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Whitewater becomes a movie set

The Dance Factory performs "The Nutcracker"

Suspect dead after chase

Walworth County woman knows how to entertain

Holiday performances

After four years, a cat returns home

Queen of the holiday cookies

Didn't we know that already?

Parade weekend in Walworth County

Mystery place: Dec. 7, 2008

Oct. 2008 stories

Sept. 2008 stories

Aug. 2008 stories

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Friday, December 12, 2008

Whitewater becomes a movie set

A 1913 steam train belches clouds into the air Thursday during filming of a documentary. Terry Mayer/staff

Downtown Whitewater looked a bit like Hollywood Thursday during filming of a documentary planned for Milwaukee Public Television.


The Leclerc Brothers Motion Pictures' film is set in the 1920s, and tells the story of a small-town mayor who announces the completion of a rail line.

The documentary is being produced for the Wisconsin and Southern railroad, and featured an original 1913 steam engine, as well as actors dressed in period costumes.

Filming took place at the historic train station in downtown Whitewater, and extras arrived from around the Midwest to take part.

More Leclerc Brothers films HERE.

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Thursday, December 11, 2008

The Dance Factory performs "The Nutcracker"

Students watch ballerinas rehearse for "The Nutcracker." Terry Mayer/photo

Traditions are what make the holidays, and for many years one of the best has been the local production of "The Nutcracker" at the Irvin L. Young Auditorium on the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus.

Writer Lisa Schmelz and photographer Terry Mayer visited the Dance Factory in Delavan to sit in on rehearsals for this annual extravaganza.

Here's what they found ...

A holiday tradition at the Irvin L. Young Auditorium

By Lisa M. Schmelz
Photographs by Terry Mayer

Most of the year, Travis and Lisa Larson of Delavan are an average American couple. They work hard. They own a home. They attend church. And they have two children, Corban, 8, and Merissa, 5.


This holiday season, though, they decided to opt for something a bit more out of the ordinary. They are appearing in the classic holiday ballet "The Nutcracker," at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at the Irvin L. Young Theater on the University of Wisconsin Whitewater campus.

Travis, a software engineer, and Lisa, a homemaker, don't have any dance experience to speak of, and waltzing across a stage as party guests in a ballet is not something they had at the top of their to-do list.

But Lisa had signed up for adult dance lessons at The Dance Factory in Delavan, which is staging "The Nutcracker," and one thing led to another.

Now, the pair are part of a ballet that has become synonymous with Christmas.

"It's something to do together," said Lisa, smoothing the bodice of her amethyst-colored, hoop-skirted gown off-stage at a recent rehearsal. "We get to be together and it's something we can do without the kids."

Lisa says she had to twist Travis' arm only "a little" to get him on stage to dance in a dream world of giant mice and sugarplum fairies.

"Being kind of a nerdy engineer, this brings me out of my realm and expands the things that I do," said Travis, clad in a turn-of-the-century tuxedo with tails. "We're on stage for 20 minutes in the party scene."

Tina Lendman, owner of the Dance Factory and the artistic director for her company's ninth annual production of "The Nutcracker," says not every couple is cut out for dancing in a ballet.

"I don't know a lot of men who would participate in a quote-unquote ballet. I give Travis a lot of credit," says Lendman. "He's laying the groundwork for his son. Real men can dance."

Lendman adds that the Larsons aren't the only married couple in the performance. Mitch and Debbie Burtard of Elkhorn also are in this year's production. Debbie plays an adult party guest and Mitch plays Mr. Stahlbaum, Clara's father.

Nutcracker in a nutshell

Nearly everyone has heard of "The Nutcracker." You know it involves ballet. You know there's a villain. You know there's some leaping heroines and a dashing prince.

But if you're like many people, your knowledge of this fabled-tale-turned-ballet likely ends there.

For a Nutcracker tutorial, we turned to Stephen Brellenthin, a 16-year-old junior at Elkhorn Area High School. For the past seven years, Brellenthin has been dancing in The Dance Factory's "The Nutcracker" and he summarizes the plot like this:

"Basically, Clara is the lead and she is at a Christmas party and her uncle gives her the Nutcracker. Her brother gets jealous and takes it from her and breaks it. Then she falls asleep.

"In our ballet, she's dreaming. Then basically she grows smaller and the mice of her house become, like, human-size. Then the Nutcracker fights the Rat Queen and the Nutcracker starts losing.

"Clara throws her shoe at the Rat Queen and distracts him and then the Nutcracker is able to kill the Rat Queen.

"Then the Nutcracker turns into Clara's prince and they go back to his kingdom, and everybody throws a big party for Clara and dances for her.

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Suspect dead after chase

LAKE GENEVA -- An attempted armed robbery in Geneva Township Tuesday night resulted in a deadly chase.

Two armed men wearing ski masks entered the Handi Mart on County Road H shortly before 10 p.m. and demanded money from the clerk, according to a Geneva Police Department news release.

A customer saw the suspects leave and called 911.

Within minutes officers saw a vehicle matching the description of an armed robbery in another jurisdiction the evening before.

Officers stopped the vehicle, but while approaching it the vehicle took off. The suspects led police on a chase that ended at Schofield Road on the south shore of Lake Como, where they left their vehicle and took off running across the lake.

As police continued their chase, one of the suspects, a 19-year-old man from Illinois, shot himself with a 12 gauge shotgun, according the news release. He died at the scene.

The other suspect, a 20-year-old man from Illinois, was arrested and taken to the Walworth County jail pending charges.

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Walworth County woman knows how to entertain

photo via www.jsonline.com

WILLIAMS BAY -- Stacey Reszler of Williams Bay apparently can throw a party. At least, that's what those who know her say.

She recently was profiled in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Great Host series.

She was nominated by five local women, and although they all had different things to say about her culinary skills, all agreed that when it comes to cooking and entertaining, she's exceptional.

Reszler was nominated by Clare Malloy of Williams Bay, Lynne Frost of Fontana, Debbie Rhodes of Delavan and Jennifer Special of Walworth.

Story HERE.


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Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Holiday performances


"Christmas with A Twist" 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday evenings, and 2 p.m. Sundays from Dec. 5 to Dec. 21 at The Abbey Resort.

The Lake Geneva Theatre Company presents this evening of comic, modern one-act plays.

Performances are all seats are $25. After the huge success of this summer's "Private Lives," the theater company took up holiday residency at The Abbey Resort for the Christmas season.

www.lakegenevatheatre.org

More shows when post continues ...

Dec. 4 to Dec. 21

Holiday Extravaganza Through Dec. 21 at the Dancing Horses Theatre, located at 5065 Wisconsin Highway 50, Delavan. This dazzling holiday spectacle features an array of horse breeds. Visually stunning, the show takes place in a state-of-the-art, yet intimate, 300-seat theater. Special lunch with Prancer and the Dancing Horses Dec. 6-7, 13-14 and 20-21. Call (262) 728-8200 or visit www.thedancinghorses.com.

Thur.-Sat. in Decmeber

"Hooray for Holidays!" Holiday luncheon at noon Tuesdays through Sundays before the 1:30 p.m. performance; Dinner at 6 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays before the 7:30 p.m. performance at Grand Geneva. For reservations, call (800) 558-3417 or (262) 248-8811.

www.grandgeneva.com




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Monday, December 08, 2008

After four years, a cat returns home

LAKE GENEVA -- A cat from Lake Geneva, last seen by its owner four years ago, recently was reunited with its owner thanks to some modern technology.

The cat was found wandering in Mount Pleasant, Wis., two weeks ago, and the Countryside Humane Society in Racine was called to pick it up.

Staff scanned for a microchip and found one. It included contact information for the owner, a woman who lives near Lake Geneva.

According to the shelter, the cat hadn't been seen since it was a 7-month-old kitten.

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Sunday, December 07, 2008

Queen of the holiday cookies

photo via www.jsonline.com

LAKE GENEVA -- Fern Duffy of Lake Geneva also found herself profiled in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel after winning their holiday cookie contest.

Duffy told the newspaper she got the recipe for her choco-butter sweets from a friend about 40 years ago.

She didn't like the granulated-sugar cookie base - it was too sweet. So she substituted a powdered-sugar Russian-tea-cake dough and liked that better.

The judges liked the cookie for its mix of creamy and crisp textures and its rich flavors, which include pecans, coconut and chocolate.

Her recipe is HERE.


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Didn't we know that already?

I propose dissolving the National Bureau of Economic Research.

That's the group which announced the United States is in recession -- and has been since December 2007.

Among the members of the bureau are 16 American Nobel Prize winners in economics and six past chairmen of the President's Council of Economic Advisers.

It's taken them a year to figure out what the rest of us have known since at least last spring.

The bureau's latest analysis was issued Monday and was reported as news in the New York Times.

Wall Street investors, apparently taken by surprise, pulled out of the market, leading to a 680-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average.

According to its Web site, the bureau is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works.

But do we really need an organization to tell us what we already know?

If our political leaders still are wondering why Joe the Plumber has a hard time believing Wall Street cares about Main Street, here's a classic example.

Keep in mind, however, that many economists remain unwilling to throw in the towel.

The generally accepted definition of a recession is when the country's gross domestic product declines for at least two consecutive quarters.

The economy declined in the quarter from July through September, but we won't know about the fourth quarter until the end of the month.

I'm no economist, but I'm guessing another decline.

Here's the data people around here are working with:

On Friday, the Labor Department reported the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent.

The rising rate is easy to see in Walworth County.

Last week, USG announced it would close its Delavan plant within the next couple of weeks. The week before that, Walworth-based MPC announced layoffs at its Prairie du Chien facility.

Conn-Selmer recently closed the Holton Band Instrument facility in Elkhorn and Automated Building Components closed their truss plant in Sharon over the summer.

Those layoffs are in addition to the announced closing of the GM Assembly plant in Janesville. The ripple effects of that move have spread throughout southern Wisconsin.

Detroit's executives returned to Washington this week (they're reportedly car-pooling this time) with a plan for using a bailout to turn their companies around and save the jobs that rely on the auto industry.

I hope they really have a plan; otherwise, wouldn't $25 billion only prolong their inevitable bankruptcy?

It reminds me of the old joke about the farmer who won $1 million in the lottery. "What will you do with the money?" a neighbor asked. "Well, I guess I'll keep farming until it's gone," he replied.

That's not to say that there are no other jobs to be had in this economy.

My 16-year-old son's best friend recently got a job at a big-box retailer. "It was easy," he said. "You can apply online."

For him, the economy works fine. But he doesn't have a family to feed or mortgage to pay.

This economic slowdown, the one we found out is officially a recession, is affecting main-street businesses, to be sure. I'm just not convinced it's in the way those getting a piece of the $700 billion pie explain it.

The woman who cuts my kids' hair doesn't have a liquidity problem. Her problem is lack of customers. She says she still has them, but they come less frequently.

To get by, she says she'll wait to spend money on routine capital investments, like replacing chairs or hair-washing stations.

Then, there's my banker friend who says there's still money to lend, but the difficulty is how to value collateral.

Small businesses that use property as collateral, for example, know the value of their assets have dwindled, but no one is sure to what things are worth anymore.

I wonder how many others are losing patience with groups like National Bureau of Economic Research, which tells us something we already know.

What we could really use is someone telling us something we didn't know, like how we'll get out of our economic mess.

Dan Plutchak is an associate editor for CSI Media LLC, publisher of Walworth County Sunday.

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Friday, December 05, 2008

Parade weekend in Walworth County

Santa and Mrs. Claus Thursday night during Whitewater's holiday parade. Lynn Greene photo

It's holiday parade weekend in Walworth County. Whitewater kicked things off last night (above) and the Burlington parade is tonight.

Saturday's the big day, with parades in East Troy, Elkhorn, Palmyra, Lake Geneva and Mukwonago.

Details when the post continues ...

Friday, Dec. 5


27th annual Burlington Christmas parade, 6:30 p.m. Dec. 5 through downtown Burlington. Call the Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce, (262)_763-6044, www.burlingtonchamber.org.

Saturday, Dec. 6


East Troy Santa Parade Train arrives at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 6 on its annual journey from the North Pole to East Troy. Presented by the East Troy Area Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the East Troy Electric Railroad, the Santa Parade Train will transport Santa and his entourage into East Troy by rail on his mission to light the Bob Barutha Memorial Christmas Tree on East Troy's Village Square.

Elkhorn's 27th annual Christmas Parade, 1:30 p.m. Dec. 6. Hosted by the Elkhorn Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Center. See hundreds of entries, including floats, bands, media personalities, novelty acts, Santa and Mrs. Claus. (262) 723-5788, www.elkhorn-wi.org.

Palmyra's Lioness Christmas Parade starting at 10:30 a.m. on Main Street, Palmyra. Call Mary Squire, (262)_495-2503.

33rd annual Great Electric Children's Christmas Parade at 5 p.m. Dec. 6 through downtown Lake Geneva. (262) 248-4416.

11th annual Mukwonago Christmas Parade at 2 p.m. Dec. 6 beginning at the high school. Midnight Magic town-wide holiday extravaganza from 10 a.m. until midnight. Fireworks at 10 p.m. Trolleys available for a historical tour of Mukwonago, dog-sled pull, horse-drawn carriage rides and holiday music. The Market Place at Parkview Middle School will be full of crafters, vendors and artisans displaying their wares. Visit www.mukwonagochamber.org or call (262) 363-7758 for more information.




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Mystery place: Dec. 7, 2008

Click HERE for Ginny Hall's mystery place.

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Work with farm women honored

Mary Bub, center, at the luncheon for the Fred Lindner Prize, with Carol Eschner, director of Interfaith Older Adult Programs and Ed Olson, Ejj Olson & Associates.

ELKHORN -- In 1997, Mary Bub formed the Wisconsin Rural Women's Initiative, a grass-roots organization that promotes well-being among Wisconsin women living on farms and in rural areas.

For her efforts, Bub was presented with the 2008 Fred Lindner Prize for Social Innovation in Wisconsin Nov. 11 at an award ceremony at Pier Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Bub received a $5,000 prize; another $5,000 went to the WRWI.

The Fred Lindner award provides the prize to an individual over age 60 who "has demonstrated uncommon vision, determination and entrepreneurialism in addressing community, state and national problems."

More on the award HERE.

The Week profiled Bub and her family in 2007 HERE.

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Thursday, December 04, 2008

Rep. Ryan talks about the economy

As Wisconsin struggles with the impacts of the faltering national economy, Congress could play a role in easing the state’s projected shortfalls and growing unemployment levels.

This week, Here and Now will talk to Rep. Ron Kind (D-La Crosse) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Janesville) about the state’s economic outlook from a congressional perspective.

The program is anchored by Frederica Freyberg and will air at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5 on Wisconsin Public Television (WPT).

WMVS-TV in Milwaukee will air this edition of Here and Now at 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 7.

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Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Lake Geneva native named pastor

LAKE GENEVA - David Fleischmann, a Lake Geneva native, recently was named pastor of Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church and Trinity Lutheran Church of Austin, Minn.

Fleischmann was recently profiled in the Austin Daily Herald newspaper HERE.

He had been an assistant grocery store manager, when he decided he wanted more from his life. A pastor he knew encouraged him to join the seminary, which set Fleischmann on a new course.

The congregations are part of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

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Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Downtown Whitewater chooses new board members

WHITEWATER - Bob Herold, Lacey Reichwald and Joe Coburn have been elected to the Downtown Whitewater board of directors. Geoff Hale will return to serve for the next two years.

The new members join current members Jan Bilgen Craggs, Bruce Birling, Kevin Brunner, Jon Kachel and John Patterson.

The board oversees an annual budget of approximately $100,000, according to Executive Director Tamara Brodnicki.

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Monday, December 01, 2008

Delavan manufacturer closing

DELAVAN - A Delavan manufacturer is closing because of the sagging housing industry.

USG's Delavan substrate plant will close in early December, affecting 25 workers, according to Robert Williams, director of corporate communications.

Williams said the company has been hit hard by the soft building market, and the move is part of its cost-saving efforts.

USG also is closing five other plants nationwide.

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Better e-mail address for Dan Plutchak

The e-mail address in my column asking for stories about how Pearl Harbor affected people's lives isn't working.

Here's a better one: dplutchak@communityshoppers.com

I'll be working on the pages starting Wednesday morning, so people forward your info before then.

Thanks,

Dan Plutchak

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