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Join Upland Hills Medical Center at the Cobble Stone Coffee House in Dodgeville on Wednesday, March 27 from 8-9 a.m. for a cup of coffee and good conversation; our treat! Meet

orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Self and physician assistant Melissa Messer. They are the team that specializes in joint health, sports medicine and soft tissue repairs, to get you back

to moving comfortably. Dr. Barbara Hostetler and Dr. Jenifer Dankyi will also be joining us this morning for conversation and coffee. Free and open to the public.

Coffee with the Doc

Listening | see page 13

Students | see page 15

1

BY DAVID TIMMERMANnewseditor@tds.net State Sen. Howard Mar-

klein (R–Spring Green) is holding a series of listening session on the state’s 2019–21 budget.

Marklein came to Schreiner Memorial Library in Lancast-er March 11, along with Rep. Travis Tranel (R–Cuba City), who told attendees, “What you say here today is impor-tant.”

Tranel opened the listen-ing session he and Marklein, a member of the budget-writ-ing Joint Finance Commit-tee, were there to get input on what people in Southwest Wisconsin see as priorities for the next two years.

“We make those decisions based on we hear in our dis-trict,” said Tranel.

Opinions they did get, as 24 of the roughly 60 people in the audience addressed the legislators on what they thought should, and should not be done by the state.

The mix of local officials and residents talked about a diverse set of issues, ranging from different public health topics, to challenges with daycare and retaining vol-unteer EMTs, and from dark stores to legalizing marijuana.

One topic brought up again and again was transportation, first addressed by the first speaker, Grant County High-way Commissioner Dave Lambert. Lambert continued to stress that despite increases in the most recent year, the funding for local road aid is

still far behind what it was a decade ago.

Lambert noted that about 100 of the 300 miles of roads in Grant County are at the end of their lifespan. “It doesn’t mean we fix it; it means we drive it in poor condition,” he said afterward.

One reason transportation was one of the top items dis-cussed was because of Gov. Tony Evers’ proposal to raise the fuel tax by 8 cents per gal-lon to help pay for increased transportation spending.

Lambert and others said they wanted to make sure that if there were increases, the money was better distributed. Several in the audience felt the eastern side of the state got more of the lion’s share of the transportation funding on expensive new projects, tak-ing away from maintenance.

“I don’t want all of this money going to Milwaukee or Madison,” said Bill Biefer, who felt his business would feel an impact of $600 to $700 if the tax was implemented, something he could swallow if it went to local projects, in-stead of the large interchange projects. “They don’t need to have to have pretty bridges.”

Wilbur Austin wanted a moratorium on new road projects, with money to go to-wards maintenance.

“It seems the state should be a little wider than Dod-geville to Milwaukee,” said Mark Bode, who noted that if the money wasn’t distributed equally, there should be a civil war about it.

Lancaster Mayor David Varnam noted that the state Department of Transportation was drawing up plans to re-surface Wisconsin 81 between Lancaster and Platteville, but did not have funding for it un-til 2021.

“Any way you can move that up would be appreciat-ed,” he said.

Varnam also addressed the efforts to eliminate the “dark stores” loophole, where own-ers of commercial properties try to get lower assessments by comparing their buildings to empty storefronts.

“It’s unfair to residents, un-fair to other businesses,” he said.

Conservation was ad-dressed multiple times during the session. Jennifer Jackson asked to look at ways to pro-tect streams that get hit hard during the frequent violent storms, washing everything, including a dead cow she found while kayaking around Cassville, into the streams.

Grant County Zoning, Sanitation, Land and Water Conservation Director Lynda Schweikert asked for the state to finally fund conservation programs to the level that had been set by the Legislature 17 years ago so they can take on more of the mandates the counties have been assigned by the state and federal gov-ernments.

Schweikert noted that coun-ties funded $171,893 of the ongoing groundwater study, which is surveying not only

The Wisconsin State Bird has began hoppin’ and boppin’ around Fennimore once more. In the recent days many residents have reported seeing robins flood to their yards in search of something to eat. Many see the robin as a hopeful sign of spring, however, many robins, including those in Wisconsin do not actually migrate. The lovely little orange chested bird found jumping around lawns tend to hide out in wooded areas and are reported to endure tundra like weather rather well. Their survival is dependent on berries and shivering the winter weather way. It is noted that the birds are known to become intoxicated when only eating honeysuckle berries throughout the cold months. When robins do find themselves migrating further south, it’s typically because of lack of food. Robins are prolific breeders with low conservation concern. They typically have three successful broods in a single year. About half of the robin population in any given year will make it to the next year, with some lucky robins reported to have lived upwards of nearly 14 years old. Although they are our state bird they are common place across the entire united states. You’re likely to find them just about anywhere in North America. Photo by Emily Schendel

Signs of spring

Listening sessions tackle a variety of community topics

Timothy’s owner Pam Manning is shown with chef Greg Adkins at the Taste of Fennimore. They offered Timothy’s version of beef sliders smothered with onions and special seasoning. Timothy’s Cafe was the top vote getter in the Peoples Choice Eatery category.

Experience a look inside life with dementia

According to the World Health Organization, the total number of new cases of de-mentia each year worldwide is nearly 7.7 million, implying one new case every four sec-onds. ADRC of Eagle Coun-try Prairie du Chien, Crossing Rivers Health, AGE-u-cate® Training Institute and De-mentiaLive® are collaborat-ing to offer a free innovative program where community members can experience the challenges of living with de-mentia. DementiaLive® is a high impact, dementia simu-lation experience that im-merses participants into life with dementia, resulting in a deeper understanding of what it’s like to live with cogni-tive impairment and sensory change.

The event will take place at Crossing Rivers Health in Prairie du Chien on Thursday, April 25 and Friday, April 26. Each day, there will be five different sessions where participants will have the op-portunity to participate in a real-life simulation of demen-

tia using specialized gear in a safe, experiential setting.

“As the population of people living with dementia rapidly expands, providers must learn new ways to un-derstand, and respond to, the needs of these individuals,” explained Roby Fuller, Direc-tor of ADRC of Eagle County Prairie du Chien. “Demen-tiaLive® provides caregivers with a first-hand understand-ing of what dementia is and the constant struggle affecting individuals with dementia as they go about their daily lives with the hope that this greater understanding will lead to better care.”

Five different sessions – each 45 minutes long – are available each day, however, space is limited. Pre-regis-tration is required and ac-cepted up to the day of the event. Interested individuals can register at crossingrivers.org/dementialive. Questions can be directed to the ADRC of Eagle Country Prairie du Chien at 877.794.2372.

A Fennimore man charged with felony and misdemeanor counts for allegedly selling, then refusing to turn over and damaging, a pickup truck was placed on two years probation on 11 charges in Grant County Circuit Court.

David Curtis Line, 39, was convicted of six counts of misdemeanor bail jumping, three counts of violation of a harassment restraining order, and two counts of disorderly conduct.

Charges of misdemeanor battery — domestic abuse, two counts of felony bail jumping, and an additional violation of a harassment restraining order were dismissed, according to court records.

Line’s preliminary hear-ing is scheduled for Friday at 11:15 a.m. Line is free on a $1,000 signature bond with the condition he stay away from a Lancaster address that is listed in court documents as Line’s former address.

Line also faces a charge of operating a vehicle without owner consent, a felony, and two misdemeanor charges of criminal damage to property.

According to the criminal complaint filed by Fenni-more police, the owner of a 1994 Ford F-150 pickup truck contacted police April 16, al-leging that Line refused to surrender the vehicle after it was purchased from him. The victim purchased the vehicle in October 2017. Between the time the victim purchased the truck and a subsequent award of the vehicle in small claims court April 13, Line is alleged to have purposely damaged and driven the vehicle without consent.

The responding police of-ficer noted impact marks on both sides of the truck; smashed headlights, taillights, turn signals, front grill, wind-shield, rear window, and driv-er’s side window; and all four tires were slashed, as was the dashboard, seats, and head-liner.

A witness statement alleged seeing Line inflict at least some of the damage and be-ing told by Line of other dam-age done later, according to police.

Line sentenced

on 11 charges

Howell pleads guilty

A 43-year-old Platteville man was placed on four years probation, including 90 days in jail, on six Grant County charges and three Lafayette County charges.

William A. Howell pleaded guilty in Grant County Circuit Court Feb. 25 to possession of methamphetamine as a re-peater, felony bail jumping as a repeater, misdemeanor bail jumping as a repeater, posses-sion of drug paraphernalia as a repeater, possession of nar-cotic drugs as a repeater, and carrying a concealed knife as a repeater.

Three additional counts of felony bail jumping and three additional counts of misde-meanor bail jumping were dismissed, according to court records.

Howell then pleaded no contest in Lafayette County

On March 5 and 6 a group of 12 Fennimore High School accounting students traveled to Madison and the Wisconsin Dells for a career exploration trip. This trip was funded by a grant from WICPA, Wis-consin Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which Mrs. Goss, Business Teacher at FHS, received earlier this year.

During their visit, the stu-dents met with 10 Accoun-tants and Business Profes-sionals to explore the daily activities and expectations within the Accounting and Business fields. They vis-ited Poppy CPA Firm in Wis-consin Dells to start off their trip. Barb Poppy, owner and CPA, shared valuable lessons regarding working as an ac-countant. She opened up her office and house for the stu-dents to learn and they got to meet the office mascot, her dog named Digit. Poppy also told the students to “Get their CPA license, so they can go anywhere.” She focused on how building relationships and always learning is the key to success. Haylie Birchman, senior accounting student,

says, “It was great to see how work doesn’t have to be so stressful, they have a casual atmosphere that really im-pressed me.”

That afternoon, the stu-dents had the pleasure of meeting with a panel of busi-ness professionals from the area. Kevin Gruber, Business Manager at Knuckleheads; Katie Gruman, Business Manager for Buffalo Phil’s; and Michelle Zuelke, Gen-eral Manager of the Outlets at the Dells, all took time to share their experiences with the class. Gruber shared his past experiences in manage-ment and accounting. He also provided advice for the young professional, “You get out…what you give.” Gru-man shared similar thoughts about business roles and ex-plained her combined role of HR, IT, PR and Accounting at Buffalo Phil’s. Gruman told the students she loved ac-counting because “Numbers never cry and they don’t ask for Thursdays off.” Simply put it shared the comfort that

A Taste of success

Students travel to the Dells for career exploration

Howell | see page 13