--- Saturday run planned at Delavan's Rotary Gardens
Delavan's Rotary Gardens will be blooming with activity this summer, beginning with a Garden Gallop 5K run Saturday, May 17, followed by the Fourth Annual Wine and Beer Festival on Sunday, May 18,
Terry Mayer/The Week
Ed Wichman of the city of Delavan measures around the gazebo in Congdon Park. The Delavan Rotary Garden Foundation is working on an expansion of Gazebo Garden in Delavan Rotary Gardens at the park.
Also this year, the board of directors for the Delavan Rotary Garden Foundation announces the expansion of Gazebo Garden in Delavan Rotary Gardens at Congdon Park.
Congdon Park is located at Highway 50 and I-43 on the east side of Delavan.
The Gazebo Garden will include several Kentucky coffee trees, shrubs, perennials and gravel areas. The garden will be completed in 2008.
Upcoming events include:
--- The Garden Gallop 5K Run. The run will take place on May 17 in the Delavan Rotary Gardens at Congdon Park on Hobbs Drive. Registration begins at 8 a.m. Prizes will be awarded and all proceeds will benefit the Delavan Rotary Gardens.
--- The Fourth Annual Wine and Beer Festival is on Sunday, May 18, 2008. The event will be held at the Delavan Yacht Club from 3-5 p.m. There will be door prizes and a silent auction. The cost is $20 with all proceeds benefiting the Delavan Rotary Gardens. Tickets are available from Delavan Rotary Gardens' board members and at the door.
--- New this year is the addition of a Summer Garden Series. Four gardening series will be held in Delavan Rotary Gardens throughout the summer. The series will begin on June 11, 2008 at 6 p.m. with "More Than Just Garden Appreciation--Looking beyond the Oohs and Aahs."
--- July 13 at 4 p.m., "Taking a Walk with the Perennials, Grasses and Roy"--Enjoy wandering through the gardens as Roy Diblik gently delves into the midsummer moments of plants.
--- Aug. 13 at 6 p.m., "Garden Design: Outdoor Rooms"--Learn basic design principles to bring a room plan to life in your own backyard.
--- Sept. 14 at 4 p.m., "Know Maintenance"--Planning for and understanding how to estimate the work load before you plant.
There is a $5 donation for each garden topic. For more information contact Lis Friemoth, (262) 745-2904.
Entertainer Eddie Cash will perform two shows to benefit the Support Our Troops Committee of the Walworth County Council of the American Legion.
The Eddie Cash Show will come to Big Foot High School in Walworth on Saturday, May 17, 2008.
The shows, each different, will be at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for either performance.
Cash has worked on the East Coast, Branson and was in Las Vegas for 18 years. Since leaving the lakes area three years ago, he has been appearing on the West Coast.
His performances center on his telling stories of his musical experience with Elvis, Conway, Bill Black and many other well-known musicians.
Money raised will go toward continuing the Support Our Troops program that has been conducted by the Legion since November of 2004.
During the past three-and-one-half years, the group has sent 543 packages, worth an estimated $16,475, 435 international phone cards, valued at $5,433.75, 1,175 Cool Ties, 177 Cool Dos and many other items to troops with ties to Walworth County who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A rally is held every Monday morning at 11 a.m. in the Government Center on the square in downtown Elkhorn.
Tickets are available from each of the 10 American Legion posts in the county, or at the door. For information call Joe Guido at (262) 728-5093.
Almost 11 months of investigation confirms that Ambrosio Analco acted alone when he shot and killed five people before taking his own life June 9.
"There is no credible information to show that any other individual was involved," Walworth County District Attorney Phil Koss wrote in a letter to the Delavan Police Department upon his review of the investigation.
Analco, 23, killed his ex-girlfriend, Nicole M. McAffee, 19; their infant twin sons, Argenis and Isaiah; Nicole's sister, Ashley L. Huerta, 21; and their friend, Vanessa L. Iverson, 19.
Analco shot his 20-month-old daughter Jasmine in the chest, but she survived.
There was only one witness, Gaspar Huerta, who escaped by jumping off a second-story balcony and running to a neighbor's house to call police.
"His information was invaluable," Delavan Police Chief Tim O'Neill said. "His entire story was backed up by physical evidence. Every shred of evidence only strengthened his story."
O'Neill said it's not often that a case is so clear-cut.
"Sometimes there's a gray area," he said. "But in this particular case, there wasn't one shred of evidence that pointed in any other direction."
Koss wrote in his letter to the Delavan Police Department that no criminal charges will be brought in the case.
Police were called to 309 S. Second St., Delavan, just after 10:30 p.m. June 9.
Gaspar Huerta told police he had been watching television in the back bedroom when he heard gunshots and saw his wife, Ashley Huerta, rushing toward him, a man shooting at her from behind.
Koss called the murder-suicide "the worst carnage" he and police have seen.
O'Neill said the investigation "closes an unfortunate chapter" in Delavan history and provides some closure for the victims' families and the community.
--- Lake Geneva police wrap up investigations following mayoral campaign
By Kayla Bunge/The Janesville Gazette
"I've never seen a race in Lake Geneva that was full of the accusations that this one was," says Lake Geneva Police Chief Michael Rasmussen.
The complaints from the candidates, their supporters and city officials include campaign finance violations and voter tampering and allegations of slander and libel, he said.
Police have completed their investigation of a number of complaints stemming from perhaps the nastiest mayoral race in the city's history.
William Chesen defeated Spyro "Speedo" Condos, 968-783.
--- Campaign finance violation: City Clerk Diana Dykstra said a mailing sent to registered voters a week before the election did not have the proper disclaimer. The two-sided. half-page-sized postcard questioned Chesen's qualifications for the position and said he is "unfit" to be mayor and "Lake Geneva can do better than Bill Chesen." The mailing said it was paid for by "A Lot of People Who Care About Lake Geneva" and cited "Concerned Resident" as the group's treasurer.
Police interviewed a couple suspects and several printers in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, but none took responsibility for the mailing.
Rasmussen said the case is closed, but pending new leads, the investigation could begin again.
--- Voter tampering: A woman voting by absentee ballot said one of the candidates was talking to city employees at city hall, trying to influence her vote. Rasmussen said she recently withdrew her complaint.
--- Slander: Condos said Lisa Seiser, editor of the Lake Geneva Regional News, called him a liar in public. He said at a finance, license and judicial committee meeting that two people on the police and fire commission work for the newspaper. Police learned Condos had the wrong information. The two people previously worked for the newspaper.
Rasmussen said the complaint was unfounded.
--- Libel: Chesen said the mailing mentioned previously and a cartoon that made fun of where he received his bachelor's degree harmed his reputation. Rasmussen said the complaint was targeted at Richard Malmin, who denied responsibility for the mailing and the cartoon.
Chesen also said Malmin claimed he was working with a reporter on a story for The Janesville Gazette and called the Racine police chief and city attorney seeking information about him.
Rasmussen said defamation is hard to prove.
--- A complaint of possible misuse of Lake Geneva police officers was sent to the Walworth County Sheriff's Department for independent investigation. The complaint stemmed from an incident at Harborside Cafe on March 29. Rasmussen declined to comment.
Those complaints are just the major ones, Rasmussen said.
"There are other petty ones that didn't even go this far," he said.
The reports will be turned over to the Walworth County District Attorney's office, which will evaluate each case to see if any charges should be filed.
"In most of these, I don't believe there's enough to prosecute," Rasmussen said. He said the police department spent "too much time" investigating the complaints.
"We have three detectives, and all three were working on these cases in some aspect or another," Rasmussen said.
A fire in the village of Sharon destroyed an attached garage and damaged a house Saturday, but no one was injured, Sharon Fire Chief Mark Rousch reported.
Steve Zellmer
Fire serverely damaged this Sharon home Saturday morning, May 10, 2008.
Firefighters from both sides of the state line were called to help battle the blaze.
Firefighters were called at 11:08 a.m. to 233 Center Street in the village.
When they arrived, the garage was fully involved. The fire spread to the house around 11:20 a.m., but that fire was quickly put out, Rousch reported.
Firefighters had been told someone might have been in the house, but the occupant was later contacted at his workplace.
The garage was a total loss. A damage estimate for the house was not immediately determined.
Sharon received assistance from fire or rescue units from Walworth, Darien, Clinton, Fontana, Town of Linn, Delavan and Elkhorn. From Illinois, assistance came from Harvard, North Boone District 3 and Capron.
Dr. Richard J. Telfer has spent the last year guiding UW-Whitewater as interim chancellor.
Now, he can drop the "interim."
UW System President Kevin P. Reilly and the Board of Regents' Special Committee for the UW-Whitewater Chancellor Search today announced the recommendation of Telfer for the top job.
The full board is expected to act on the recommendation in June.
"With 23 years of service to UW-Whitewater, Dick Telfer knows the campus from top to bottom," Reilly was quoted as saying in a news release. "He came up through the faculty ranks, earning the respect of fellow educators and students along the way, demonstrating an uncommon commitment to the university and the whole community. Dick has a lot of 'sweat equity' in this public university. He has been, and will be, a tireless champion for higher education in Wisconsin."
Prior to his appointment as interim chancellor in June 2007, Telfer served as provost and vice chancellor at UW-Whitewater for five years, and associate vice chancellor from 1997-2002. He previously served as a professor and department chair in UW-Whitewater's curriculum and instruction department, and as an assistant dean in the campus' graduate school. He first joined the campus as an assistant professor in 1985.
"I am pleased and humbled to have been selected as the next chancellor of UW-Whitewater - a great institution. I am committed to leading this university by building on its strong foundation," said Telfer. "We will continue to emphasize our regional leadership, national presence and global vision.
"I am proud of our students, faculty and staff and the role this campus plays in helping our students become leaders in their professions and communities," said Telfer. "We embrace the Wisconsin Idea and dedicate ourselves to being a force in driving our area's diverse economy well into the 21st Century. This is an exciting time at UW-Whitewater. I am honored to have the opportunity to lead this exceptional university."
"We had a very strong pool of candidates, all of whom are likely to become chancellors or presidents themselves," said UW-Whitewater Professor Jimmy Peltier, chair of the campus search and screen committee. "Throughout our very inclusive interview process, Dr. Telfer won the widespread support from students, faculty, staff, administration and members of the Whitewater community. With that strong support, he is positioned to propel UW-Whitewater toward a very bright future."
Telfer earned his Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from UW-Madison. He has a bachelor's degree in speech/English and a master's degree in secondary education/reading improvement from Central Michigan University.
Telfer was one of five finalists for the UW-Whitewater chancellor position recommended by a campus search-and-screen committee. The other finalists were Dr. Nancy Kleniewski, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Bridgewater State College (Mass.), Dr. Alfred J. Guillaume, Jr., vice chancellor for academic Affairs at Indiana University South Bend, Dr. Kenneth W. Borland, interim president of East Stroudsburg University (Penn.) and Dr. John W. Folkins, chief executive officer of Bowling Green State University Research Institute (Ohio).
"We were fortunate to find someone who understands our UW System, who really knows the lay of the land and the culture at UW-Whitewater," said Danae Davis, chair of the Board of Regents Special Committee. "The fact that our own interim chancellor emerged as the frontrunner from this excellent group is a testament to the caliber of talent we have right here in Wisconsin. Dick will provide an important sense of stability for the campus, along with a strong passion for making headway with UW-Whitewater's strategic plan. People in the broader university community will benefit from his of talent, commitment and experience."
Serving with Davis on the Regents' Special Committee were fellow regents Peggy Rosenzweig, Mike Spector and Colleene Thomas.
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is a comprehensive university located between Milwaukee and Madison. With pride in its student-centered campus atmosphere, UW-Whitewater offers 46 undergraduate and 13 graduate degree programs, and has helped to launch the careers of more than 72,000 alumni. More information about the campus is available at http://www.uww.edu. ooo
Also this year, the board of directors for the Delavan Rotary Garden Foundation announces the expansion of Gazebo Garden in Delavan Rotary Gardens at Congdon Park.
