Thursday, March 22, 2018 • Vol. 133, No. 38 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1.25
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Oregon Observer The
Walkout for school safety HELU WANG Unified Newspaper Group
About 60 Oregon High School students walked out of class March 14 and gathered in remembrance of victims of last month’s Florida school shooting. The walkout was inspired by a national walkout m ove m e n t i nvo l v i n g more than 3,000 schools, including Madison-area students who gathered at the state Capitol. The “#Enough” walkout began at 10 a.m. and lasted for 17 minutes to honor the 17 victims at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Feb. 14. Organizer Maria Camacho, an OHS senior, sent out flyers with the victims’ biography, led the Photo by Alexander Cramer
Time floats on
Third-graders make blankets ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
Students in Cindi Hedstrom’s third-grade class at PVE are taking their “rights and responsibilities unit”
seriously, deciding to make and sell fleece blankets to support local charities. Karina Sande, an OHS student, alumnus of Hedstrom’s and co-founder of the charity No One Stands
Alone gave a presentation to the third-graders that stressed the importance of making a difference to the community. Afterward, the students set a goal of raising $500 for NOSA and the
Decades-old water exercise group a ‘community’
Make-A-Wish foundation. The third-graders went to the PTO to ask for money for the materials they used to make the blankets and
Unified Newspaper Group
The rule of 100, according to Victor Ruotti, is supposed to govern whether to go out kiteboarding, but sometimes he treats it more like a guideline. “The temperature has to add up to 100 — the water plus the air temperature,” Ruotti told the Observer. “Sometimes I go a little under that, the water around 40 and the air around 45.” That was the projected high temperature March 4, when Ruotti was kiteboarding on Lake Kegonsa, having launched from Fish Camp County Park in McFarland. Kiteboarding is like wakeboarding, except the
An hour before it started, people had already begun to gather at the pool, falling into easy, joking conversations with friends they’d known for years. In her 17th year working at the pool and 27th working for the district, Nancy Bogucki ran the front desk and greeted everyone by name when they came through the door. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for at least the last 26 years, seniors have been gathering at the Oregon Pool for the morning water aerobics for more than just exercise. “ E ve r y t i m e t h e r e ’s a sickness or a surgery, instantly there’s a card for people to sign,” Bogucki told the Observer. “They scoop up new people. … It’s a community.” There are two potlucks per year, one in the
thing that’s pulling the rider isn’t a boat, but a large kite the rider controls. Boarders use their kite as a sort of detached sail to pull them across the water and soar 10, 20, even 40 feet into the air. Ruotti, a native of Paraguay who has lived in Oregon for about five years, first learned about kiteboarding 10 years ago and knew he had to give it a shot, despite a bit of a fear factor. “It’s getting over that – it’s guts,” Ruotti explained. “It’s, ‘Are you going to try it?’” After a lesson with Bob Photo submitted Cook, who owns Kite Rid- Victor Ruotti holds a chunk of ice while strapped in to his ers LLC, Ruotti went out on kiteboarding gear. Ruotti relies on the “rule of 100” when his own. determining when to go out: if the water and air temperature Turn to Kiteboarding/Page 9 add up to (close to) 100, he’ll head out.
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What: Water aerobics class Where: Oregon Pool, 249 Brook St. When: 11 a.m., Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays Cost: $1.35 or 20 classes for $20
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Turn to Blankets/Page 12
668 Janesville St., Oregon
If You Go
ALEXANDER CRAMER
Oregon’s Ruotti goes with the flow ALEXANDER CRAMER
Turn to Walkout/Page 12
spring and one in the fall, and the group gathers to go to movies and shows, and even has a book club, Bogucki explained. The potlucks are a decadeslong tradition started by the previous water exercise teacher, Gudie Huston, who also organized meals at St. John’s Church. Current teacher and pool director Deb Bossingham started working at the pool in 1996 – March 16 marked her 20th anniversary as director. She said the group averages about 40 or 50 participants, sometimes less on
Turn to Aerobics/Page 9
MONDAY:
LUNCH: Beef Tips Over Mashed Potatoes, Goulash DINNER: Beef Tips Over Mashed Potatoes, Baked Chicken
TUESDAY:
LUNCH: Chicken Cordon Bleu, Scalloped Potatoes & Ham DINNER: Meat Loaf, Baked Chicken, Roast Pork
WEDNESDAY:
LUNCH: Tater Tot Casserole, Baked Chicken DINNER: 1⁄2 Rack BBQ Baby Back Ribs ($6.95), Baked Chicken
THURSDAY:
LUNCH: Baby Back Ribs ($6.95), Shredded Chicken Over Mashed Potatoes, Cheeseburger Mac DINNER: Stuffed Pork Chop, Baked Chicken
FRIDAY:
LUNCH: Chicken Noodle Casserole, Beef Stroganoff, Baked/Deep Fried Cod ($7.50) DINNER: Beef Stroganoff, Baked Chicken, Baked/Fried Cod ($7.50)
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Makenzie Milestone works on her patchwork fleece for charity at PVE on March 16.
solidarity moment and gave a speech on how to protect school safety. Last month, Camacho organized a lunch forum, where students gathered outside the commons to give speeches and start dialogues following the school shooting. “ I t ’s n o t a p o l i t i c a l walkout, but to help people learn how to protect students,” Camacho told the Observer. OHS senior Caitlin McReavy, one of the participants, was concerned about school safety and wa n t e d t o l e a r n m o r e about how to protect herself when encountering emergency. “Will my school be the