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Parents and a MiddletonHigh School (MHS) student last

week pleaded with the citycouncil to do whatever it took to

stop the so-called “Jesus

Lunches” from continuing at

Fireman’s Park during the MHSlunch hour. Parents said theyfelt their parental rights were

being disregarded and studentsof minority faiths were being

marginalized.The lunches have been oc-

curring periodically for a coupleyears now, but once school dis-

trict officials went public withconcerns regarding the events a

debate erupted that ended up re-ceiving national news coverage.

The school district has alongstanding lease of the public

park, and claims it can enforceschool rules during school

hours. However, the agreement

is non-exclusive and allows thepark to remain open to the gen-eral public during the same

time.That means, as of right now,

any group – including atheists,Muslims, Buddhists and Chris-

tians – can legally use Fire-man’s Park.

Superintendent Don Johnsonsays it has been his understand-

ing under the lease agreementthat district policy must apply

during the school day. That pol-icy prohibits religious instruc-

tion on school grounds andparents from organizing events

A driver who was fleeing

from law enforcement seriouslyinjured two children in the City

of Middleton last week, accord-ing to authorities.

At approximately 3:45 p.m.on Thursday, April 21, a Dane

County Sheriff’s deputy wit-nessed a white truck driving er-

ratically and speeding on CTHM near Oncken Drive in the

Town of Westport . The deputyattempted to make a traffic stop,

but the driver, who was lateridentified as 31-year-old Ross

Cotter-Brown, a former Middle-ton resident who now resides in

Edgerton, refused to stop.Moments later, at 3:52 p.m.,

the Middleton Police Depart-ment was notified of the vehi-

cle’s flight. Near theintersection of Century Avenue

and Branch Street, in the City of Middleton, the Dane County

Sheriff’s Department termi-nated their attempts to stop the

vehicle while the eluding truckcontinued to travel westbound

on Century Avenue.At the intersection of Century

and Frank Lloyd Wright Av-enue, the driver of the fleeing

vehicle struck two middleschool-aged children who were

walking in the crosswalk and at-tempting to cross Century Av-

enue. Both children receivedserious injuries and were trans-

ported to a local hospital.According to the Middleton

Police Department, the drivercontinued westbound on Cen-

tury Avenue, causing additionalaccidents, until the vehicle be-

came disabled in the area of the7300 block. It was there that

members of the Middleton Po-lice Department and Dane

County Sheriff’s Departmenttook the driver into custody.

Based on the complexity and

VOL. 124, NO. 17 THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 SINGLE COPY PRICE: $1.25

www.MiddletonTimes.com

by CAMERON BREN

Times-Tribune

by MATT GEIGER

Times-Tribune

Cotter-Brown

Celebration of faith Raba mahāna hai (“God is great”) - that is the melodic phrase repeated over and over as members of the local Sikh com-

munity ceremonially lowered, washed, and re-raised the flagpole at the Century Avenue Gurudwara on the morning of Sunday, April 17. See more images from the annual celebration of the festival of Vaisakhi on page 10.

Ethics complaint

against Town

Board member?An ethics complaint against a

member of the Middleton TownBoard and creating the first tax

incremental finance (TIF) dis-trict dominated discussion at the

Town of Middleton’s annual

meeting held April 19.The town board hired an at-

torney in November to repre-

sent the town and town boardafter it received a letter alleging

“ethical issues affecting the rep-utation of a board member.”

Larry Siefert asked town

chair Bill Kolar why the townwas hiring an attorney if an al-

legation was brought againstonly one board member.

Kolar deferred the responseto Tom Voss, town attorney,

who declined to disclose whobrought the allegation or any

specifics beyond it involved“unfair dealings.”

Voss said the letter was not apublic document now and the

matter has remained in “quasiopen status,” since November.

Fleeing driver hits

two young girls

See ETHICS, page 4

See LUNCH, page 4

See HIT, page 11

by KEVIN MURPHY

Times-Tribune

Citizens to council:

Stop Jesus LunchesOpponents of events at Fireman’s Park speak out

Times-Tribune photo by Matt Geiger


2/20

The Middleton Public Li-brary is currently holding an

iPod drive for the Music andMemory project, an initiative to

bring personalized music intothe lives of the elderly or infirm

through digital technology.Anyone with a gently used

iPod or iPhone is encouraged todrop it off at the library’s circu-

lation desk. All donations aretax deductible. Music & Mem-

ory has provided hundreds of personalized playlists via do-

nated iPods to residents of long-term care facilities around the

state, and now the library ispartnering with the Dementia

Friendly Communities Coali-tion to bring the project into the

Middleton community.More information about the

project, which began in NewYork State in 2010, can be

found at musicandmemory.org.

The library is also looking for

tech-savvy volunteers to help

individuals or their caregivers

create and download a playlist.

According to Jim Ramsey, thelibrary’s Head of Reference and

Adult Services, the project is an

excellent opportunity for tech-

savvy youth to get involved in

their community and make a

positive difference in the lives

of their neighbors. “One of the

library’s goals is to foster inter-

generational learning and coop-

eration in our community and

this program is a perfect way to

accomplish that,” Ramsey said.

“Every generation has some-

thing of value to share with

members of other generations.”

Those interested in volun-teering should contact the li-

brary’s Help Desk at

608-827-7402 to register for an

informational session to be held

on Thursday, May 26th, at 4:30

PM in the library’s Archer

Rooms.

Online registration is avail-

able via the library’s events cal-

endar: midlibrary.org/events.

The Bruce Company has an-

nounced the acquisition of Landscape Care Company, lo-cated in Verona.

“The Bruce Company’s vi-sion centers on growth and I

can’t think of a better fit for ourcompany than Landscape Care

Company,” said Bliss Nichol-son, long-time CEO of The

Bruce Company, headquarteredin Middleton.

Landscape Care’s reputationas a unique provider of land-

scaping for complicated andlarge commercial properties

brings consistency to The BruceCompany portfolio of business,

said Nicholson. The ten em-

ployees of Landscape Care will join The Bruce Company’s 350employees effective immedi-

ately.Mike and Kathy Simon, own-

ers of Landscape Care, willtransition to The Bruce Com-

pany in leadership positionssimilar to those at their former

company.“We’re excited to partner

with The Bruce Company, oneof the most respected landscap-

ing companies in Wisconsin,”said Mike Simon.

The acquisition advances TheBruce Company’s goal to grow

the family business without

compromising customer serv-

ice, said Seth Nicholson, presi-dent, chief operating officer andsecond-generation leader at the

64-year-old company. He saidno employee jobs will be lost in

the changeover and the com-pany will be looking to hire

more qualified individuals toassist in caring for our cus-

tomer’s landscape needs.“We have been Madison’s

outdoor living experts for 64years,” said Seth Nicholson.

“We owe employees, customersand our communities The Bruce

Company’s best effort to pros-per for at least another 64

years.”

The Bruce Company beganin 1952 and offers residentialand commercial landscape de-

sign and construction, land-scape maintenance,

interiorscapes, ponds and waterfeatures, irrigation, landscape

lighting and snow and ice man-agement in addition to its retail

garden center at 2830 Par-menter St. in Middleton which

is one of the nation’s top 50 in-dependent garden centers. The

Company also operates a 500-acre nursery and wholesale fa-

cility south of Madison in theTownships of Verona and Mon-

trose.

PAGE 2 MIDDLETON TIMES-TRIBUNE THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

Bruce Co. is growing again

Times-Tribune photo by Matt Geiger

Above, the Bruce Company’s retail store in the City of Middleton.

Middleton-based company buys Landscape Care

Music and Memory project


3/20

Spring has arrived in DaneCounty, and with the warmer

weather we can expect the mos-

quitoes to be coming soon. Pub-lic Health Madison and DaneCounty (PHMDC) wants to re-

mind the public about the im-portance of preventing

mosquito bites and getting ridof standing water where mos-

quitoes can breed.Mosquitoes have often been

in the news for diseases likeWest Nile Virus, but more re-

cently, Zika virus has been inthe spotlight. To date, in Dane

County and in Wisconsin, therehave been no cases of Zika

virus, which is spread to peopleprimarily through the bite of an

infected mosquito.According to John Hausbeck,

PHMDC Environmental HealthSupervisor, “In over ten years of

monitoring, we have not foundthe two species of mosquitoes

in our community identified asZika carriers, but we are moni-

toring for them.”However, as this is a situa-

tion that is still unfolding, re-ducing areas where mosquitoes

can breed, and preventing beingbitten are the best strategies for

people to avoid becoming ill.PHMDC advises individuals

to prevent mosquito bites bydoing the following: wear long-

sleeved shirts and long pants;install or repair screens on win-

dows or doors to keep mosqui-toes outside; use EPA-registered

insect repellents, followingproduct instructions; and treat

clothing and gear with perme-thrin or purchase permethrin-

treated items.Additionally, people are ad-

vised to empty standing waterfrom flowerpots, gutters, buck-

ets, pool covers, pet waterdishes, discarded tires, and bird-

baths on their property on a reg-ular basis, in order to prevent

breeding grounds for mosqui-toes.

PHMDC will continue tomonitor this upcoming season

for mosquito species that trans-mit diseases such as West Nile

Virus, in addition to watchingfor the specific species that

transmit Zika virus. DaneCounty has had a mild winter

and wetter than usual spring,which means mosquito num-

bers in our area could be high.During mosquito season in

Dane County, approximatelylate May through September,

PHMDC routinely monitorsadult and larvae mosquitoes.

Zika virus is transmitted topeople primarily through the

bite of an infected Aedes ae-

gypti or Aedesalbopictus species mosquito,but can also be transmitted

through blood transfusions andsexual activity.

Symptoms occur in one infive people infected with Zika

virus and include fever, con- junctiviti s (red eyes), rash,

and/or joint pain. The illness istypically mild and

resolves within one week. How-ever, Zika infection in pregnant

women can cause congenitalmicrocephaly and other prob-

lems.“Public Health Madison and

Dane County is in close contactwith our partners at the Wiscon-

sin Department of Health Serv-ices and the University of

Wisconsin-Madison and payingclose attention to continually

evolving guidelines and bestpractices related to Zika virus to

keep Dane County residentshealthy,” says Janel Heinrich,

Director of PHMDC.

Middleton-Cross Plains AreaSchool District director of eq-

uity and student achievementPercy Brown and director of

bilingual services Mandi Serschrecently reviewed equity efforts

and goals with the board of ed-ucation.

Brown and Sersch explainedthat they’ve been developing

and implementing professionaldevelopment training for teach-

ers and bolstering and expand-ing mentoring programs for

students struggling academi-cally or behaviorally. They said

the would also like to start re-viewing curriculum to ensure it

reflects diversity and inclusiv-ity.

Sersch said they have put to-gether professional develop-

ment programs they call the“hidden curriculum.” One

looks at the racial binary codeof black and white and the other

at the latino experience in the

U.S. They are also planning for

the second annual equity insti-tute with more than 100 teach-

ers already registered.Sersch said the district is

working with University of Wisconsin at Madison to be

able to start offering a social justice certificate for teachers

who participate in two hiddencurriculum classes as well as

the equity institute and the UWSocial Justice Summit.

Sersch also said they areplanning to offer interested

teachers time over the summerto develop a bank of culturally

and linguistically responsive re-sources that all teachers in the

district can use in their class-rooms.

“It’s really taking some of that knowledge and building it

in to practical day to day class-room application that everyone

will be able to benefit from andhave access to,” Sersch said.

Brown spoke on the successof the mentoring programs

they’ve established with men-

tors who are alumni of African-

American Fraternity andOmega Psi Phi and Alpha

Kappa Alpha Sorority as well asother black community leaders.

Students from Edgewood Col-lege are mentoring at Glacier

Creek Middle School everyother Thursday during lunch, he

added.“We really want to strengthen

the framework of the mentoringprogram and the different initia-

tives around it, so that it is sus-tainable, so that we do have

ongoing mentors that are com-ing in,” Brown said. “I really

think that can move the needle.”Brown shared some details of

a trip he went on with 38 stu-dents to New York City. They

went on a civil right tour inHarlem, a hip-hop tour in

Brooklyn and the Bronx andvisited other historical loca-

tions. He said they ended thetrip with a emotional debriefing

session.“At the end of that debriefing

session about 30 of the 38 kids

male and female were crying

and they were hugging eachother and shaking hands,”

Brown said. “The conversationdidn’t stop, they were in two

rooms till about one o’clock inthe morning.”

Brown said he saw the stu-dents connecting in a way he

hadn’t before.“When we were on the way

back you saw black boys sittingwith latino boys, you saw white

boys sitting with black boys,and [the] same with the girls

and they just kept switching itup,” Brown said.

MHS staff member AntonioHoye gave the students a chal-

lenge, Brown said. It was greatthat they had come together, but

the real challenge is when theywalk back into the high school,

Hoye told them.He said it is easy for them to

go back to their comfort zoneand cliques, but challenged

them to push their friends andthemselves to interact more

with racial and ethnic groups

other than their own, Brown

said.Brown noted that the students

are working on a documentarythat will detail the experience

they had.Brown and Sersch explained

that in order to meet their futuregoals they feel the district will

need to increase hours frompart-time to full-time for the

district translator and interpreterand add second full-time posi-

tion.They also requested the

board approve hiring two full-time instructional resource

teachers. These teachers woulddevelop and implement the cur-

riculum around identity devel-opment, social and political

awareness, character educationand also be a bridge for the kids

that are in the gaps with theircore teachers, Brown said.

They would help coordinatementoring programs.

Brown explained to the boardwhy he feels such work is

needed in the district.

“Most of our textbooks do

not reflect the diversity of thestudents who are coming into

our schools,” he said. “It is soimportant for our students to see

themselves in the curriculum.”Brown pointed to a study

done a Stanford University thatdemonstrated minority students

improve achievement when thecurriculum is more diverse.

Brown underscored that thedistrict still has a lack of

African-American and Latinoteachers. Despite the chal-

lenges that remain, Brown andSersch thanked the board for

their support which has allowedthem to develop what they

have.“We couldn’t be visionary or

thinking outside the box if youall as a board decided you

wanted to stay cautious,”Brown said.

Brown said he believes thedistrict has gone beyond the

surface level with the work heand his colleagues have been

doing.

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 MIDDLETON TIMES-TRIBUNE PAGE 3

Update on racial equity efforts in schools

Public Health officials on the lookout for Zika virus

by CAMERON BREN

Times-Tribune

by CAMERON BREN

Times-Tribune

‘It is so important for our students to see themselves in the curriculum,’ says Brown


4/20

“Once it’s resolved it will be

out there,” Voss said of the alle-gation.

Siefert also wanted to knowwhat the town had spent on

legal expenses regarding theethics matter since it involved

tax dollars.Neither Voss nor town ad-

ministrator David Shaw knewthe amount at the moment, but

on Monday of this week Shawsaid the Boardman & Clark law

firm had been paid $3,188 to

date to represent the town andtown board.

Voss said specifics about the

allegation would not be dis-closed now as it could weaken

the town’s defense if the matter

went to court. The explanationdid not satisfy Siefert, who said

the allegation and the town’sdefense were two separate

things.Minutes from the Nov. 21

town board meeting duringwhich the Boardman firm was

hired noted that before theboard went into closed session

board supervisor Tim Roehl ex-cused himself from the meeting

and left the building.

Asked after the annual townmeeting if the ethics allegationinvolved him, Roehl declined to

answer.“Tom’s answer is the board’s

answer,” Roehl said.

Asked if he had an attorneywas representing him individu-

ally in the ethics matter, Roehlsaid he had attorneys to repre-

sent him as a real estate agentand in other matters. Roehl de-

clined to say if he had an attor-ney representing him

specifically for the ethics com-plaint.

On Monday, Shaw said an at-torney representing the com-

plainant had notified the town

about the ethics allegation lastfall. Because the complainanthad not dropped the matter the

town board considered it an on-going situation and would not

discuss it now, Shaw said.

Asked when the allegationwould be made public, Shaw

speculated it could wait untilthe statute of limitations ex-

pired.Some state statutes address-

ing unfair dealings have a six-year statute of limitations

against enforcement.

TIF IN

TOWN?Since state law has recently

changed to allow towns to TIFdistricts some residents wanted

to know if the town was again

interested in putting undevel-oped land along Seybold and

Watts roads into a TIF.While the town board heard

presentations on creating a TIFwith the city of Madison in

2013 for some parcels near thewestside Woodman’s Foods

store, Kolar said he would needa better understanding of the

risks and rewards of TIFs be-fore any decision would be

made.

Municipalities create TIFs toprovide long term financing forstreets, utilities and other im-

provements a developer other-wise would fund. Taxing

entities including towns, schooland technical college districts

and the county agree to delaygetting the increased tax rev-

enue as the property developsuntil the improvements are paid

off.The risk to the taxing entities

occurs when the development isdelayed and the TIF becomes

“distressed” or “extremely dis-

tressed.” This has occurred inseveral communities in recent

years and in response the statehas lengthen the payback period

for TIFs from 27 to 40 years.“We’ve begun to educate

ourselves on TIFs,” said Kolar.The town board has plans to

hear presentations from thoseinvolved in financing, engineer-

ing, development and legal as-pects of TIFs in the coming

months.


without the district’s permis-sion.

The city council spoke inclosed session with legal coun-

sel before hearing from resi-dents. No action was taken and

it would have to be done in anopen session if it were.

City administrator Mike

Davis explained that it is a mat-ter of constitutional rights thatthe city cannot supersede.

“It’s not the lease that allowsthe lunches to continue,” Davis

said. “It is constitutional rightssuch as free speech and reli-

gious expression that allow thelunches to be run by adults not

under the purview of schoolrules. Constitutional rights in a

public park can’t be supersededby a lease so long as the park re-

mains public.”Former school board presi-

dent Ellen Lindgren was thefirst to speak to the council.

“I have a big passion for pub-lic education and the work our

administration has done tomake our district as inclusive as

possible to all students,” Lind-gren said. “I realize I have a dif-

ference of opinion with youabout the leasing of the park,

but I hope some of you can ac-tually go see what goes on at

lunch there and observe thatthere is becoming a venom in us

which the administration hasworked so hard to prevent in

high school and across the dis-trict.”

“I really am urging you to dowhat you can to resolve this

issue because right now you are

all responsible for the healthand safety of those kids,” Lind-

gren addedRabbi Bonnie Margulis and

mother of a senior at MHS saidJewish and Muslim students

have felt ostracized by thelunches and the controversy

they have caused.

“Whether or not you agreethat that should fall underschool jurisdiction it has be-

come decisive - it has becomescary for the kids,” Margulis

said. “The kids who are in theminority, the Jewish kids, the

Muslim kids particularly feelintimidated, harassed and in

some cases attacked.”Margulis said she has been

picking her son up early every-day at his request and will con-

tinue to until the lunches stop.Gary Gomez, an attorney and

parent of a MHS student, toldthe council that parents have

rights in making decisions fortheir kids including to deter-

mine whether or not they re-ceive religious instruction and if

so how they will receive it.“I can tell you that our family

believes that our parental rightare being violated by having

adults come to our children’sschool and proselytize to them

while we are not there,” Gomezsaid. “No one has asked for our

consent to do this. No one askedif we think it is a good idea.”

“We take very seriously andits very personal the values we

want our children to hold andthe truths that we want them to

grow up with and our ideals are

being disregarded by individu-als who want to come on to the

school and give their own mes-sage to our children about what

they should believe,” Gomezadded.

MHS student Peter Opitzsaid he started a petition against

the “Jesus Lunch” and made a

video demonstrating religiousdiversity at the high school. Healso organized and led a stu-

dent protest earlier that day. Hesaid he has two major problems

with what is going on.“Firstly it is run by adults;

there is no student leadershipinvolved in Jesus lunch,” Opitz

said. “These adults are provid-ing free food to hundreds of mi-

nors in exchange for listening towhat they consider to be the

truth. They distribute biblicalliterature which directly violates

a federal precedent establishedby the Seventh Circuit Court of

Appeals that rules that very dis-tribution unconstitutional.”

“Secondly, in conversationswith students of the Jewish and

Muslim faith and those with nofaith I continually hear that they

feel marginalized and discrimi-nated against - something we

should never allow in our publicschools,” Opitz continued. “Our

school is being divided and stu-dents experience hate speech

daily from both sides of thisissue.”

Peter Opitz asked the councilto intervene or clarify the lan-

guage in the lease agreement.Johnathan Biatch, father of a

MHS senior, said he thinks it

would be worthwhile for the

city to ask the courts to defineclearly who owns the particular

park during particular hours of the day.

“But I think it is more worth-while for us as a community to

protect the kids at the school,”Biatch said. He said his son is

very afraid of being in theschool right now.

“I’m not particularly happyabout the proselytizing of stu-

dents who are in the school, be-cause it is happening I believe

on school property,” he added.Kris Powers, mother of two

MHS students, said she also be-lieves school rules should be

enforced during school hours.“The notion that unknown

and un-vetted adults can use the

park as an opportunity to inter-act with large numbers of our

children without their parents’knowledge or consent is unset-

tling,” Powers said. “This is es-pecially disturbing as this

opportunity for interacting withour kids can and is explained

for the purpose of advancingideological, political, commer-

cial and religious messages.”Powers acknowledged that

some might say her position isalarmist, but argued that areas

that draw large numbers of teens are easy targets and unfair

targets for those attempting toproselytize.

Kristine Burke, an attorney,mother of an MHS student and

longtime resident, said she

could not understand why therewas any question about the

terms of the lease agreement.She said in her reading it states

clearly that school rules wouldbe imposed during school

hours.“That was not put in place by

any ideological bend, it wasn’tput in place to stop religious

freedom or political thought inFireman’s Park,” Burke said. “It

was put in place to protectschool students during the

school day when parents entrustto the school.”

The school district says it isexploring legal options and met

in closed session with legalcounsel Monday.

LUNCH continued from page 1

ETHICS continued from page 1

Times-Tribune photo by Cameron Bren

Former Middleton-Cross Plains Area School Board president Ellen Lindgren, speaking to theMiddleton City Council last week, said Jesus Lunches have become a “venom.”


5/20

The Knights of Columbus inCross Plains will be hosting a

Mother’s Day Brunch on May 8from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the

Fellowship Hall at St FrancisXavier.

The menu includes: freshfruit, scrambled eggs, sausage,

ham and more. The cost is $12

for adults, $6.00 for children 6thru 12 and children 5 and

under are free. Advance ticketsare $11.00 for adult and $5.00

for children 6 to 12.Tickets are available at the

St. Francis Church office, or bycontacting Vern Acker at 225-

9301.

Proceeds from the brunchwill help support Boy Scout

Troop 87 and other charitableworks of the Council. Special

Mother’s Day roses will also beavailable to purchase in order to

help support the Women’s CareCenter, Madison.

Please come enjoy a greatbrunch, honor your Mom, and

support these worthy causes.


Once Upon A MattressMiddleton Drama will present Once Upon a Mattress May 5, 6 and 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Per-

forming Arts Center. Written by Mary Rodgers, Marshall Barer, Jay Thompson and DeanFuller, this musical comedy tells the real story of the Princess and the Pea.

Over one hundred twenty Middleton High School students have participated in this pro-duction from painting sets to building costumes to playing in the pit orchestra and performingon stage. Filled with wonderful songs, raucous dances, romance, and plenty of shenanigans, Once Upon a Mattress is sure to entertain.

Tickets are now on sale at www.middletondrama.org/tickets and are $8 for students/seniorsand $10 for adults.

The “Just Ducky” Founda-

tion’s 15th Annual ‘Herb Tar-lek’ Golf Open will take placeSaturday, June 4.

The tournament is a threeperson best-ball played on the

Par Three Course at PleasantView in Middleton. All pro-

ceeds provide scholarships forSeniors in the Middleton-Cross

Plains Area School District whoplan on further studies in the

fields of teaching, education orcounseling.

The primary source of fund-ing for the scholarships is the

golf tournament with a silentauction which is staffed by un-

paid volunteers who canvass thearea for hole prizes and auction

items and also help organize ontournament day.

The “Just Ducky” Founda-tion was established in 2004 to

commemorate Fritz Kaump, a

teacher and counselor in theMadison School District for30+ years. Fritz had begun the

tournament three years earlierto raise funds for people who

needed medical financial aid. If you asked him how he was

doing he invariably would reply“Just Ducky.”

He was also a fan of theWKRP in Cincinnati TV show.

The show’s character of HerbTarlek dressed in elaborate out-

fits that didn’t quite make it inthe minds of the people who

saw them. The entrants of thegolf tournament can participate

in a contest for “best dressed”character.

Organizers would also like toremember Dan Florey, who was

a trustee of the Foundation andwho spent many hours organiz-

ing every aspect of the

fundraiser. Without his dedica-tion there would not be a “Just

Ducky” Foundation or a HerbTarlek Golf Outing.

If you could contribute an

item that we could sell at thesilent auction or give for a hole

prize it would be greatly appre-ciated.

The Just Ducky

fundraiser returnsThis is a 100%

return non-profitorganization.

Tax ID#800111421Trustee is

Rocky Duhr:(608)[email protected]

1812 Park StMiddleton WI 53562

Mother’s Day Brunch

Clocks in Motion, a percus-

sion quartet based in Madison,will perform at the Middleton

Public Library on Wednesday,May 18, at 7 p.m. in the li-

brary’s lower level ArcherRoom.

Founded in 2011, Clocks inMotion’s performances include

new music from living com-

posers, classical repertoire from

the 20th century, and experi-mental sounds with handmade

instruments.Registration for this event is

appreciated, online at midli-brary.org/events, by email at

[email protected], or byphone at 608-827-7403.

Time for ‘Clocks in Motion’ at the library

Photo contributed


6/20


Am I

wrong?I had to go to the doctor last week

for a cancer screening. The circum-

stances surrounding the event havingwoven themselves into a baroque tap-estry of anxiety and existential dread, I

took off my clothes and readied for theworst.

The highlight of the afternoon wasprobably when I was given a clean bill

of health.But it’s possible that the real apex of

my day actually came 20 minutes be-fore that, when the woman who was

prepping me for the procedure smiledkindly and said, “I hope this isn’t weird

for you, but I just want to say howmuch I enjoy reading your stories in

the newspaper.”

It was weird. It was also wonderful.In fact, I think it was the nicest thing

anyone has ever said to me while I waswearing only socks and a very large

paper towel.I forgot why I was there for a mo-

ment and basked in the strangeness of my current situation. Scary is bad.

Scary and weird, though? That, to me,is infinitely more bearable.

It was a small moment in her day,I’m sure, but it’s one that will stay with

me for a long time, because she re-framed my experience in a way that

made it more manageable.The universe allowed me to leave

with my health, and she allowed me toleave with a great new story. It was, in

every sense, a good day.That, the ability to tell stories in our

own unique voices, is our species’greatest accomplishment. The power to

make the terrible funny, or the funnytragic, or the mundane magical - all

through a series of grunts, growls andthe occasional adverb. These are the

kinds of powers usually reserved formythological deities.

We tend to call the most powerful of

these narratives “scripture.” Some havepower thought to be so great that the

books themselves are treated as magi-

cal items.The thing about religion – the beauty

of it, I think – is that it is cloaked in

mystery. It can be frustrating, but itsopacity and arcane attributes leave in-

finite room for the narrator. That iswhy, after thousands of years of reli-

gion on Earth, you have so many peo-ple telling so many slightly different

stories about God. (“Theology” liter-ally means, “words about God.”)

Anyone who tells you they, and theyalone, hold the key to these mysteries

is probably trying to sell you some-thing.

Everyone tells, reads or hears thesetales, including Christians, Muslims,

Buddhists, Sikhs, Taoists, Atheists

(whose adherents, ironically, are some-times the most preachy), and Agnostics(it may be the most logical position on

the matter, but my goodness it is amissed opportunity to feel passionately

about something).The great thing about scripture, and

the one thing all World Religions havein common in their teachings, is the co-

existence of mutually exclusive ideas.The same book will teach love, toler-

ance, hatred, war, fear, death, immor-tality, vengeance and forgiveness.

The Christian bible, for example,says God doesn’t want you to wear a

poly-cotton blend shirt, and that youwill only further irritate Him if you

plant tomatoes and broccoli in the

same field. The same book goes on tosuggest that both tax collectors and

prostitutes are on their way to heaven.

In the bible, God tortures Job, an inno-cent man of great faith, in whatamounts to a mean-spirited prank. The

same God later suffers and bleeds, bychoice, for the salvation of all of hu-

manity.While God, or the lack thereof, re-

mains a mystery to us, the way thatpeople give and receive their religious

stories can tell us a lot about who theyare. Everyone worships one form of

God or another. It can be Ganesh,Jesus, Free Speech, the Right to Bear

Arms, or the Almighty Dollar.Someone who likes carnage tends to

latch onto those parts of their particularholy book, while those who wish to

live in a world of tenderness can recite

all those verses by heart.And because the idea of God is such

a vast enigma, we all get to do it. Every

single human being on the planet. Eventhose who believe with absolute cer-

tainty that there is no supreme deitycan thank this mystery, because it al-

lows them to feel passionate convictionwithout the need for concrete proof.

God is an idea that is simply too bigfor one religion, one book, or one po-

litical party.It all revolves around faith, however,

and that is the most treasured trait inany audience, regardless of the narra-

tive.I am not foolish enough to take a

stance on the Jesus Lunches at Fire-

man’s Park. I like free speech, I likefreedom of religion, and I like the sep-

aration of church and state. I also like

people, on most days, and I feel a cer-tain empathy when I see a bunch of them yelling at each other on a Tues-

day afternoon.I will say that how people tell a story

matters, and so does how they listen.Being right or wrong is not everything.

Nor is it the only thing. You can be si-multaneously correct and insufferable.

You can even be wrong yet kind.The philosopher Jeffrey Lewbowski

once illustrated as much during aheated exchange with Walter Sobchak:

Sobchak: “Am I wrong?” Lewbowski: “No, you’re not

wrong.”Sobchak: “Am I wrong?”

Lewbowski: “You’re not wrong,

Walter. You’re just an @$$%*!#.”So when you are staking out your

vehement position on God, or politics,

or Jesus Lunches in the City of Middle-

ton, try to be right, of course. But also

know that being right, or being wrong,

aren’t the only things that matter. In the

end, at least when it comes to the big

questions in life, we never really get to

find out who had it right anyway.

But the way you are right or wrong

– and the way you choose to worship

your personal Gods – says a lot about

you. And that remains true regardless

of the altar at which you bow down.

What a nice juicy topic to

sink my teeth into; the so-called“Jesus Lunch.” I’m the tenth of

eleven children; if I didn’t standup for myself I didn’t eat, so I

have a pre-disposition towardsfighting for the underdog and

those oppressed by big businessor the government or the politi-

cally correct who, in Madison, just insist on imposing their will

onto others.Frankly, I come from the

more libertarian side of conser-

vative thought; live and let live.The inverse being - mind yourown business.

There are so many reasonswhy those opposed to the free

lunches should mind their ownbusiness, but of course, the

whole issue has been blow outof proportion, especially by the

misinformation disseminated bythe Wisconsin State Journal,

which omitted many factsthereby misleading the reader.

Here are the facts. Thelunches are being held in a pub-

lic park, open to the public andanyone who wants to hold a

barbecue or picnic anytime they

wish. That’s why they call it a public park. Americans have aconstitutional right to practice

their religious beliefs in public.The constitution says “freedomof religion”, not freedom from

religion, (sorry, Annie Gaylor).

You could go into the statecapitol building and hold a

prayer session if you wanted.There’s no law against it. What

the constitution does protectagainst is the governmentcreat-ing a government sponsored oroperated religion, just as Henry

the 8th, the king of England, didwhen he broke away from the

Catholic Church and started hisown state sponsored religion,

the Anglican Church. At thetime, the king was both head of

his new church and head of thegovernment. He then went on

to oppress other religions andthat is why, starting in the

1600’s the God loving people of England chose to risk their lives

to cross an unknown ocean, set-tle in a wild land, and leave all

behind, so that they could prac-tice their religion without the

state crushing their practices.There’s a big difference be-

tween a private party practicingtheir religion in public and the

government imposing its reli-

gious beliefs and practices on us

along with prohibiting us frompracticing our own religion.

The former is protected fromthe government by the constitu-

tion and the latter is effectivelyprohibited by the constitution,

i.e. it is illegal for a local gov-ernment or school district to

prevent students from practic-ing their religious beliefs.

Now for the local facts. (Un-like some media outlets, I actu-

ally looked up the facts.)The school district leased

Fireman’s Park in the year 2000(the lease was signed by Mayor

Dan Ramsey) (Exhibit A wasmissing from my copy) and in

paragraph #1 it says the schooldistrict “shall not have exclu-

sive use of the Leased Prem-ises,” which means that the

district cannot stop a family orgroup from enjoying the park.

In fact, right after that the leasesays that the school district un-

derstands that the park shall besubject to “contemporaneous

use by the Lessor (the city) andmembers of the general public”

clearly stating that the schooldistrict cannot stop others from

using the park.In paragraph #3, the lease

says that the district has the

right to enforce rules - the dis-

trict’s rules (only) - against its

own students, employees, and administrators . The districtdoes not have the right to en-

force its own rules against thegeneral public. The lunches are

not organized by the students,they’re organized by others -

parents/the public who are notsubject to school rules. So the

statement by the district in lastweek’s Middleton Times that

the district has the right to en-force its rules on others is not

true. In fact, the opposite is trueas you will read next. Likewise,

the district’s claim that it canprevent parents from organizing

events on “school grounds” isalso not true, because the park

is not school grounds. The dis-trict claims that the park is

school grounds, but in fact, thelease makes it clear that the dis-

trict cannot stop the public fromusing the park.

Interestingly, in paragraph #2the lease says that the lease is

one year in length and its auto-matic renewal is subject to the

school district “observ(ing) allof the terms, covenants and con-

ditions required to be performedor observed by the Lessee (the

school district) hereunder the

lease”, in which case the lease

will then renew for consecutiveone year terms. That means that

if the district attempts to denythe public access to the park, the

city would not only have theright, but the obligation to give

notice of default and then termi-nate renewal. The district’s at-

tempts to deny public access tothe park will be the cause of the

demise of the lease!The lease also grants the dis-

trict the right to enforce its ownrules against its students on the

leased premises (the park),which is interesting since the

district, in my opinion, is tryingto pawn this whole matter off

on the city as if it’s the city’sproblem. It seems if the district

doesn’t want the students to at-tend the once a week lunches,

the district can close campusand prevent students from leav-

ing the building during lunch.What the district cannot do is

say to students, “you can leaveto eat at Subway or at home, but

you can’t leave to eat in the parkat the Jesus Lunch.”

Paragraph #4 also requiresthe payment of $1.00 in rent per

year to the city. If I was an at-torney for the parents, I would

verify if the school district

made such payments after the

first year (2000), because if thedistrict has not, the lease would

be in default.Other facts include that the

Jesus Lunches have been goingon (I am told by a person in au-

thority) inside the cafeteria of the school building since some

time in 2014, until they weremoved outside and then to the

park. Apparently the districthad no problem with a small

group of students and parentsholding a lunch group inside the

building, but now that they arebeing pressured by a small

group of naysayers, the districtfeels compelled to appear to act,

but they don’t really know whatto do (by my observation).

I feel for the administrators;they are caught between a rock

and a hard place; in a no-winsituation, but that is of their own

making. The district shouldclearly state the rights of every

citizen to practice their religionwithout interference from the

government or harassment fromothers. This is a teachable mo-

ment - clearly state the rights of religious people under the con-

stitution and inform those stu-

by Matt Geiger

GEIGERCounter

by TERRENCE WALL

Up Against the Wall

Wall: Jesus Lunch is an important exercise in religious freedom

See WALL, page 7

Letter to the Editor,

I was just reminded of thedifference between being an ob-

server and that of a participant,particularly as it relates to my

own local government. As anobserver, I subscribe to +my-

Connections, a service the Cityof Middleton

provides by way of email. Apassive way of staying abreast

of everything from new devel-opments, TIF applications,

awards, accolades, missed op-portunities, Pleasant View Golf

Course, public works, transit,sustainability, the

library, recycling, public hear-ings and so much more.

This tool, found onCity of Middleton’s homepage

is the conduit for as much real-time information as you choose

to garner.More than ever, I now realize

how important my actual activeparticipation is required. My

chance as a third generationMiddleton resident to have my

voice heard about my hopes forMiddleton’s growth and future

instead of Bruce Weisman, aresident of McFarland, who, at

the April 19, 2016 CommonCouncil meeting spoke in sup-

port of the proposed downtownparking plan.

He stated he believes that thenew design addresses extra

parking and greenspace forresidents of Middleton.

Really? Mr. Weisman fromMcFarland? Really?

Lightbulb moment. Whywas some guy from McFarland

the only voice heard regardingthis subject. A guy from Mc-

Farland influencing elected of-ficials in my

community? About develop-ment in my neighborhood?

Here is a call to arms for allof the good neighbor’s residing

in the City of Middleton. Takethe time to learn about what’s

going on in your own commu-nity, in your own

backyard, make a choice to par-ticipate in it’s outcome before

some guy from McFarland orsome developer with deep

pockets manipulates to his lik-ing, the landscapes of every par-

cel money can buyincluding our already congested

downtown.

Amy BlaschkeMiddleton

Take the time to learn about what’s happening in your own backyard


7/20

dents protesting the peaceful

enjoyment of the park to ceaseand desist their actions. If they

want to hold their own Atheistlunches in the park, feel free,

but they don’t have any legalright to molest or disturb those

participating in the Jesus Lunch.And the protestors’ twisted

idea that the lunches are a “di-visive force” is hogwash. The protestors are the divisive force.

The lunches are a quiet, peace-ful event. If I were the admin-istration, I’d focus my time and

energy on the drugs, gangs,crime, bullying and other nega-

tive influences on the students.Frankly, the school district has

enough to deal with without thisissue.

Another fact: The park has adeed restriction (I am told) that

requires that it be open to thepublic, which means that if the

city or the school district try toshut down the lunches, they’ll

be in violation of the restrictionand the ownership of the land

would revert to the ancestors of

the original owners. Surprise!

I was also at the councilmeeting (just before leaving) in

which eight, that’s right, onlyeight people showed up to op-

pose the Jesus Lunches. Wouldsomeone please explain to me

what right eight people have tostop over 400 people from the

quiet enjoyment of a publicpark? The protestors in Madi-

son never cease to amaze me

how they think they have theright to impose their beliefs oneveryone else. The student pro-

testors fein a burden on them,but let’s not be fooled; they had

to make some effort to leave thebuilding, walk across the park,

and engage those at the lunch!The protestors had to go out of

their way!Now let’s get to my opinion.

I believe in live and let live. If Christians or any other religious

group wants to enjoy the park,feel free. While you cannot ha-

rass or molest or disturb thepeace (that’s a crime) of anyone

else in the park, you can host

your own lunch.

And where does it stop?Think about it; if you used the

protestors’ own arguments, theywould stop students from even

saying a prayer before they eattheir lunch inside the school

building.The school district, obviously

embarrassed by the 400 stu-dents attending the lunches

(once a week) and pressured by

a few “offended students,”wants this all to go away, but atsome point people in govern-

ment have to not only stand upfor what’s right, but enforce the

constitution and the local lawsthat allow all citizens the right

to use the park and practice theirreligion. They don’t have to en-

dorse their religion, but they arelegally bound to defend our

rights.Besides, whatever happened

to these protestors supporting

handouts for everyone under the

sun?! They’re the same peoplethat are all for the government

handing out free food andmoney to everyone, but they

ironically oppose the privatesector giving away free healthy

lunches to students. For manyChristian and non-Christian stu-

dents, it’s an opportunity tostretch their limited lunch

budget, and it’s also good food!

(Apparently it’s better than theschool’s offering since the stu-dents have voted with their

feet.)Count me in for standing up

for the rights of citizens to prac-tice their religious beliefs.

Count me in for the underdog.

Count me in for supporting re-

ligious peoples everywhere.This nation was founded on

Judeo Christian values, and ourfounding fathers stated the ob-

vious, that our rights are de-scended from God. The

alternative is to believe that ourrights are descended from the

government, and if that is true,then the government can take

away our rights anytime it

wants.As compared to the socialist

and environmental-worshipping

agenda being taught in theclassrooms and universities

around the country, theselunches are a quiet lesson in re-

ligious tolerance and a positive

impact on students who are

being lured by drugs, alcohol,and gang activity. Isn’t it time

for Christians (and all religiouspeople) everywhere to stand up

and be heard?And remember, the school

district works for us; not theother way around.

Up Against the Wall is a

monthly column written by Ter-rence Wall and does not reflect

the views and opinions of the Middleton Times-Tribune or its

editorial staff. Responses and rebuttals are welcome and can

be sent to [email protected].


WALL continued from page 6

Corrigan wins second term as county board chairDane County Board supervi-

sor Sharon Corrigan, of Middle-

ton, was elected to a second

term as Chair of the Dane

County Board of Supervisors at

the board’s biennial organiza-

tional meeting last week.

Judge Juan Colas adminis-tered the oath of office to all Su-

pervisors, including newcomers

Haley Young, representing the

UW campus area; Richard

Kilmer, representing Madison’s

near west and near south sides;

and Danielle Williams, repre-

senting the Cottage Grove area.

“Decisions we make really

have impact on the lives of peo-

ple in the county,” Corrigan said

in accepting the second term.

“I’m proud to serve with all of you. We have a hallmark of

what we do, doing things inno-

vatively and achieving good

government. We don’t always

agree. We don’t all vote the

same way. But we’ve each felt

that we were working toward

the common good and trying to

improve the quality of life for

people in Dane County.”

Supervisor Jeff Pertl was

elected First Vice Chair. “He’s

so eloquent,” said former FirstVice Chair Carousel Bayrd in

nominating Pertl. “He’s suc-

cinct, he’s professional, he’s

thoughtful. I think we will be

wonderfully served with him as

our First Vice Chair.”

Supervisor Shelia Stubbs was

elected Second Vice Chair. Su-

pervisor Mary Kolar, in nomi-

nating Stubbs, called her “a

leader who leads from the

heart.”

Supervisors Nick Zweifeland Maureen McCarville were

re-elected as Sergeants at

Arms.

Corrigan will announce com-

mittee appointments later this

week.

The 37-member, nonpartisan

Dane County Board of Supervi-

sors represents the needs and

welfare of all citizens of Dane

County, Wisconsin, and sets

policy for County operations in

the areas of health, humanneeds, infrastructure, criminal

justice, the environment and

County finance.

The Board meets twice

monthly.

In the past six months Green-way Station celebrated five

grand openings including themost recent opening of Fuji

Sushi & Hibachi.Fuji’s opening marks the start

of a series of developments atGreenway Station which will

include the launch of new social

media platforms, hefty prizegiveaways, a robust spring pro-

gramming calendar, and thegrand opening of Biaggi’s Ris-

torante Italiano.Fuji Sushi & Hibachi is now

open in the 5,692 square footspace at 1610 Deming Way.

Local owner and restauran-

teur, Jimmy Lin, says he is ex-cited about his business after a

successful soft opening onMarch 20. Fuji Sushi & Hi-

bachi offers “a distinctive, high-energy and entertaining dining

experience with unmatchedseafood, steak, and other Japan-

ese cuisine options.”

Fuji opens at GreenwayRobertson Plastic Surgery and Robertson

Skin and Laser Center has announced the relo-cation and expansion of the Middleton clinic,

currently located at 3205 Glacier Ridge Rd.Construction is slated to begin this month at the

corner of Greenway Blvd. and Deming Wayand the relocation is slated for winter, 2016.

“We are very excited to expand operationsand relocate to a larger facility in a more con-

venient location,” said Dr. Kevin Robertson.

“The move has been inevitable for a while. Wehave simply outgrown our space in Middleton,

even with a second location in Sun Prairie. Thenew clinic will allow for more treatment rooms,

expanded staff, and most importantly, willallow us to better accommodate our growing

client base more effectively andefficiently.”

Plastic surgery center to relocate


8/20

More than 30 businesses and

250 students participated in theinaugural MHS Job Fair on

Thursday, April 21.The Job Fair was a joint ef-

fort between the high schooland the Middleton Chamber of

Commers. MHS business in-

stuctional leader Cherie Hellen-brand and Terry Healy-Lemke,a chamber member and branch

manager at Celerity StaffingSolutions, worked together on

the event.Check out this 90-second

video to learn more about theJob Fair.

Hellenbrand originally wasplanning on developing a Ca-

reer Fair but decided to go witha Job Fair after talking with Su-

perintendent Don Johnson."I believe the students en-

joyed the fun give-aways at thebooths and the opportunity to

see the different job available to

them,'' said Hellenbrand, whoadded she has heard from a

number of businesses who wereimpressed with the turnout.

Johnson raved about the JobFair during his superintendent's

report at the Board of Education

meeting on April 25."It was a great opportunity

for students to learn types of

jobs exist in the area,'' he said."We think this can grow. The

chamber is really excited aboutthis as well.''

Hellenbrand hopes demandresults in more businesses and

students attending in Year 2.“It was great working with

the Chamber and especiallyTerry,” she said. “I want to build

on this. We are fortunate to livewhere we do and have the sup-

port of the chamber and sur-rounding businesses.”


Photo contributed

Back row (L-R): Sam Jaeger, percussion (Orchestra), Kian Djamali, trumpet (Band), Titus Smith, trombone (Orches-tra) Henry Cryns, clarinet (Orchestra) Meghna Datta, violin (Orchestra); Middle Row (L-R): Nitin Somasundaram, viola (Alternate – Orchestra), Calvin Guse, viola (Orchestra), Maureen Sheehan, viola (Orchestra), Leta Landucci, violin(Orchestra), Rachael Lee, violin (Orchestra), Katie Stigler, flute (Band), Kylie Peters, soprano, (Treble Choir); FrontRow (L-R): Balaji Veeramani, violin (Orchestra), Michael Xie, viola (Orchestra), Jahnavi Gali, viola (Orchestra), AnnaNordhaus, flute (Band), Kei Kohmoto, trumpet (Orchestra).

Not pictured: Haiwen Dai, percussion, (Orchestra), Tim Dusek, trombone (Band), Adam Goren, percussion, (Orches-tra), Kirby Heck, trombone (Band), Hanna Noughani, oboe (Orchestra), Alex Warholic, percussion (Orchestra). Photocontributed.

Middleton High School, the Wiscon-sin School Music Association, and the

High School State Honors Staff would

like to congratulate the MHS music stu-dents who have been invited to be amember of the 2016 High School State

Honors Project.Each of these students auditioned for

an ensemble in the WSMA State HonorsMusic Project in February. Twenty-two

MHS students were selected for one of

the honors ensembles and one other waschosen as an alternate.

Students selected for the WSMA State

Honors Music Project participate in athree-and-a-half day summer camp in

June and perform in Madison during lateOctober as part of the Wisconsin State

Music Conference.

The WSMA State Honors Music Proj-ect is nationally recognized as one of thefinest musical opportunities for young

people.

MHS students invited to WSMAState Honors Music Project

First MHS

Job Fair

draws ravereviews


9/20


Celebrating fine arts at Middleton High School

Photos contributed

MHS held its annual Fine Arts Week April 11-15 in the Per-forming Arts Center with more than 100 students performingover the four days. Classical music, rock bands, acoustic guitar, folk music, comedy and drama, dance and movement arts, jazz, other musical styles and spoken word were all among the stylesdisplayed on the stage.


10/20


Sikh community celebratesLocal Sikhs celebrated the festival of Vaisakhi April 15, 16 and 17, listening to readings sung

from the Guru Granth Sahib, enjoying communal meals, and ceremonially washing and raisingthe local Gurudwara’s flags.

Vaisakhi is one of the three festivals chosen by Guru Amar Das to be celebrated by Sikhs, theothers being Maghi and Diwali. The festival bears significance for Sikhs because on the Vaisakhiday in the year 1699, the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh, laid down the foundationof the Panth Khalsa. It is also observed as a celebration for those accepting the five articles of faith - Kesh, Kangha, Kara, Kachera and Kirpan - worn by Sikhs.

Times-Tribune photos by Matt Geiger


11/20


Photo contributed

Oratorical Contest winners announced Friedle, Meyer win contest

The winners of the 2016 Middleton Optimist Club Oratorical Contest were honored last week at SOFRA Bistro. Sydney Friedleis sophomore at Middleton High School and is very active with the dance team. JJ Meyer will graduate from MHS this spring

and attend the University of Iowa to study Chemistry and Creative Writing. They were judged first and second, respectively, forthe 2016 contest. Joining Sydney and JJ in the photo are Curt Fuszard (left), Club President, and Attorney Eric Baker, head of the Club's Oratorical Committee.

seriousness of this incident, the

investigation of the event wasled by a County Wide Investiga-

tion Team. The County WideInvestigation Team, which is

comprised of investigators fromlaw enforcement agencies not

involved in the initial incident,will manage, lead and conduct

a thorough investigation intothis incident, authorities said.

Cotter-Brown was expectedto face felony charges related to

hit and run and reckless endan-germent.

Both of the victims who werestruck - a 12-year-old female

from Middleton and a 13-year-old female from Middleton -

were reported to be in stablecondition with non-life threat-

ening but significant injuriesafter the incident, according to

police.A second serious crash oc-

curred several blocks west of the pedestrian crash on Century

Avenue at Northbrook Drive,which disabled the suspect’s ve-

hicle. It was a head-oncrash. The driver of that vehicle

was also transported to the hos-pital with non-life threatening

injuries.Funds have been established

to help both of the children al-legedly injured by Cotter-

Brown.One, established by Middle-

ton Fire Chief Aaron Harris, de-tails the heartache caused by the

events that unfolded last week.“On Thursday, April 21, Hay-

ley Krause and another younglady (Ari) were crossing the

street near their school whenthey were struck by a reckless

driver who was eluding law en-

forcement,” Harris wrote. “Hestruck the girls without stop-

ping, speeding away and caus-ing another accident and injury

less than a half mile away. Bothgirls were seriously injured in

this tragic hit-and-run incidentand were emergently trans-

ported to the hospital. ““The individual who hit these

girls has no license and carriesno insurance,” Harris contin-

ued.Hayley’s father is Lieutenant

Tim Krause of the MiddletonFire District, according to Har-

ris. Members of his fire depart-ment family responded to the

scene, treating and transportinghis daughter to the hospital.

“As his extended family, themembers of Middleton Fire

Company No. 1 are standingstrong for both Hayley and Ari

as they recover,” Harris contin-ued. “While we are enraged at

this reckless incident, we aresteady and committed to sup-

porting Hayley, the Krause fam-ily, Ari and our community.”

“In addition to other ongoingefforts by our fire family, we are

seeking to help the Krause fam-ily with the mounting expenses

involved in recovering from thisawful situation. We ask that you

contribute whatever you can, assoon as you can, to help the

family devote their time and at-tention to Hayley’s recovery

and well-being,” Harris added.“A separate GoFundMe account

has been established for Ari byher friends and family and we

encourage you to support herthrough ‘Ari’s Medical Fund.’”

HIT continued from page 1

Donations for the childrenstruck can be made at: gofundme.com/29khp6hv

and/or

gofundme.com/strongforhayley


12/20

Twelve months ago, aneffort like this would have

never been good enough.But this isn’t your 2015

Middleton baseball team.Not even close.

The Cardinals toppledMadison West, 5-3, last

Thursday in an effort they allagreed was far from their best.

But that’s the differencebetween Middleton today and

last spring.A year ago, the young and

inexperienced Cardinals had tobe at their best each time out.

That didn’t happen enough asMiddleton went 10-16 overall.

Today, Middleton has beensharp almost every time out, as

its 8-1 record will attest. Buteven on a day like last

Thursday, when the Cardinalswere just mediocre, they still

knocked off the Regents.

“Last year we would havegotten creamed in a game likethis,” said Middleton ace Alec

Morrison. “Now, we’re pullingoff wins.”

They sure are.The Cardinals won four

games last week, routing BigEight Conference rival

Madison Memorial, 14-1, lastWednesday before dumping the

Regents one day later. Then onSaturday, Middleton swept a

doubleheader from Marshfield,4-2 and 8-7.

The Cardinals are 6-1 in theBig Eight, good for second

place, one game behinddefending state champion

Janesville Craig (9-0, 7-0).Middleton was also ranked

10th in the first WisconsinBaseball Coaches Association

poll of 2016.“We’re another year bigger,

another year stronger,” saidsenior third baseman Brennan

Schmitt. “That definitely helps.“We were a really young

team last year and we had areally good offseason in the

weight room. You can see thedifference.”

You most certainly can.In the Cardinals’ win over

West, Morrison didn’t allow ahit until the fourth inning.

Morrison also had a three-rundouble during a four run third

inning as Middleton raced to a5-0 lead.

The Cardinals didn't have ahit over their final three at bats.

And Morrison began strugglingwith his control and allowed

West (3-3, 7-3) to score twicein the sixth to close within 5-3.

But even with Middletonstruggling a bit, it had enough

talent and moxie to prevail.“You can’t be razor sharp

every day,” Middleton managerTom Schmitt said. “But we

were good enough to win andthat’s the big thing.”

Indeed.Middleton took a 1-0 lead in

Conference championshipscan’t be won in the first half of

a season.

They can be lost, though,

and Middleton’s girls softball

team was in danger of experi-

encing that fate last Saturday.

The Cardinals traveled to

Big Eight Conference leading

Janesville Craig and dropped

the first game of a double-

header, 7-3. But Middleton

responded with an impressive

9-8 win in the nightcap and

stayed within striking distance

of the conference-leading

Cougars.

Craig is 9-1 in the league,

while Middleton sits in second

place at 7-2. The Cardinals,

who are also 7-3 overall, trav-

el to third-place Verona (6-2,

8-2) Thursday at 5 p.m. in acritical conference game.

“We wanted to win both

games, but we needed to win

at least one,” Middleton coach

Perry Hibner said. “We didn’t

play our best and I’m sure

Janesville Craig had some-

thing to do with that. But I was

happy with how we battled,

overcame some adversity and

found a way to win the second

game.”

Janesville Craig built a 5-1

lead in the second game and

appeared on the brink of


Follow RobReischel onTwitter at@robreischel

What a difference a year makes

Times-Tribune photo by Mary Langenfeld

Drew Finley Haag and Middleton’s baseball team won all four of its games last week.

Title dreamsstill in place


Rachel Everson and Middleton’s girls softball team is in second place in the Big Eight Conference.

Girls softball team earns

huge split at Janesville Craig

by ROB REISCHEL

Times-Tribune

See BASEBALL, page 20

Baseball Cardinals rolling

after a rough 2015 campaignby ROB REISCHEL

Times-Tribune

See SOFTBALL, page 17


13/20

pletely up to each one of them.

The guys were very pleasedthough that they were the only

team to have four scores in the

70’s.”

Indeed.

Middleton senior Emmet

Herb led the way with an even-

par, 72. Herb tied for third

place, just one shot behind co-

medalists Brock Hlinak of

Kaukauna and Matt Bachman

of Pulaski.

Herb began his round with

two bogeys, but he quickly

found his game. Herb’s round

included an eagle, two birdies

and 11 pars, and he played the

four par-5s at 4-under-par.

“Emmet was steady all dayafter a bogey-bogey start,”

Cabalka said. “He made good

decisions as to when to be

aggressive and when to lay up

on the par-5s.” Middleton seniors Joey

Levin and Nils Arneson both

tied for 10th individually with

77s.

Levin struggled with his

putter and didn’t notch a birdie.

But he was remarkably steady

in the other areas and carded 13

pars and five bogeys.

“Joey couldn’t get many

putts to fall today, but had a

solid round of 77,” Cabalka

said of Levin. “I sure like to see

no doubles from Emmet and

Joey.”

Arneson had one of his bet-

ter rounds of the year, a per-

formance Cabalka had been

waiting for.

“It was great to see Nils

shoot a 77,” Cabalka said.

“Nils had no doubles today as

well.”

Middleton also counted a 79

from senior Brady Thomas.

“Our 305 was a very nice

showing,” Cabalka said.

The Cardinals also rolled to

an easy win at the Janesville

Parker Triangular last

Thursday. Middleton finished

with a 305 team score, fol-

lowed by Beloit Memorial

(331) and Janesville Parker

(332).

Herb and Levin led the

Cardinals with 75s. Sophomore

Andy Zucker carded a 76 and

Thomas shot a 79.

• On deck: Middleton wasat the Lake Wisconsin

Invitational Monday, then is at

the Onalaska Invite Friday

beginning at 8:30 a.m. The

Cardinals then play at the

Sparta Invite Saturday starting

at 9 a.m.

The course was sublime.

The golf was even better.

Middleton’s boys golf team

went to the Sheboygan North

Invite held at the Irish Course

at Whistling Straits in Kohler

last Wednesday. The Cardinals

then proceeded to put on a

show.

Middleton shot a scintillat-

ing 305 and cruised to the title

at the 24-team tournament.

Kaukauna (314), Notre

Dame (316), Cedarburg (317)and Lake Geneva Badger (320)

rounded out the top five.

“I think that our good play

and winning on a good golf

course against some top com-

petition means that on a good

day, we can be one of the better

teams in the state,” Middleton

coach Tom Cabalka

said. “There are many tourna-

ments left to prove or disprove

that.

“The guys know that they

need to keep improving, and

what they do about that is com-



Middleton senior Emmet Herb shot an even-par 72 and tied for third place at the Sheboygan North Invite.

Golfers keeprolling along

Middleton wins star-studded

Sheboygan North Inviteby ROB REISCHEL

Times-TribuneGolf CoachesAssociation of Wisconsin Poll

1. Marquette2. Middleton3. Notre Dame4. Cedarburg

5. Arrowhead6. Whitefish Bay

7. Madison Edgewood8. Catholic Memorial

9. Eau Claire North10. Waunakee


14/20


Soccer Cards make big gains

Times-Tribunephoto by Mary

Langenfeld

L a u r e nGriffin andMiddleton’sgirls soccer

team are on at h r e e - g a m ew i n n i n gstreak.

Middleton wins

three of four by ROB REISCHEL

Times-Tribune

Mary Duffy knew thiswould be a work in progress.

That the finished product

would look far better than theinitial sketch.

And that’s exactly the direc-tion things are heading for

Middleton’s girls soccer team.The Cardinals dropped a 3-2

decision to Verona lastTuesday, pushing their losing

streak to two games. ButMiddleton rebounded with

three straight wins to close outthe week.

First, the Cardinals defeatedMadison East, 10-0, last

Thursday. Middleton then best-ed DePere, 3-0, last Friday and

rolled past Oshkosh West, 5-3,last Saturday.

The Cardinals, who sufferedseveral graduation losses from

a year ago, improved to 4-2-1on the young season.

“It was encouraging to seeour fairly new to varsity squad

stepping up at whatever posi-tions we assigned and be suc-

cessful,” Duffy said.The Cardinals didn’t have

the type of success they wantedagainst Verona.

Freshman Charlotte Dunnstruck first for Middleton on an

assist by senior KatyaBoehnen.

Verona responded with twogoals before halftime, then the

Wildcats scored in the 64thminute and took a 3-1 lead.

Middleton got a late goalfrom Kristin Reikersdorfer, but

it was too little, too late.“The upside was that we

switched our formationhalfway through the second

half and we were dangerous —very dangerous,” Duffy

said. “Verona barely touchedtheir offensive half and we had

numerous shots that Verona’skeeper needed to make daring

saves for.”Middleton followed that

with an impressive win overMadison East.

The Cardinals got two goalsapiece from Reikersdorfer,

Dunn, junior forward MayaShea and junior forward Tessa

Grywalsky. Senior midfielderEmma Geppert and junior mid-

fielder Payton Houden both

added goals, as well.

“It was nice to see the girlsplay well and move the ball,”

Duffy said. “We found switch-es and scored off of corners and

crosses. However, we chal-lenged the girls to try to score

quality goals.“Some of that happened in

the second half, but what Iliked was seeing the players

that are new to the squad stepup into spots that they might

not have thought they would

play, but also start to play withcomfort on a high-demandingteam.”

Middleton followed thatwith an impressive win over

DePere.Shea had a pair of first half

goals and Dunn added a goal in

the second half.

“DePere had a solid centermidfielder and some fast for-

wards,” Duffy said. “But theirdefense, which had some very

talented outside backs, was nomatch for our offense.”

Sophomore keeper CarolinePowers had a sensational game

and was voted the player of thematch by Middleton’s captains.

“Caroline Powers’ tenaciousthree or four rapid fire stops on

a for-sure goal breakaway situ-

ation boosted our confidenceand boosted our efforts to keepthe shutout,” Duffy said.

“That’s something we had beenlacking versus quality oppo-

nents.”The Cardinals followed that

with a win over Oshkosh West

on Saturday.

West actually struck just 28seconds into the game, stun-

ning the Cardinals for amoment. But Middleton quick-

ly recovered and took the gameover.

Just one minute later, Sheascored on an assist by

Reikersdorfer. ThenReikersdorfer gave the

Cardinals a 2-1 lead with a goalsix minutes later.

Midway through the first

half, sophomore Claire Staplesscored off a cross from sopho-more Emily Duecker, who was

playing right back.Dunn added a goal three

minutes later to give Middletona 4-1 edge.

West scored a pair of second

half goals to keep things inter-

esting. But senior defenderGrace Douglas added a goal for

Middleton to put things out of reach.

“For both (weekend) games,we were able to play all players

and continued our ability tomove the ball,” Duffy said.

• On deck: Middleton is atMadison La Follette Thursday

at 7 p.m., then heads to theTournament of Champions in

Burlington, Iowa, on Friday

and Saturday.

April 19Verona 3, Middleton 2Verona ………...........………. 2 1 — 3Middleton …………..........…. 1 1 — 2

First half: M - Dunn (Boehnen),16:35; VER - Bainbridge, 23:22;

Krogman, 44:10.

Second half : VER - Bainbridge pk,

63:43; M - Reikersdorfer, 86:25. Saves:VER (Dalma) 10; M (Gallegos 4,

Towers 2) 6.

April 21Middleton 10, Madison East 0Middleton ……...........…….. 4 6 — 10Madison East ...........…...…. 0 0 — 0

First half: M - Geppert(Reikersdorfer), 3:23; Reikersdorfer

(Houden), 19:05; Grywalsky (Shea),

19:56; Shea (Houden), 34:50.

Second half: M - Reikersdorfer,47:20; Dunn (Boehnen, Shea), 54:30;

Houden (Douglas), 63:30; Dunn(Douglas), 78:25; Grywalsky, 78:45;

Shea, 89:00. Saves: M (Towers) 1; MEa

(Richter) 17.

April 22Middleton 3, DePere 0De Pere ................................... 0 0 — 0Middleton ............................... 2 1 — 3

First half: M - Shea, 1:24; Shea(Staples), 19:54.

Second half: M - Dunn, 49:54.Saves: DP (Cerrato) 8; M (Towers) 5.


15/20


The Watertown Invite has

always been a special place

for Middleton’s boys track

and field team.

And this year was no dif-

ferent.

For the fifth consecutive

year, the Cardinals won the

highly-competitive, nine-team

invite. Middleton finished

with 142 points to easily out-

distance runner-up Baraboo

(120) and the other seven

teams.“Watertown was a great

night because of the competi-

tion and the way our guys per-

formed,” Middleton coach Joe

Line said.

Middleton’s girls finished

in second place among 10

teams. Lakeside Lutheran

won the girls’ meet with 119

points, while the Cardinals

(103.5) and Hartford (97.5)

rounded out the top three.

On the boys’ side,

Middleton junior Gus

Newcomb won the 1,600-

meter run in 4:21.39 seconds

and the 3,200 (9:45.81).Senior Jack Jesse also won the

long jump with a mark of 20

feet, 10 inches.

“Gus Newcomb set a meet

record which was fun to

watch,” Line said. “Jack Jesse

won the long jump after not

jumping for over a month.”

The Cardinals had several

other stellar performances, as

well.

Griffin Gussel won the 400

(51.68) and Perrin Hagge cap-

tured the 800 (1:54.87).

Middleton’s 1,600-meter relay

team of Hagge, Noah

Roberson, Gussel and Randy

Hernandez was first (3:31.68).

Matthew Leiferman was

second in the pole vault (11-6)

and Pace Balster was second

in the triple jump (39-9 ½).Trevaun Turner was third in

the 100-meter dash (11.33)

and Max Elliot was third in

the shot put (46-2 ½).

“We scored in most of the

events and it came down to

the last two events against

Baraboo,” Line said. “The

guys wanted this one and they

looked ready when they got

on the bus.”

On the girls’ side, Sam

Valentine won the 3,200

(10:59.08), while Charlotte

Sue was third in the same

event (11:59.03).

Betsy Hathaway was sec-ond in the 100 (12.89) and

Erika Rader was second in the

1,600 (5:33.03).

Middleton’s 800-meter

relay team and its 1,600-meter

relay team were both second.

Hathaway was also third in

the pole vault (9-6).

Middleton first-year coach

Cory Christnovich was

thrilled with all of those per-

formances. He also wanted to

highlight the efforts of Sara

Gaab, Hailee Milton and

Autumn Grim.

Gaab had a bad fall while

hurdling at practice last

Thursday. But Gaab came

back to finish fifth in the 100-

meter hurdles (17.55) and

sixth in the 300-meter hurdles

(52.61).“Not too many teenagers

would have the courage and

guts to come back the next

day and be willing to run full

speed at a hurdle after the

kind of fall that she had,”

Christnovich said. “It was

impressive to watch.”

Milton keyed Middleton’s

800- and 1,600-meter relay

teams that both finished sec-

ond. Milton also finished sixth

in the 200-meter dash (27.42)

“Hailee Milton is doing

everything that is asked of her

this season,” Christnovich

said. “She is busting her buttin practice and her times are

showing it. Hailee has big

things in store for her this sea-

son.”

Grim finished fourth in the

800 (2:29.18) and continues to

lead Middleton’s distance

squad.

“Autumn Grim has

renewed energy in track this

year,” Christnovich said. “She

worked her tail off over the

winter with the distance girls

and is poised to set new PR’s

in every distance event this

year.

“She has a determinationon her face that is awesome to

see. Autumn is a sweet, caring

young lady, but when she

steps to the start line, that face

goes away and it is set to

achieve her goals.”

Track teams shineat Watertown Invite Boys finish first, girls place second

by ROB REISCHEL

Times-Tribune

Photos courtesy ofChristopher Hujanen

Kiara Cruz (top)and Jack Jesse(left) had big per-formances at theW a t e r t o w nInvite lastFriday.


16/20

lead to 13-1 through three

periods and cruised home.Gunnar Kunsch, Mitch

Bacon, Lane Wahlgren, JakeHoskins, Raffel, Jack Stormer

and Danny Johnson Schunkall had goals for Middleton.

“Overall we played prettywell,” Middleton junior goal-

tender Tyler Dohmeier said.

“Any time you can get 16goals and only give up one

speaks to a total team effort.We certainly have areas we

need to continue to work on.”• On deck: Middleton was

at top-ranked Verona Monday,then travels to Janesville

Craig Thursday. The

Cardinals are then at MadisonEast May 2.

Middleton boys lacrosseteam exploded for eight goals

in the second period last

Thursday night and went on todrub Sun Prairie, 16-1, for itsthird consecutive win.

The Cardinals, ranked 10thin the latest LAXPOWER rat-

ings, improved to 3-0 in con-ference and 3-1 overall.

Middleton set the tone mid-way through the first period,

scoring three goals to grab a3-0 lead heading to the second

period.Senior Travis Raffel and

freshman Nate Kapp contin-ued their dominance of win-

ning faceoffs, helpingMiddleton explode for eight

goals in the second period.The defense of Justin

Sarbacker, William Braxton,T.J. Jenkins, Gray Woodward,

Erik Slater and goaltenderTyler Dohmeier was also ter-

rific as Middleton grabbed an11-0 halftime lead.

Middleton extended its


Boys lacrosse team rolls MHS hammers

Sun Prairie


17/20

sweeping the Cardinals.

But Middleton erupted for six

runs in the bottom of the fifth

inning against reliever Kaity

Peloquin.

Rachel Everson doubled

and with one out, then Shelby

Ballweg homered to trim

Craig’s lead to 5-3. With two

outs and runners on first andthird, Makenzie Kopp’s

grounder was booted by sec-

ond baseman Maddie Spry,

allowing Lauren Banke to

score.

Freshman Ashley Bindl fol-

lowed with a double to left

center to drive in two runs.

Bindl advanced to third when

the relay throw went to home,

and scored when another

throw got past the third base-

man.

“That was a huge hit by

Ashley,” Hibner said. “She

sure didn’t look or play like a

freshman on Saturday.”

Craig scored once in the topof the sixth and pulled within

7-6. But Middleton added two

runs in the bottom of the

inning on Banke’s two-out

double to left center that drove

in Ballweg and Hanna Fisher.

The insurance runs proved

extremely valuable after the

Cougars scored two runs in the

seventh. But Middleton pitch-

er Kopp got Julia Humphrey

to strike out to end the game.

In the first game,

Middleton overcame a 3-0

deficit with a three-run fourth

inning. Banke had a two-run,

two-out single and Bailey

Kalscheur followed with atriple to right to score Banke.

Craig answered with a run

in the bottom of the fourth,

though. Then the Cougars

roughed up Middleton starter

and eventual loser Banke for

three more runs in the sixth

inning.

“We made too many mis-

takes in the field and you can’t

do that against a very good

team like Janesville Craig,”

Hibner said. “(Craig pitcher

Jenna) Brandt also did a great

job of keeping us off-balance

at the plate. There’s a reason

they came into the game unde-

feated.”Middleton also rolled past

Madison West, 13-0, last

Wednesday in a game stopped

after five innings due to the

10-run rule. The Cardinals

also drilled Beloit Memorial,

15-4, last Thursday.

Middleton’s Banke struck

out six and threw a complete-

game, two-hit shutout in the

Cardinals win over the

Regents.

Middleton struck for eightruns in th

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