Bits and Pieces for Nov. 21 Nov. 21, 2009 The weather wags say that this may be the last nice day before winter moves in — I’m holding out — but there will be some time spent outdoors.
Readings are predicted to be in the 50s and the sun will shine — that’s about 20 degrees higher than a year ago. We’re making up for a spring season that never really got going.
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There are a few weather-related news items.
Wendy Noskowiak, a fellow Journal employee, brought in a picture of a rose bush that is blooming along the south side of her garage south of town. And on Friday morning I found four people walking on the new Antigo Lake trail system at about 10 a.m.
Now the trail lights are on during the evening, which could make outings even a little more interesting. That is as long as the weatherman stays reasonable.
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If the weatherman does not stay reasonable, and one of these days he won’t, it may be time to catch up on some reading. To fill that bill, a friend and retired law enforcement officer dropped off two books for me to peruse One of them is “Bodyguard to the Packers” by Jerry Parins, a retired Green Bay police officer who worked for years on the murder case before taking the security post with the Packers.
He was assisted in the project by writer Mike Dauplaise of Green Bay.
The other is “Torture at the Back Forty,” a tale about abuse and a very grim murder that took place in Green Bay in 1983. The string of events got started at the Back Forty Bar and continued to the Packerland Packing Co. manure pit, where the woman died.
It is written by Dauplaise — by himself.
I read the Packer book chapter dealing with the murder but so far “Torture” hasn’t really been cracked.
The only reason I’m interested in the books is that the last of the bad guys involved in the murder — and perhaps the main figure in the killing — was caught hiding out in Langlade County. Just after Randolph “Gargoyle” Whiting was taken into custody at a mobile home in the area of what today is the Fuddfest grounds, I arrived on the scene.
Both books discuss the capture in Langlade County and the local law officers and others involved. I’m not interested in reading or writing about the murder, again, after all of these years. But involvement of the local officers in the successful case will be fun.
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So far, no one at the Antigo Daily Journal and our market publication, the Journal Express, has been served with a pink slip.
To be quite honest, the newspaper is run just about as tight as any newspaper can — there is no executive suite at this place.
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I’m saying that because two of my newspaper friends got the boot this week from the Associated Press, the news organization that provides us with the stories you read and some of the pictures you see.
AP is in a cost-cutting mode and had to trim 90 employees worldwide, and two of them were from Wisconsin and were professional friends.
One of them was Dave DeGrace, who worked at the office in Milwaukee and contacted one of us here on the staff every day to see if there was anything cooking in Antigo — generally there wasn’t.
He is a true sports guy, certainly a capable journalist and will land on his feet quite nicely.
The other, Bob Imrie, who staffed the now defunct Wausau AP office, worked on court stories and traveled the state to report on breaking news.
He was an enterprising and excellent newspaperman who supplied a number of state-based stories.
These two men called me personally, I suspect from their homes, to tell me of their fate. And I was hurt because not only were they friends, but people who contributed to the quality of the newspapers throughout our area and the state of Wisconsin.
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When friends who do some traveling return to Antigo, some come to the office armed with newspapers from along the route.
They’ve come from Key West to Alaska and California to Maine — and I love to read and get ideas to spark up the Antigo Daily Journal.
There is no clue what drew me to a copy of the Daily Rocket-Miner from Rock Springs, Wyo., which arrived a few weeks ago.
It is the main source of information and advertising in Sweetwater County in western Wyoming.
The paper has a circulation of about 9,500, which isn’t bad these days. The Antigo Daily Journal has never sold 9,500 — but we are giving it a try.
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One night in the last week or two I decided to dial up the newsroom at the Rocket-Miner. And I landed a guy who didn’t have time to talk to me.
“It’s deadline, I can’t talk,” he said.
Of course, I’m the greatest chatterer in the world when the Journal deadline is far away — but things get pretty terse when people call from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
The gentleman I spoke to did share a few moments and he explained that the paper had undergone a redesign — which was the spark for my call. There was an open house being held at the plant, and just for giggles and grins, I decided to find out why.
I don’t agree with all of the design changes, but the newspaper is a success. It informs the people of Rock Springs and surrounding areas and it was fun to read.
It’s unlikely in my lifetime I’ll ever make it to Rock Springs, Wyo. But I know where it is and I’ve looked over and enjoyed the newspaper.
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I was amazed when an AP story last week reported on the number of states that are in terrible financial condition. Of course, California was the poster boy for the seven on the list. But so was Wisconsin, which got me to thinking about the situation.
I always thought that Tommy Thompson spent too much money as governor, but he did it when the economy was strong, people were working and paying taxes.
These days Doyle is still spending too much, and the situation is far different.
Then I came across a list of prisons in Wisconsin, assuming that all of them are pretty well filled because the state is renting space in a number of county lockups — including the jail here in Langlade County. The cost must be massive.
Here’s the Department of Corrections list:
Black River Correctional Center, Jackson County; Chippewa Valley Correctional Treatment Facility, Chippewa County; Columbia Correctional Institution, Columbia County; Dodge Correctional Institution, Dodge County; Drug Abuse Correctional Center, Winnebago County; Ethan Allen School, Waukesha County; Felmers O Chaney Correctional, Milwaukee County.
Flambeau Correctional Center, Sawyer County; Fox Lake Correctional Institution, Dodge County; Gordon Correctional Center, Douglas County; Green Bay Correctional Institution, Brown County; Jackson Correctional Institution, Jackson County; John C. Burke Correctional Center, Dodge County; Kenosha Correctional Center, Kenosha County.
Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution, Sheboygan County; Lincoln Hills School, Lincoln County; Marshall E. Sherrer Correctional Center, Milwaukee County; McNaughton Correctional Center, Oneida County; Milwaukee Women’s Correctional Center, Milwaukee County; Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility, Milwaukee County; New Lisbon Correctional Institution Juneau County.
Oakhill Correctional Institution, Dane County; Oregon Correctional Center, Dane County; Oshkosh Correctional Institution, Winnebago County; Prairie du Chien Correctional Institution, Crawford County; Racine Correctional Institution, Racine County; Racine Youthful Offender Facility, Racine County; Redgranite Correctional Institution, Waushara County.
Robert E. Ellsworth Correctional Center, Racine County; Sanger B. Powers Correctional Center, Outagamie County; Southern Oaks Girls School, Racine County; St. Croix Correctional Center, St. Croix County; Stanley Correctional Institution, Chippewa County; Sturtevant Transitional Facility, Racine County; Taycheedah Correctional Institution, Fond du Lac County.
Thompson Correctional Center, Dane County; Waupun Correctional Institution, Dodge County; Winnebago Correctional Center, Winnebago County; Wisconsin Resource Center, Winnebago County and the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility, Grant County.
What do you suppose this system costs to run? Did you realize that neighboring Minnesota has a fraction of its residents in prisons compared to Wisconsin?
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I suspect the state’s answer to this multi-billion dollar budget shortfall will be to shut down a few waysides and perhaps cut the hours for receptionists at some of the DNR Service Centers.
This is tokenism at it worst.
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