Delavan split on Walker's image
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DELAVAN — On one side of Beloit Street was Amy Matthews, a 2009 Delavan-Darien High School graduate, holding a large sign calling him a "traitor" to the school district.
Across the street was Sarah Nieuwenhuis, also a 2009 DDHS graduate, holding a small sign calling him a hometown hero.
"He," of course, was Gov. Scott Walker, a 1986 graduate of DDHS.
Matthews was the organizer of a protest supporting Delavan-Darien teachers that took place Monday night in front of the district's administrative building.
Nieuwenhuis was part of a counter-protest that formed across the street in support of Walker. The groups taunted each other and waved signs at passing cars.
"Union membership is not a right, it's a privilege," Nieuwenhuis said.
The pro-worker group shouted insults about tea parties. The pro-Walker group chanted that they'd been taxed enough, already.
Despite the signs and chants, the Walker supporters were not members of the tea party, said demonstrator Eric Graff of Elkhorn.
The bill Walker signed last week taking away most collective bargaining rights from public workers isn't "nearly as bad as their union propaganda says," Graff said, gesturing to the anti-Walker group.
"They will learn to deal just as we all have," Graff said.
Matthews said she would continue to actively protest collective bargaining cuts, although it will likely be in Milwaukee where she is a student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Matthews carried a homemade sign Monday with a drawing of Walker's senior picture on it.
Her goal was to support the teachers whose jobs are threatened, even though some of them taught Walker, himself, Matthews said.
"I will keep actively protesting to make sure our voices are heard," she said.
Charlene Staples has worked at Lakeland Health Care Center in Elkhorn for more than 20 years. A union member, she said the bill is about more than collective bargaining rights. Cuts to BadgerCare, changes to the UW System and sluggish salaries for public workers will affect all Wisconsinites, she said.
"A lot of people are going to be losing their jobs," Staples said.
Meanwhile, inside the administrative building, Monday night's regularly scheduled school board meeting was unusually well attended.
Members of the Delavan-Darien Education Association packed the boardroom to show their dedication to working cooperatively with the school board, said Lindsey Smith, president-elect of the teachers union.
Smith spoke to the board on behalf of the association.
"Now, more than ever before, we need to work collaboratively to continue the success of our students and our school district," said Smith, a first-grade teacher at Turtle Creek Elementary School.
No teachers participated in the protests while the Gazette observed the groups.
The Delavan-Darien School Board on Feb. 23 voted to send out preliminary non-renewal notices to 41 teachers.
The move was to cover an anticipated $1.2 million reduction in revenue, District Administrator Wendy Overturf has said.
The school board and teachers union last week agreed to extend until May 15 the deadline for final notification of layoffs.
Mar 18, 2011 at 7:48 p.m.
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totellthetruth........ So, because you know a sliver of information about me based on the political views I've posted here, you, in all your "infinite wisdom" have determined that I "deserve" to get a pink slip.
Hmmm, typical right wing BULLY. You like to push people around. You obvioulsy don't have any knowledge or facts before you open your mouth (or type in this case), and you just blow hot air as you repeat the right wing talking points.... how typical.
Mar 16, 2011 at 7:28 p.m.
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LAW -
Thanks for pointing out the photos. That helps me understand where the confusion came from. I don't make the decisions about which photos run with which story, but I can mention it to the people who do.
Here is the sentence, cut and pasted from the top of this page, that states I was reporting in Delavan on Monday night.
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Matthews was the organizer of a protest supporting Delavan-Darien teachers that took place Monday night in front of the district's administrative building.
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Thank you,
Ann Marie Ames
Mar 16, 2011 at 7:17 p.m.
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Ann Marie Ames.....In addition, I just looked at the top photo of anti-Walker protesters. The story caption under the photo talks about March 11th, which is the Friday rally I was at. The pictures are misleading when posted with the story that doesn't indicate when you were there.
In addition, I find it curious that the photo of the anit-Walker folks was taken of a small group of "trailers" at the end of the line, not the portion of the sidewalk that was "packed".
Mar 16, 2011 at 7:13 p.m.
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Ann Marie Ames:
I was thsere on Friday. I re-read your article and it doesn't say when you were there and it was posted on 3/15, so I assumed. I didn't even know that there was a rally on Friday. I also assmuned it was the Friday rally because the "Wisconsin Budget Protest" photo seems to be what I saw on Friday. The 2 pro-Walker men who then called for backup. Sorry for making an assumpiton on when the rally was held. Given the number of rallies taking place around the state, it might be helpful to put that information in the story in the future.
Mar 16, 2011 at 4:40 p.m.
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ELLIPSIS- What part of single owner did'nt you get?
And yes I still think this bill is PRO teacher.
The good teachers, which is most of them, will thrive. Give it a chance. What happened to that Hope and Change from Obama? Or it's only good when that hope and change is from the Democrats?
grandy618- I couldn't agree more.
Mar 16, 2011 at 4:20 p.m.
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LAW - Were you at the rally on Monday or on Friday? I ask because I have gotten e-mails from several people who didn't realize I was reporting about a rally that took place Monday night. The Friday night rally was bigger, from what I understand.
I was at the rally Monday night between 7 and 9 p.m. While I was there, people came and left from both sides of the debate. I never saw more than about 20 on each side at any given time. Both sides included adults and children.
Reporter Ann Marie Ames
Mar 16, 2011 at 2:04 p.m.
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The "loser protesters" are the people of this state that is mad as hell and want their state back!!! Not one elected official has made me angry enough to get out and let my feelings known.. until Walker. And I'm sure much of the protesters feel the same way. Walker is just the puppet and someone else is pulling the strings, and guess what? They don't give a hoot about you. Wise up.
Mar 16, 2011 at 11:04 a.m.
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Walker's image? How about autocratic, pro corporation, anti-environment, anti-labor, and toady to the Rove/Koch nightmare.
Mar 16, 2011 at 10:52 a.m.
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At first glance,I thought it said "spit".
Mar 16, 2011 at 10:34 a.m.
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They keep carping about union rights being taken away, but never a word about how to help fix the problem. Unless they are in favor of taxing the citizens of WI more.
Mar 16, 2011 at 8:56 a.m.
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For "totellthetruth".... Yeah, I'm not surprised at the "finger" because it basically sums up the entire republican attitude toward anybody who isn't a corportation with deep pockets or billionaires.
Mar 16, 2011 at 8:51 a.m.
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In your mind...
Mar 16, 2011 at 7:43 a.m.
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I wish the mainstream media would stop bowing to their corporate masters and be more honest in their reporting.
I was at the anti-Walker protest in Delevan. There were easily 200-250 anti-walker protesters and 6 pro-Walker protesters(2 of which were children under the age of 12). You would never know that imbalance in numbers from reading this article. The article reads as if there were equal numbers on both sides of the issue.
"Balanced" reporting as claimed by the newspaper shouldn't mean distorting what is really happening to give more weight to something that doesn't exist (i.e. # of Walker supporters).
By the way, I never saw or heard swearing from the anti-Walker group. I do know that we were "given the finger" by 4 cars passing by.
Mar 16, 2011 at 6:17 a.m.
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Good by soctty
Mar 16, 2011 at 5:04 a.m.
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we need to send the bum back to colorado where he's really from.
Mar 16, 2011 at 1 a.m.
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See, I'm wondering how the Gazette comes up with this headline. Over 60 people show up to support Walker, all of them either DDHS grads or Delavan residents. The other side was 17 kids and 6 adults, not one worked in Delavan schools.
This is a "Split"?!?!
How do you figure?
The reporter Ann Marie Ames, knew this. SHE TOLD ME there were no locals from the union there.
Amy Matthews acts like the Charlie Sheen of protesting: She knows not when to quit. She has no concept of how she is hugely overplaying her hand. She is influencing people but not in the direction she seems to think she is. No one wants to hear this greedy drum beat any longer, yet she just grabs a bigger stick!
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Anyone else want to tell me how conservative The Janesville Gazette is?
Mar 15, 2011 at 9:38 p.m.
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I can see by the pro-unions postings that the propaganda that's flooding their emails is still working. Keep it up you guys. Soon the only ones standing with you will be the stewards asking for your dues. You are going to kill yourselves before Walker even gets his pen in hand.
Mar 15, 2011 at 8:59 p.m.
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retiredfed,good post,READ THIS,,,,and keep reading it till it sinks in,,,,,Based on the comments about many of the articles written during this budget repair bill debate, the GOP and their backers plan of divide and conquer the middle and working class seems to be working. By pitting non-union working and middle class people against union working and middle class people the GOP and their wealthy supports can succeed in the class warfare that Warren Buffet talked about in a New York times article as far back as 2006. He was quoted as saying "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning." Keep fighting amongst yourselves and soon there will be no middle class in this country. Once the class war is completed by the wealthy and corporations there will be two classes. The rich class and the serving class. Which class will you fall into?,,,,,,to bad the low-income rebubs don't understand what is going on!!!!!!
Mar 15, 2011 at 8:33 p.m.
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I keep hearing these wonderful stories about people coming together and deciding what cuts to take in order to keep the enterprise going. (Of course, it takes a lot more to send a government into bankruptcy, so the analogy is inapt at best.) The thing is, that did not happen here. Nobody was consulted. Not even the municipalities and schools assumed to need these concessions. We don't even know how many of them are in dire straits. Nobody asked the teachers here, there, or anywhere whether these were cuts they could absorb, or whether job cuts were preferred, or even if they had other approaches or ideas. Zap! The man at the top -- all the way at the top, not even remotely responsible for these local budgetary units -- decided what their salaries and compensation were going to be. To compare this to employees coming together and taking cuts is asinine. Nobody was asked.
Mar 15, 2011 at 7:57 p.m.
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"pro-worker group shouted insults"
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So glad times have changed since the tone and rhetoric were important. Oh wait. Yeah, thats right. It was only when people, well the left, thought those on the right needed to change pictures on websites.
Mar 15, 2011 at 7:55 p.m.
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" Why can't we get some of our tax money back through a tax increase? Is that too hard to understand?"
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Still waiting for you too lead by example...
Mar 15, 2011 at 7:13 p.m.
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I think that the numbers at the Delavan rally probably represents the supporters statewide. I am not necessarily pro union, just against the bill in general. Walker's bull headedness has cost this state a great deal. If he cared he would let the people in on his plan and answer questions from the people. The man is scum and should be tossed out on his ear!
Mar 15, 2011 at 6:38 p.m.
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I work for a small single owner company. He gathered us together and explained what neede to be done to stay in business. Everyone at our company did take the same cuts, including our owner. I think it's pro worker to keep your job. If you don't have the money you can't pay the wages. Sorry I don't know any Wall St. Exec's but I do know if we tax these guys at even 75% of their income you or I are not gonna get any tax money back and that's not too hard to understand.
Mar 15, 2011 at 6:36 p.m.
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We know who Walker and the republican realy care about and it is not any of the people in this story. Walker supporters think they are taxed enough, they same amount as the people protesting, I would guess. Why don't they ask why the Republicans like Walker don't want to tax the Wall St. hedge fund manager that made $5 BILLION and only has to pay a 15% tax because his wages come from capital gains. Walker has us yelling at eachother while the ultra rich steal us blind. Wake up people!
Mar 15, 2011 at 6:31 p.m.
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Would you rather have a job and pay a little bit of your benefits or no job with no benefits?
Mar 15, 2011 at 6:04 p.m.
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Wow, a pay freeze on workers wages, eliminating the 401-K matching funds then cutting workers wages are all examples of "pro-worker" policies, poorrichard? I might agree but only IF owners and executives all suffered the same fate. That's not true of the teachers. Besides the teachers ALREADY agreed to the cuts in pay and additional contributions to health care. What part of collective bargaining is "PRO teacher"? Why aren't you complaining about the wealthy Wall St. execs. getting tax payer furnished stimulus funds while still collecting thousands in bonus pay? Why can't we get some of our tax money back through a tax increase? Is that too hard to understand?
Mar 15, 2011 at 5:19 p.m.
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This bill is PRO teacher. They need to understand that if all give a small amount and be flexible many jobs will be saved. 4 years ago the company I work for put a pay freeze on us, then increased our health insurance and took away the 401-K match. 2 years ago they gave us a 10% pay cut. Everybody bitched about it but today there are 130 people still working.We adjusted and survived. We had a few quit but most understood you do what you have to do. Is that too hard to understand?
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