On 'As Goes Janesville' debuts locally
Posted on October 15 at 12:34 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
As someone who doesn't live in Janesville, or even in Wisconsin, I found "As Goes Janesville" bizarre. What was bizarre was not the film, but the organization calling itself Rock County 5.0. First, because it lacks competent leadership. Are Willmer and Hendricks self-appointed leaders? Were they appointed or elected? Or did they become the leaders of the group simply because no one else wanted the job? In any case, I think their vacuous, cheerleading demeanor reflects poorly on the community. Businesses interested in moving to Janesville need to see someone with some hard-nosed business sense, not someone who inherited a billion dollars and operates on gut instinct, nor someone with a narrow breadth of business experience who fails to understand her own beliefs and how they affect her work with the group. The group needs to be led by someone with wide-ranging business and community development experience who is open to *all* possibilities for development. The second thing that was bizarre was the fact that the community was not involved in the planning being done by Rock County 5.0. Why is some select group foisting their vision of the future on Janesville without the community's input? Go look up the word "oligarchy" in the dictionary. Now try to defend it. Why should a few current business leaders have more say in what Janesville becomes than the thousands of people who have chosen to make the city their home? Last, I found it really sad, really unfortunate that the Rock County 5.0 leaders don't understand that theirs is not a political position. No one elected them for their political beliefs, nor does leadership of the organization provide them with a mandate to effect political change. After the political maneuvering shown by Diane Hendricks, there is no doubt in my mind that she should step down as co-chair of the group. This would function as a good-faith demonstration that the group's efforts are aimed at benefiting the community, not just a few businesses in the community.
On An unsolicited commentary on food stamps
Posted on September 24 at 4:01 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Wow, Steve. I didn't realize you were born yesterday.
On Reminiscing
Posted on September 23 at 10:34 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
We used to buy cases of 24 bottles of "colored" pop at Grey's - orange, cherry, black raspberry, lime. It came in 8-ounce glass bottles, which We recycled at Cohn & Katz. We also took our old newspapers there. We'd fill the trunk with bundled newspapers. When we took them in, they weighed the car on a large truck scale. After we removed the papers from the trunk, they weighed the car again, paying us per pound for the papers we'd left.
There used to be a store at the top of Milwaukee Street hill that sold penny candy, like Lik-M-Aid, licorice, and paper strips of dots candy. We'd stop there on our way home from school.
Dorothy's Record Shop on N. Main Street was the place to go for records. Every Wednesday or Thursday they came out with a list of the Top 40 of the week, sponsored by WLS radio station.
On Friday and Saturday nights when we were in junior high we went skating at Traxler Park. It was a great way to meet girlfriends and boyfriends without any adult chaperones (except for Mr. Westermann, who patrolled the rink).
Do either of the high schools still do "Sing Out"? For the senior awards ceremony, every senior was required to write a song. Several winning songs were then sung at the ceremony.
Elementary school playgrounds had summer programs for kids where they could play games, make arts and crafts, and participate in other activities. Many a parent received lovely lustre-lace keychains and knitted potholders as gifts that were made by their children at the playground.
Biwers Shoe Store on Main Street had an X-ray machine for helping to see whether shoes fit kids properly. Children would stick their feet in at the bottom, and parents could look through a viewer at the top to see a fluoroscopic view of their children's feet inside the shoes.
When the old Marshall Junior High was still in use, students who were in classrooms facing the river were entertained every spring by the large piles of soap suds floating down the river. They were sometimes 10-20 feet high. After phosphates were removed from detergents, the problem with soap suds disappeared.
Posted on August 31 at 1:28 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Frankly, I'm embarrassed to admit to people that I'm from Janesville. Thanks, Paul.
On Students volunteer for Monday's event
Posted on August 29 at 1:17 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
TCB - Paul Ryan is not the Vice President, and may never be. He's a *partisan* candidate for office. There's a big difference there. The Janesville schools were named after elected presidents, not wannabes.
onelife2live - Yes there is a big difference. Obama is the President of the United States, not a partisan candidate for office.
Thinkfuture - not a paradox, hypocrisy
wislady - One can have pride in the school without having pride in every single graduate.
Zoom - You're right on target.
On Students volunteer for Monday's event
Posted on August 28 at 7:07 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Looks like band director Dave Rush is the only one in the Janesville schools that has an ounce of common sense.
On Crowd starts to fill gym at Ryan event
Posted on August 27 at 7:37 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Agree - It is amazing how clueless some people choose to be. They don't understand the difference between an election that was conducted by the will of the people and a partisan campaign rally in which they had no say.
On Crowd starts to fill gym at Ryan event
Posted on August 27 at 3:32 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
How much is the Romney-Ryan campaign reimbursing Janesville and the Janesville School District for the use of their facilities and for security and traffic services?
Why are school district officials, school board members, cheerleaders, the school mascot, and other public servants participating in a partisan event, lending their implied endorsement to a candidate?
This is not what I pay taxes for.
Page 1 of 1
On Ryan loses VP but wins re-election in Wis.
Posted on November 7 at 9:49 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Among the people who know him best, Ryan lost. He received just 46% of the vote in Rock County and 44% in the city of Janesville. Ryan even lost his own ward in Janesville, garnering just 41% of the vote in the 13th Ward. What's the Gazette's analysis of that?