Has the race for the 32nd State Assembly district already begun?

Even though the election isn't until November of 2006, recent letters to the editor regarding potential candidates for the seat have been coming in fast and furious in last few weeks.

The 32nd District, which encompasses the southern half of Walworth County, except Elkhorn, is currently represented by former county board member Thomas Lothian.

The opening salvo was fired a few weeks back when Tyler August, the chairman of the Walworth County Republican Party and aide to Lothian wrote a letter to local papers lambasting Democrat and city of Delavan council member Ryan Schroeder of pandering for votes during this year's Cornfest parade.

August's letter was followed by further criticism by another aide of Lothian's, Royce DeBow.

That mobilized local Democrats and Schroeder supporters to mount a letter writing campaign of their own taking aim at DeBow.

So why would DeBow and the Schroeder camp be going at it?

In between deadlines at The Week, we've mused about several scenarios pointing to the fall 2006 assembly vote.

Both Schroeder and DeBow have run for the 32nd assembly seat in the past. DeBow ran for the seat as an Independent in 2002, but lost to Lothian. Lothian then turned around and hired DeBow as an aide.

Schroeder was Lothian's Democratic challenger both in 2002 and 2004.

Assuming that Schroeder will once again run for the assembly seat as a Democrat, it could be that August and DeBow are out front softening up Schroeder on Lothian's behalf.

However, if Lothian (he's now 76) decides not to run again, that opens the door for a DeBow bid, and there's no secret that DeBow has set himself up as Lothian's successor.

However the Republican primary could derail the best laid plans.

The obvious launching pad for an assembly run would come from a current county board member. To get the votes needed, a candidate would need the support of one of the population centers, either Delavan, Lake Geneva or the Geneva Lake west area.

Our short list of possible contenders includes Joe Guido of Delavan, who lost to Lothian in the 2004 primary. Then there's Dorothy Burwell, also of Delavan, who was appointed to the board in 1997.

Others with potential include Supervisor Nancy Russell of Lake Geneva, elected to the board in 2002.

On the west end of Geneva Lake is supervisor Jim Van Dreser of Walworth, who also won a seat on the board in 2002.

At any rate, if the mail bag is any indication, this will be a long election cycle.



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Sometimes the best ideas come from having no ideas at all. That's where this week's cover story came from.

Each Thursday we have a story meeting to brainstorm ideas for upcoming issues. A few weeks back, things were grinding to a halt and the conversation began to wander to unrelated topics.

Someone mentioned that they had seen a few trees that were beginning to turn color, and as we were just about to lament the end of summer, voila. How about a story on each of our favorite places in Walworth County to view fall colors?

Walworth County is blessed with a tremendous diversity of landscapes, so coming up with just one was nearly impossible.

My first thought was one of my favorite places in Walworth County, Mounds Park on the east side of Whitewater. The park is home to a variety of native American effigy mounds, some going back nearly 2,000 years. You could say it was the first permanent development in Walworth County (and we've been debating the issue ever since).

As of last week, the colors were just beginning to turn, and the ancient oaks that guard the mounds should provide a splendid canopy at their peak.

But for fall colors, my favorite came down to a small stretch of Bowers Road where it intersects with Kniep Road. On Tuesday morning it was a glorious cathedral of golds and reds.

My short list of candidates for favorite fall color viewing spots includes:

-- Any golf course in Walworth County. Who else spends that much time maintaining their natural beauty?

-- Highway P and Kettle Moraine Drive where it heads into the state park.

-- Racine Street in Delavan from downtown east to Wright Street.

-- The view toward Highway 12 from Valley View and Lookout Valley farms on Springfield Road.

I suspect we've missed quite a few good lookout spots, so if you have a location to nominate, please e-mail a jpeg photo along with a location to theweek@theweekextra.com and we'll include them online or on our Anything Page.
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The Week picked up six awards at the National Newspaper Association convention held in Milwaukee last weekend.

We were honored with three awards in the trade group's Better Newspaper Advertising contest as well as three awards in the Better Newspaper contest.

The NNA's annual convention travels to a different location every year, and because it was just up I-43 this year, we were able to attend and accept the awards in person.

We almost had our chance four years ago when the convention was first planned for Milwaukee. However, fate would have it that the event was scheduled for just after September 11, 2001. Plans were scrapped following the disruption of airline travel in the weeks that followed the terrorist attacks, a reminder of the long ripple effect of that terrible day in American history.

I'm proud to say The Week is always well represented in this contest which draws entries from daily and weekly community newspapers across the country.

According to contest organizers, 2,852 entries from 42 states and the District of Columbia competed in both the BNC and BNAC. The contest was for work done in 2004.
The Week's awards are:

First, excellence in typography-We launched a re-design of the Sunday and Thursday Weeks in January of 2004 which included a new set of fonts for our headlines. The re-design work was led by Carrie Grosenick of the news staff. Grosenick recently moved on to another graphic design job closer to her home in Watertown.

Third, photo essay-This was a thoughtful and inspiring essay by staff photographer Terry Mayer on a summer ski camp for kids in wheelchairs. The camp was organized by UW-Whitewater and run with the help of members of the Minnieska Ski Team.

Honorable Mention, best ag story-Long-time contributor Dale Reich's story, entitled "The end is not near," profiled farmer Dave Kyle. Reich found that Kyle sees a bright and optimistic future in farming. Reich, an instructor at Gateway's Elkhorn campus, is also a community columnist for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Second place, special section or publication-For our "Sunsational" summer guide to Walworth County. The annual publication is created by our advertising sales and creative departments who, at the time, included Beth Kranz, Malinda Obershaw, Shelley Arenz, Pat Devon, Sara Szczap and Sherry Lohse of our advertising sales staff. The creative department staff at the time included Lisa Clifford, Cathy Scott, Kim Beverly, Wendy Shafer, Heidi Schulz and Cindy Lee.

Third, special section or publication-For our "Taste of the Lakes" county menu guide, also created by our advertising sales and creative departments. If you'd like to see one, we've been busy this past week putting the latest edition on newsstands throughout the county.

Third, classifieds section-I think we have the best-read classifieds section in the county, thanks to Delores Murphy, who has since retired, as well as Ruth Nachreiner, Jo Ann Thies, Sandy Clint and Jodi Renwick (they're the cheerful voices you get to talk to when you place your classified ad).

I admit I'm biased-like somebody's mom who thinks her kid's school work is the best thing they've ever seen. But it is nice, on occasion, to know our colleagues in the newspaper industry think the same way too.
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