MONROE — As the calendar turns from 2022 to 2023, the stateline region returned to a semblance of normality, while also seeing a fair share of changes and awards.
Perhaps biggest of all was the 3-day Cheese Days festival returning for the first time in four years. The bi-annual event skipped opportunities to be held in both 2020 and 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but returned in all its glory in September.
Missing from Cheese Days for the first time in nearly 70 years was Monroe’s Swiss Chick, Martha Bernet. A staple of the area after immigrating from Switzerland in the 1950s, died in early 2022. The main stage at Cheese Days was renamed in her honor.
Two other longstanding Monroe staples in the area were lost as well. The old Brennan’s Market building was demolished, with the Bank of New Glarus building a brand-new facility on the lot next to Walgreens and Kwik Trip. On the far east side, the Roller Den closed for good and auctioned away its inventory in late spring. The building, used for nearly 60 years as a source for family fun, entertainment and gatherings, was sold to the owners of Veracruz Mexican Market.
The Historic Green County Courthouse saw an entire year of a face-lift and renovation. The clock tower peak came down in order to repair that portion of the building, and scaffolding blanketed the structure the entire year.
Several area leaders retired in 2022 as well. Police chiefs Chris Hughes (Brodhead) and Burt Boldebuck (New Glarus) left their posts. The Green County Development Corporation saw three directors in 2022, with longtime director Cara Carper leaving to join the School District of Monroe as the S.O.A.R. coordinator during the winter. Emily Legel took over briefly, with Olivia Otte now leading Executive Director since June.
The Republican Journal, a Monroe Times partner and a member of Morris Media of Wisconsin, also had its share of change, with editor Kayla Barnes leaving her post, as well as longtime sports reporter Thomas “Gunner” Gunnell.
School District of Monroe Superintendent Rick Waski announced his retirement. Rodney Figueroa replaced Waski, and helped the district pass a major $88 million referendum, which will eventually lead to a new high school being built. It’s Monroe’s first major referendum to pass in more than 20 years.Black Hawk’s school district also passed a major referendum, which will demolish a portion of the current facility while building a new, modern section to replace it; the first major construction project for the district in 25 years. Construction is scheduled to begin in Spring 2023, with the entire project expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
Monroe elected its first female mayor, with longtime community staple Donna Douglas being voted into office after years on the city council. The city, along with several Green County townships, have altered their ATV/UTV routes, allowing for more traffic of the versatile recreational vehicles. At Twining Park, the south-side row of trees that separated the edge of the park from the Badger State Trail were removed, and the city’s first splash pad was completed after years of private donations were collected to build it.
The city wasn’t without hiccups, though, with a new fire chief starting in early January and quitting just three months later due to internal drama within the department. The search for a new chief has now gone on for nine months, with no end in sight.
The Green County Sheriff’s Department Jail also had to make the decision to transport all of its female inmates to Iowa County, as the department had a lack of female staff to accommodate. Sheriff Jeff Skatrud said he hopes the facility can bring its inmates back in 2024, rather than paying a daily fee to Iowa County.
In January, the new Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County was given the go-ahead, with funding finalized not long after. The new 81,000 square foot, $51.5 million hospital and clinic facility is set to begin construction in 2023 and open in 2024. It will replace the current 70-year-old building location in downtown Darlington. There have been some hiccups in the project, including the Wisconsin Department of Transportation denying the facility from having an entrance directly off Wis. 23 south of the city.
Another healthcare facility, Southwest Health, was also given approval to build a facility in the area. The clinic’s construction was planned to begin in the spring of 2023 in Darlington.
Street and road construction also bottled-up traffic in the area for much of 2022, with Galena Street in Darlington being completely redone. Flagging operations on Wis. 69, 78 and 11 were set up for a time as those highways were repaved and reworked. In the City of Monroe, multiple streets and entire blocks were redone, with work finishing up in early fall.
The Alice Place apartment building in Monroe was completed, adding further affordable housing for the area’s 55-plus community.
Shullsburg’s Amy Charles was selected by Blackhawk Technical College to run the Monroe campus.
Michael Flanagan was hired by Darlington as the new DEMS principal. He had previously worked as a teacher at both Black Hawk and Monroe, and was the longtime Black Hawk girls basketball coach, winning a state championship and state coach of the year honors during his time with the program before he stepped away in the summer of 2021.
Darlington native Shannon (Kilcoyne) Hellenbrand assumed command of the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s Recruiting and Retention Battalion (RRB) on Oct. 7.
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the Monroe community rallied around some of its Ukrainian natives, like high school German teacher Alla Schwartz, who has family still living in central portion of the country. The high school held an impromptu pep rally for their teach in the early days of the war, and video of the band and choir singing the Ukrainian national anthem saw more than 3 million views on social media, earning a media award in the process.
The Monroe Times was named the Weekly Newspaper of the Year in Wisconsin in June, the third time in four years the publication earned the title.
Former Lafayette County resident Chris Eells was honored with the Transport Mechanic Award of Excellence in 2022 thanks to his top-flight work on maintaining Wisconsin’s Flight for Life helicopters out of the Milwaukee metro area.
Monroe’s Madison Katzenberger was named the National Hereford Queen in October.
In local politics, Todd Novak and Howard Marklein were reelected to their seats in the state assembly and senate. In the spring election in April, Gary Benson and Nancy Fisker tied in their Lafayette County District 10 Supervisor race with 158 votes each. After a recount, the tiebreaker went to a tumbler, with Benson’s name being drawn and declared the winner.
The School District of Monroe also had a contest School Board race, with two 3-person coalitions running against each other in the April election. Camae Blackburn, Kevin Visel and Jared Hitchens ran together, but ultimately lost to board president Rich Deprez, Eric Eckdhal and Dylan McGuire.
A Monroe woman caused emotional harm throughout the community after a string of robberies from grave sites throughout the stateline region. Carrie Thompson has been investigated by area agencies for theft of property from multiple locations in Green, Lafayette and Rock Counties.
Another Monroe resident, Ryan Lewis, was arrested in April for attacking his 63-year-old mother and his brother with a knife. He was saved from a prison sentence after pleading insanity and will spend the next 20 years in a locked mental health facility.
Higinio Tlaxcaltecatl of Darlington was arrested in March of attempted murder for a stabbing incident at a Darlington home. He was also charged with burglary while armed and substantial battery.
An Iowa man fled from police in May at the Darlington Mini Mart, causing a manhunt around the area. Judd Allen Frazier was later found, arrested, and charged with a Class G felony for reckless endangerment and multiple misdemeanors.
A Darlington High School gym teacher was caught having an inappropriate relationship with a student in January, and resigned from his position a week later. He ultimately died in October prior to beginning his jail sentence.
Also in October, a Milwaukee teen stole a vehicle in Dubuque and set off on a police chase through multiple counties. Gunshots were fired at the vehicle from a Lafayette County Sheriff’s deputy, and after spike strips forced the alluding vehicle to stop moving just outside of Browntown in western Green County, the assailant, Samuel Santiago, 19, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a nearby culvert.