Valley Sentinel - 02-20-2025 by Valley Sentinel

Inside

River Valley School Board moves 4K to five days a week

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budget process works

River Valley board sets referendum sessions, hears survey results, ups 4K to ﬁve days a week

Parents, teachers score district near peers, open enrollment parents cite distance for taking kids out of the district

At the Feb. 13 regular meeting of the River Valley School District Board of Education, the board heard updates and continued ongoing discussions about the upcoming April 1 referendum, discussed staﬀ and parent satisfaction surveys and continued discussion on the district's closure of the Early Learning Center and the updated district conﬁguration.

Referendum

The district is hosting four referendum community information sessions so that members of the public can ask questions about the upcoming April 1 referendum and talk with district administration. The dates and locations for these sessions are as follows: Tuesday, March 4 at 5 p.m. at Grandma Mary’s Café Event Hall in Arena; Monday, March 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the Early Learning Center Gymnasium in Plain; Tuesday March 11 at 5:30 p.m. at the Lutheran Church Community Hall in Lone Rock and Tuesday, March 18, at 5:30 p.m. in the Middle School Library in Spring Green.

The board voted at their Jan. 9 meeting to place a referendum on the ballot for the April 1 Spring Election.

The April 1 referendum is an operational referendum, meaning the money being requested is to be used for academic courses, programs and classes exclusively, not for building updates, construction or other maintenance. The district is seeking to increase its revenue limit to allow for a mill rate increase, as the district has been dealing with falling mill rates since 2020.

The mill rate is a way to calculate property taxes in Wisconsin, including those used to fund public school

Document via River Valley School District

Updated projections for the April 2025 River Valley School District referendum. QR code inlaid to read.

districts. It represents the amount of tax owed per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. For example, if the mill rate is 5, a property owner pays $5 in taxes for every $1,000 of their property’s assessed value.

District Administrator Loren Glasbrenner noted in the meeting that there had been some confusion from community members regarding the referendum and the ELC closure.

“One of the questions that was brought forward was ‘So if the referendum fails, Plain stays open, the ELC doesn’t move?’” Glasbrenner said. “The ELC is moving at the end of this year, full stop. We also have a referendum happening in April, they’re not related to each other.”

Glasbrenner also addressed the question if the referendum were to fail.

“We’ll come back the following April for the exact same need. The need will not go away, and that we will come right back to the community again for that amount, after we would have to probably make some signiﬁcant cuts or other budget reductions,” Glasbrenner

said.

Brian Krey, the district business manager, discussed the district’s updated numbers for the referendum mill rates. Krey had noted that his initial estimates for state aid were lower than updated estimates from the Baird School Business Solutions, a company that specializes in public ﬁnance, school budget forecasting and data analytics. These estimates increase the state aid projections, which lower the necessary tax levy increase.

“This increase in state aid does not provide any additional revenue, it only impacts where the revenue comes from between property taxes and state aid - in this case our state aid increases, therefore decreasing property taxes and the mill rate,” Krey said.

This new estimate lowers the proposed mill rate increases by 25 cents per year. This changes the mill rates to $7.74 per $1000 of tax assessed value in 20252026, $8.40 for 2026-2027 and $9.10 for 2027-2028.

Krey also noted that despite the improved accuracy of the estimate

and updated mill rate projections, that the district will not have any oﬃcial projections until the State Legislature signs the 2025-2027 biennial budget in June.

Parent, staﬀ surveys

Derek Gottlieb from School Perceptions, a company specializing in school district satisfaction polls and information, provided the board an overview of the parent and staﬀ surveys that were conducted in December as part of the district’s strategic plan. School Perceptions compares the scores from parents and teachers within the district to a comparison score which is made up of scores from 200 similarly sized districts.

Parents were surveyed on questions about information, inclusion, educational excellence, atmosphere and experience. Overall parents scored River Valley on a response scale very slightly below what School Perceptions lists as the “comparison score” with the other schools in all of these categories. The survey had 225 respondents, representing a 31% response rate.

Areas of strength for the district included staﬀ treating children with dignity and respect, feeling welcome at the child’s school and having one staﬀ member they feel comfortable going to with ideas or concerns.

Areas for improvement included having a healthy school culture, opportunities for parental involvement and eﬀorts to address bullying.

Parents gave the district a 6.49/10 score for overall satisfaction and recommendability of the district, compared to a 7.61/10 comparison score. The ELC earned the highest score with 7.25, followed by the Elementary School with 6.64, the Middle School with 6.55 and

continued on page 9

Spring Green, Wisconsin

Puzzles: Crosswords & Chess How Wisconsin’s

Luukas Palm-Leis, Reporter

OPINION/EDITORIAL

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor,

I live in a Wisconsin county where some businesses and landowners have posted "Be Kind" placards. Right now, I am wondering how that

Dear Editor,

Donald Trump said he would be a dictator: “Only on Day-One.” For most, day-one means 24 hours. Not so with Trump. We are now over three weeks into his promised dictatorship with no letup in his indiscriminate dictatorial decrees.

Those who paid attention in history class know that dictators never leave

Dear Editor,

What’s in a name?

While the naming of things has been in the national news lately, I thought it might be a good time to look a little closer at one of the names we see around here and what it means to honor it with it’s ubiquity. I don’t know how much you know about Governor Dodge, the person. He was the ﬁrst Governor of this state, and for that reason our beloved little town that grew around his mining camp, and the beautiful state park just North of it bear his name. It might or might not surprise you to learn that he was also involved in enslavement and bloodshed.

Henry Dodge came here in 1827 after having had his home foreclosed on. He bullied his way onto a piece of land outside of the oﬃcially agreed upon mining district and brought 5 enslaved people

Dear Editor,

I have read and listened to many opinions and perspectives on Wisconsin’s municipal collective bargaining law prior to Act 10 and after. I also had a front row seat on the implementation of Act 10 as a Commissioner for the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC). I would like to add a perspective that has been overlooked to date –that of the eﬀect that the previous municipal collective bargaining law had on the students and student learning.

In the early 1970’s, as a teacher at a college in the Wisconsin Technical College System, I was a spokesperson for the teachers’ group prior to organizing as a Union and again after formally becoming a Union. I left the College in 1977 to join another Technical College as head of Human Resources.

Over the course of thirty plus years I have

On the cover

“Cartons of Gold” (2025) Photo,

Eggs have become a hot button topic, with egg prices

soaring. The national average price of eggs hit a new all-time high in January, increasing by more than 15% in a single month to $4.95 for a dozen large Grade A eggs, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The same dozen large Grade A eggs hovered around $8 at Molter's in Spring Green as of mid-February.

The ongoing bird ﬂu outbreak is the main driver of the prices, not at all just inﬂation or the new administration in the White House.

“When I win, I will immediately bring [grocery] prices down, starting on day one.”

-Donald Trump, August 15, 2024

(As of pressing, we are on Day 30 of Trump's second term.)

On an unrelated note: The Spring Green Winter Farmers Market is held Saturdays from 10-11 a.m. in the Spring Green Library parking lot. We hear they may have eggs.

Submit your artwork or photography for cover consideration: editor@valleysentinelnews.com

sentiment squares with behavior that seems, to this 77 year-old, the antithesis of how I was raised.

Biblical teachings extolled all of us to show mercy to others, most especially

until they are forced to.

Trump, the king of chaos, is in rare form this second time around. As media, congress, and citizens are inundated with bizarre unconstitutional and inhumane decrees, the Musk/Trump presidential tag-team relentlessly plows forward with the planned undoing of Constitutional norms.

Please, read “Project 2025” for speciﬁc

to work there, Toby, Tom, Lear, Joe, and Jim. The area was oﬃcially a “free” territory at the time, but may have had several hundred enslaved people working in the mining camps during the lead boom. Dodge, who promised the slaves he brought here their freedom when he arrived, did not release them from their bondage until after he became Governor 11 years later and political and popular pressure ﬁnally forced him to. On his path from busted claimstaker to Territorial Governor, Dodge bullied his way past the territorial laws and the local garrison, and took command of the militia raised to route Black Hawk and his followers after they reentered their homelands East of the Mississippi. The war against Blackhawk, (Mahkatêwe-meshi-kêhkêhkwa) included several major battles, beginning with

negotiated numerous collective bargain agreements and reviewed many as a Commissioner with the WERC. In the early years, the focus in bargaining was on the language of the whole contract document. In the later years it was reduced to negotiating changes in a few paragraphs, and ﬁnally mostly to words and phrases. Once in the bargaining agreement the language stayed in. In all those years I never saw any contract language that directly beneﬁted students or student learning. That shouldn’t be a surprise. Unions are in business to represent their constituents regarding their hours, wages and conditions of employment. They did that very well. The losers in the process were students. The collective bargaining agreements had become an albatross to educational change. A provision in the old law required Boards to negotiate the impact of proposed policy changes with

toward " the least amongst us." I was schooled to advocate fearlessly for honesty, to acknowledge my mistakes without assigning blame to others, and to avoid cruel or bullying

details! Every American will, directly or indirectly, be impacted by thoughtless cuts to vital programs. Musk/Trump are using a machete where tools of a skilled surgeon are needed.

The task at hand for all who value our Constitution and the protections it aﬀords every American is too loudly and persistently express our concern to Senators and Representatives who

Stillman’s Run in Northern Illinois and turning a corner at Wisconsin Heights. On August 2nd, 1832, the militia, along with regular army troops under Colonel Atkinson, trapped a large group of ﬂeeing Sauk and Fox against the banks of the Mississippi, and murdered them as they tried to escape, killing hundreds of men, women, and children, and mutilating their bodies.

Is it right that we should continue to put up Dodge’s name everywhere but not discuss these unpleasant parts of his history? What does it mean to the African American and Native descendants of this land to honor his name but not tell their story as well? How can we tell the shared story of this region in a balanced way if we only give honorable mention to the rulers, regardless of their acts during their climb to power?

the union. Eventually, School Boards, Management, and Unions all used the collective bargaining agreement as an excuse not to implement or even pursue new ideas for student learning because the implementation became too costly and onerous. One can imagine the bargaining chaos would be in today’s environment where schools are partnering with other schools to provide students with expanded educational opportunities. To me the greatest outcome of Act 10 was it removed the obstacles like the duty to bargain the impact. The old law requirements created costly and detrimental ﬁre walls to new ideas in teaching and learning processes. In other words, with Act 10, Boards and Management had freedom to lead and implement new initiatives. All teachers, not just the most senior, could be free to try new teaching concepts that enhance student learning. Reinstatement of the

actions. I ask: Is what I learned still relevant?

Barb Garvoille Spring Green, Wisconsin

are well compensated to represent us. People power is needed to reverse this Musk/Trump race to a full-blown dictatorship. Daily - call, text, write, or visit their oﬃces until they hear your valid concerns. Silence will insure our demise!

Lee Van Landuyt Hillsboro, Wisconsin

For these reasons, our little family has started a petition demanding to remove governor Dodge’s name from the park, and asking that a new name be chosen with the counsel of the Ho Chunk and Meskwaki (Sauk), as well as the African American community. Importantly, the petition also asks that an interpretive exhibit should be installed which brings light to this dark history, as well as a statement acknowledging the responsibility for the stewardship of this land. We hope that this will continue to the conversation about the parts of our shared history which have been buried for so long. The Governor Dodge State Park name change petition can be found at change.org.

Prairie Sundance Madison, Wisconsin

Wisconsin Collective Bargaining Law as it was prior to act 10 would be the greatest injustice we could do to the 100,000’s of students in 421 school districts that depend on Wisconsin public schools to be their path to the future.

Rodney Pasch Elroy, Wisconsin

Editor’s Note: Rodney Pasch, PhD, served 35 plus years as a teacher and/or administrator in Wisconsin Educational Systems. Pasch previously served as president and member of the Wisconsin Technical College System Board, a member of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, commissioner for the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission and consultant/evaluator for Commission of High Learning and North Central Accreditation.

by Taylor Scott

OPINION/EDITORIAL Editors' Column

Employee of the month, frozen pipes, updates, looking ahead

You may have checked your local newsstands the ﬁrst week of February and noticed the newest edition of Valley Sentinel missing. That wasn’t a mistake, following a death in the family of one of our editors and other members of our staﬀ battling a sickness, we made the choice to cancel publication of our Feb. 6 edition.

We do apologize, we never like to take an edition oﬀ and don't make a habit of it outside the holidays, so please know that a lot of heart and thought went into it. The decision to skip an edition does not come easily for us, but it is something that makes our publication unique.

We allow ourselves to have flexibility to allow time away for our all-volunteer staff when needed and to ensure that every edition we put out gets our full attention (within our limited resources, manpower and time) and truly provides a service to our community. If our staff is grieving or battling illnesses, we aren’t in the best place to put out our best work, and that’s not helping anyone in our community stay informed.

As always, we want to take a moment to thank our readers and community for your patience and support in all we do. We say it a lot but we truly mean it, we would never be able to do this without you.

On a brighter note, this time off allowed us (some time) to dive into some admin projects that we’ve been putting off for literally 5 years. Our fantastic admin volunteer Bonnie has been hard at work organizing our archive of papers, allowing us to reflect on the good, the bad and the ugly (like

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor,

As a resident of the Village of Arena, I urge everyone to get out and vote in the upcoming Spring Election for the open trustee seats.

The current leadership in Arena is not working, and it's time for a change.

Over the past year, we’ve seen two new trustees struggle to do their job, hindered by the current President and other trustees who have worked tirelessly against them.

I, for one, am tired of the dysfunction, unpreparedness, and bullying tactics being employed by these board

editor@valleysentinelnews.com valleysentinelnews.com

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Editor-in-Chief

Nicole Aimone

Managing Editor

Taylor Scott

Legal Editor

Gary Ernest Grass, esq.

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members. Arena can’t aﬀord to continue down this path.

We need leadership that understands the issues, takes a broad view of the challenges, and looks out for the wellbeing of our residents.

A prime example of the current board's failures is the Fire/EMS agreement. What should have been a simple process dragged on for months, costing us valuable time and money in attorney’s fees.

We cannot aﬀord to waste any more of our tax dollars on this type of poor governance.

Graphic Design

Julianna Williams

Democracy, Society & Edu. Columnist

Beverly Pestel

and allowing that to guide us into the future.

PS, see photo attached to meet our employee of the month (every month) Matilda. That cutie belongs to our Calendar & Events coordinator Paige, and has been providing office admin assistance and moral(e) support. The first few months of the year and the winter doldrums are always a difficult time, there’s not always a ton going on and we’re all gritting our teeth to make it to warmer days. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, the Valley Sentinel staff has some exciting things coming up: we’re attending the Wisconsin Newspaper Association annual convention in March and have been asked to lead a panel discussion on the future of independent local news. Afterward, we’ll attend the awards ceremony where we hope to celebrate our staff's hard work. Our editors have also been asked to serve as judges for the Wisconsin Civics Games for a third year and we’re already starting planning for our second annual Wedding Special Section in May that highlights what makes Spring Green a wedding destination. We’re also prepping for one of our favorite editions, the Best of the River Valley reader poll to come out this summer.

our history

Additionally, the lack of concern for public safety by Kathy Stolz and Brittany Carney is alarming.

Their lack of planning, knowledge, and disregard for residents’ concerns is unacceptable.

For instance, Brittany Carney has claimed that Highway 14 isn't part of the Village, even though it runs right through the heart of Arena. Kathy Stolz’s comment that we don't need EMS services, because we can just dial 911 and get help, is equally misguided. These individuals are making decisions that aﬀect us all, yet they refuse to allow

Calender & Events Coordinator

Paige Gilberg

On certain topics in areas of great community interest, the editors of the Valley Sentinel may take positions they believe best represent and serve the interests of the community. Any opinions or positions taken by the editorial board are separate and distinct in labeling and substance from the community journalism that appears in the rest of the publication and does not aﬀect the integri- ty and impartiality of our reporting.

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Alex Prochaska

Reporter

Luukas Palm-Leis

Administrative Contributor

Bonnie Ostrander

Letter to the Editor Policy

Letters submitted for consideration are subject to fact-checking and editing for space and clarity. Submissions must have a compelling local community interest. Letters to the editor must ﬁt within a 500-word limit, and include name, city and phone number. Phone numbers are for oﬃce use only and will not be published. Letters of a political nature, without chance of rebuttal, will not be published the week before an election.

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Columnist Barb Garvoille

We’re ﬁghting tooth and nail through these diﬃcult times and frigid weather (literally, we dealt with a frozen pipe to start our publication week) and we’re (hopefully) back with your regularly scheduled programming and excited to be back doing our part in the community.

for proper resident input. This has to stop.

Looking ahead, Arena faces signiﬁcant challenges, such as the upcoming Dane/ Iowa Wastewater Commission project. We need competent, engaged leaders who are willing to do the work, listen to the community, and make decisions in the best interest of the Village.

If we don’t vote for a change, Arena will remain in this state of dysfunction, and we deserve better.

Sue Pustina Arena, Wisconsin

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Editors may feature opinion columns written by public figures, members of the public or other publication staff. Columns reflect the opinions of the individual contributors and do not represent positions of the publication. Guest columns of an anticipated length more than 500 words should seek prior editor authorization.

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From time to time the editorial board may select letters to the editor of a particular compelling community interest where a public ﬁgure or accountable public action is the recipient of criticism and allow, in the same issue, the subject of the criticism chance for rebuttal, with expounded independent input. The format shall be point, counterpoint and expert analysis. This community discussion shall serve as a moderated dialogue that presents multiple views of important community topics.

the minimal lines of text below the picture literally right here) of

Photo by Bonnie Ostrander

Our administrative volunteer Bonnie catches the moment Matilda the cat is told she is employee of the month, while helping Bonnie sort archives. Matilda belongs to Calendar & Events Coordinator, Paige.

The Tools of Conversation — Part 5: Experts and the Enemy

Beverly Pestel, Columnist

This series explores how our tools of conversation—from speech and print to television and social media—have shaped the way we think, learn and interact, often steering us into a state of fragmented discourse and misinformation. By examining seminal works on information networks, critical thinking and media influence, each column digs deeper into why our collective capacity for thoughtful conversation and civic engagement appears at risk. As we navigate new technologies and grapple with the merging of entertainment and news, we confront a crucial question: can we harness our evolving tools of communication to foster truth, community and meaningful dialogue, or will we be “amused into indifference”? Join me on this journey through reading, reflection, and inquiry, as we seek practical insight into building a more informed, empathetic and civically engaged society.

This quote by Charles Bukowski appeared on Bluesky recently, “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts and the stupid ones are full of conﬁdence.”

…and the voice on one shoulder says “Be nice” and the other side says “Tell it like it is.” Maybe the truth just needs to be said sometimes. On the other hand, a friend once told me “Just because it can be said doesn’t mean it should be said.” Stupidity, like incivility and name-calling are a symptom of our times, but what is more important is its origin and its relationship to truth as we navigate our current news media.

And this brings me to Postman (previous columns) who wrote, “…we are losing our sense of what it means to be well informed. Ignorance is always cor-

rectable. But what shall we do if we take ignorance to be knowledge?”

Tom Nichol’s book The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters (2017) takes a deep dive into the issues of knowledge, expertise, and our current tools of conversation and where they have brought us. Nichols expounds:

“…the bigger problem is that we’re proud of not knowing things. Americans have reached a point where ignorance…is an actual virtue. To reject the advice of experts is to assert autonomy, a way for Americans to insulate their increasingly fragile egos from ever being told they’re wrong about anything…what I ﬁnd so striking today is not that people dismiss expertise, but that they do so with such frequency, on so many issues, and with such anger. Again, it may be that attacks on expertise are more obvious due to the ubiquity of the Internet, or the demands of the twenty- four-

CROSSWORD & CHESS PUZZLES

hour news cycle. But there is a self- righteousness and fury to this new rejection of expertise…” (pg. x-xi)

It was the nature of conversation on social media as well as the mantra of one person on Facebook of: “Know betters, we can’t mock them enough” that led me to this series of columns, an attitude that Nichols describes this way: “We do not have a healthy skepticism about experts: instead, we actively resent them, with many people assuming that experts are wrong simply by virtue of being experts. We hiss at the “eggheads”…Not only is everyone as smart as everyone else, but we all think we’re the smartest people ever. And we couldn’t be more wrong.” (pg. xiii)

What Nichols is describing is at least partially a result of our fragmented, entertainment-focused TV and social media news systems and contributes to Nichols warning that it “in the long run threatens not only the well-being of millions of Americans, but also the survival of our democratic experiment. (pg. xv)

Lest we think that this is something new, consider this Isaac Asimov quote from 1980:

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” (Goodreads)

It is Nichol’s reference to anger and “self- righteousness and fury” that may be a new aspect to this anti-intellectualism that is especially concerning. The

availability of social media posts to any and all takers seems to have fueled this destructive trend. Any post on Tik Tok, or Facebook, or X, or YouTube or any of the other social media sites, can be accepted by some as truth simply by virtue of it being something to which they agree. And the more inﬂammatory the post, the more it is accepted and spread, truth and veriﬁability are inconsequential.

I wish I could say it better than Nichols, but I can’t, “Not only is the Internet making many of us dumber, it’s making us meaner: alone behind their keyboards, people argue rather than discuss, and insult rather than listen.” (pg. 10)

As a result of our TV/social media “news” culture, in Nichols words, “we now live in a society where the acquisition of even a little learning is the endpoint, rather than the beginning, of education. And that is a dangerous thing... And some of us, as indelicate as it might be to say it, are not intelligent enough to know when we’re wrong...” (pg. 8-9) And it is here that Nichols falls firmly into line with Postman in the need to separate news from entertainment, “In a free society, journalists are, or should be, among the most important referees in the great scrum between ignorance and learning. And what happens when citizens demand to be entertained instead of informed? … everyone involved in the news industry knows that if the reports aren’t pretty or glossy or entertaining enough, the fickle viewing public can find other, less taxing alternatives with the click of a mouse or the press of a button on a television remote. (pg. 11) Certainly there is wide availability of entertainment/news, the denigration of expertise, and widespread unverified

continued on page 5

Puzzle created by Nick Zaborek, edited by Jen Zaborek

Albert Kniest 1966

Beverly Pestel

Here’s how Wisconsin’s state budget process works

Hallie Claﬂin, Wisconsin Watch

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers unveiled his 2025-27 biennial state budget proposal on Feb. 18. The nearly year-long process is now picking up speed, but the next two-year budget is still far from being ﬁnalized.

Over the next few months, the Legislature’s powerful Joint Finance Committee, controlled by Republicans, will make signiﬁcant changes to Evers’ proposals before approving a ﬁnal budget bill. During this time, the politically divided executive and legislative branches will wrestle over funding for public schools, child care, higher education, Medicaid expansion and much more.

Another budget surplus expected Wisconsin ended its 2024 ﬁscal year with a more-than-expected $4.6 billion budget surplus and is on pace to end the current ﬁscal year with a $4.2 billion surplus. Republicans want to reduce the surplus by passing income tax cuts before the budget debate begins, while

Democrats are urging more funding for things like K-12 education.

The Legislature must pass a budget signed by the governor every two years in order to use up state revenues for government operations. A budget period begins on July 1 of each odd-numbered year and concludes on June 30 of the next odd-numbered year. The last twoyear budget totaled nearly $100 billion. Here’s what this hectic process will look like:

The process involves three main entities that work to both create and pass the budget: the governor, the Legislature and state agencies. State agencies like the Department of Public Instruction and the Department of Natural Resources calculate their ﬁnancial needs for the upcoming cycle and submit formal funding requests, which were due to the State Budget Oﬃce back in September. The Department of Administration then analyzes and compiles the requests for the governor.

The governor then spends months crafting an executive budget proposal based on these requests, and community listening sessions are held across the state in December. On Feb. 18 he gave his budget address, which he is legally required to deliver to the new Legislature. Proposed funding for state agencies will be made available.

Soon — likely in March — Evers will reveal his capital budget proposal, which includes spending plans for long-term projects like new UW System buildings.

Then, the Joint Finance Committee will review and revise Evers’ budget. Under a divided government since 2019, the committee has scrapped the governor’s proposals and written its own. In 2023, GOP lawmakers began this process by stripping nearly 550 of his proposals.

Lawmakers on the Joint Finance Committee typically hold their own community listening sessions in April. The committee typically com-

The Tools of Conversation — Part 5: Experts and the Enemy

continued from page 4

“facts”, but why have so many Americans succumbed to what could be described as the pathology of accepting misinformation? The beginning of an answer may go back to a point made by Robert Reich in 1994 regarding the existence of “an anxious class” of Americans, he states, “A widening economic gap between better-educated and less-skilled workers is creating an “anxious class” of Americans worried about the kind of future their children will face.”(AP, Sept. 1994) The term was highlighted in The Atlantic in a September 1995 “Word Watch” report by Anne H. Soukhanov. In an opinion piece in The New York

Times in Sept. 2013, Reich recounts attacks on him, stating: “On the Internet and on TV shows, name-calling substitutes for argument, and an ad hominem attack for reason,” evidence that self-righteous fury is growing as the Internet makes some of us dumber and meaner.

A quote from the “Word Watch” report may identify the tipping point for anxiety being converted into rage: “the anxious class has no identiﬁable rhetoric or vocabulary, and no designated enemy.” What was true in 1995 is no longer true, the enemy has been named. The press has been called “the enemy of the people” and political opposition “the enemy within.”

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And to those now addicted to self-righteous rage, the enemy has morphed to include immigrants, women, LGBTQ+, minorities, secularists, the homeless and the poor. Those who take umbrage to attacks on these groups call those attackers the enemy. And so the vitriol flies back and forth. (To avoid a false equivalency, however, it must be acknowledged that the vitriol flows mostly from right to left). Is this identification of enemies what has turned our communications so toxic?

While the anger of a subset of the “anxious class” has been capitalized on by some in their thirst for wealth and power, and while the response of some to their angry rhetoric is equally angry, it

pletes its revisions by the end of May.

Then, lawmakers in both houses of the Legislature — the Republican-controlled Senate and Assembly — have until the end of the ﬁscal year on June 30 to pass the budget before it heads to Evers’ desk for signing. Here, he can use his controversial partial veto power to remove speciﬁc appropriations from the budget bill, also allowing him to delete large sections of language and manipulate words or numbers.

In 2023, Evers made national headlines after he manipulated punctuation in the Legislature’s budget to extend school funding for 402 years. A case challenging the partial veto is pending before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In the meantime, Republican lawmakers have introduced a constitutional amendment that would strip away the governor’s partial veto power. If the budget is not signed into law by July 1, the state will continue to operate under the previous budget passed in 2023 until the new one is signed.

does not include the majority of us. There is still room for civil discourse, but only if we can come to grips with “… we are losing our sense of what it means to be well informed. Ignorance is always correctable. But what shall we do if we take ignorance to be knowledge?” How we navigate this issue within our tools of conversation is what we need to discover.

Beverly is a retired professor. She lives in a remodeled farmhouse and tends 40 acres of woodland in Richland County. When not in the woods she spends her time reading, writing and enjoying the beauty of the Driftless Area. Beverly may be contacted at bpestel@msn.com.

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annual wedding special section, timed right before the

wedding month, so you can plan a year out from the big day. A mix of resources, lists, listicles, articles and sponsored content.

Ad reservations due beginning of May. Ad copy due beginning to middle of May. Speciﬁc dates to come.

June 26: Best of the River Valley Reader Poll

Our annual reader poll results, timed to launch near the start of APT and the summer season, on stands during Art Fair.

Ad reservations due beginning of June. Ad copy due beginning to middle of June. Speciﬁc dates to come. Tired of being second best? Get out the vote advertsing oppotunities will be available.

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— Advertising Spots — $400 full page, $200 half page, $100 quarter page, $50

COmmunitycalendar

The Community Calendar is curated by Paige Gilberg and designed by Julianna Williams. Events are subject to change, always check ahead for up-to-date information on any events you are interested in.

Events for February 20 - March 6

Thursday, February 20

Stitch and Bitch 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM • Spring Green General Store, 137 S. Albany St, Spring Green • springgreengeneralstore.com • FREE • The Spring Green General Store’s Stitch and Bitch handwork group meets Thursday afternoons weekly. All are welcome. Tech Help 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM • Kraemer Library & Community Center, 910 Main St., Plain • Get assistance with devices, software, and other tech-related questions at this monthly session held on the third Thursday. Open to all skill levels.

Tropical Paradise Party 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM • Spring Green Community Library, 230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green • springgreenlibrary.org • Take a break from winter with a tropical-themed event featuring "water," sand, themed activities, and treats. Beachwear or swim accessories are welcome but optional for extra dress-up fun. Ideal for ages 1-13. Read to a Dog 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM • Spring Green Community Library, 230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green • springgreenlibrary.org • Children ages 5-12 can sign up for a 15-minute session to read aloud to Luna, a registered therapy dog, to build reading skills and conﬁdence. Caregiver attendance is required. Registration required at Spring Green Library Registration or call (608) 588-2276.

Family Night Birdhouse Craft 5:00 PM • Kraemer Library & Community Center, 910 Main St, Plain • For more information, look up Kraemer Library and Community Center on Facebook • Families are invited to the library to build and decorate birdhouses in honor of Bird Month. Sign up required to reserve a spot. Call 608-546-4201 or visit the library

Knit Night at Nina's 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM • Nina's Department Store, 143 E. Jeﬀferson St. Spring Green • ninasdepartmentstore.com • FREE • Every Thursday from 6 to 8 PM. All knitters and crotcheters are welcome. Store closes at 5:30 PM.

Saturday, February 22

LIVE MUSIC: Concert in the Café: Dark of the Moon Contra-Band 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM • Spring Green General Store, 137 S. Albany St., Spring Green • springgreengeneralstore.com • Enjoy an afternoon of live traditional music with Dark of the Moon Contra-Band, a Madison-based group playing tunes from the British Isles, America, Scandinavia, and beyond. Donations for musicians gratefully accepted.

LIVE MUSIC: R.V. Instigators 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM • STS Sounds, 139 N. Lexington St., Spring Green • Enjoy an eclectic mix of music with R.V. Instigators, featuring talented musicians and vocalists performing familiar songs, acoustic jams, and storytelling tunes. Free admission; donations appreciated.

Hypnotist Paul Knight 4:00 PM - 10:00 PM • Grandma Mary's Cafe, 175 U.S. Highway 14, Arena • For more information look up Grandma Mary's Cafe on Facebook • $25 show only / $40 dinner & show • The Aces host a dinner and hypnotist fundraiser featuring Paul Knight. Dinner (chicken alfredo or beef tips over noodles) served 4:00 PM - 6:30 PM. Show starts at 7:00 PM. Limited tickets available—reservations recommended. Contact Nick (608-558-2720) or Deb (608-588-5546) for tickets.

Open Euchre 5:00 PM • Ewing-Olson VFW Post 9336, 514 Willow Street, Arena • For more information, look up "Ewing-Olson VFW Post 9336-Arena" on Facebook • $5 entry fee • Enjoy an evening of Euchre with no partner needed! 100% payback on entry fees, plus food available for purchase. Bring quarters for Euchre and join the fun! St. Luke's Trivia Night 6:30 PM • St. Luke Parish, 1240 Nachreiner Avenue, Plain • saintsja.org • Gather your team and test your knowledge at St. Luke's Trivia Night! Enjoy a fun evening of friendly competition, with food and drinks available.

Sunday, February 23

Vocal Harmony Workshop 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM • Spring Green Community Center, 117 S. Washington St., Spring Green • This ﬁve-session workshop (February through June) is designed to help participants hear and learn vocal harmony. While not advanced, attendees should be familiar with their instrument and basic music reading. The regular jam will begin at 1:00 PM as usual. To register and receive materials, email GentleJamSG@gmail.com.

Spring Green Gentle Jam 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM • Spring Green Community Center, 117 S Washington St, Spring Green • FREE • The Spring Green Gentle Jam meets on the 4th Sunday of every month, oﬀering a low-pressure environment for practicing acoustic instruments and singing. To register, email GentleJamSG@gmail.com.

Monday, February 24

Introduction to Zazen 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM • Wyoming Valley School, 6306 State Road 23, Spring Green • Donation-based • A weekly Rinzai Zen meditation class covering posture, breathing techniques, and mindfulness. Includes a tea and discussion period from 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM. Arrive 10-15 minutes early; meditation cushions and chairs provided. Contact bethany.morehouse.howlett@gmail.com with questions.

Winter Indoor Soccer 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM • Plain Elementary School Gym, 1370 Cherry St, Plain • For more information, look up "Spring Green Recreational Soccer" on Facebook • FREE • Join the community for fast-paced indoor soccer games suitable for ages 12 and up. Played on a basketball court, the game promotes cardio and skill-building. Limited parking is available; carpooling is encouraged. Open Mic with Dylan Harris 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM • Slowpoke Lounge & Cabaret, 137 W. Jeﬀerson St., Spring Green • slowpokelounge.com • Bring your music, poetry, or storytelling to this monthly open mic, hosted by Dylan Harris. Perform solo, with a backup track, or jam with others. This session will be held in a more intimate setting due to construction. No cover; tips for the host are welcome.

Tuesday, February 25

All Ages Storytime 10:30 AM • Spring Green Community Library, 230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green • springgreenlibrary.org • Join Ms. Kate for a morning of stories and themed activities. February’s theme is “Love.” Held most Wednesdays in the Library Community Room or Children’s Area.

Movies, Munchies, and More: Dark Waters 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM • Spring Green Community Library, 230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green • springgreenlibrary.org • Enjoy a winter movie night with a warm drink and a sweet treat. Dark Waters (PG-13, 2h 6m, 2019) follows a tenacious attorney uncovering a dark secret linking unexplained deaths to one of the world’s largest corporations—risking his future, family, and life to expose

Moving Senior Bodies 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM • Spring Green Community Library, 230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green • springgreenlibrary.org • Join Upland Hills Health professionals Rosie Morrey, APNP, and Jennifer Day, COTA, for a weekly class focused on balance and strength training to promote healthy aging. Participants should bring their own weights, wear comfortable clothes, and bring water. Registration required at forms.gle/wrZAELr4rkvw1bsd9.

Winter Family Storytime 5:30 PM - 6:00 PM • Kraemer Library & Community Center, 910 Main St., Plain • Enjoy an evening of stories, songs, and a themed craft and activity. All are welcome to this family-friendly storytime session.

Paint 'n Sip: Paint Your Pet 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM • Spring Green Community Library, 230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green • springgreenlibrary.org • Local artist Lisa Humke leads this guided painting workshop, where participants will create a portrait of their pet while enjoying drinks and snacks. Open to ages 15+. Registration required by February 18 at forms.gle/st5SC841ihFCkVKJA. Attendees can email their pet image in advance to ewhitmore@springgreenlibrary.org or bring a printed photo to the event.

Corn Hole League 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM • HAHS Gym, 526 Isabell St., Highland • Corn hole games are held every Tuesday in February. Open to all skill levels. $2 per person.

Wednesday, February 26

Book Discussion: The End of Drum-Time 2:00 PM • Spring Green Community Library, 230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green • springgreenlibrary.org • Join a lively discussion over coﬀee and snacks about The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen. Copies are available at the library a month before the discussion. This monthly book group meets every fourth Wednesday (except January).

Explore the World of Watercolor 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM • Spring Green Community Library, 230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green • springgreenlibrary.org • Artist Vicky Lilla leads this hands-on watercolor workshop exploring techniques, color mixing, and composition. All experience levels welcome. Registration required at forms.gle/3X6akCpDFtwDitg58.

Yoga with Emily Benz 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM • Wyoming Valley School, 6306 State Road 23, Spring Green • ruralremedy.com • Drop-in: $20 per class; Commit to a handful of classes: $17 per class • Drop in for a yoga class that focuses on mindfulness and movement. The class is suitable for all skill levels. If the cost is too much, feel free to reach out for a barter or alternative plan to get you to yoga—no barriers! Carpools from Spring Green or Dodgeville are also possible, and there are plenty of helpers.

Thursday, February 27

Stitch and Bitch 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM • Spring Green General Store, 137 S. Albany St, Spring Green • springgreengeneralstore.com • FREE • The Spring Green General Store’s Stitch and Bitch handwork group meets Thursday afternoons weekly. All are welcome. Lego Builders Club 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM • Kraemer Library & Community Center, 910 Main St., Plain • kraemerlibrary.org • Kids of all ages are invited to free build or take on fun weekly challenges. The library provides the Legos—just bring your creativity!

Silent Book Club 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM • Arcadia Books, 102 E. Jeﬀerson St., Spring Green • readinutopia.com • Enjoy a relaxed evening of quiet reading in a welcoming space. Bring your own book or choose one from the store, read at your own pace, and socialize as much or as little as you like.

Knit Night at Nina's 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM • Nina's Department Store, 143 E. Jeﬀferson St. Spring Green • ninasdepartmentstore.com • FREE • Every Thursday from 6 to 8 pm. All knitters and crotcheters are welcome. Store closes at 5:30 pm.

Saturday, March 1

Bake Shop & Breakfast 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM • First Lutheran Church, 250 W. Richland Street, Lone Rock • Everyone is welcome to browse a selection of baked goods

Spring Green Winter Farmers Market 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM • S230 E. Monroe St. Spring Green • Spring Green farmers market is a year - round outdoor market offering seasonal produce, local meats, baked goods, and many other wonderful items. Held outside the Spring Green Community Public Library every Saturday morning. Cabin Fever Dance 11! 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM • Lone Rock Community Hall, 214 Broadway St., Lone Rock • VetsRoll.org • This annual fundraiser for VetsRoll features live music, bingo, auctions, raffles, and plenty of food and drinks. Lunch is served from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM, with live music by Crossfire Band from 4:00 - 7:00 PM. Free admission; donations support sending veterans on an honor trip to Washington, D.C. For details, contact Lisa Bowen at 608-929-4690.

LIVE MUSIC: Elise Nicole 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM • Spring Green General Store, 137 S. Albany St., Spring Green • springgreengeneralstore.com • Local musician Elise Nicole brings her powerful and emotional vocals to the café for an afternoon of live music.

LIVE MUSIC: Laura & Todd 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM • STS Sounds, 139 N. Lexington St., Spring Green • Enjoy an afternoon of soulful vocals and live music covering a variety of styles. Free will donations appreciated.

Events for February 20 - March 6

Monday, March 3

Tuesday, March 4

Winter Family Storytime 4:30 PM - 5:00 PM • Kraemer Library & Community Center, 910 Main St., Plain • Enjoy an evening of stories, songs, and a themed craft and activity. All are welcome to this family-friendly storytime session.

Movies, Munchies, and More: Birdman 6:00 PM • Spring Green Community Library, 230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green • springgreenlibrary.org • Enjoy a screening of the Oscar-winning ﬁlm Birdman (R, 1h 59m, 2015) with a warm drink and a sugary treat. The ﬁlm follows former cinema superhero Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) as he attempts to mount a Broadway production to reclaim his career.

Yarn Rocks! 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM • Spring Green Community Library, 230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green • springgreenlibrary.org • Bring your knitting, crochet, or ﬁber arts project and enjoy a relaxed evening with fellow crafters. All skill levels are welcome.

Wednesday, March 5

Thursday, March 6

Tech Drop-in 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM • Spring Green Community Library, 230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green • springgreenlibrary.org • Need help with technology? Stop by for one-on-one assistance with devices, internet navigation, and basic tech troubleshooting. No registration required.

Stitch and Bitch 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM • Spring Green General Store, 137 S. Albany St, Spring Green • springgreengeneralstore.com • FREE • The Spring Green General Store’s Stitch and Bitch handwork group meets Thursday afternoons weekly. All are welcome. Knit Night at Nina's 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM • Nina's Department Store, 143 E. Jeﬀferson St. Spring Green • ninasdepartmentstore.com • FREE • Every Thursday from 6 to 8 PM. All knitters and crotcheters are welcome. Store closes at 5:30 PM.

Colorful Paper Stars 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM • Wyoming Valley School, 6306 State Road 23, Spring Green • ruralremedy.com • Create unique and colorful 3D paper stars in this collaborative workshop led by Emily from Rural Remedy. The session includes color play, drying time with snacks, and star assembly. Kids are welcome with an adult participant. $30 per person; registration required.

The Community Calendar is curated by Paige Gilberg and designed by Julianna Williams. Events are subject to change, always check ahead for up-to-date information on any events you are interested in.

CIVICS & SERVICES

CIVICS & SERVICES CALENDAR

This calendar is a place listing (for free) the typical meeting dates for area governmental bodies, and Please email us with these meetings, or use the form on our Community Calendar page — let's build community together: editor@valleysentinelnews.com

February 24: Kraemer Library Board Meeting 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM • Kraemer Library & Community Center, 910 Main St., Plain • kraemerlibrary.org

February 26: Spring Green Village Board Meeting 7:00 PM • Village Hall, 154 N. Lexington Street, Spring Green • vi.springgreen.wi.gov • The Spring Green Village Board meets to discuss local matters. Attend in person or virtually via Zoom March 4: Arena Village Board Meeting 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM • Arena Village Hall, 345 West Street, Arena

March 5: American Red Cross Blood Drive 8:00 AM - 2:00 PM • River Valley High School, 660 Varsity Blvd., Spring Green • redcrossblood.org • Donate blood and help save lives. Successful donors in March receive a $10 gift card by email and free A1C testing. Walk-ins welcome, but appointments encouraged. March 7:

VOLUNTEER: Ridgeway Pine Relict Volunteer Day 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM • Ridgeway Pine Relict State Natural Area, Hwy H parking lot, Ridgeway • dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/StateNaturalAreas/volunteer • Join the Friends of Ridgeway Pine Relict for a volunteer workday. We will be cutting, treating, and piling brush to prepare it for burning with snow cover. No skills are required; training will be provided onsite. RSVP is preferred but not required. For questions or to RSVP, contact Bob Scheidegger at BobScheidegger@yahoo.com or 608-319-2083.

WHAT’S HANGINg ?

ongoing art exhibitions

Spring Green Community Library Art Exhibitions • Spring Green Community Library, 230 E Monroe St, Spring Green • Monday-Thursday: 10 AM - 7 PM • Friday: 10 AM - 5 PM • Saturday: 9 AM - 1 PM •

John Bagjas is exhibiting his woodworking in the Glass Case Gallery during February. He was raised in the Chicago area and moved to Spring Green in 2022. John tells of his story, "I worked for 32 years in the Chicago are as a union-trained ornamental plastering restoration specialist. I worked on the restoration of many old churches and historic homes as well as, the most popular, the Lyric Opera House in downtown Chicago. Working with the plastering materials became the possible source of health issues that developed. While I was not able to work ,and was going through treatments, I decided to go back to making things with my hands. I'd always loved working with beautiful wood, So, I decided to make custom boards, boxes, and humidors as gifts. Then people started asking me what I had for sale. I like to go and choose the woods by looking for colorful hardwoods that have the most character because nature makes the most perfect imperfections in the hardwoods I use. I do not stain and do not use plywood in my work. I like to bring out the colors and imperfections in my projects. All my projects are made by hand with typical hand tools. My projects are custom one-oﬀ pieces and not mass produced, I have made similar pieces but nothing exactly the same." John's art is available for viewing from February 10-28 during regular library hours.

BillieJo Scharfenberg will be our featured artist in the Community Room Gallery during February, once the renovation of the library is completed. Her stained glass works can be viewed during regular hours when the Community Room is not already in use. More information will follow when the display is in place.

John Bagjas

BillieJo Scharfenberg

Bi-Weekly Sword Tip Holistic Wellness and Politics

As most of you may know, the reason I am writing my wellness column in this wonderful new space is due to the Richland Observer opting to no longer print my column even though it was a paid space. The acting editor shared that politics had no place in a wellness column…au contraire! I’ll share why that’s another conservative mistruth… more to follow! But ﬁrst, I would like to deﬁne and share my journey into wellness/ holistic wellness since there seems to be some confusion regarding its meaning. .

While attending nursing school just a few years ago (smile) we learned the importance of caring for the “whole person” or holistic wellness (mind, body and spirit). In addition, I was introduced to biofeedback and some of the studies regarding the impact of stress on our holistic wellness triad which I found SO fascinating..it made SO much sense! However, realistically, once I began patient care with this holistic need in mind as a professional registered nurse, (as many can attest from varying professions), textbook ideations can be quite different from the day to day practical aspects. Due to staffing…we felt lucky to get our patients’ physical needs met at a minimum and that frustration would continue throughout my patient-care years. Perhaps that’s why I feel the need to not only further educate but explore holistic wellness options that would be beneficial to all of our journeys…especially in these turbulent times…no matter which political side we prefer.

While serving a career in the military, we were all basically nonpartisan until it came time to vote. Even while stationed overseas, we were able to get news updates via FEN (which we fondly called “forced entertainment network" since it was the only American TV station available (no Internet or social media…darn…was that a blessing and/ or a curse? Wow…have the times changed! Our country has become SO divided…admittedly, due to our political climate).

Realistically, anyone thinking politics does not belong in a wellness discussion has been living under a rock, has their head stuck in the sand or basically is just out of touch with their/our community or readership. For further substantiation of this fact, my friend, Marilyn (a retired attorney) found when she helped me do some research on this issue:

The American Psychological Association (APA) published an article last October titled: “The impact of election stress: Is political anxiety harming your health?” The answer is a resounding yes. Their research showed that politics can harm our physical and mental health, however, shared positive aspects of political engagement can lead to greater well-being and that, of course, is important as well. Further research by Stress in America, 2024 APA “Americans are feeling increasingly stressed about politics amid assassination attempts, a late-breaking candidate change, debate drama, and legal battles. In APA’s

2024 Stress in America survey, 77% of U.S. adults said the future of our nation was a signiﬁcant source of stress in their lives.”

In addition, research shows the distress we feel around politics can harm our physical and mental health—and it’s only getting worse. In 2016, the presidential election caused signiﬁcant stress for 52% of adults—this year, that number jumped to 69%. Additionally, many U.S. adults said they were worried that the election results could lead to violence (74% of respondents) or that the 2024 election could be the end of democracy in the U.S. (56% of respondents) (Stress in America 2024, APA).

SO how may we better navigate these crazy times? Marilyn also found this helpful article by U.S. News and World Report, Sept. 9, 2024 titled “How to Better Navigate These Times”. Even though it was written for election stress, I feel it’s valuable for this post-election time as well. And now that the new toxic orange guy is in charge with promises of dismantling our government irregardless of who gets caught in the fray…sadly the conservatives are spinelessly fearful of their orange wanna-be-dictator’s wrath…shall I go on?

No matter our political leanings, the following 13 strategies can help us feel less anxious and stressed as our wellness journey continues.

• Limit media consumption.

• Banish black-or-white thinking.

• Make a plan.

• Practice holistic self-care.

• Practice mindfulness.

• Stay connected to loved ones.

• Separate people from their perspectives.

• Avoid using substances to cope.

• Focus on what you can control.

• Empower yourself by volunteering and voting.

• Avoid arguing.

• Seek professional help as needed.

• Celebrate small victories. Progress…not perfection, Warrior!

Political Humor: "It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled."

– Mark Twain

Spiritual Meditation: Worrying is carrying around wounds we don’t have.

My blog and contact information: www. holisticseekers.com; 719-213-9963

LITERARY + ARTS & CULTURE SECTION VALLEY SENTINEL'S LITERARY JOURNAL SUBMISSIONS OPEN Works can be submitted at: valleysentinelnews.com/literary-journal/. Questions about submissions can be directed to: editor@valleysentinelnews.com Submissions will remain open until enough journal-quality submissions are received.

Lexington & Jefferson

Arts/Community In Brief

River Valley ARTS Creative Community and Artistic Development Grant Applications Now Available

Creative Community and Artistic Development grant applications are now available at www. RiverValleyARTS.org. Deadline to apply will be late February 2025. Maximum award amount is $2,500.

Creative Community Grants

The purpose of the Creative Community Grant is to stimulate creative and innovative arts programming in the River Valley area. Proposed projects could include public exhibits, performances, publications, and educational activities. Disciplines could include dance, theater, music, folk arts, literary arts, visual arts, video and ﬁlm. Priority is given to projects that maximize community involvement and community beneﬁt. Priority will also be given to applicants who don't have access to other funding sources. Funding for Creative Community Grants is made possible by the generous support of local donors and businesses with matching funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board.

Artistic Development Grants

The purpose of the Artistic Development Grant is to support an individual's arts project or artistic learning and development. Possible use of Artistic Development Grant money could include expenses related to projects in the visual or performing arts, to help cover short-term courses, workshops, materials and supplies, and art/music classes or camps. Any professional artist, amateur artist, or student in the River Valley is eligible to apply for the Artistic Development Grant. Criteria for evaluating Artistic Grant applications are individual benefit, educational benefit, financial need, and community benefit. Funding for Artistic Development Grants is made possible by the generous support of local donors and businesses.

Questions? Please email contact@RiverValleyARTS.org.

FREE Tax Filing Assistance Available

Volunteer Tax-Aide counselors trained and certiﬁed by the IRS will provide one-on-one assistance helping low-to-moderate income or older individuals complete and ﬁle their tax returns. This includes 1040 tax forms with schedules A,B, C and D along with the corresponding Wisconsin

forms and the Homestead Tax Credit. Volunteers are available in Spring Green and in Dodgeville by appointment only.

Call the ADRC oﬃce, 608-930-9835 to schedule an appointment.

4PeteSake Spring Applications Now Open

TThe 4PeteSake Board will be accepting applications for its Spring Funding Round until March 27, 2025. Applications can be found on the website at www.4petesake.com, picked up at Arcadia Books in Spring Green, or requested by mail at PO Box 577, Spring Green, WI, 53588. Please contact Todd Miller at tmiller@4petesake. com or at 608-588-4619 with any questions.

Applicants must live within the boundaries of the River Valley School District and ﬁnd themselves in health-related circumstances, through no fault of their own, for which assistance is needed. All applications are reviewed by the 4Petesake Board, who determine the number of recipients to be funded and the amount that each recipient will receive.

Poetic Wonderer

Sherry Hillesheim, R.N.

Community/GOVeRnMent

River Valley board sets referendum sessions, hears survey results, ups 4K to ﬁve days a week

continued from page 1

the High School with 6.06.

Teachers were asked questions regarding academics, engagement, support, student experience and staﬀ experience. Overall staﬀ members scored the district slightly above the comparison score, with only support (“I have the support I need to help educate our students and work as a team.”) scoring below the comparison score. The survey had 122 respondents, representing a 69% response rate.

Areas of strength include healthy working relationships, providing a good education to students and feeling safe at work.

Areas for improvement include staﬀ handing discipline in a consistent manner, fair pay practices and having consistent school discipline policies.

Staﬀ gave the district a 7.31/10 for satisfaction and recommend-ability of the district, compared to a 7.08/10 comparison score. The Middle School earned the highest score with 7.48, followed by the Elementary School with 7.30.64, the ELC with 7.25 and the High School with 6.90.

The board also discussed an open enrollment survey the district sent out to parents that have chosen to open enroll their children to other districts.

The primary reasons for open enrolling their children out of the district were: closer to work, closer to home geographically and closer to daycare.

“We also talked about looking at the things that we can change,” board member Kiley Cates said. “A lot of it is out of our control, why families are choosing to open enroll out, but just

looking at what we can change.”

ELC move, Elementary updates, district reconﬁguration

The board discussed upping the current four-year-old kindergarten program from four days per week to ﬁve, as surrounding school districts have also moved to a ﬁve day per week schedule.

Board member Fred Iausley noted that moving to a five day program may be more appealing to some parents, as they would no longer have to find a single day alternative program for their child. The board voted unanimously in favor of the motion to up the 4K program to a five days per week starting in the 2025-2026 school year.

The board received an update on the current move plans as the district prepares to shift into its new conﬁguration for the 2025-2026 school year, following the closure of the ELC. Classroom maps are being ﬁnalized as the district as a whole prepares for the move in summer.

The district’s grade conﬁguration for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year is as follows: 4K, kindergarten, ﬁrst and second grade will be in the current Spring Green Elementary school building, grades three through six will be located in the Middle School building and grades seven through twelve will be in the High School building.

Glasbrenner stated that despite staﬃng decreases and movement of classes to the central campus, elementary school class sizes will remain relatively small.

“We try to keep anything under second grade right around an average of 18 to 20 [students], and as you go to second to ﬁfth grade we try to keep between 20 to 25, and never go over that 25 mark,”

Join Us!

Please RSVP for the CHNA Town Hall by visiting the events page at RichlandHospital.com or scan the QR code to sign up immediately. 2025 Greater Richland County Area

Glasbrenner said.

The board received an informational update from the buildings and grounds committee. The committee ﬁelded a quote from Kraemer Brothers for $730,000 with a $50,000 contingency for the move of the wood shop, which is currently located in the middle school building, to the high school building. Further action on this item will be discussed at the March 3 Building and Grounds Committee meeting.

The board also discussed the ongoing FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant. The BRIC grants are designed to allow communities in potentially disaster prone areas to build shelter and recovery spaces for the public. Due to slow downs with the Sauk County grant applications, the district has opted to pursue a sub-grant to fund the design and engineering of the building they ultimately are pursuing the grant for. Preliminary designs are for a gymnasium and shelter space attached to the east wing of the high school.

Policy changes

The board did ﬁrst readings on policy language changes on 443.4 Weapons in the Schools and 837 Weapons on School Premises. These changes build in a deﬁnition for a weapon, which had previously been removed from these policies.

The added language is as follows— Weapon – means:

(a) a device, instrument, material or substance, animate or inanimate, that is used for or is readily capable of causing death, bodily injury, or property damage or that readily can be used to intimidate others;

(b) any device, realistic toy, inoperable weapon, or fake replica that is readily perceived or believed to be an actual working weapon;

(d) knives and cutting instruments; or (e) any electric weapon or any other

Driftless Grace: Wintermezzo

I received an unintended compliment at the gas station a few weeks ago when a friend told me, “I didn’t know you had a car!”. It’s true that I try to make most trips on foot in this town where most of the amenities are on the same few blocks. It was refreshing to know that my eﬀorts have been noticed, to the point of my car going unnoticed.

device or instrumentality which, in the manner it is used or intended to be used, is calculated or likely to produce death or great bodily harm.

“Weapon” also includes BB and pellet guns and look alike or facsimile devices that can be interpreted or believed to be a weapon and/or can be used to intimidate or threaten others.

The board found it pertinent to consider the addition of such language to help clarify for students and parents to avoid any potential incidents where a student brings an item on accident.

The board also cited concerns after an incident in Mount Horeb in May of 2024 where a student who had brought an air rifle on school grounds was killed by law enforcement after the air rifle was thought to be a real firearm.

Retirement of Lori Hoﬀman

The board accepted the retirement of Lori Hoﬀman, the district's K-4 technology education teacher. Hoﬀman has been with the district for 34 years and has taught a multitude of subjects at all grade levels during her time with the district.

“Just a pinnacle person in our staﬀ and has been a part of this community for many years, we would love for Lori to have a great retirement,” Glasbrenner said.

Community Spotlight

The board recognized Bob Neuheisel as this month’s community spotlight recipient. Neuheisel is part of the Occupaws, a nonproﬁt volunteer organization based out of Madison, and trains puppies to become guide dogs for visually impaired people. Neuheisel regularly visits kindergarten classrooms in the district to inform children how to act around service animals, as well as do activities with the children.

Looking Ahead

The River Valley School District Board of Education next meets March 13 in the Middle School Library at 7:00 p.m. The board streams meetings to the district’s YouTube channel.

down, of stocking up on food for the ﬁrst snowstorms and worrying about the icy windshields, dangerous roads, and high heating bills that lie ahead – managing all of this anxiety every year is diﬃcult. Waiting it out tends to be easier now that I've developed ways to cope with being stuck inside.

I may not be able to walk without a winter coat for weeks yet. But I can be

• Thursday, March 20

• 5-6:30 PM (check in at 4:45 PM)

• Dinner provided

• Ramada by Wyndham 1450 Veterans Drive, Richland Center

A dinner and public discussion of our community’s health and wellness priorities

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS

I felt called to go on a genuine walk during the day-long preview of spring we had that same week. My heart was glad for the combination of sunshine, a warm southerly breeze, exercise, and a new vantage onto my town after days spent inside. For one magical hour, I felt that winter was just a temporary state: a disguise hiding the warm weather that is the true condition of this place. There’s some ecological basis to this idea. Just ask the plants that throw all of their energy into growing and reproducing in summer and then shrink back when it turns cold. The economic engine of our town, for better or worse, runs in a similar way. Both are driven by the sunlight.

We devote money, time, and space to maintaining and enjoying our natural surroundings during the months when we can most easily enjoy them. Our extensive patios and lawns are reminders that no matter how long and dark the winter gets, summer is always on the way.

I realized on my walk that the hardest part of winter, or at least the hardest for me, is over. Those weeks in late November and early December of hunkering

warmed by another compliment I received recently: that it seems like I’ve lived here in Spring Green much longer than I have. All those walks back and forth have ingrained me into this community, weaving the seasons together and reminding me that warmer days are always ahead.

Grace Vosen is a writer and conservation educator living in Spring Green. She blogs about both the human and nonhuman communities of our region at DriftlessGrace.com.

Grace Vosen, Contributor

Grace Vosen

The Sauk County Gardener

Case of Spring Fever

“February is the border between winter and spring.”

— Terri Guillemets

I must say with all the warm weather we had at the end of January, I’ve got a touch of spring fever. It doesn’t seem like a mild case either. I visited one of my favorite seed stores and purchased all kinds of specialty seeds. I have seeds loaded into ﬁve diﬀerent online shopping carts, waiting for me to truly commit. I purchased a couple bags of sterile seed starting mix. I’m going to the PBS Wisconsin Garden & Green Living Expo. I even got excited when Jimmy the Groundhog predicted an early spring. With all this spring fever, it’s easy to get ahead of oneself and start planting all kinds of seeds and bulbs. Hard as it is, it’s not quite time for starting tomatoes, peppers, and all kinds of other seeds. However, there are some garden tasks you can do now that can help cure a case of spring fever. If you have any forced bulbs that are done blooming, continue to water them and keep them in a sunny location. When the ground is warm enough, plant them in the garden so they can bloom again in a couple years. Take the time to inspect your dahlia and begonia tubers and any other stored bulbs for rot or desiccation. I’m a little worried I didn’t store some

“A garden in the winter is the absolute test of the true gardener.”

— Rosemary Verey

After attending the Garden Expo in Madison, I’m ready to go outside and do some gardening. However, with snow on the ground and more forecasted to come before the end of the week, there’s a good chance I won’t be getting out in my gardens to dig in the soil any time soon. However, I remembered I could do winter sowing. It’s a great way to get a head start on your gardens and get lots of plants from a few seed packets. Winter-sowing is basically creating little greenhouses for seeds that need to be stratified or chilled to germinate. It’s a great way to save money by starting plants from seed and recycle your plastic milk jugs and juice containers instead of sending them directly to the landfill. For this project, your plastic containers or jugs will need to hold around 4” of soil and have tops that allow in sunlight. You’ll also need potting soil, a sharp knife or scissors, clear packing or duct tape, and seeds. You’ll also need something to label your containers – I recommend either writing on the container directly or on a plastic plant label – use a pencil, marker, or paint pen that won’t fade in the sunlight. Good choices of seeds are ones that need a chilling period or require stratification or scarification. Stratification is a technique that mimics the winter conditions (i.e. long periods of cold

DONATION DRIVE

of my dahlias as well as I should have as some were looking a little dry the other day when I checked them. Start your tuberous begonias and caladiums in pots. If you want to plant seeds, try starting impatiens, vinca, pansies, and geraniums as they can take anywhere from 10-16 weeks to grow from seed to a ﬂowering plant. About the second week of February, you can start leeks and onions from seeds as well. No matter what seeds you are starting, always use a sterile soilless seed-starting mix to help avoid damping-oﬀ disease.

Once you’ve finished up indoors, head outdoors to prune dormant trees and summer-blooming shrubs. These include hydrangea, spirea, weigela, buddleia (butterfly bush). As for trees, you can prune just about any deciduous trees – maple, elm, birch, linden, and more. If you have to prune an oak, complete it before April and only do it when the daytime temps are below 50 degrees to prevent oak wilt. Prune to improve plant form, remove dead, dying or crossed branches, and open up tree canopies to improve airflow and light. Remember to remove no more than a third of old growth. You can spray dormant oil on your fruit trees to control scale and other overwintering pests. This should be done when the daytime temps are above 40 degrees, and the temps are not forecasted to drop below

temperatures) so the seeds will know when to germinate. Scarification cracks or weakens a seed’s tough shell. Read the seed packets and look for these two words or terms such as self-sow, direct sow early, or pre-chill. Some perennials to consider are dianthus, phlox, gaillardia, Shasta daisy, poppy, salvia, speedwell, tickseed, and delphinium. Some natives include coneflower, black-eyed or brown-eyed Susan, butterfly weed, milkweed, monarda, liatris, lobelia, and penstemon. Some hardy annuals to consider include morning glory, Mexican sunflower, cosmos, Canterbury bells, cornflower, larkspur, china aster, calendula, sweet peas, snapdragon, and lupine. You can even start some cool-season vegetables this way such as lettuce, bok choy, and plants in the Brassicaceae family like kale, broccoli, or cauliflower. Sage, oregano, and dill are a few herbs that can be started via winter sowing. Here’s a general timeframe you can follow for our area: January and February –perennials that need cold stratification, March – hardy annuals and cool-season crops.

Using a clean milk jug or two-liter bottle, measure up from the bottom about 5-6 inches. At that point, cut the container almost in half, leaving the top hinged or attached to the bottom. Make drain holes in the bottom and air and moisture vent holes on the top half of the container lid. Fill the container with around 4 inches of potting soil and then plant your seeds the recommended depth listed on the seed packet. Label the container; water gently (unless your

freezing for 24 hours. As we have little or no snow, it should be easy to pick up and destroy any mummiﬁed fruits, galls, or insect egg clusters on trees and shrubs.

For those of you who dealt with the ton of spongy moths last summer, take action now. Look for spongy moth egg masses on various surfaces around your property and on trees. If you ﬁnd them, scrap or spray them. Be careful not to

damage the tree bark if you decide to scrap. Scrap them into a container, cover with soapy water for two days, and then toss in the trash. If you scrap them on the ground and try to crush them, they will most likely survive. You can also spray the egg masses with horticultural oil for spongy moths when the temps are over 40 degrees. Visit https://fyi.extension. wisc.edu/spongymothinwisconsin/ to learn more about controlling this pest.

soil is already moist) and cover. Tape the lid down with packing or duct tape so it doesn’t get accidentally blown or knocked oﬀ. Place your containers outside in a sunny location where they are protected from the wind and animals but still exposed to snow and rain. Then let the containers get snowed and rain on until it starts warming up. As it gets warmer, start checking on your containers for germination. Once the seedlings start growing, add more holes to provide additional air circulation. They may also need additional water, so they don’t dry out. Eventually, you’ll open the top completely during the day so your seedlings don’t get too

warm. Completely remove the lid once the danger of frost is past – mid May. When your plants reach the top of your container and have a good sturdy root system (easy to see if you use transparent containers), you can divide and transplant them into individual pots or plant directly in the garden. Try winter sowing this winter to get a head start on your summer garden and a lot of plants for the price of a seed packet. If you need inspiration, check out the seed packets showing up in stores right now. Visit https:// extension.missouri.edu/publications/ ym105 for a great guide with pictures and step by step instructions.

If you are able and enjoyed this week’s edition, please consider donating

Jeannie Manis, Wisconsin Certiﬁed Master Gardener

Photo contributed by Jeannie Manis Jeannie gives us her bulb tips ahead of spring.

Jeannie Manis, Wisconsin Certiﬁed Master Gardener

Winter Sowing

Photo contributed by Jeannie Manis Jeannie shows us her winter sowing kit.

The Sauk County Gardener

Propagating Houseplants

Jeannie Manis, Wisconsin Certiﬁed Master Gardener

“Plants want to grow; they are your side as long as you are reasonably sensible.”

— Anne Wareham

When I was a kid, my grandmother had a healthy selection of houseplants. I remember the giant Boston fern that she kept near her aquarium and that plant was so huge! Her true love though was growing and propagating African violets and gloxinias. It took me a lot of years before I even tried growing African violets – I was worried they would be ﬁnicky and hard to grow. I should have known better – she would regularly simply take a leaf from one of her plants and stick it in a pot of soil. Within a few months, she had another lovely violet to gift to someone. If you too have a favorite houseplant that you’d like to have more of or share with a friend, there are several really easy ways to propagate some of your favorite houseplants.

First up is propagating from stem cuttings. One of the easiest plants that can be propagated using this method is Tradescantia pallida. It has several common names such as ‘Spiderwort,

The Xerces Society is providing free pollinator habitat kits to Wisconsin farmers and community partners committed to establishing and maintaining native plant habitats. The kits include native milkweed, wildﬂowers, and prairie seeds designed

Inch Plant, and Purple Heart plant. It wanders where it likes, making it very easy to propagate this beautiful plant. Other plants that are good candidates for this stem cutting propagation method include: coleus, geraniums, pothos, heartleaf philodendron, monstera, English and Swedish ivy. Stem cuttings can be propagated in water or by planting directly into moist soil. If you use the water method, simply take some cuttings 4-6 inches long, snipping just below a leaf node. Remove any lower leaves, keeping just 3-5 leaves at the top and put the stems in water. All that’s left is to wait for the stems to root and then plant the new babies. Or you can simply place the cutting (same size as previously described with the same number of leaves) in a moist potting mix, dust the cut end with rooting hormone powder, and wait for the stems to root. I like to use some of these very proliﬁc houseplants as ﬁller plants in my outdoor containers in the summer. They don’t cost me anything and so when I forget to save them at the end of the season, I don’t feel too bad. You can also propagate from leaf cuttings. This is the method I told you my grandmother used for her African

violets and gloxinias. Simply take a leaf from the main stem (I like to use the middle layer of leaves), making sure the petiole (leaf stem) is still attached. You can put the leaf in water or place it directly in a moist potting mix to root. I’ve had great success with both methods. Other plants that can be propagated from leaf cuttings include Sansevieria (aka snake plant or mother-in-law tongue), peperomia, and numerous succulents. Succulents such as kalanchoes, jade, and Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter cacti, you’ll need to allow the area to callus over where you broke the leaf oﬀ from the plant. This will take a couple of days. Then simply place the callused section in the soil mix suitable for the plant and wait for it to root. You’ll see small plants emerge afterwards near the section you inserted into the soil.

Another easy method is division. This is done simply by looking at your houseplant, identifying the various diﬀerent sections, pulling them apart and potting up the diﬀerent sections. Several houseplants that are good candidates for this method include Zamioculcas Zamiifolia (ZZ plant), strawberry begonia, and the peace lily.

In Brief

Free Pollinator Habitat Kits for WI Farmers & Community Partners

to support pollinators and beneﬁcial insects such as bees, butterﬂies, and predatory beetles. Applicants must provide land, labor, and a habitat plan. Selected projects will receive either plant plugs or seeds, along with expert guidance from

Wandering the Driftless

Warmth During A Driftless Winter

I am fortunate to be able to spend lots of time outdoors, during each of the seasons, on each trip around the sun. This has allowed me to become acclimated to cold weather that, truthfully, may be encountered during three of the four seasons. I have also learned how to dress for a wide variety of weather conditions and outdoor activities.

This is not the case for a good number of Driftless residents, including my wife, Vickie. She is continually cold and often lets me know that she is uncomfortable. The heat setting on her side of the vehicle is usually set to “bake”, as I like to call it. Our preferred temperature settings have led to more than a few “discussions” while on the road.

I inherited the baldness gene and require a head covering all year. There is no pain like a sunburned head, as a result of not wearing a hat during a sunny, summer day. As the weather cools into the fall, my hat choices tend toward increased insulation. Once winter, and the coldest weather of the year arrive, I tend to wear a fur hat. I have made my own fur hats for many years. Racoon, fox, beaver and skunk hats have kept my head warm for a long time and have always been the warmest hats I have worn.

Several years ago, having listened to my wife complain about her tolerance for the cold, I asked whether she would wear a fur hat. To my surprise, I did not get an immediate “no” in response. I was not conﬁdent that my haberdashery skills would meet with her approval, so I suggested a trip to Wildthings in Rockton. We took advantage of a day when school was canceled due to bitter cold to make the trip.

The small village of Rockton lies on Highway 131 between Wildcat Mountain State Park and the Kickapoo Valley

Reserve. This means it is surrounded by some of the most scenic portions of the Driftless Area. This alone is worth the trip. Wildthings is located on a sharp corner of the highway in Rockton. They specialize in all sorts of fur accessories.

Vickie was drawn to a headband made of fur, instead of a full hat. She tried on several, before choosing one made of skunk fur. She felt it ﬁt the best and, as I was wearing a skunk hat that day, she also thought we would “match”. She commented on the warmth of her new head band on the trip home and how happy she was that I suggested a fur headpiece. Subsequent trips to Wildthings had her purchasing additional fur items, including a fox fur scarf, beaver earmuﬀs and a pair of beaver mittens.

The years eventually took a toll on the elastic band that kept the skunk head covering snug around Vickie’s head. It kept sliding over her eyes. She contacted the folks at Wildthings about a replacement. They said that they would just replace the elastic band, at no charge. This was great news, as the fur portion was still in great shape.

A recent cold, winter day had us heading toward Rockton to get the garment repaired. We dropped the head band oﬀ and met some friends for lunch at a nearby establishment. The repair was complete when we returned following our meal. Vickie was glad to have her warmth returned. She also found a set of red fox ear muﬀs that she could not live without!

Wildthings makes a number of quality items out of fur. Their prices are aﬀordable and they stand behind their products. Everything is sewn on site. They will also make items from your tanned fur. Orders are routinely shipped all over the country. You may check out their products at www.wildthingsfur.

Propagating from offsets is probably the easiest of all. Plants that fit in this category create offsets or pups and miniature versions of their parents. For these, you simply cut off or dig the pup that already looks like a miniature plant. Rinse off any soil (if applicable), allow it to dry for 1-2 days, and then pot up the pup in soil and water as normal. Plants that respond well to this method include Pilea (Chinese money plant), spider plants, and aloe vera. One thing I would like to point out is that multiple methods work for many of these plants. If you try one method and it doesn’t work as well as you had hoped, try another. You might be surprised how successful you can be. So, until we can get outside to do some planting outdoors, try some of these fun ways to get more plants to have and to share.

This article is written by Jeannie Manis, a Wisconsin Certiﬁed Sauk County Master Gardener Volunteer. If you have any gardening questions, please contact the Extension Sauk County by emailing to trripp@wisc.edu or calling the University of Wisconsin Madison Division of Extension Sauk County oﬃce at 608-355-3250.

Xerces staﬀ on site preparation, planting, and long-term habitat care. Proposals are reviewed on a rolling basis, but must be submitted at least three months before the intended planting date. Demand is expected to exceed supply, so early ap-

plications are encouraged. For more information or to submit a proposal, visit xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/habitat-kits/wisconsin or contact Micah Kloppenburg at micah.kloppenburg@xerces.org.

If you are of the mind to make your own fur hat, patterns may be found and purchased by searching the internet. Tanned furs may also be found on-line or done at home with lessons from the internet. No matter what your preference, fur will keep you warm on a cold day in the Driftless Area. Give it a try.

John Cler, Columnist

John Cler is a retired high school science teacher and principal residing in Richland Center. He is an avid hunter, trapper, ﬁsher and nature nut. He currently chairs the Richland County Deer Advisory Council and the Richland County Delegation of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress.

Photo contributed by John Cler A number of fur hats of diﬀerent styles on display at Wildthings.

Photo contributed by John Cler The author (L) and his wife Vickie wearing their skunk fur headgear at Wildthings.

An Outdoorsman’s Journal

Mark Walters, Columnist

Hello friends,

Some of you may remember when my 8-year-old golden retriever Ruby was only 12-weeks-old, her mother took her for a long run and came home without her. For two week’s I used every format possible to try and find her and figured she was in the belly of a wolf. On the 14th day I gave an all effort to find her and printed up 24 more signs to give to people and to post on empty cabins.

The last cabin I went to was remote and empty, I put a sign on the door, looked around, yelled out her name and headed to my truck. I felt something, it was Ruby. She was sitting in the woods and staring at me 40-yards away. She had lost about as much weight as she could but she was still alive.

Two years later I was camping and turkey hunting in The Meadow Valley Wildlife Area with Michelle Chiaro, Fire (Ruby’s mother), and Ruby. Michelle and I went on an afternoon hunt. I chained Ruby to a tree and left Fire loose. When we returned after dark, both were gone. For 12-days I searched for the pair of golden’s, pretty sure that with Ruby dragging a chain and both of them in about as dense of wolf country as you will find that their fate was sealed.

On the 12th night Michelle and I built a camp where the dogs had vanished. We had a classic night like we always did and stayed up extremely late with me yelling out for the pair every 20-minutes. Just before daylight on that early May morning, Michelle woke and said listen. I did and it was animals running through the woods towards our camp.

The chainless yahoo’s had made it and Ruby’s face was covered with porcupine quills. We held her firmly and one by one yanked the quills with pliers, what an insane experience!

Ruby loved anything to do with water and especially being in a canoe and if there was duck hunting involved, that was the best. Many times over her 8 hunting seasons Ruby spotted the ducks before I did.

952 mile drive Ruby was licking her stomach and I took a look and it was not good. She had a sore about the size of a half dollar on her belly and I knew it was trouble.

I took Ruby to the vet and was told 2 things, it was a fast growing type of cancer but I was told she thought that there was a solid chance Ruby could be saved, which would take place entirely at my home with medication and love. Ruby never lost her appetite, will to drink, or her desire to lay outside during the day and watch the world. When she lost the use of her legs I moved her around with a bed sheet underneath of her and she would try to walk.

In reality, the first 12 days were the worst, but then she started perking up, sitting up, wagging her tail and simply put was much more at peace.

On the 16th day, I sent texts to several people in my life that she maybe was getting better and she had a great day outside. On the 16th night I had a KAMO fishery the next morning and at 12:30 I took her out with her bed sheet under her legs and she was happy as a lark. The old girl was wagging her tail and bolted in front of me and went exploring the front yard and pond.

I went to bed confident that just maybe she was going to make it.

I got up at 5:00 a.m. and one of my very best friends was laying on the floor, with a beautiful look on her face and she had gone to heaven.

I love that dog and my guess is that Michelle greeted her and the two of them are now together.

Life can be brutal but you have to plow forward!

Sunset

On Thursday, January 3rd I arrived home from the state of Mississippi with Ruby and Red in the back seat of my truck. My windshield was shattered, had a hole clear through it and was covered with plexiglass and duct taped together. A tree had fallen on my 2017 GMC and the damage would be $17,000. As I write this I have not had a truck for 16 days and will not have one for 2 more weeks.

When I went to shut the lights off in my living room after a challenging

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Photo contributed by Mark Walters Ruby was addicted to adventures in a canoe.

Ruby, the Definition of a Tough Dog

Photo contributed by Mark Walters Ruby’s favorite pastime other than being pet, was duck hunting, she was the toughest dog that I’ve ever owned.

Photo contributed by Mark Walters This pic was taken on Ruby’s last day. Of the 16 days she was sick, it was her best and it seemed like she was going to make it.