, Iowa, and although I traveled with the Warhawk Karate Club, I represented Halama’s Martial Arts. It was different than I expected. The form judges only knew the black belt forms, so if I had made a mistake, they wouldn’t know. I also participated in the sparring tournament. It was point sparring, which was a little different than I was used to, but I tried my best.

As fun as the tournament was, that night was even better. Even though there were 23 of us, everyone wound up staying in a two-room joining suite. Twenty-three people, two rooms, four beds, it was quite smushed. Everyone was kind of just piled up together, like a litter of kittens. Of course, I didn’t really expect anything else with members of the UW-Whitewater Warhawk Karate Club. They really are the most wonderful and amusing group of people I have ever had the privilege of meeting.

April

Testing, my first motorcycle ride and just a little trouble:

Yet another accomplishment and another first. After months of training, I finally received my blue tips through Halama’s Martial Arts on April 1 - no fooling! My test included my form, sahm-jong, all the basics, free sparring and board breaking with a back dash side kick.                       

Afterwards, Mr. Ben Bryden, one of the black belts at Halama’s Martial Arts, gave me my first ever motorcycle ride. In my opinion, that stemmed my personal movement to overcome my fears and live life outside of my comfort zone.  In the end, it was one of the most exciting and thrilling experiences of my life, the wind whipping through my hair, the speed of the ride - it was so freeing.

At the end of the month, I had a chance to see Whitewater’s campus from a bird’s eye view. I’m not going to specify just where, or who, I was with, but let’s just say I had a chance to go adventuring on some campus rooftops in the middle of the night. I was at least two stories up at the peak, looking down on campus and I remember thinking, five years in college and I here is a whole part of life, of this city, I never knew. It definitely put a whole new perspective on things, an exciting perspective, knowing that I was seeing the university in a whole new way - a way most people never get a chance to see or appreciate. It was quite an eye-opener.

May 

Officially done with school - Graduation day: 

Looking back, it’s hard to believe I am completely done with school. It seems like just yesterday I was a freshman, staying out late, occasionally skipping classes, hanging out with the boys of 1st floor Bigelow. Then all of a sudden, five years passed in a flash. All too soon, its’s May 15, 2010, I’m decked out in my cap and gown, crossing that stage, shaking Chancellor Telfer’s hand, smiling for the camera and taking my seat in the crowd. 

Even though it’s been more than seven months since graduation, it’s weird - on some level I still feel like I’m in college, like I will be going back to school any day now, but I know I’m not. Life really does pass by in the blink of an eye, so treasure every moment.

June

Officially a part of the workforce: 

Despite the poor economy, I happened upon a piece of luck. After graduation, I packed up and moved back in with my parents. Thankfully, it was very temporary. 

On Friday, June 4, I traveled to Sun Prairie, Wis. to interview for the Regional Reporter position at the Sun Prairie Star. My second actual job interview, I had no idea how long I could expect to wait before hearing back. Imagine my surprise then, when on Monday, June 7, I received a call back offering me the job. I was so shocked I couldn’t breathe, and a friend was like “Rachel, calm down, breathe.” 

They needed me right away, so the very next day I packed up the stuff I needed, loaded it into the back of my parent’s car and drove down to Madison, trying desperately to find a friend to crash with until I could find my own place. Thankfully, my friend Kyle agreed to let me stay a few weeks until I could find a place to stay and get moved in.

On Wednesday, June 9, I had my first day of work. It was such a whirlwind - I had my job interview, got offered the position and started work in a five-day span. Every day I’m thankful for my job. I take it as high praise that I got the position, especially considering the poor economy and competitive journalism job market.

July: 

My first skydive! 

In what might very well have been the most insane and life-changing decision of my life, I decided to go skydiving this past summer. On Saturday, July 17 2010, I headed to AtmosphAir Skydiving School in Jefferson, Wis. to conquer my biggest fear - falling from heights. I’m not going to go into too much detail because I already did that in a previous blog, but it was the most intense, amazing, exhilarating and life-changing experience of my life. There is nothing quite like willingly paying someone to take you up 12,000 feet in the air and then jump out, with nothing but a parachute on your back and air below you. I have since gone three more times and hope to one day get certified to jump solo. Fly on!

August 

Troublesome Calvin. 

At the end of August, I adopted a kitten, whom I named Calvin, from the Jefferson Humane Society. A little troublemaker, he stole my heart when I held him in my arms and he gently put his front paw up on my lips as if to say, “shhh, shhh, don’t say anything. Just adopt me,” and looked up at me with those big amber eyes of his. About a week later, he was mine. Roughly 2.5 months old when I got him, he quickly turned my life upside down, waking me up 2-3 times during the night, playing with my toes and fingers, pouncing on me unexpectedly. But in the four months I’ve had him, he has calmed down quite a bit and is mommy’s good little boy...most of the time. 

September 

Aaaah, I'm Over the Edge!

While not a new experience entirely, I rappelled down the Hilton Hotel in Madison for Special Olympics of Wisconsin’s Over the Edge Media Day. While inside the building, I put on all the equipment: the gloves, the hat, the harness, everything, and then went on the roof to first practice rappelling down just one floor. Once my practice rappel was over, I climbed back in the window, feeling pretty badass. In my head, I was thinking “I feel like I’m breaking into a museum to steal the crown diamond before rappelling down the side of the building. Cool!” And while no crime was actually committed, it was pretty amazing to see everything from up high. The people were specs, the cars were like toys, and I couldn’t believe I had a chance to rappel down an actual building - it was something I had jokingly talked about doing for years. The first step was the hardest, but once it is over, it’s easy sailing, er, ahem, rappelling. 

October

Best birthday ever! 

Although I spent my actual birthday at Cardinal’s Nest in Sun Prairie and Nitty Gritty in Madison throwing down some free drinks, the real party wasn’t until a couple days later, when some friends and I went skydiving Oct. 10. 

We met at 9 a.m. in the morning at AtmosphAir, and after the class, went one by one up in the planes for some freefalling fun. My fourth skydive, my tandem instructor and I hung onto the outside of the plane, let go and then did three backflips in the air before stabilizing. As with my third jump, I was able to keep an eye on the altimeter and pull the cord to deploy the canopy at 6,000 feet. So much fun and I cannot wait for them to open again in April.

November 

A Slithery Friend

Well, they can’t all be huge accomplishments, but even the small ones are cause for celebration. This time, I held a ball python in my hands. It was still a baby, only about a foot and a half long, but I’m not exactly fond of the slithery creatures. Just in case it was capable of sensing fear, I tried to calm myself down and take deep breaths, but whenever the snake turned around and fixed me with those beady eyes...(shudder). There is something so primal about snakes, like no matter how many years pass, they will never change, never evolve. Anyway, I survived my encounter and am braver for it.

November was also the month I met my first friend in Sun Prairie, Jena. After a grueling work day and after listening to a five-hour budget meeting for the paper, I went to Cardinal’s Nest for a relaxing drink, where I met her. Although we haven’t known each other long, she’s proved to be a good friend, and I’m thankful I met her.

December 

What a shock! 

December was quite a shocking month, in more ways than one. On Wednesday, Dec. 22, I attended the Dane County Sheriff Office’s Use of Force presentation. Now, I know I just published a whole long blog about it, so I will be brief. While there, I had a chance to feel the keen sting of a Taser and try out the Fire Arms Training Simulator (FATS). While the simulator was a lot of fun, the Taser shot was extremely painful. Not all life’s experiences are pleasant, but they all add up to the person we will eventually become. Similarly, even though the Taser shot was not pleasant, it was another chance for me to step out of my comfort zone and experience life. However my life ends up, no one will ever be able to say it was boring!

The UW-Whitewater Warhawk Football team also played the Mt. Union Raiders for the Division III National Football Championship title for the sixth straight year Dec. 18, 2010. The Warhawks came out victorious, 31-21. The Warhawks will be going into next season on a 30-game winning streak, currently the longest in the NCAA.

Police Beat: When Use of Deadly Force is acceptable

On Wednesday, Dec. 22 I attended the Dane County Sheriff’s Department Use of Force seminar at MATC West in Madison. Due to the high number of fatal shooting in the state this year (23), the Sheriff’s Department decided to hold the seminar to educate the general public about the decision process officers use and when to use deadly force.

According to Deputy Kelly Rehwoldt, officers can use five different modes to try and control a situation: officer presence, dialogue, control alternatives, protective alternatives and deadly force.

Rehwoldt said roughly 99 percent of the time, a situation can be brought under control through an officer presence or dialogue.

Control alternatives include empty hand control, pepper spray or a Taser, and are used to overcome active resistance or threats.

Protective alternatives are a step above control alternatives and are used to overcome continued resistance, assaultive behavior or threats. Alternatives include focused strikes, diffused strikes and batons.

Finally, officers may use firearms in deadly force when a suspect is exhibiting behavior which has caused or imminently threatens to cause death or great bodily harm to the officer or another person(s). Appropriate instances include when a suspect has a firearm or is charging an officer with a knife.

Rehwoldt stressed that it is up to the officer(s) to determine what mode is appropriate to control the situation.

One part I found interesting was that officers have to make split-second decisions. I mean I know things happen fast, but Rehwoldt said there can be as little as 10 seconds between the time a police officer makes first contact and when the guy goes down in deadly force situations. And a lot can happen in those 10 seconds.

I know a lot of civilians think “oh, can’t the cop just shoot him in the arm or knee? Why kill the person?” I was guilty of thinking that exact thing. But Rehwoldt said an injured individual can still shoot from the ground, which is why officer don’t shoot to kill or harm, but to stop the threat.

The other thing to bear in mind is it takes longer for an officer to react than a suspect to act. So if a man pulls or is holding a gun and the officer perceives a threat, the officer can shoot him/her, because if he/she waits for the suspect to take first action, the officer or others might wind up dead or seriously injured.

Officers can also use deadly force if the suspect gets ahold of their Taser, which makes sense. I definitely wouldn’t want to have the bad guy shooting me with the Taser and taking my gun while I’m down.

Now onto the fun stuff....

After the presentation, we moved on to the participation part...beginning with the Taser. Initially the officers asked if anyone would volunteer to be shot with a Taser. Well since all the other media personnel in attendance were silent, I raised my hand and was like “I’ll do it.”

Course then when I was getting ready to sign a waiver, another guy said he would. Funny, he wasn’t dying to get shot earlier. My theory is he was like, dude, a chick is the only one getting hit with a Taser gun. I can’t let a chick show me up, I need to man up and do this. Course, that is just my opinion.

A couple other people went ahead with the alligator clips instead of the Taser. So those two had clips on their clothes and it lasted three seconds.

Myself and the other guy were actually shot with the Taser, which pierces through clothes, and it lasted five seconds. It’s hard to describe the sensation of a Taser. It was definitely the most painful experience of my life so far. It is like a complete shock to your whole body, a paralyzing pain. The electricity just resonates through your entire body.

Now I’ll admit, I would like to be able to say I was stoic, I was tough...but that would be a lie. I didn’t back out, I didn’t whimper, I didn’t cry, but there is quite a difference between saying you will man up and get shot with the Taser and when it is actually happening. I don’t remember the pain, it was like I was outside of my body, but I do remember screaming at the top of my lungs and yelling “Stop!” I wasn’t the only one who screamed or made noises, but I was definitely the loudest, lol.

And even though I screamed at the top of my lungs, that officer kept going. I asked him afterwards and he was like, “No, I didn’t stop. If I’m paying $25 for a cartridge, you’re getting the full experience.” Sounds cold, but I’m glad. It is a point of pride that I lasted the whole time, even if it did suck.

And afterwards? While once it is done, it’s done. If I had wanted to, I could have gotten back up and fought, not that I would want to. I also felt this tingling all the way in my toes for a good 15 seconds afterwards.

The second and final stage was this armed force simulation. We went into a separate room and they let us try our hand at the FireArms Training Simulator, or FATS.

The simulator is used for police training so trainees have a chance to experience the numerous scenarios and different actions a suspect may take.

For instance, in one simulation, an officer responded to a robbery in progress. When the officer arrived, a female and two male suspects emerged from a store. The female, in the lead, is carrying a gun, and after looking around, raised it to shoot, and the two male suspects dive to either side of her. After she is shot and goes down, the male suspect on the left turns, revealing a gun, and shoots.

The same simulation has two other endings. In one, both the female and the male suspect on the right have guns and fire shots. In the other, all three suspects give up and there is no need for the officer to shoot.

“This is the place where the mistakes should be made,” Rehwoldt said. “We'd rather have an officer see this scenario in training first, then encounter it on the street, rather than having never seen this type of situation before and encountering it for the first time of the street.”

FOR THE FULL STORY, GO TO WWW.SUNPRAIRIESTAR.COM

Warhawks Continue to Second Straight Title!

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks extended their winning streak to 30 straight games with a 31-21 victory over the Mount Union Raiders Saturday. Ironically, that score was the same when the Warhawks captured their first national title against the Raiders back in 2007.

The Hawks got off to an early lead and ended the first quarter 7-0 over the Raiders. The ‘Hawks then extended their lead 10-0 a couple minutes into the second quarter. Unfortunately the ‘Hawks hit a patch of bad luck, beginning with Hicks' removal from the game due to a torn ligament in his knee with 12:11 left in the quarter.

The Raiders then continued on a three touchdown streak, making the score 21-10 with a little over six minutes left in the game. But when push comes to shove, the Warhawks have proved they are capable of buckling down, and despite Aaron Rusch also being temporarily removed due to an ankle injury, the Hawks responded by scoring two touchdown, making the score 24-21 Hawks at the end of the half.

Although the second half of the game proceeded with multiple interceptions from both sides, as well as a Mount Union fumble, both sides proved to have difficulty capitalizing on turnovers. Finally, the Warhawks managed to score another touchdown with 2:34 left in the game, making the score 31-21 Hawks.

The Hawks secured their win with an interception with 1:01 left in the game, and sent the Raiders home packing for the second year in a row. In addition to a second straight national title, and their third overall, the Hawks’ Levell Coppage was named game MVP. Coppage led the team with 299 yard rushing.

Game Stats:

Whitewater: 121 Mount Union yards passed: 323

Whitewater: 312 Mount Union yards rushed: 45

Whitewater: 4 Mount Union interceptions: 3

Possession time:

1st quarter Whitewater: 6:46 Mount Union: 8:14

2nd quarter Whitewater: 9:05 Mount Union: 5:55

3rd quarter Whitewater: 8:32 Mount Union: 6:28

4th quarter Whitewater: 6:45 Mount Union: 8:15

Strip Club Owner says "No Negros Allowed"

Please sir, may I have some more?

Alright, alright, I admit, it’s not quite saying that we are on our way back to forcing African Americans into slavery and submission, but it’s heading that way.

To bring you up to speed, an Abbotsford business owner, Mark Prior, recently posted a sign in the building that will be his future strip club that reads “No Negros Allowed.” Now, I don’t know about you, but I thought the year was 2010, not 1961. Has my time machine worked?

The owner said that he has had problems in the past with African Americans, and he has a right to serve who he wants. Well, that is true...to a point. Correct me if I am wrong, but that rule applies to disorderly customers, or people who are causing problems or making others uncomfortable, but should NOT be used to generalize across an entire race. If said patrons are being disruly, then I belive the owner has every right to bar them from his establishment and even post signs saying not to serve said individuals, but to put a sign up permanently barring all African Americans is plain wrong, and illegal, and I for one am glad segregation is dead.

I think it will be quite interesting to see the direction his actions will take, and if his establishment will even be around in the upcoming months. I personally think the entire African American community has a right to sue Prior, and if he doesn’t admit wrongdoing and change his policy, I can see the legal fees and litigation sending him on his way to financial ruin.

Another question that crossed my mind when reading this was, so has he never had an issues with whiteys? Because if you are going to bar complete races due to the bad actions of a few, well pretty soon you won’t have any customers.

Another interesting thing to keep an eye on will be if he decides to hire any African American employees. Because if not, there will also be justification to sue based on the claim of discrimination of race in the job market. You’re on a slippery slope mister. Better watch your footage before you slip and completely wipe out.

Christmas really does bring out the best in people....

So last night, I was ringing bells for the Salvation Army in the middle of the blizzard. There I was, with numb fingers and toes, shaking those bells with a huge grin on my face. And even though I was standing outside Walmart in the middle of it, I was actually OK with it. And I’ll admit, my heart just about broke when a little girl, looked no older than three, came up to me and gave me $1 to put in the kettle. She has definitely been nice this year, so Santa better bring her a whole bunch of toys!

And the manager of the store was nice as well, and lent me a pair of gloves when mine were soaked through from the cold and snow.

Even though it was quite chilly, and I needed sufficient time to warm up afterwards, I’m glad I finally found a good use for my cold-bloodedness. Anyway, Merry Christmas to all!