Valley Sentinel - 03-24-2022

Spring Green, Wisconsin

Thursday, March 24, 2022 | Vol. 3, No. 9 FREE, Single-Copy

Inside this edition

‘The state of open government is in peril’

The history of Lyme disease has a Wisconsin chapter.

Pages 2, 11

Page 10

RVP’s ‘Almost, Maine’ to open April 1

Photo by John Christensen Hannah Anderson and Ben Ruyle on stage rehearsing ‘Almost, Maine’.

Come spend the evening with multiple townsfolk of Almost, Maine, up near the Canadian border, 200 miles from the ocean. These 8 vignettes about love and connection and what it takes to find them and keep them in the cold north will make you laugh, nod knowingly, and recognize the characters of this small town. With live music from a stripped-down

Sugar Mama and the Rent Check connecting the scenes, community theater company River Valley Players returns the magic and connection of community theater to the Gard.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. April 1 and 2, 2 p.m. April 3. Tickets are $12 in person at Arcadia Books, online via Eventbrite at rivervalleyplayers.org or at the door.

River Valley ARTS Announces Creative Community and Artistic Development Grant Recipients

Melinda Van Slyke, River Valley Arts Every year River Valley ARTS (formerly the Spring Green Area Arts Coalition) awards Creative Community and Artistic Development Grants to further stimulate creative and innovative arts and culture programming in the River Valley area. Applications are reviewed by a panel of community members, and are evaluated on the degree of community involvement and community benefit, artistic merit, creativity and innovation, ability of the applicant to complete the project, and potential for growth and development. Grant funds are provided through the generous contributions of community members and local businesses and through a matching grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin.

The 2022 River Valley ARTS Creative Community Grants have been awarded as follows: $1,500 to ChamberFest, a new music festival taking place in Spring Green in late July. $2,000 to Lantern Filmworks, (the team that brought us 'One Foot In') for their latest film, scheduled to begin

production in late April in the River Valley area. $1,000 to the Spring Green Musician In Residence Program, to help provide a stipend for the musician during their 14 day residency in the River Valley area. $2,000 to Rural Remedy, for a series of Art Exploration Workshops taking place this spring and fall. $2,000 to the Silo Mural Project, for materials and supplies to paint a mural on a silo at Steadfast Acres Farm, and $1,500 to the Wyoming Valley Cultural Arts Center, to help support their exhibit by Jennifer Angus, running from March 26th to June 12th.

In addition to the Creative Community Grants, an Artistic Development Grant in the amount of $500 was awarded to Jay Rath, as he adapts the movie version of 'Feed The Fish' into a script for the stage.

To stay up to date on the arts in the River Valley area, follow River Valley ARTS on social media and/or email contact@rivervalleyarts.org to be added to their email list. For more information about River Valley ARTS, including how to become a member, visit www.RiverValleyARTS.org.

Riverway Board hears setback on Wintergreen Conference Center, hears SNA report Mark Cupp, LWSRB Executive Director The Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board met in Muscoda on March 10 to conduct a regular monthly business meeting.

Bridget Rathman, a crew leader for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) State Natural Areas (SNA) program, reported to the board on activities ongoing at the 20 SNA sites in the Riverway. Rathman said a great deal of time and energy is spent battling non-native invasive species

on state lands in order to preserve unique habitats. Black locust removal and subsequent chemical treatment occurred at various locations over the past year with more planned in 2022.

Fire also is an important tool in habitat management and restoration.

In 2021, due to COVID restrictions, there were almost no prescribed burns in the region so the fire crew is hoping to burn many acres this year to continue restoration efforts. Rathman

also thanked the many volunteers who have assisted with habitat work at the Blue River Sand Barrens and at the Mazomanie Oak Barrens. She noted restoration work has begun at the Battle of Wisconsin Heights site in the Town of Mazomanie, Dane County, including brush removal around a mound group at the site.

The board then approved extensions to management permits for SNA sites at locations near Mazomanie, Arena,

Spring Green, Lone Rock and Blue River.

Mark Cupp, Executive Director, reported he had received information from DNR that the department will not conduct an appraisal on the land associated with the Wintergreen Conference Center property near Spring Green, effectively removing the State of Wisconsin as a potential

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Commentary/Opinion/Lte

Thursday, march 24, 2022

The Plain and Simple Correspondent: Here Sit Ye Down Katie Green, Columnist My paternal grandmother was an actress and singer, and while she sat around backstage waiting for the cue to go on, she did needlepoint. The motto on one piece I have says “Here sit ye down and find repose. With chat and cheer good friendship grows.” A very nice sentiment. But where to find a really comfortable chair? As my back problems multiply, I am always on the prowl for a chair that pampers and even alleviates the aches and pains.

My friend Derry has inherited from her late daughter's estate a set of beautiful Hill House-style chairs by the famous Scottish architect and designer of many chairs and other objects, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

In some ways they resemble the Frank Lloyd Wright chairs that have never suited my back or derriere when attending events at the Taliesin auditorium. Beautiful but deadly over the course of an entire program.

The most user-friendly chairs I can think of are at libraries. I have designs on the upholstered Mission era Stickley-type chairs in the Spring Green reading room but haven't figured out how to purloin them without legal consequences. Similarly, when we lived in Green Bay and I was suffering a dangerous spate of insomnia, the only place I could seem to sleep was a certain soft, friendly

Contributed photo chair in the Brown County library. It was a safe refuge.

In my possession are a variety of chairs, whose backs are tipped at different angles. The ones that lean backwards at a rakish angle defy

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

my imagination in thinking '”why make them this way?” And I have a chair sitting on the front porch that is being eaten by squirrels. Would I kid you about such a thing? What it is about that particular chair that makes it appetizing the goddess only knows, but the legs and seat show distinct tooth marks where it has been gnawed repeatedly, giving it a shaggy appearance. Perhaps a Museum of Oddities would accept the thing for its exhibits.

Another chair that clutters my living room is a gorgeous Victorian lady's chair. It pooches out at the back of the seat to accommodate bustles and huge amounts of cloth that the Victorian women's skirts burdened them with.

Since neither I nor the guests who sit in it wear such crippling garments, one must sit forward in it with pillows behind to be comfortable. That thought didn't cross my mind when its beauty drew me like a moth to the flame.

The term “chair” has many meanings besides a piece of furniture on which one sits, of course. Either man or woman may be the chair of a committee, a meeting, or even a country. I am thinking now of the crazy man in Moscow, chair of a virulent, vicious form of power abuse justifying the deaths and displacement of millions of Ukrainians. Oligarchs

tend to call themselves Chairman this and that. That includes chairmen and women of the fortunate few in the USA who control vast fortunes and have made out like bandits during Covid while our attention was elsewhere. You know who they are and they don't give a fig whether anyone has a chair to perch on or not. Bah.

Katie Green Katie is an author living in Plain that has been writing for fun and profit, mostly the former, since childhood. Her writing is self described as opinionated, but meant to be in the interests of a more loving, better functioning world for all. She may be reached at: greengal2@charter.net.

Please vote — even in the “unimportant” spring election on April 5!

RVHS student urges school district residents to vote in referendum

In a time when our democracy is being challenged, it has never been more important to vote. Yes, even in the spring election, when the “unimportant,” supposedly non-partisan races take place; “unimportant” offices like mayor, school board, and circuit court judges [sarcasm noted].

There should be a free, easily accessible voter guide that summarizes candidates’ positions, but there isn’t, so you may have to do a bit of research to select the person you think is best for the job. It isn’t that difficult: do a Google search, find a candidate forum online, ask around.

Isn’t our democracy worth it? Please research the candidates and vote on April 5. If you don’t, you have no reason

River Valley. River Valley School District. When I hear those words I think about my 10 years of enrollment, my sister graduating, my brother in 6th grade, but I also think of our absolutely wonderful music programs.

From musicals, concerts, solo and ensemble, choir, band, chamber ensemble, and jazz band, we do it all.

I have participated in each of these programs, and I don't know where I would be without them. We have some phenomenal talent in our programs, but the very root of these programs is fellowship. Friendly association, especially with people who share one's interests. That may be one definition, but in our district, it is so much more. A place you can forget about whatever's going on.

to complain after the election. C’mon, do your part or quit yer b*tchin’.

Claudia Wood Highland, Wisconsin

Don't know what's on your ballot or where to vote?

Go to: http://myvote.wi.gov

A place you can find comfort by performing and practicing with your friends. A place you can put your all into making amazing music.

A place you can have fun.

A place where you learn life skills that can shape your future. A place you can be you.

What I want you to gather from this, is that our music programs are essential. So, I am writing to you as a student. A student without the power vote on this Referendum. I ask you to represent the students of the River Valley School District and look out for our futures. Vote Yes on the April 5th Referendum.

Ryan Kane, Spring Green, Wisconsin

The state of open government in Wisconsin is in peril Bill Lueders, Wisconsin Examiner In its observance of national Sunshine Week (March 13-19), the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council has released its list of winners for this year’s

On the cover Arcadia Books, Photo (2022) by John Christensen

Submit your artwork or photography for consideration: editor@valleysentinelnews.com Cover image trace graphic illustration by Julianna Williams

Openness in Government Awards, or Opees. For the 16th consecutive year, we picked a journalist, a citizen, and a politician for special recognition.

The journalist was Isiah Holmes of the Wisconsin Examiner for his jawdropping records-based reporting on the Wauwatosa police department. The citizen was Christine Brennan, who wrestled away records from officials in the city of Fond du Lac. As for the politician, Winnebago County District Attorney Christian Gossett and Deputy DA Eric Sparr were recognized for Tling a rare open-records enforcement action against a town government. We also bestowed an honorable mention in this category to Gov. Tony Evers, for vetoing the creation of a secretive new legislative human resources oPce and for proposing to make it cheaper to get records by raising the threshold at which custodians can charge requesters for the time it takes to locate records.

The award we call the Scoopee, for Open Records Scoop of the Year, went to the

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for its series explosing how dangerous electrical wiring has for years been causing Tres and claiming victims in Milwaukee. And we named Marinette Alderperson Douglas Oitzinger “Whistleblower of the Year” for suing his colleagues for improperly going into closed session.

But perhaps the most significant award

Bill Lueders

was one for which I didn’t even bother to send the winners a notification, or invite them to the awards ceremony on April 21.

It was the award we call the Nopee, for No Friend of Openness. It went to former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman and state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos for their e_orts to impede the release of documents regarding their investigation into the 2020 election, for which Vos has agreed to spend at least $676,000 of taxpayer money.

This is a recognition that Vos has received before. He won the Nopee in 2016 for his shocking attempt to exempt the Legislature from the state’s public records law, and for ending the longstanding requirement that significant donors to political campaigns reveal where they work.

Now he has taken arrogance and contempt for the public right to know to new levels.

Think of it: The Wauwatosa Police

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Commentary/OpInIon

Thursday, march 24, 2022 Page 3

Our Social Dilemma — Part 2: The Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution Beverly Pestel, Columnist “Our Social Dilemma” is a series of thought-provoking columns by retired local professor Beverly Pestel exploring a description and explanation of our current social, cultural and political tensions — looking at solutions and means of learning to accept one another.

…

In Part 1, the language ability of Sapiens allowing us to construct imagined realities and networks of stories tying us to certain social identities and cultures was presented.

When those cultures conflict or experience disparate treatment, a resulting “them/us” social dilemma is ensured. So, what kind of land mines for “them/us” cultural conflicts were set for us as our nation was formed?

To begin with, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to our Founding Fathers.

The Declaration of Independence, written in 1776, described the beginning of a great experiment, a government “deriving their powers from the consent of the governed.” It was a unique idea focused on a design to “institute [a] new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

However, these men, white men - there were no women - were the product of their culture. The initial decisions made by these men set the

stage for a long history of struggle to meet the goal of the “more perfect Union,” they envisioned as laid out in Preamble to the Constitution.

Immigrants arriving from around the world rapidly expanded the number of cultures in our growing nation. Simultaneously, a slowly evolving awareness of just what was needed to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility…and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” made us not so much a melting pot as a pot that at some times boils over with cultural conflicts.

Our nation began amidst a predominantly white culture characterized by patriarchy and privilege. It would probably be wrong to accuse the Founding Fathers of malice toward other groups or cultures as they crafted the Constitution, but intended or unintended, exclusion of others in the “unalienable Rights… [of] Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” in this new nation is undeniable.

The history of the “them/us” division begins with our inception as a nation. Simply take the issues of citizenship and voting right. Voting rights were left to the states in the Constitution, but overall, voting rights were restricted to propertyowning or tax-paying white men. The cultures of Native Americans, African Americans brought in as slaves, and Asian immigrants were omitted from “the consent of the governed” category. Women were ignored entirely. It wasn’t until ratification

of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 and the Naturalization Act of 1870 that African Americans born or naturalized in the United States

Beverly Pestel were guaranteed citizenship. It was not until a Supreme Court decision in 1898 that Asian children born in the United States were guaranteed citizenship. However, for these cultural groups, even with citizenship, voting rights were not guaranteed.

The ability to achieve the full rights delineated in the Constitution was still unattainable, they were still “them” and not “us”.

It wasn’t until the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 that voting rights were granted regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The last group granted this privileged position were women with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Granting those rights, however, did not guarantee them. It took the Twenty-fourth Amendment in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to finally place all

these groups in the “us” category of voting rights.

It took one civil war, multiple protests, hunger strikes, and other forms of civil disobedience for the disenfranchised “thems” to gain just the voting portion of the unalienable rights originally given to one small “us” culture. Many of the other rights of the “us” would remain elusive to the “thems” for some time to come.

Given this history, is it any surprise that we are a nation of “them/ us” divisions that at times tear us apart? Is it unreasonable that those groups so long denied their right to justice, domestic tranquility and the blessings of liberty would demand to leave the “them” culture and join the “us” culture? Is it not reasonable that those disenfranchised for so long would have a lot of catching up to do to finally achieve the full measure of benefits enjoyed by those who have had those benefits from the beginning? Is it any surprise that some who enjoyed this position of privilege from the beginning would resent the loss of their unique elevated position?

Beverly had a 37 year career as a chemistry professor specializing in chemistry education and learning theory. In 2012 she was able to retire and move home to Wisconsin to focus on remodeling an old farmhouse and tending 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.

Pain at the pump, rising costs and pressure on the pocketbook - gas prices and inflation are impacting all of us Senator Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) Like you, I have been shocked at the gas pump and grocery store lately. Gas prices and inflation are hitting all of us hard.

It is important to understand these issues and the factors that contribute to them. We are all concerned about the future and the impact of these costs on our family budgets. Unfortunately, gas prices and inflation are primarily impacted by decisions made by our federal government.

Gas prices are set by a combination of factors including the cost of crude oil, refining costs, transportation and distribution of the gas and taxes.

Senator Howard Marklein The main issues affecting gas prices right now are the energy policies that have been set by the Biden

administration. Since the President was elected, took office and issued several impactful Executive Orders related to energy policy, the price of gas has steadily risen. This did not start when the war in the Ukraine began. It started in late 2020. The United States can be energy independent. We do not need to import fuel. However, the country’s current energy policies are holding us back.

The impact of the war in the Ukraine has compounded the gas price issue because world-wide supply is impacted. But the following table illustrates that the average price for a gallon of gas nationwide and across

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the Midwest started to increase in 2020, well before the war began. As you can see, the upward trend started in December 2020 and has continued to increase for more than a year with a spike since the war began in the Ukraine.

As you know, there has been discussion about pausing the gas tax at both the state and federal level. However, it is important to know that the gas tax funds our road infrastructure programs throughout the United States and the State of Wisconsin. If we suspend the gas tax,

Contributors Arts & Culture/Editorial Columns Graphic Design/Pagination Bill Gordon Grace Vosen Anna Stocks-Hess Arts & Culture/Editorial Sports Editorial Intern Alison Graves Mike McDermott Adeline Holte Arts Community/Opinion Graphic Design Intern Jen Salt Katie Green Julianna Williams Our team will be growing and changing as we settle into publishing regularly, please stay in touch. Thank you to all of our contributors for believing in our community.

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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 integrity and impartiality of our reporting. .

Est. 2020 igne conflatum “Forged in Fire”

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Page 4

Commentary/Opinion

Thursday, march 24, 2022

Chris Hardie's 'Back Home' column

Farmers face challenging spring ahead

A moment of reflection as spring arrives

Chris Hardie, Columnist

Chris Hardie, Columnist

The coming spring always brings fresh hope and optimism, but with planting season just around the corner, there are plenty of challenges facing farmers.

A continued dry stretch still impacts parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, and the war in Ukraine has sent fertilizer prices and fuel costs skyrocketing and rattled some of the grain futures markets.

On March 5, the price of wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade hit an all-time high of $13.50 a bushel. It’s since backed down to the $10.50 range, but clearly, there are concerns about how the Ukraine situation will impact wheat production following a lowerthan-anticipated 2021 world harvest.

On the face of it, the prospect of increasing grain prices seems like good news for farmers, but it’s bad news for consumers who already have seen inflationary increases in the prices of food. And it’s going to cost a lot more to plant crops this spring, thanks to expensive fertilizer and diesel fuel.

Potash has doubled in price from last year and anhydrous has gone up more than 150%. Prices were already increasing because of the rising cost of natural gas — the main source of nitrogen fertilizer.

The U.S. produces most of its own ammonia and phosphate and relies on Canada for 90% of its potash. But countries like Brazil import 85% of their fertilizer, with Russia being a major supplier.

All of this uncertainty is enough of a concern that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is opening an inquiry into the fertilizer, seed and retail markets.

“Concentrated market structures and potentially anti-competitive practices leave America’s farmers, businesses, and consumers facing higher costs, fewer choices and less control about where to buy and sell, and reduced innovation — ultimately making it harder for those who grow our food to

survive,’ U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said.

The challenge with the weather seems tame by comparison. At least there is some good news on that front.

Chris Hardie The National Weather Service said precipitation in the first week of March that ranged from a half-inch to almost 2.5 inches helped alleviate abnormally dry conditions in parts of southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa and west-central Wisconsin.

But there is no change to the moderate to severe drought conditions in parts of central Wisconsin and moderate drought in parts of northeastern Iowa and southwestern Wisconsin.

Since April 1, 2021, that area has seen precipitation deficits of 9 to 15 inches.

Winter dryness isn’t as noticeable as a summer drought, but drier soil allows the frost to penetrate deeper, which can impact crops like alfalfa. And moisture will be needed when the growing season begins.

The challenges may be a little steeper this year, but an unpredictable farm future is pretty normal for our farmer friends. As I’ve often said, there’s nothing predictable and easy about farming.

I said goodbye to winter on a bright and crisp morning with the sounds of geese flying overhead.

Life seems to be a series of busy moments linked together by the relentless onslaught of time. It’s those moments that seem to dominate my life, but they are rarely the ones that I remember the most. For me, it’s the rare quiet times in between the rush that stand out from the noise.

The waning hours of winter on the first day of spring was one of those quiet times, a chance to take in fresh air, solitude and imagine the spring that is to come. The eternal optimist in me always sees spring as a season bursting forth with promise.

My destination for contemplation was a walk through the bottomland that surrounds Little Creek, a springfed stream that runs through our valley and originates on our family

Photo contributed by Chris Hardie

Little Creek during the last few hours of winter.

The stream is fed by dozens of springs along the valley on Chris Hardie’s farm.

farm.

A walk through the bottoms along the murmuring stream is always quiet medicine for my troubled soul; a retreat from the noise of hatred and rage. A place where no political party is right or wrong all the time and character — not color — is the basis of judgment. A place where solitude and reflection pull out the poison and provide perspective.

With dozens of springs that feed Little Creek, the land is quite boggy most of the year. Even though the ground is still frozen, nature provides. Already, dozens of skunk cabbages poked through the ice.

These remarkable plants have the ability through a chemical process to heat themselves to 59 degrees, pushing through the ice. By mid-spring, they

Graphic via National Weather Service

Recently we received word from our press that costs for materials have risen over 19% in the past few months and that our printing cost will go up accordingly.

If we charged $1 for each copy of Valley Sentinel, just half of the copies that are picked up each week would entirely cover our printing costs — however, we are committed to remaining a free

Chris Hardie spent more than 30 years as a reporter, editor and publisher. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and won dozens of state and national journalism awards. He is a former president of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. Contact him at chardie1963@gmail.com.

Photo contributed by Chris Hardie

A layer of frost on the last morning of winter.

DONATION

DRIVE

will be up to 3 feet tall and turn the wetlands into lush dark green.

The sand and clay along the creek display the tracks of deer, turkeys, coyotes and other animals that use the bottoms. Early mornings I hear the sounds of the turkeys gobbling as they prepare for the upcoming mating season.

I also looked for antler sheds, as the bucks are dropping their horns. One early spring day, my wife Sherry and I collected a shingle shed next to a pool of water filled with watercress. No sheds this day, but lots of tracks and rubs from last fall’s rut.

I paused for a few moments on the streambank and listened to the murmur of the stream. In a few hours, the sun would shine directly over the earth’s equator. The vernal equinox gives us a day of 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness.

This creekside place of peace and solitude is an escape from the ugliness of the world, where we continue to squabble and kill each other through senseless war and over differences in religion, color and belief.

Yet at the moment of spring, true equality comes from mother earth.

Light and darkness. Darkness and light. Yin and yang.

Nature speaks.

If only we would listen.

I prayed.

My morning sojourn ended in a grove of pine trees planted by my great uncle some 60 years ago. It was a perfect spot for playing hide and seek and other games when I was a boy and the world seemed so much simpler.

I smiled at those memories and felt a warmth in my soul as the sun climbed higher into the nascent spring sky.

Spring was here.

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regional/OpInIon

Thursday, march 24, 2022 Page 5

Richland County approves strategic plan, considers committee restructuring Shaun Murphy-Lopez, Richland County Board Supervisor Here is my latest update on the Richland County Board of Supervisors.

Rural Business Representation

At this month’s County Board meeting, we considered a new economic development agreement between the City of Richland Center and Richland County. The Richland Economic Development (RED) Board advises on the activities of the Economic Development Director, which is a shared full-time staff position between the City and County, with the City paying 40% of the cost and the County paying 60%.

Until now, RED has had three voting members: County Board Chair Marty Brewer, Richland Center Mayor Todd Coppernoll and community member Mike Breininger. The County Board voted to approve increasing the number of voting members to 9, and allowing RED to choose those members from the community without County Board or City Council confirmation.

I voted against this change because I am concerned that the economic development needs of townships and

County Board unanimously approved its first Strategic Plan. The plan states, “this plan will span the next 2-3 years with the goal of becoming the most efficiently run and financially responsible local government body.”

To this end, the plan largely focuses on addressing internal challenges in Richland County government, with policies including but not limited to: • Create an easy-to-read budget • Improve the County’s bond rating (i.e., credit score) • Evaluate the merging of departments • Improve pay and benefits for County employees (e.g., deputies, patrolman, nurses, social workers) to make Richland County competitive with other rural counties • Explore opportunities to share or contract staff • Bundle purchases and projects to reduce costs • Improve communication with the public • Educate County Board members and employees on finances, the need for teamwork, and how county government works Some policies were also adopted for

The Strategic Plan tackles headon many of the fiscal problems I’ve been learning about since joining the County Board in 2018. I support it wholeheartedly and look forward to seeing us chip away at our challenges.

Electing the County Board Chair/Vice Chair

The County Board Chair and Vice Chair are elected by the 21-member County Board every other year on the third Tuesday of April (after the statewide spring election) at the organizational meeting. In years past, this process has largely happened behind closed doors with candidates calling individual County Board members to campaign for these seats.

On March 23, the County Board held a special meeting to consider a proposal to make the campaigning process transparent to the public.

The Rules & Resolutions Committee is forwarding a recommended rule change to strongly encourage candidates for Chair and Vice Chair to indicate their interest in writing before the organizational meeting and answer the following two questions: 1. If you are elected, are there things you will try to change or do differently as County Board Chair/Vice Chair?

2. How would you describe the style you will use in working with your fellow Supervisors, County committees, County Administrator and other staff?

Then at the organizational meeting, each candidate would be allowed 10 minutes to speak and answer questions.

Committee Restructuring

Photo contributed by Shaun Murphy-Lopez Pine River Trail between Lone Rock and Richland Center. villages aren’t adequately represented on RED. Since 4 out of the 6 new voting members already chosen by RED represent businesses in the City of Richland Center, I will continue to advocate for greater rural business representation on the RED Board.

Strategic Plan Approved

Also at the March Board meeting, the

the wider community, including: • Prioritize new home construction • Encourage improvements to existing homes • Invest in county parks, campgrounds, and recreational opportunities • Support broadband expansion • Support business growth through incentives

Also at the March 23 special meeting, a proposal to restructure the County’s committees, commissions, and boards was considered. Currently the County has 54 committees it operates or participates in. The proposal would consolidate 18 of the committees into 9, remove 8 additional committees, and add 4, resulting in a net reduction of 13.

The proposal has been considered by the Rules & Resolutions Committee over the past 6 months, and is in line with one of the goals of the Strategic Plan: “Biannual review of committee structure with possibility of consolidation.”

One of the goals of the proposal is to continue shifting the day-to-day management of the County’s 300+ staff from Board supervisors to the Administrator. This will allow the County Board to increase its focus on determining the County’s priorities

and budget, so that staff can in turn increase its focus on figuring out how, when, and who will carry out the Board’s priorities and budget.

Another goal of fewer meetings to increase accountability. If more County Board members, the Administrator, and department heads have the ability to physically attend a smaller set of meetings, the desired outcome is that communication will be improved, and actions taken by various bodies will be easier to track.

Funding Community Priorities Over the past several months the County Board has committed funding to several important community priorities. The source of funding is $3.3 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds: • At the September County Board meeting, $112,500 was allocated for nursing home employees at Pine Valley Community Village to receive a retroactive pay increase for 2021.

• At the December County Board meeting, $335,000 was granted to four entities to open or expand child care centers in Richland County. These monies have been distributed, but I am not aware of any opened or expanded centers to-date.

• At the March County Board meeting, $590,000 was allocated for a grant proposal to expand broadband access through large portions of rural Richland County. We expect to learn if the grant was awarded in the next several months.

Repairing the Pine River Recreational Trail

If you’re dreaming of warm weather, included with this column is a photo I took of the County’s Pine River Recreational Trail a few summers back. The County is currently advertising for bids to resurface Richland County’s premier bicycling, hiking, and snowmobiling trail, which runs between Richland Center and Lone Rock. Thanks to the many volunteers on the County Parks Commission and Richland County Snowmobile Alliance who help to maintain this beautiful trail.

Shaun Murphy-Lopez is the Richland County Board Supervisor for District 2 and Chair of the Richland County Finance Committee.

He can be reached at shaun. murphy@co.richland.wi.us or 608462-3715.

Pain at the pump, rising costs and pressure on the pocketbook - gas prices and inflation are impacting all of us continued from page 3 the funds to pay for road maintenance, repair and construction will not exist.

Road conditions are one of the top issues I hear about from constituents.

We have made good progress on funding our local, rural roads and I am concerned about hindering this progress as we enter a new season of road construction in Wisconsin.

I have been told, by some constituents, that we should use the projected state surplus to back-fill the transportation fund. The key word in the previous sentence is “projected”. The surplus we expect in Wisconsin is “projected” to exist on June 30, 2023 (more than a year from now).

Let me put it this way, farmers in Wisconsin are expected to have a pretty good year in 2022. But you

don’t see a lot of them running out to buy equipment and spend money yet.

They want to see how things go, if the weather is going to cooperate and how markets behave before they make all kinds of big investments.

We need to think the same way. While I am optimistic that our responsible spending plan and approach to the state budget will produce this projected surplus, I am also realistic that we will be entering our next state budget process with unique challenges brought on by tremendous inflation and federal policies that will greatly impact our state. All of the federal COVID money that is flowing into Wisconsin will be swiftly ending – and we will need to make some tough decisions. I hope you agree that we should not commit “projected” funds in an inflationary environment.

Inflation is driven by the amount of cash in our economy relative to supply.

A ton of money is chasing fewer goods.

Unfortunately, the federal government has printed (and spent) trillions of dollars – and they want to spend more! They have flooded our economy with new money and this has created inflation like we haven’t seen in a long time.

As your State Senator, my ability to directly impact gas prices and inflation is limited. However, in the most recent state budget, we focused on funding our priorities while cutting state taxes by $3.2 billion. We kept spending down and have worked diligently over the last 11 years to dig Wisconsin out of a $3 billion hole. If we hadn’t done all of this hard work over the last 11 years, we would be in a perilous position as we face tremendous

inflation and rising prices! Instead, our overall tax burden has steadily decreased and we are have a very strong fiscal condition.

I will continue to monitor these issues.

Like you, I will be making adjustments in my personal spending to adapt. I know it is not easy and I understand that every resident of the 17th Senate District has to make difficult decisions in the face of rising prices. I encourage you to reach out to our federal legislators in Congress to share your concerns and ask them to adjust our federal energy policies and stop out-of control spending to relieve the pressure on your pocketbook.

As always, please do not hesitate to connect with me to provide input, ideas or to seek assistance. Send an email to sen.marklein@legis.wisconsin.gov or call 608-266-0703.

Page 6

Community

Thursday, march 24, 2022

COmmunitycalendar Events for March 24 - April 8 Thursday, March 24 Stitch and Bitch 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM . Spring Green General Store, 137 S. Albany St. Spring Green . springgreengeneralstore.com . 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. Jefferson St. Spring Green . ninasdepartmentstore.com . Every Thursday from 6 to 8 pm. All knitters and crocheters are welcome. Store closed after 5:30 pm.

LIVE MUSIC: Slowpoke Songwriters Round 7:30 PM- 9:30 PM . Slowpoke Lounge, 137 W Jefferson St., Spring Green . slowpokelounge.com . With special guests Caley Conway and Mike Munson. Tim Eddy curates this series, throughout this fall and winter, of singer/songwriters from the Driftless Area. Support local artists by joining us for a night of original music with several songwriters, all on the stage together, sharing their music round robin style. No cover, but tips for artists are always welcome. Proof of vaccination against COVID-19 required for all Slowpoke events.

Saturday, March 26 Pop-Up Spring Green Farmers Market 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM . S230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green . The Spring Green Farmers Market is continuing in the Spring Green Community Public Library Lot through the winter every Saturday morning. Pre-orders are recommended. Visit our Facebook or Instagram page or email SGFarmersMarket@gmail.com for a list of participating vendors and their contact information.

2nd Annual Tom Layton Memorial Scholarship Bean Bag Tournament 11:00 AM Wisconsin Riverside Resort, S13220 Shifflet Rd, Spring Green . Doubles Tournament.

Pre-registration is RECOMMENDED call Bill @ (608) 588-5156 OR John @ (608) 553-1343. Day of event registration starts at 11:00 AM and BAGS FLY AT NOON! Entry fee $20 per team. Bring your OWN PARTNER!! We will be playing on new boards this year. Double Elimination! Hard luck tournament too! 2 Divisions this year: SOCIAL and COMPETITIVE. Social MUST use provided bags. Competitive can BRING YOUR OWN BAGS (Some extra bags will be available) SPONSOR A HOLE for $25!!! Tom Layton’s Memorial Scholarship will go to a a selected graduate from River Valley High School in Spring Green.

LIVE MUSIC: Shitty Barn Season Kickoff 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM . Slowpoke Lounge, 137 W Jefferson St., Spring Green . slowpokelounge.com . We’re happy to welcome our friends from The Shitty Barn as they kick off their long-awaited 2022 season! At the intersection of Harry Smith’s Old Weird America – the songs of hear tworn highways – and the tumult of today you can find the music of Luke Callen. Hemma captivates the audience as she paints with a pastoral brush passed down from ar tists like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. Proof of vaccination against COVID-19 required for all Slowpoke events.

Sunday, March 27 Tarot Readings with BillieJo Scharfenberg 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM . North Earth Crystals & Gifts, 124 W. Jefferson St, Spring Green . BillieJo Scharfenberg began her journey with The Tarot in 1996. She uses her proficiency and knowledge to help clients make better life choices via the unique format and interpretive insights the cards offer.

She has read Tarot cards professionally, both for individuals and groups, for nearly twenty years. She brings her experience, a combination of study and practical knowledge, as well as a keen devotion to the practice, to each reading in order to help you navigate your life path. $50 per half hour session. Walk-in appointments will be taken as availability allows. Time slots fill up quickly, so please call 608.588.3313 to set up an appointment.

Tuesday, March 29 Spring Family Storytime 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM . Kraemer Library, 910 Main St, Plain . kraemerlibrary.org . Come join us for 45 minutes of fun-filled interactive stories, songs and rhymes! Meet new friends, sing songs, and have fun! Enjoy a story session that encourages a love of reading and fosters the development of early literacy skills. Ages 0-5. Masks encouraged.

Wednesday, March 30

Friday, April 1 THEATER: Almost, Maine 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM . Gard Theater, 111 E Jefferson St, Spring Green . River Valley Players returns to the stage with Almost, Maine, the wistful and beloved play about love in the frozen north of Maine. Come spend the evening with multiple townsfolk of Almost, Maine, up near the Canadian border, 200 miles from the ocean. These 8 short stories about love and connection and what it takes to find them and keep them in the cold north will make you laugh, nod knowingly, and feel a connection with the people of this small town. With live music connecting the scenes, River Valley Players returns the magic and connection of community theater to the Gard. Tickets are $12 in person at Arcadia Books, online via Eventbrite at rivervalleyplayers.org, or at the door.

Saturday, April 2 Go With the FLOW Field Trip: An Effigy Mounds Sampler 9:00 AM . The LWSRB office, 202 N. Wisconsin Ave., Muscoda . (FLOW) Friends of the Lower Wisconsin Riverway . www.wisconsinriverfriends.org . Mark Cupp will lead a tour focused on effigy mound sites in southern Richland County near Muscoda. There will be easy to moderate hiking involved. A camera and/or binoculars are recommended. Content is appropriate for ages 8 years old and up. Younger children are allowed but under parental supervision at all times. Contact: Mark Cupp cell phone 608-739-2179 or e-mail at mark.cupp@wisconsin.gov. RSVPs are encouraged and would be very helpful. Dress for weather conditions and be prepared for bugs including ticks. Boots or hiking shoes are recommended due to possible muddy trails. (Rain/weather date – Saturday , April 9, 2022) Pop-Up Spring Green Farmers Market 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM . S230 E. Monroe St., Spring Green . The Spring Green Farmers Market is continuing in the Spring Green Community Public Library Lot through the winter every Saturday morning. Pre-orders are recommended. Visit our Facebook or Instagram page or email SGFarmersMarket@gmail.com for a list of participating vendors and their contact information.

THEATER: Almost, Maine 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM . Gard Theater, 111 E Jefferson St, Spring Green . River Valley Players returns to the stage with Almost, Maine, the wistful and beloved play about love in the frozen north of Maine. Tickets are $12 in person at Arcadia Books, online via Eventbrite at rivervalleyplayers.org, or at the door.

Sunday, April 3 THEATER: Almost, Maine 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM . Gard Theater, 111 E Jefferson St, Spring Green . River Valley Players returns to the stage with Almost, Maine, the wistful and beloved play about love in the frozen north of Maine. Tickets are $12 in person at Arcadia Books, online via Eventbrite at rivervalleyplayers.org, or at the door.

PLAY READING: ‘The Rivals’ - Plays Out Loud 2:00 PM . Slowpoke Lounge, 137 W Jefferson St., Spring Green . Join with friends and other lovers of dramatic literature in a community reading of "The Rivals" by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, a play from American Players Theatre's upcoming 2022 season. Choose the part you want to read out loud or come to just listen and discuss. Free scripts available at the door the afternoon of the event, or playbooks are for sale at Arcadia Books or on loan at the Spring Green Community Library with a South Central library card. The free event is sponsored by the Spring Green Literary Festival. Beverages will be for sale during the readings.

Tuesday, April 5 Spring Family Storytime 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM . Kraemer Library, 910 Main St, Plain . kraemerlibrary.org . Come join us for 45 minutes of fun-filled interactive stories, songs and rhymes! Meet new friends, sing songs, and have fun! Enjoy a story session that encourages a love of reading and fosters the development of early literacy skills. Ages 0-5. Masks encouraged.

Wednesday, April 6 Storytime at the Library 10:30 AM . Spring Green Community Library, 230 E Monroe St, Spring Green . Join Ms. Grace for storytime at the library. We'll have stories, songs, and fun! There is no sign up required for now, but attendance is limited to 19 people, so get there early to reserve your spot. With signs of spring all around, if the weather is nice we will meet outside! We do require masks for everyone age 2 and up when we meet inside. See you there!

Storytime at the Library 10:30 AM . Spring Green Community Library, 230 E Monroe St, Spring Green . Join Ms. Grace for storytime at the library. We'll have stories, songs, Thursday, April 7 and fun! There is no sign up required for now, but attendance is limited to 19 people, so get there early to reserve your spot. With signs of spring all around, if the weather is Stitch and Bitch 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM . Spring Green General Store, 137 S. Albany St. nice we will meet outside! We do require masks for everyone age 2 and up when we Spring Green . springgreengeneralstore.com . The Spring Green General Store’s Stitch meet inside. See you there! and Bitch handwork group meets Thursday afternoons weekly. All are welcome.

Thursday, March 31 Free Family Flick 11:00 AM . Plain Kraemer Library and Community Center, 910 Main St, Plain . Children and their families can sit back and enjoy a free familyfriendly movie and pizza lunch at the library during spring break. We will be showing the newly released The Sing 2 ! Sign up is encouraged but, not required to attend. Sign up at front desk or by calling 608-546-4201. PG 1h 50m Children under 6 must be accompanied.

Stitch and Bitch 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM . Spring Green General Store, 137 S. Albany St. Spring Green . springgreengeneralstore.com . 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. Jefferson St. Spring Green . ninasdepartmentstore.com . Every Thursday from 6 to 8 pm. All knitters and crocheters are welcome. Store closed after 5:30 pm.

Knit Night at Nina’s 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM . Nina’s Department Store, 143 E. Jefferson St. Spring Green . ninasdepartmentstore.com . Every Thursday from 6 to 8 pm. All knitters and crocheters are welcome. Store closed after 5:30 pm.

Friday, April 8 Ridgeway Pine Relict Workday 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM . Ridgevue Road, Ridgeway .

Ridgeway Pine Relict State Natural Area is known for its large, quality wetlands and spring complexes. With prescribed burning and brush control, DNR crews and volunteers have increased efforts to improve this site. Our winter workdays, led by Friends of Waubesa Wetlands, will focus on cutting, treating and burning (if there is snow) of invasive brush like buckthorn and honeysuckle. Seeds are collected in the fall to spread in the cleared areas. For questions or to RSVP to attend this workday, contact Mary Kay Baum at marykbaum@gmail.com or 608-935-5834.

WE ASKED THE EXPERTS PRESENTS

W OR KF OR CE RE SO UR CE S & EM PL OY M EN T OP PO RT UN IT IE S SPECIAL SECTION

WE TAKE A DIVE INTO RESO URCE S FOR THE WORK FORC E AND JOB SEEK ERS, ISSU ES FACI NG EMPL OYER S AND A UNIQ UE JOB BOAR D

WE ASKED THE BUSINESSES Many businesses are facing a workforce shortage, is that an issue you're facing as well? What factors do you believe are contributing to any shortage?

Many people got out of the service sector during the pandemic and found other jobs outside of this industry. Maybe not so much in Spring Green, but immigration restrictions, plus people choosing to work fewer hours than in the past also impacts this industry. We have issues, even though we pay staff 30 to 40% more per hour than pre-pandemic pay levels.

—David Owen, Owner, Last Leaf Public House Yes, we are experiencing a workforce shortage. We have 2 businesses within our store, Rite Way Shell and Pizza Pit, Currently we are looking for a manager and 2-3 additional workers for our PP operation. We have scaled back considerably and are all pitching in to stretch what we can. I think the restaurant industry is one of the industries that is being hit hardest in the last couple of years and believe that the shortage in other higher paying industries has had a trickle down effect as the restaurant/service industry workers are leaving to work in better paying jobs that are becoming easier to qualify for, often with sign on bonuses.

—Karen Baryenbruch-Nelson, General Manager, Rite Way Shell and Pizza Pit Yes, healthcare is not immune from dealing with workforce shortage issues. Indeed, we likely face it to a greater extent than many industries due to the incredible stresses the pandemic placed on our people. In my opinion, the following items impact us the most: -Stresses from dealing with the pandemic (personal safety, hostile responses from the public/patients, volume of work, etc.).

-People not wanting to work in healthcare to avoid what they believe would cause greater contact with the virus.

-Inflation – especially at entry level job titles where all their disposable income was going to basics like food, shelter, and gas with wages not keeping up with the rate of inflation.

-Aging workforce members deciding to leave the workforce earlier than planned.

—Robbi Bos, Vice President of Human Resources, Sauk Prairie Healthcare

What do you think is one major problem facing the workforce in the area right now?

Housing, if potential staff want to work in this area, there are plenty of jobs with good pay, just not a lot of places for them to live.

—David Owen, Owner, Last Leaf Public House The lack of available housing has had an outsized impact on our community and workforce. We can’t bring folks here from out of town to work if they have no place to live. I know that is something we’re all working on.

—Michael Broh, Owner, Slowpoke Lounge & Cabaret Lack of childcare.

—Robbi Bos, Vice President of Human Resources, Sauk Prairie Healthcare

Matthew T. Hora Associate Professor, Adult & Higher Education, Depts of Liberal Arts & Applied Studies (DCS) & Educational Policy Studies (SoE) Co-Director, Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT) University of Wisconsin-Madison Many businesses are facing a workforce shortage, what factors do you believe are contributing to any shortage?

The factors that lead to an employer having a hard time finding workers are complex, and can be attributed to a lack of qualified (or any) applicants, uncompetitive wages, geography (e.g., people not wanting to live somewhere), skills mismatches, and so on. Right now, the post pandemic factors most at play that are contributing to worker shortages include wage competition, flexible (or not) work arrangements, and the rapid exit of many workers from the labor pool (e.g. resignations, retirements, etc).

What do you think is the largest problem facing the workforce in Wisconsin right now?

I think that challenges facing the workforce across the nation also are impacting Wisconsin including an extremely tight labor pool and high turnover, but I’m really worried about three sectors and occupations that have been hit hard in the state: teachers, nurses and other health care professionals, and the hospitality industry. Tourism and hospitality were negatively impacted by the pandemic but are slowly recovering, but the burnout and poor working conditions by many teachers and nurses may lead to high attrition and fewer young people choosing these careers. That bodes poorly for the future of the state when it comes to attracting and retaining residents, and also in adequately serving the people who already call Wisconsin home.

What is the single-best thing a job seeker or someone looking to enter the workforce can do right now to find the right position for them?

The best things that a job seeker could do right now really vary depending on the occupation and sector the person is seeking to enter, but there are some key skills that are especially in demand today that would give them an advantage over other applicants. While core technical knowledge in accounting, welding, or logistics is always critical, what some people call the “soft” skills are arguably more so, as you can train an entry-level worker in many tasks. But skills like teamwork, oral communication, and especially problem-solving are hard to come by, and in great demand by employers. These skills are anything but “soft” or “easy” however, and take lots of time and training to master. And perhaps the most in demand skills I’ve seen in my research in Wisconsin – that of a strong work ethic – is especially hard to train or teach, and I’ve heard many times that people with farming experience make some of the best workers. So my advice to the younger generation: join 4-H, get a part-time job, and start building your practical experience with the real world of work and responsibility!

What is one major problem facing employers in the area right now?

Housing, especially for young people who normally work in the service industry, plus the shrinking of our local school district.

—David Owen, Owner, Last Leaf Public House Hiring has never been more challenging. Some of this is undoubtedly a result of the waning pandemic, as well as the lack of housing.

—Michael Broh, Owner, Slowpoke Lounge & Cabaret Lack of childcare.

—Robbi Bos, Vice President of Human Resources, Sauk Prairie Healthcare

Troy Maggied Executive Director, Southwestern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission Secretary/Treasurer, Prosperity Southwest Wisconsin

What one thing that stands out more than anything for you on a resume?

Longevity at previous positions and proper spelling/grammar.

—David Owen, Owner, Last Leaf Public House When applicants don’t just share the tasks they’ve been assigned (e.g., a job description), but share their accomplishments and successes in performing those tasks.

—Robbi Bos, Vice President of Human Resources, Sauk Prairie Healthcare

Slowpoke may be the only hospitality industry business (or is one of few) in the Spring Green area that guarantees a $15 per hour wage to its employees. Why is that important to your business?

We should clarify that we guarantee that you will never make less than $15 per hour including wages and tips over the course of your work week. We do think it’s important for everyone to have some level of a predictable and living wage. This is especially important for a bartender that might have a run of slow nights where tips are limited.

—Michael Broh, Owner, Slowpoke Lounge & Cabaret

WORKFORCE RESOURCES & EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES SPECIAL SECTION

VALLEYSENTINEL.NEWS

Many businesses are facing a workforce shortage, what factors do you believe are contributing to any shortage?

In short, every employer we hear from is having workforce issues. I think the key issues are: aging population, increasing retirements, declining population.

These big issues make supply and demand the workforce issue we're facing. There are lots of talking points around why people aren't working, but too much of it is political. It's hard to face the reality that a generation of youth have left rural areas, and birth rates are at all time lows. Due to the drop in birth rates that are historically tied to economic uncertainty, and the older age of our population, it's possible we see birth rates dropping further in the coming years.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 OF THE SPECIAL SECTION

THURSDAY MARCH 24, 2022

PAGE 1

WE ASKED THE EXPERTS CONTINUED

The issue lately seems to often be reduced to a disagreement between, "no one wants to work" and "no one wants to work for that wage" — which side do you believe has more merit in our current conditions and why?

Employers need to think about the cost of not having employees, instead of the cost of paying competitive wages. This will impact their bottom line.

Culture is also huge. I've interviewed many people who will work for less if the culture is strong. We need to value the employee, and their life and personal commitments. Failure to take account of the needs of our workforce will ensure they leave us for either better wages, better benefits (healthcare), better culture, or all three.

Changing culture is the hardest thing to do, since it requires us to engage in self-reflection and accountability. However, employees want to work for good employers who value them. 80% of our waking lives are spent at work - if we're not happy, and there are other opportunities, we'll seek those opportunities out.

SPRING JOB FAIR

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT VISITOR CENTER 5607 COUNTY ROAD C SPRING GREEN, WI 53588

SATURDAY, APRIL 2 10 A.M. - 2 P.M.

CAFE ASSOCIATES CUSTODIANS SHUTTLE DRIVERS

STEWARDS TOUR GUIDES VISITOR SERVICE ASSOCIATE

TALIESINPRESERVATION.ORG

PART-TIME WAREHOUSE EMPLOYEE

Cedar Grove Cheese is seeking part-time

FULL-TIME CHEESEMAKER ASSISTANTS

warehouse employee three days a week

In the past, rural areas have faced the issue of too few jobs in their communities, necessitating commuting (and the fear of becoming the dreaded "bedroom community") — but now we see help wanted signs on most businesses downtown and factory positions available everywhere you look, with most professional, out-of-town positions allowing remote work as well. What changed?

What opportunities does this change provide? Why are local, rural small businesses still having a hard time finding workers?

There's lots of talk about the opportunity for remote work in rural communities. I think it's a great opportunity, but not a universal one. Communities must have a welcoming culture, in addition to housing and broadband, if they're going to attract and retain new remote workers. Unfortunately, many communities aren't welcoming. If they are, it may not be recognizable to outsiders. Young professionals with kids want to know if they can find community in a city or village they're moving to. Is there a place for someone in their life stage? If so, how do they get involved?

What is the largest problem facing employers in Wisconsin right now?

To employers struggling to get workers, I'd recommend they look internally. What do their annual reviews and exit interviews say about their culture, and the needs of their employees? How do they compete on total compensation (wages and benefits)? Ultimately, this has to be the path forward. We can blame extended unemployment benefits, we can blame people who "don't want to work," and we can blame young people for "playing video games in their mom's basement." (All excuses I've heard this past year). Ultimately, in a workforce shortage the employer has to compete. The market economy of supply and demand isn't working in their favor, and so they need to recognize this and learn to succeed in the system as it is.

7:00am to 3:00pm. May become full-time.

Starting pay $18.00 hour. Email resume to Cedar Grove Cheese is seeking full-time cheesemaker assistants. We have several shift

dbyrne@cedargrovecheese.com or complete an application at factory.

openings. Pay is based upon experience and shift differentials. Email resume to dbyrne@cedargrovecheese.com or complete an

Cedar Grove Cheese www.cedargrovecheese.com

application at factory.

(608) 546-5284

Cedar Grove Cheese www.cedargrovecheese.com (608) 546-5284

PAGE 2

THURSDAY MARCH 24, 2022

What is the single-best thing a job seeker or someone looking to enter the workforce can do right now to find the right position for them?

As an employer, I look for continued growth on a resume. Not necessarily upward mobility, but someone who can learn and grow as a professional. The future demands critical thinkers and agile workers those who maintain a curious mindset. I also want employees who know their worth - they make me a better employer and keep me focused on attracting and retaining high quality workers so my organization can deliver value to those we serve. To employees, I'd recommend they make sure they demonstrate how they continue to pursue knowledge or skills that support the organization they hope to work for, and also demonstrate to employers that they have other options if the employer can't compete with the market on either wages, benefits, or culture.

VALLEYSENTINEL.NEWS

WORKFORCE RESOURCES & EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES SPECIAL SECTION

PIZZA PIT MANAGER

SEASONAL INNKEEPER ASSISTANT

BARTENDER

Seeking bartenders who like to engage with customers and share great drinks.

Duties include overseeing the operations of our

Owners of busy ten room Inn seek assistance 3

fast paced pizza business, customer service

days a week, from 9am-2pm, able to work most

and working with our vendors as well as

Sundays. Duties include light housekeeping,

Basic cocktail knowledge and terminology

with an emphasis on cleaning guest rooms.

training staff.

preferred but NOT required. Training will be

Relaxed, flexible, friendly environment! Call to

provided. $8 per hour plus tips. (Guaranteed $15 average including tips)

Pizza Pit

inquire, ask for Elise.

knelson@wisconsinpetroleum.com

Silver Star B&B

(608) 588-2465

Slowpoke Lounge & Cabaret

www.silverstarinn.com

www.slowpokelounge.com

(608) 935-7297

(608) 588-0242

WANT TO ADVERTISE WITH US?

BARTENDERS DISHWASHERS Last Leaf restaurant is looking for part-time

Last Leaf restaurant is looking for part-time evening dishwashers, $9.50 hr., with free shift meal and monthly hourly bonus.

If capable will also be trained as a busser/

evening bartenders. Excellent tip potential, in a fast past environment, and no late night shifts past 9PM. Fun environment with great customers, and excellent cocktails.

Apply at 134 W. JeffersonStreet. Spring Green.

runner and pizza maker. Apply at 134 W.

Last Leaf Public House

JeffersonStreet. Spring Green.

Last Leaf Public House

www.lastleafpublichouse.com (608) 588-0041

www.lastleafpublichouse.com (608) 588-0041

COME GROW WITH US NOW HIRING AT WCCU

WHY WCCU? • Work/Life Balance • Some positions offer work-from-home options!

• Employee Appreciation Recognition & Events • Competitive Health, Dental, & Vision Insurance • Paid Holidays and opportunities to earn more personal leave time through volunteering and representing WCCU in communities we serve!

Check out our website for current available positions and be sure to check back frequently as we continue to grow!

Visit us online at wccucreditunion.coop or stop by a WCCU location near you today!

Baraboo • Cashton • Coon Valley • Lake Delton • Portage (Coming Spring 2022!)

Prairie du Sac • Reedsburg • Richland Center (Main & Orange Street) • Viroqua • Westby WCCU is an Equal Opportunity & Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.

WORKFORCE RESOURCES & EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES SPECIAL SECTION

VALLEYSENTINEL.NEWS

THURSDAY MARCH 24, 2022

PAGE 3

Region cheesemakers place well at 2022 World Championship Cheese Contest Arena Cheese

Carr Valley Cheese

Hook's Cheese Company

Landmark Creamery

Colby Jack First Place Best of Class in the Marbled Cheese Category

Wildfire Blue Second Place in the Semi-Soft Cheeses, Flavored Category

Barneveld Blue Third Place in the Semi-Soft Goat's Milk Cheeses Category.

Anabasque Second Place in the Washed Rind Sheep Milk Category

Arena Cheese is the innovator of the original Co-Jack cheese in 1979, becoming one of the top selling cheeses in the U.S. It has a mild and mellow flavor and pairs well with Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Bordeaux, and Merlots.

This amazing blue cheese is made at our Glacier Point plant in Linden, WI, and has Peperoncino peppers added for a subtle heat on the finish. It is amazing when melted on top of burgers, steaks and mushrooms. Chefs have raved about this product since its inception. It has won numerous national and international awards including 1st Place at American Cheese Society competition.

Arena, WI

La Valle, WI

Colby Second Place in the Colby Category Colby is also a mild cheese with an openness to the texture along with a softer feel that differentiates it from a cheddar.

It pairs well with a Riesling, Champagne, or a Zinfandel, It has the perfect melting characteristic for a grilled cheese sandwich.

Curds Second Place in the unflavored Cheese Curd Category Cheese Curd is a fresh cheese well known for its "squeak" It is best when it is the freshest and is an extremely popular and well known Wisconsin snacking cheese.

The World Cheese Contest is one of the most prestigious cheese contests. You are competing with the best cheesemakers in the world. To win or place in any category is an exhilarating experience and knowing the product you make is the best of best. We are very proud of our cheeses and these awards help solidify our commitment to making a great piece of cheese.

—Bill Hanson, Owner/Master Cheesemaker, Arena Cheese

Black Sheep Truffle Second Place in the Sheep's Milk Cheeses, Flavored Category For this cheese, we not only add pieces of black truffle to our sheep milk cheese, but also wash the wheels in premium truffle oil so that the flavor is pronounced. It is truly a decadent cheese and best served room temperature with thinly sliced cured meats and fresh berries. This variety has received prestigious awards including 1st place at the US Championship Cheese Contest, World Championship Cheese Contest and World Cheese Awards in years past.

Mineral Point, WI

Little Boy Blue Second Place in the Sheep's Milk Cheeses With Blue Mold Category EWE CALF to be KIDding Blue Third Place in the Mixed Milk Cheeses, Flavored Category All of the blue cheeses will go well with salads, on steaks, or with a drizzle of honey.

It is an honor to win any awards in this highly competitive competition.

—Tony Hook, Owner/Master Cheesemaker, Hook's Cheese Company

Pizza Bread Cheese Second Place in the Prepared Cheese Foods Category This was the first award Carr Valley has received for our Pizza flavored variety as it is one of our newest flavors. We know customers have been impressed with it since it was released last year, but to have it recognized on the world stage for phenomenal flavor and consistency is very exciting. Customers love this product pan fried and dipped in marinara.

—Sid Cook, Owner/Master Cheesemaker, Carr Valley Cheese

Cedar Grove Cheese (Plain, WI)

Horseradish Cheddar Cheese Curds Third Place in the Cheese Curds, Flavored Category

Cesar's cheese (produced in Plain, WI) Hand Stretched String Cheese Second Place in the String Cheese Category

Meister Cheese Company (Muscoda, WI) Smoked Cheddars First Place Best of Class and Second Place in the Smoked Hard Cheeses Category

Paoli, WI (Produced in Plain)

Anabasque is a washed rind sheep milk cheese that is smooth and fruity, with just a hint of funk. It was inspired by Ossau Iraty and is delicious with grapes or apples, marcona almonds, or pickled peppers.

We are thrilled to place second in the world for one of our cheeses, and hope this recognition will encourage more people in Wisconsin and beyond to try new cheeses, especially those crafted with sheep milk.

—Anna Thomas Bates, Co-owner, Landmark Creamery

Community

Thursday, march 24, 2022 Page 7

COVID-19 Dashboard Wisconsin Summary Cases as of 3/23/2022

1,390,256 Positive Cases +4,632 from 3/9

12,622 Deaths +412 from 3/9

Updated: 3/23/2022

Vaccine Summary Statistics

covid case activity level

Updated: 3/23/2022

This graph shows information on case burden and trajectory. Burden (case rate) is the total number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 Wisconsin residents in the last two weeks. Trajectory is the percent case change from the previous to the current week. These are different from Community Transmission Level, which is the total confirmed cases per 100,000 persons reported in the past 7 days.

Case activity is a combination of burden and trajectory over the prior two weeks.

Iowa County

3,539,509

344,047

Total doses administered

Pfizer doses administered

Moderna doses administered

Johnson & Johnson doses administered

1,960,617

1,124,675

810,802

25,140

Total boosters administered

Pfizer doses administered

Moderna doses administered

Johnson & Johnson doses administered

These two core measures are measures of herd immunity in Richland, Sauk and Iowa County.

We do not yet know what level of vaccination leads to herd immunity for COVID-19, or how current or future variants might affect herd immunity. We know based on other diseases that herd immunity is likely at least 60%, and if more transmissible variants become more common, that threshold may become higher, so the current target range is 60-90%. -Adapted from Madison Public Health and Dane County

+27 from 3/9 +1 from 3/9

5,203 Positive Cases 26 Deaths

5,483,562

Vaccine Data

county level weekly statistics Richland County 3,828 Positive Cases 45 Deaths

9,367,118

Richland

+20 from 3/9 +0 from 3/9

Sauk County

15,802 Positive Cases 126 Deaths

+62 from 3/9 +10 from 3/9

Target Range

Sauk

Target Range

59.5%

65.1%

Percent with at least one vaccine dose

Percent with at least one vaccine dose

57.3%

62.0%

Percent fully vaccinated

Percent fully vaccinated Target Range

Iowa 70.2% Percent with at least one vaccine dose

67.4%

Updated: 3/23/2022

Percent fully vaccinated

Cases per zip code

Percent of Wisconsin residents ages 5-11 who have received at least one dose by county

Cases as of 3/23/2022

Updated: 3/23/2022 Lower %

Richland County

18.7%

Ages 5-11

Iowa County Ages 5-11

Higher %

Percent of Wisconsin residents who have received at least one dose

31.8%

Sauk County Ages 5-11

Ages

25.1% Dane County Ages 5-11

Graphic by Anna Stocks-Hess

57.1%

5-11 12-17 18-24 25-34 35-44

Updated: 3/23/2022 27.0% 61.1% 59.9% 63.9%

45-54

69.1% 71.5%

55-64 65+

78.0% 85.5%

Data From: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/index.htm

“The good stuff.”

Page 8

Community

Thursday, march 24, 2022

Comedy Night benefits area children’s recreation RVHS students place 3rd in MSG 2 TEENS contest Computer Business Applications program course competed in the Fox 47 MSG

Photo contributed by Ray Ring Accepting the donation is Ray Ring, Village President (far right); Joe Schluter, Lions President (middle) and Bob Neuheisel, Chairman of the Comedy Night fundraiser.

Park. The program is open to resident Thanks is given to those who attended and non-resident children aged 4 to the Comedy Night sponsored by the 13. The program will run from June Plain Lions. A net profit of $1,600 through August. For more information, generated from the event was donated call (608) 546-2047 and to sign up go to the Area Children’s Recreation to www.villageofplain.com and look program held at the Village of Plain under “forms”.

Photo contributed by Lori Hoffman Pictured above (left to right) is Elizabeth Baumberger and her team of Lydia Willoughby, Alana Merritt, and Aubrey Frasier with their swag bag of cash and gift cards.

As a final project for their video editing unit, River Valley High School students in Mrs. Lori Hoffman’s

2 TEENS Driving Safety contest. This contest is a vehicle to drive creativity and change. Car accidents continue to be one of the leading causes of death for teens. Fox 47 and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation launched the MSG 2 TEENS contest in order to make teens part of the conversation about driving safety. The contest encourages teens throughout south west and south central Wisconsin to submit an original idea for a driving safety commercial for a chance to win school grants, cash and prizes. At the end of the contest, Fox 47 airs driving safety messages that are produced by teens for teens. The goal of the contest is to get teens involved in the messaging in order to make Wisconsin roads a safer place for all drivers. Elizabeth Baumberger’s final MSG 2 TEENS video, which featured Lydia Willoughby, Alana Merritt, and Aubrey Frasier, took 3rd place. Watch for them on Fox 47.

RV Forensics competes at district, sends students Spring Green LitFest sponsors community play to State readings

Photo contributed by Misty Fredrick

Pictured are the forensics students advancing to State: Front, Kylie Williams - Informative, Seth Neuheisel - Impromptu. Back, Lily Borucki - Prose, Kylie Morrey - Prose, Nico Daniel - Group Interpretive, Madeline Hutnik - Group Interpretive, Anna Johnson - Group Interpretive and Kris Langrehr - Moments in History.

The River Valley High School Forensics team traveled to UWPlatteville for their district competition on March 19. At the district level, students perform their chosen speech in front of three different judges. They must receive 2 scores of 21 points out of a total of 25 points. 8 students received scores that will advance them to the Wisconsin High School Forensics Association State tournament on April 8, at Deforest High School. River Valley will be performing at 5:00 p.m. that evening. In a State competition, students perform once with one judge and can receive a gold, silver or bronze medal for their performance.

After a two year hiatus, the Spring Green Literary Festival is once again sponsoring an opportunity to read out loud four plays from American Players Theatre's (APT) 2022 season. The community readings will take place on Sundays at 2 p.m. during the month of April, except for Easter, and the first Sunday in May. The series, called "Plays Out Loud," will be hosted by the Slowpoke Lounge & Cabaret at 137 W. Jefferson Street, Spring Green.

Playbooks are available for sale at Arcadia Books or on loan from the Spring Green Community Library with a South Central library card. Free scripts will be available at the door on the afternoon of the reading. Those

who come are invited to choose a part they want to read or come to just listen and discuss. The purpose is to gain greater understanding of the plays in advance of performance and to have fun reading them outloud with friends and other drama buffs from the area.

The schedule is as follows: The Rivals

by Richard Brinsley Sheridan on April 3; The River Bride by Marisela Trevino Orta on April 10; The Moors by Jen Silverman on April 24; and Stones in His Pockets by Marie Jones on May 1.

The series is free and open to all.

Beverages will be for sale during the readings.

In Other News/Briefs APT extends application deadline for theater camp For young people interested in classical acting, APT's A.C.T. Camp is an unique opportunity to work with professional teaching artists, culminating in a performance on an APT stage.

A.C.T. Camp is open to teens who will be entering 9th through 12th grades in the fall. APT will accept up to 34 participants. Campers must submit an application to be accepted; however no audition is necessary. A.C.T. Camp workshop sessions, housing and meals for the week will be at Bethel Horizons Camp and Retreat Center, located 15 minutes away from APT. APT staff counselors are onsite throughout the week.

This year’s camp will take place in person, July 24-29, 2022. The application deadline is April 15, 2022. The cost for the 2022 week-long program is $1,150.

For more information, email actcamp@americanplayers.org or visit americanplayers.org.

Marklein awarded Distinguished Alumni Award by UW-Whitewater Sen. Howard Marklein was recently awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award for Community/ Regional Service by the University of Wisconsin Whitewater.

Five alumni who have achieved significant professional and community service success are being honored as the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater celebrates its 154th anniversary. The 2022 class of alumni award honorees include graduates with careers in education, communication, accounting, human resources and mental health — including a public servant who has served in the Wisconsin State Assembly and Senate for more than a decade.

After earning his BBA in accounting in 1976, Marklein pursued a career in public accounting as he devoted himself to public service, from community development to being elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 2010. Since then, he has been elected to the Wisconsin State Senate and serves as co-chair of the Joint Committee on Finance, says a statement by UW-Whitewater.

The awards will be presented at the Founders Day Celebration, held at UW-Whitewater at 10 a.m.

Saturday, April 9.

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Thursday, march 24, 2022 Page 9

Winter Sports Roundup

Boys Wrestling

Daniel Machovec, RVHS Boys Wrestling Coach Overall the year was pretty successful. Our seniors Cole White, Jacob Bindl, and Luke Pape did a great job of being leaders for us and we definitely are going to miss them moving forward. Dual meet wise this season we had some match up issues.

We started to play with the line up later on in the season as people got healthier and it helped us be more successful. Next year we are going to have to find a way to battle at all our weight classes because Prairie du Chien and Lancaster are bringing their full teams back. We have all four of our sectional qualifiers coming back and also our lone state qualifier, Landon Radtke, will return for his

senior year. Tournament time was very exciting. We had a bunch of wrestlers step up at the end of the year and become more aggressive. It was nice to see and we are hopeful that it transitions well to next year.

We are gearing up for the off season now. Some wrestlers are competing in summer events which tend to be freestyle or greco. We wrestle folkstyle in high school. It keeps things interesting for them because it's something new with different rules. We will be welcoming River Valley Alumnus Shane Liegel back to River Valley to host a wrestling camp for all ages on June 25th. More information to come regarding this as we finalize the details.

Photo contributed by Daniel Machovec The wrestling team at Dodgeville for Suicide Prevention Night.

RVHS Girls Gymnastics coach reflects on first year, athletes’ achievements Claire Eno, RVHS Girls Gymnastics Coach Being my first year, I couldn't have asked to start with a better group of girls. This group navigated every challenge they faced wonderfully.

They were able to come together and accomplish a lot despite the obstacles. We set goals for each meet that they held themselves accountable for them. We had a goal of scoring above 130 for multiple meets and were able to do so. We went into conference 2-2 and ended up 3rd.

We had several make all-conference: Anya Seffrood was honorable mention on vault. Emily Noble was also honorable mention on vault, second-team beam, and all around.

Katie Forseth was honorable mention on beam and floor. McKenzie Kruse was honorable mention on beam, second-team on bars, and all around.

Sofia Sanftleben was second-team bars and vault, first-team beam, and all around.

We went into sectionals knowing we could send some on to state but unsure of what would happen. Our

sectional contained our conference and a few other teams we had gone back and forth with score-wise during the season. Anya Seffrood threw a beautiful vault, earning her 5th and a trip to state as a freshman. We were so excited and proud of how far she has come along since the beginning of the season. She had fun at state and overall enjoyed that experience.

We will deeply miss our 5 graduating seniors next year. Sofia Sanftleben, Katie Forseth, Emily Noble, Stephanie Limmex, and manager Lily Borucki were all leaders in their own way in the gym and greatly helped me out this year. We wish them all the luck next year as they navigate the next chapter in their life.

Top 5 team scores: 131.650-Conference, 130.450-RV Invite, 130.125-Viroqua Invite, 130.000-Prairie du Chien/Fennimore Dual, 129.950-Sectionals.

Top scores of the season: AllAround-33.125, Sofia Sanftleben; Floor-9.075, Katie Forseth; Beam8.600, Sofia Sanftleben; Bars-8.425, Sofia Sanftleben; Vault-8.750, Anya Seffrood.

RVHS Girls Basketball Darrell Parrish, RVHS Girls Basketball Head Coach The River Valley High School Girls Basketball team held their end of season banquet recently. We talked about the mental toughness of our girls because of the type of season we had. They would still come to practice ready to listen, learn and work hard no matter the outcome of our games.

We are looking for marked improvement next year because of our experiences this year, the chance to implement what they learned and the goals set for them leading up to next year.

Photo contributed by Darrel Parrish JV Team: Back row left to right: Alexis Deviney, Lydia Willoughby, Karina Osborn, Lucy Spahn, Leah Makarowski. Front row left to right: Destiny Gilbertson, Alana Merritt, Elizabeth Baumberger, Grace Morrey. Missing from picture: Bella Clary

Award winners for the season include: Charlotte Ferstl (Most Blocks, Co-Defensive player of the year, Offensive player of the year, Best free throw percentage, most rebounds, SWC honorable mention), Megan Nachreiner (Sharp Shooter, Co-Defensive player of the year, Most steals), Hannah Hegland (Rookie of the year, Ms. Hustle), Kora Eberle (Most assists, Blackhawk award, Teammate of the Year, Senior Award) and Megan Kannenberg (Blackhawk award).

Photo contributed by Darrel Parrish Varsity Team: Back row left to right: Taya Hatfield, Leah Drachenberg, Hannah Hegland, Addie Lilla. Front row left to right: Charlotte Ferstl, Megan Nachreiner, Luhka Miller, Kora Eberle. Missing from picture: Megan Kannenberg & Jordan Jensen.

River Valley Players Presents

By John Cariani Directed By Molly Maslin Arbogast Friday April 1 7:30 pm Saturday April 2 7:30 pm Sunday April 3 2:00 pm At The Gard Theater Downtown Spring Green

Photo contributed by Claire Eno L to R: Head Coach Claire, Stephanie Limmex, Anya Seffrood, McKenzie Kruse, Kelly Ojibway, Sofia Sanftleben, Katie Forseth, Emily Noble, Assistant Coach Brianna, Lily Borucki in front. The girls were in high spirits after a stellar round of vault that earned McKenzie and Anya a podium spot. Sofia was also able to place on beam.

Advance Tickets $12 at Arcadia Books Or Online At rivervalleyplayers.org

Page 10 Thursday, march 24, 2022

Outdoors & Recreation

The Sauk County Gardener

Planning your vegetable garden layout, plus Spring is the time of plans and projects Jeannie Manis, Wisconsin Certified Master Gardener “We have a better understanding of how developing good soil heath takes a comprehensive approach. And it starts with a diverse crop rotation.” −Dr. Sieglinde Snapp, Michigan State University In spite of not being able to yet work the soil, you can use this time to plan your vegetable garden layout. If you haven’t already done so, take an inventory of your seeds and identify which ones you want to plant in this year’s garden.

Take a look at the back of the seed packet and see how old your seed is.

Many seeds are viable a least a year or so past there “best used by date” but you still may want to conduct a viability test; especially if you have a limited amount of seed for something you have great plans for planting. For example, parsley and onion seeds are viable only about a year; watermelon and cabbage should last four years or more. If I have older seed (and lots of it), I won’t typically bother with a viability test; I’ll just plant the seeds thicker than recommended. If I plan to plant seeds that I’ve saved from the previous season (such as Opalka tomato seeds), I will typically conduct a viability test to see to get a germination estimation and then plant accordingly.

If you see that you are missing some seeds that you were planning to grow in this year’s garden, head over to your nearest store that carries seed. Don’t delay, seeds are going fast this year. I had plans to plant some Asian Delight Hybrid Eggplant (the skin is tender, so you don’t have to peel the eggplant) and when my husband stopped to purchase the seeds for me, he got the last two packets on the shelf.

Once you have your list of seeds that you’re going to plant, consider plotting out your garden on paper first. Take into consideration last year’s garden and try your best to implement crop rotation.

Crop rotation offers so many benefits such as improved crop yields, improved workability of the soil, recycled plant nutrients into the soil, and reduced fertilizer and insecticide. Crop rotation is much easier to do if you have a large garden that gets equal amounts of sun, but don’t let it stop you from trying to implement it as much as possible. If you have a smaller garden or shady garden, try to find a location to place containers of vegetables in a sunnier location in your yard. Tomatoes and peppers need 6-8 hours of sun, so they are ideal candidates for containers.

Know what families your vegetables are members of when considering crop rotation; it will help you understand what nutrients they use or diseases they are vulnerable to. Potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are all members of the Solanaceae (nightshade). This means when I plant my eggplant, I should not plant it where my tomatoes or peppers were last year. As members of the same family, they are susceptible to the same diseases and will need the same minerals that are now most likely depleted. Members of the Fabaceae family (legumes) are light feeders, requiring very small amounts of mineral nutrients.

In fact, many help put nutrients, such as nitrogen, back into the soil. Squash and cucumbers are heavy-feeders or ones that require lots of mineral nutrients to thrive. This tells me the soil where those crops were last year will most likely be more depleted of key nutrients this year than the location of where my beets or carrots were. Alternating locations of light and heavy feeders can help significantly. If you test your soil, you can find out what minerals are depleted or what you have plenty of. Then just follow the recommendations from the soil test to know what to add to your soil so it has

the necessary nutrients for your plants.

Proper planning now can help ensure a healthy crop this summer. …

“Spring is the time of plans and projects.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina With spring’s official arrival and April just around the corner, there are plenty of garden tasks to do now. For vegetable gardeners, it’s time to start your tomatoes from seed. It’s also time to start the pepper, eggplant, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli seeds. Use sterile seed mix and if you use recycled plant containers, wash them first in a solution of ten percent bleach and water to help avoid problems later. If your garden soil isn’t frozen and has dried out, rake off any of last season’s mulch. Also, remove any of last year’s plant foliage if you didn’t get it done last fall. This will help it dry and be warmed by the soil. Turn your compost pile and then add fresh kitchen scraps, composted manure, and dried leaves. I may sound like a broken record but get a soil test done in your vegetable garden if you haven’t done one in several years.

If you have established asparagus beds, it’s time to fertilize them. Use 1 to 1.5 pounds per 100 square feet of 10-10-10 all-purpose garden fertilizer. I started an asparagus bed last year, but I won’t be harvesting much of it, if any at all, for at least a couple seasons. It takes two to three years to get the plants truly established so it’s important to be patient. It’s also the time to fertilize your grapes if you have them. Grapes are deep-rooted perennials that remove a substantial amount of nutrients from the soil. Take a look at your trees and check to see the buds are starting to swell. If they have, fertilize established fruit trees with

a low-nitrogen fertilizer and fertilize shade trees and shrubs with high-nitrogen fertilizer.

For those of you who enjoy growing flowers, you can get some of your annuals started now. Plant coleus, dusty miller, snapdragon, and verbena. You can also plant alyssum, aster, calendula, delphinium, larkspur, moss rose, and salvia.

Plant or repot any geraniums that you saved from last fall. Trim them back to four to six inches tall and water them thoroughly. Finish potting up your begonias, dahlias, caladium, elephants and other bulbs. Move them under artificial lights or to a sunny location as soon as they sprout. Keep the soil moist, but not wet. I have my geraniums and other bulbs potted up and under some grow lights as I don’t have enough window space for all of them.

Prune any summer-flowering shrubs (after the end of June) such as Buddleja davidii (butterfly bush), weigela, hydrangea, and spirea. Cut out old canes from climbing rose so that new shoots can grow. Also, remove winter protection from your other roses. As the weather warms, you can start checking the ground beneath the mulch in your perennial beds. Leave the mulch in place as long as there are still icy spots in the soil. There are numerous beneficial insects that make their winter homes in your mulch, so don’t be in too much of a hurry to remove it. However, once the soil is no longer frozen, remove the mulch from around your spring bulbs and start to push it away from your perennials to let them breathe. Leave the mulch on the beds too long and it will encourage mold and other pathogens.

Once you’ve got all your garden tasks done, get out and enjoy some of that spring air.

The history of Lyme disease has a Wisconsin chapter. It’s still being written.

Zhen Wang, Wisconsin Watch In 1970, a Wisconsin dermatologist first documented what would soon be called Lyme disease across the country.

Dr. Rudolph J. Scrimenti, a dermatologist in Milwaukee, reported the first case in the United States of the signature rash of early Lyme disease.

The patient had removed a tick from his skin three months earlier in northcentral Wisconsin. Scrimenti treated the patient with penicillin based on medical literature he had read out of Europe.

“The patient became symptom-free within 48 hours,” he wrote in the journal article in 1970. “There has been no recurrence of symptoms for the past year.” However, Scrimenti said the cause of the disease was “uncertain.” Scrimenti, who died in 2013, later began treating patients in Milwaukee and served on the review board of a journal on tick-borne diseases in the early 1990s.

Over the past three decades, Susan Paskewitz, a medical entomologist at University of Wisconsin-Madison, has documented the growing prevalence of ticks in Wisconsin.

Paskewitz found that deer ticks, also called black-legged ticks, have moved steadily from northwest to southwest, and then into the central and eventually slowly into the eastern and southern Wisconsin.

“They invaded our state entirely,” Paskewitz said in a 2021 Wednesday Nite @ The Lab episode. She said the regeneration of forests decimated by logging in the early 1900s and rebounding of the deer population

are the main drivers in Wisconsin.

Paskewitz said warming temperatures caused by climate change are expected to lengthen the tick season and accelerate their northward march into Canada.

Xia Lee, a tick biologist in Paskewitz’s lab, has studied the insects for more than a decade. Lee is soft-spoken, but when he talks about the parasites, he marvels at their “beauty.”

Lee explained that the Lyme-bearing ticks live between two and three years.

They acquire blood meals from animal hosts at each stage of life — larva, nymph and adult.

“These guys are always born

Photo via UW-Madison Department of Entomology The black-legged tick, or deer tick, is the vector of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. uninfected, and they have to pick up the infections when they feed on their first animal (hosts),” Lee said, pointing to the lab-raised larvae.

He said that larvae pick up pathogens during their first blood meal from infected small mammals, such as the white-footed mouse.

They subsequently transmit those pathogens during their second meal as nymphs and their third meal as adults.

A Yale study has found that about 20% to 30% of the black-legged tick

nymphs carry the bacterium that causes Lyme disease in southern New England, while the rate of infected adult ticks is 30% to 50%. The tick can also be infected with other microbes at the same time, carrying and transmitting other pathogens and making people sick with Lyme and other tick-borne diseases such as anaplasmosis and babesiosis.

Once an infected tick latches on a human, it falls off when full. If a Photo via CDC tick is removed within 24 hours, Each dot represents one case of Lyme disease. the likelihood of transmission is Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit very low, Lee said. However, when a newsroom that focuses on poppy seed-sized nymphal tick firmly government integrity and quality of attaches itself to the skin, detecting life issues. and removing it is difficult, increasing The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch the risk of infection. (www.WisconsinWatch.org) Lee noted that Wisconsin never got collaborates with WPR, PBS the proper recognition as the site Wisconsin, other news media and of the first case of the disease. That the University of Wisconsin-Madison honor went to the town of Lyme in Connecticut, which remains one of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, states with the highest incidence rates published, posted or disseminated by in the country.

Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily “We like to joke about it and say that reflect the views or opinions of UWWisconsin was actually the first state Madison or any of its affiliates. where Lyme disease was detected,” he said, “but we never got the glory for naming (it).”

In our next edition, see part 2

Doctors debate, patients suffer: The fight over chronic Lyme disease in Wisconsin - Wisconsin Watch If life had gone as planned, Maria Alice Lima Freitas would be in medical school, inspired by the career of her father, a surgeon who practiced in Brazil. But instead of changing careers, the 49-year-old therapist retired from University of Wisconsin- Madison.

Freitas says her undiagnosed Lyme disease has sapped her energy, fogged her thinking

and caused pain in her neck, shoulders, hands and right knee. She has three times deferred her entrance into medical school while struggling with myriad symptoms that she attributes to Lyme.

Most of her doctors say she is mistaken, and that her symptoms, which began in 2015, are due to rheumatoid arthritis...

Thursday, march 24, 2022 Page 11 Community Riverway Board hears setback on Wintergreen Conference Center, hears SNA report continued from page 1

purchaser of the property. Cupp said the explanation he was given stated DNR does not have adequate funds for purchase of public lands and, therefore, doing an appraisal would not be practical. Cupp said he will look for alternate funding sources, but told the board the lack of DNR support for the

purchase was very disappointing.

In other action, the board learned that a closed session review of design changes for the proposed Lone Rock bridge may be necessary to protect confidentiality. Cupp said he would review the proposed changes and work with DOT officials to determine if a committee or board meeting would be

necessary to approve the changes.

Cupp said three candidates had reached out to him regarding the open slot to be created in Iowa County representation due to LWSRB Chair Jerry Dorscheid’s decision not to seek re-appointment. Cupp referred the interested parties to the Iowa County Administrator. The board also

approved issuance of a timber harvest permit to the Agnes Tetzlaff Trust for a parcel in the Town of Millville, Grant County. The walnut tree harvest will not have an adverse impact on Riverway aesthetics.

The next Riverway Board meeting is slated for April 14, 2022, and again will be held in Muscoda.

Bill Lueders: state of open government in Wisconsin is in peril, Vos no friend of openness continued from page 2 Department certainly used poor judgment in labeling the city’s mayor a “target” and putting journalist Holmes on a watch list of protesters. But when asked to produce records that revealed these lapses of judgment, it turned them over. The public records used by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to expose the problem of faulty wiring and inadequate enforcement were also provided upon request.

But Gableman and Vos blocked and even destroyed records to which the public was clearly entitled. Dane County Judge Frank Remington ruled on March 2 that the pair’s “denials, delays, and refusals . . . violate the letter and the spirit of Wisconsin’s public records law.” He ordered that they pay the legal fees of the group that took them to court over these refusals as well as $1,000 fines, costs that will likely be paid by the same taxpayers that the pair are seeking to keep in the dark. An appeal has been promised.

Remington noted that the response of Gableman’s office in denying access to these records “was to send a three sentence, misspelled, summary rejection email.” As Remington put it, “This is the

sort of ‘unconsidered and irrational’ conduct deserving of punitive damages.”

Another Dane County judge, Valerie Bailey-Rihn, on March 10 ordered Vos to make an effort to retrieve the emails he had deleted to cover his tracks. “This is a governmental agency,” she said, expressing frustration over the lack of cooperation from Vos’ office. “I can’t believe there’s no policy, practice or procedures in place” with regard to records requests, “that it’s just up to whoever wants to do it, when they want to do it and . . . who knows if anybody did anything with it.”

There were others who made a mockery of the state’s openness laws in this past year. Fred Prehn, the Natural Resources Board member who refuses to leave even though his term expired on May 1, 2021, is being sued for his refusal to turn over text messages regarding this scheme to deny Gov. Evers the ability to install his own appointee. A judge rejected Prehn’s lawyers’ bizarre claim that he is not subject to the records law because he does not get paid to usurp — er, serve — on the board.

And Mike Huebsch, a former member of the Public Service Commission, has

sought to block the release of encrypted email messages he sent to an employee of American Transmission Co. (ATC), which is building a contested powerline requiring PSC approval. On February 28, in a hearing on a lawsuit alleging that Huebsch’s contacts with ATC created an unconstitutional “appearance of bias and lack of impartiality,” the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s conservative majority expressed support for the nondisclosure of records claimed to be “personal” communications.

Justice Brian Hagedorn called requiring these communications to be produced “a dramatic intrusion,” explaining that he’s in a fantasy football league with an attorney friend who has appeared before the court. “People have a lot of phone calls,” shrugged Justice Rebecca Bradley.

But even the cases of Prehn and Huebsch involve disputes that reasonable people might have over what records should be available. The failure of Gableman and Vos to even attempt to perform their obligations under the state’s open records law is a matter of much graver concern.

As hard as it may be at times to do so, most public officials in Wisconsin recognize their responsibilities under

the law to produce records or at least an explanation for why a request is being denied. Gableman and Vos simply treat these requests with contempt.

Vos’ admission, in a deposition, that his office routinely deletes communications he receives may come as a shock to some readers. After all, how could it not be illegal for a public official, and an elected one at that, to destroy records?

But it isn’t. Wisconsin law grants state lawmakers the ability to destroy records at will, because they have exempted themselves from the records retention rules in place for all other state and local government officials.

Last March in the Wisconsin Examiner, during Sunshine Week, I was quoted as saying that this ability of legislators to evade accountability would lead “to inevitable abuse and eventual corruption.”

Justice Gableman and Assembly Speaker Vos have delivered it.

Bill Lueders is editor of The Progressive magazine. He also serves as the elected president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, a statewide group that works to protect public access to government meetings and records.

JENNIFER ANGUS: A IS FOR ANT, B IS FOR BUG, C IS FOR CICADA The natural world brings out many different emotions in people: sometimes awe, sometimes spirituality, and sometimes fear.

Being a part of this natural world, insects often bring out fear in many of us, but they also can demonstrate the remarkable ability that nature has in making all things beautiful. Creating some of the most provocative work in an art museum setting, Angus’ medium is insects. Jennifer has exhibited her work internationally including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and Spain, as well as prestigious American institutions including the Renwick Gallery, part of the Smithsonian in Washington DC.

JENNIFERANGUS.COM WYOMINGVALLEYSCHOOL.ORG

Wyoming Valley School Cultural Arts Center, 6306 State Hwy 23, Spring Green, WI 53588 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM, THURS – SUN | 608-588-2544 This exhibition/performance is supported by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of the Arts Edna Wiechers Arts in Wisconsin Award. This exhibit is supported in part by grants from River Valley ARTS and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funding by the State of Wisconsin.

NOITIBIHXE

MARCH 26JUNE 12 2022

Outdoors & Recreation

Page 12 Thursday, march 24, 2022

An Outdoorsman’s Journal

Mark Walters, Columnist

Chequamegon Bay/True Adventure brown trout, splake, northern pike Hello friends, This week’s column is about winter camping on the ice in what at first was brutal weather conditions on Chequamegon Bay which is Lake Superior at Ashland and north. Along for this trip was Rick Miotke of Baraboo, Doug Cibulka of Portage, Jeff Moll of Niagara, and Greg Steinhauer of Waunakee. All of these guys are between 56 and 63 and are tough as nails.

Friday, March 11th High 14°, Low 6 | Windchill -23°

and perch with a hopeful bonus of walleye or coho. Jeff, Doug, and I did this trip last year and kicked butt on browns, splake and gators.

We built camp, had three hours of daylight left, fished hard and caught very little. Chequamegon Bay is generally very reliable in mid-March but due to the fact that up to this trip no warm runoff was coming into the bay, the hot bite was not happening.

Saturday, March 12th High 19°, Low -7°

At first light this morning the wind was horrible, the air temp was the Due to the fact that there is two feet of same and my planned warm weather snow on top of the ice, driving a truck ice camping trip was not meant to be. or an atv on Chequamegon Bay is not For the first time my snow machine advisable as you break through the would not start and I could not pull crust to your axles, hit a slush layer and out the pull cord. Fishing was slow but are very stuck. This meant that Jeff steady on this trip, Doug Cibulka Moll’s 1996 Arctic Cat “Bear Cat” and would have the most luck/action using my Polaris “Classic” would be hauling tip-ups and live bait and he caught our man, gear and dog about two miles first brown trout which made us all from shore out on the bay. very happy. Doug also caught a 26There was a sustained 23 mile per inch gator, not a big fish but a start hour wind today that made everything and he was winning the $5.00 bet for from trips out on the ice, building both species. Doug’s gator was froze camp, and setting tip-ups seem like you solid in literally seconds! were in Siberia, any exposed skin was in Jeff Moll caught a 17-inch splake, trouble in the blink of an eye. very good eating fish, and Rick Miotke This would be my 8th and last winter iced a 10-inch perch. There were some camping trip of the season and I was smaller gators caught but that was our really excited as we would be targeting catch on a truly brutal day.

Photo by Mark Walters, Columnist (L to R) Jeff Moll, Doug Cibulka, Greg Steinhouer, Mark Walters, and Rick Miotke at the end of a great adventure on Chequamegon Bay.

Photo by Mark Walters, Columnist Doug Cibulka with a 25- inch brown trout.

Sunday, March 13th High 35°, Low 14°

Photo by Mark Walters, Columnist Greg Steinhauer with a 22- inch splake that he caught on Chequamegon Bay.

Rick Miotke had lodging in Ashland and each morning would show up on Moll’s Bear Cat and was a strictly business type of fisherman. All of his gear is well thought out and the best, and Rick fishes hard.

On the other side of the coin, I served supper, shrimp hotdish, at 3:30 a.m. this morning and my former Poynette High School buddies and I told story after story about our days when we were kids, all of us were friends and were wild and crazy!

The fishing got a bit better today with the warmer weather but was still slow.

Rick caught a brown and a 27.5-inch gator which put him in the gator lead.

Doug caught a 21.5-inch splake.

A few small perch and several smelt were caught and about an hour after dark I had a light go on with one of my tip ups and I caught a 23-inch walleye.

The walleye got us in a happy mood and soon the ‘Sunday Night Festivities’ began and low and behold Greg served us lasagna just after 3:00 a.m.

Monday, March March 14th High 43°, Low 29°

Rick is the President of the Baraboo River Chapter of KAMO and had a meeting tonight, so we had to break camp and get him to shore on the first trip. Just before we said goodbye, Doug gets a flag and we all watched him catch a 31.5-inch gator, which beat Ricks in the last second.

Greg was the last one on the ice and caught a 22-inch splake which was our biggest but the contest ended when we took Rick in, so Doug won the brown, splake and gator bets. Rick took the perch, and I was all smiles with the walleye.

Trips like this with five guys that are no longer kids are serious tests of the aging process and we did incredibly well with next to no sleep and in very adverse conditions the first two days.

I will miss the ice!

—Sunset

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