It was a year for weathering hard times and enjoying good times
By Patricia Bogumil
Editor
Here’s a look back at some of the stories that impacted the local news scene throughout 2012.
1. We vote
State politics sometimes spilled over into the local scene in 2012.
Local voters came out in droves June 5, determinedly standing in long lines to vote up or down in a special state recall election that retained Gov. Scott Walker in office. He had angered unions, their workers and labor rights supporters with newly enacted state laws that impacted collective bargaining, compensation, retirement, health insurance and sick leave of public sector employees.
To the relief of everyone on both sides with a landline telephone, the robo-calling and campaign advertising ended immediately – only to resume in the fall elections.
2. How we vote
Early in the year, Wisconsin’s on again, off again Voter ID Law (keep in mind: say it (your name), show it (your ID), sign it (the poll book)) challenged local municipal clerks, as well as the voting public.
Photo ID requirements were in force at primary voting held Feb. 21, but then canceled for the rest of elections held in 2012.
The Voter ID law was shelved pending legal challenges to its constitutionality. At year’s end, it continues to be tied up in the courts.
3. Police news
• An idea to replace the local policing services of the Racine County Sheriff’s Department for the Village of Waterford with policing by the Town of Waterford was explored, discussed at length, then dropped, after the village board voted to stay with the Racine County Sheriff’s Office for 2013.
Proponents had argued a joint town/village arrangement would have been less costly and just as effective. Opponents disagreed.
Local police news of note in 2012 included:
• a Dec. 1 hit-and-run accident in which a 13-year-old Waterford boy walking home from the downtown holiday parade sustained multiple injuries.
That evening, police transported a Waterford township woman suspected of the crime to the Racine County jail.
She was released from jail that evening on a temporary bond. No charges have been reported filed in the incident. A request for updated information sent to the Racine County Sheriff’s Office was not answered.
• Scott D. Mertins Sr. is currently in the Dodge Correctional Institute awaiting trial after being charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the shooting death of an Ohio man during an armed robbery in the Town of Yorkville in the early morning hours of Aug. 26.
He is next scheduled for a Feb. 25, 2013 pre-trial conference in Racine County Circuit Court.
• Annemarie Schulte, 37, who grew up in Wind Lake and attended Waterford schools. She pled guilty July 6 to two counts of felony child sexploitation in Waukesha County Court, for emailing explicit pictures and video of her sexually assaulting a 4-year-old child to an individual she met online at a fetish web site.
• the March 15 death of 53-year-old Daniel Baumeister of Kansasville, found dead from a self-inflicted injury after a domestic incident evolved into a full-blown standoff with the county SWAT team at a Town of Burlington residence;
• Melody Butt, an East Troy woman, who pled guilty to felony child neglect resulting in death, after her 11-month-old twins were found floating dead in her apartment’s bathtub Sept. 22.
She told police she put one of the twins in the tub, turned on the water and then fell asleep. She speculated that another child in the home may have put the second twin in the bathtub.
4. Absolutely cool
New businesses and new initiatives serving the area opened in 2012.
• The Creative Arts Resource & Network (CARaN) of Western Racine County celebrated the opening of its new facility at 220 E. Main St. in downtown Waterford with an open house April 7. Workshops in various materials and art mediums are now offered for adults with varying abilities.
• A new post-secondary school for adults with autism spectrum disorder, Wisconsin Independent Life College, also opened in September in the Waterford downtown.
• The Wind Lake Street Fair was resurrected Sept. 16 after a three-year hiatus as the St. Clare Street Fair, featuring big crowds, great weather, easy parking, lots of vendors and plenty of fun and food for everyone. The 2013 street fair is planned for Sundays, May 19 and Sept. 15.
The St. Vincent de Paul Society held a ceremonial groundbreaking Oct. 8 for a new pantry and thrift store in Waterford. Unfortunately, that was the only groundbreaking the project saw in 2012, with a permits issue said to be the reason holding up the works. The project is expected to hopefully move forward in 2013.
• An inaugural River’s Edge Art Walk featured 25 artists exhibiting and selling their artwork at 18 different business locations throughout the Waterford downtown area Oct. 19. Throughout the downtown, musicians made a joyful noise at different locations and businesses and artists provided beverages and treats for patrons to enjoy as they strolled through the gallery areas.
Organizers now are looking ahead to next year and plans to draw an even greater turnout.
5. Blown away
An amazing weekend that drew around 20,000 attendees from around the area concluded July 22 when the second annual Waterford Hot Air Balloon Festival pulled up stakes. Plans for 2013 include even more fun and amazement.
6. Aggies forever
Although it closed more than 50 years ago, an all-school reunion of the Racine County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy, which operated in Rochester from 1912 to 1959, was held in Racine Sept. 15. The reunion drew about 250 former students and their spouses from all counties of southeast Wisconsin, as well as 11 states, representing classes from 1934 to 1962.
7. Highways
Preparations for major highway reconstruction projects set to begin in 2013 were handled at both the state and local levels in 2012.
A reconstruction of highways 83 and 20 through the Village of Waterford is planned keeping the “wow!” factor prominently in mind, as community sensitive solutions that deliver aesthetic enhancements to the downtown are planned, including new lighting, sidewalks and pedestrian crossings.
In Tichigan, a major reconstruction of Highway 164 with multiple detours will begin in March, adding to the challenges local motorists will face once the spring comes.
8. Public health
The Village of Union Grove was the first to pull out of a group of 10 west-end communities that for years have contracted with Aurora/Western Racine County for mandated public health services, like disease monitoring and reporting.
Union Grove signed on for those services in 2013 with Central Racine County Health Department, which is based in Franksville.
The Town of Waterford made plans to switch those services over to ProHealth Care Medical Associates of Waukesha, but its plans were upended in late December when state officials questioned whether ProHealth could provide the mandated services.
The state also questioned the legality of the town dropping out of the Aurora/Western Racine group without first giving a one-year notice.
As of press time, a Jan. 3 meeting was scheduled at the Waterford Town Hall with representatives of Central Racine to try and finalize a deal for 2013.
The Town of Yorkville has given notice to Aurora/Western Racine that it will not renew in 2014.
9. All’s well that ends well
Farmers and gardeners in southeast Wisconsin suffered through a record-setting summer drought that especially hit hard in the Village of Waterford.
The village’s deep well totally failed June 23, resulting in a loss of more than 80 percent of the village’s daily water capacity. A total ban on outdoor watering lasted until July 2, when a newly installed well pump began operating, followed by a ban on daytime sprinkling as well as a ban on open burning.
Throughout Racine County, open burning was banned for a time in most municipalities.
10. Object of the Year
If there is such a thing as an Object of the Year, we’d have to vote for the lowly grinder pump, a previously unmentionable item that month after month received news coverage that chronicled the saga of:
• the reasons new fees were voted in for many grinder pump users in the Town of Waterford Sanitary District,
• followed by reasons those same fees were voted out after a huge public outcry,
• followed by a special Aug. 14 recall election that bounced the former board president under whose leadership the new fees had been proposed.
At year’s end, the board’s new president, Dan Dickinson, had begun preliminary talks with town officials to determine the efficacy of replacing the Waterford Sanitary District with a new Utility District that, if formed, would be under town control.
The idea of forming a utility district was explored last spring by the district’s previous attorney.
11. Got it done.
The second time around proved to be the charm May 15, when a $1.895 million referendum for athletic field improvements at Union Grove Union High passed.
Initial plans laid down for spring 2013 call for installing a rubberized track, installing synthetic fields, putting in new lighting and installing new bleachers and a retaining wall.
If all goes according to plan, the project should be done by Fall 2013.
Superintendent Al Mollerskov noted after the referendum that UGUHS has been the only school in its conference using an asphalt rather than rubberized track and has not hosted a home conference track meet for 15 years.
12. Service with a smile
It was a picture perfect day for the 32nd annual Union Grove Lion’s Club Chicken BBQ and classic car show last June.
The weather was amazing, Lions Club volunteers worked to cook and sell nearly 2,100 chicken halves and huge crowds showed up to enjoy the great food and classic cars.
But there was something, or someone, missing.
Bill Heinz, who lived, worked and volunteered in the community he loved for so many years, passed away May 26, at age 87.
The Lions Club Chicken BBQ will undoubtedly go on in the future.
Other members will take on the duties so diligently performed by Bill Heinz, for so many years.
But it won’t be the same.
“He was always pushing us, always reminding us to keep working hard,” Lion Fred Lamping said, adding that Bill has left some big shoes to fill.
“He’s gonna be missed – not just at the chicken BBQ, but all the time,” Lamping said.
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