A blossom to the employee of AmericInn >who ran out to our car, as we were leaving the parking lot, with our grandaughter's forgotten jewelry box in hand. Many thanks to an honest employee who did the right thing on June 27, 2008. - Marilyn Kunde>
A blossom to my neighbors >who helped me find my cat Friday, July 4. They provided me with information during the hours I searched for my Siamese cat. My cat made it downtown but made it home by 5 p.m. Thank you to everyone that helped me. - Shelley Zimmerman, Monroe>
A blossom to the Kellys >for expressing their views regarding Swiss Colony's very generous offer to audit the City's HR practices. Their comments were right on the mark! The Swiss Colony deserves our "blossoms" for all their contributions, which are too numerous to mention.
A huge blossom to Wisconsin Community Bank and the other sponsors >of the Monroe fireworks display. They were fantastic again this year. And a big thank you to the many volunteers who worked so hard to make the day special for so many people. You all did a wonderful job! - Sherry Anderegg, Monroe>
A barb to Monroe Clinic >for wanting to spend $85 million on a new hospital. There is nothing wrong with the current hospital building. I was born at the St. Clare hospital, and I hope many generations to come will, also. Why would they want to build a new building with flimsy drywall, formica and chip board and tear down a building with beautiful brick, real plaster and marble? It sounds like they want to keep up with the Joneses in Madison. Where will the $85 million come from? ... The only place they can get it is from the bills and premiums you and I pay. Monroe and Green County cannot afford to pay for a new hospital building. - A concerned Green County resident>
A barb to the person or persons who stole a scooter >from the bike rack at the Park & Rec swimming pool on Saturday, July 5. A little boy trusts you will return it to the swimming pool office. Police have been notified. Parents, has your child a scooter that doesn't belong to him or her? We trust and believe your conscience will make you return it. Parents, you're failing at your job of teaching children when they can't respect other people's property. - Grandma Dot, Dorothy Lehman, a very upset great-grandmother>
A blossom to Lauren Meinert of Zweifel Construction; Donna Bradley, Carl Kuester and Scott Gelbach from Alliant Energy; Steve and Josh Mayer, Ernie Rufener, Gene Wilson, Steve Gobeli, Jerry Lokken and Kevin Winkler> for helping put up the first eight barn quilts around Green County. If you want to view the quilts, go to www.greencountybarnquilts.com. - The Green County Barn Quilts Committee>
A blossom to Monticello. ... >Here we are, back again, myself and Leaora as Monticello Dairy Queen chairpersons. First and foremost, we would like to thank the Bank of Monticello, The Community Club, Gemeplers Supermarket, Green County Ag Chest and T and C Trucking (Tim Disch) for making our crowning super this year. Due to their help, we had a wonderful night, and our program is funded through people like this. We would like to thank Haylee Thoman as our Monticello Queen and Rachel Nelson for running. If we have forgotten anyone, we are truly sorry. You all mean alot to our program.
Now another blossom to Monticello and its residents. >As you know, we are out of a building to host our meetings in - the old Ag building will be coming down this week, so we have asked the board for the use of the American Legion and Community Center and they have graciously said yes. So we'll be having our meetings in Monticello. Thank you, Monticello. You truly have helped us in a tight situation. Hats off to you. Thanks for everything that you have done to make Monticello's Dairy Queen program a wonderful opportunity for our young girls. Thanks Alma Marty for the past year as our Monticello Dairy Queen. You've done a fine job, with the help of your parents and the Dan Karlen family. Thanks to all. See you at the Monticello Homecoming Fest this weekend. Thank you so much. Thank you to our judges that went to other communities to judge - MaryAnn Kratzenberg, Kendra Dupler and Candace Disch. - Kenlyn Walmer and Leaora Miller, the Monticello Dairy Queen Chairpersons>
We would like to offer blossoms to all those who attended the annual Oakley Union United Methodist Ice Cream Social. >We were blessed with beautiful weather and near-record-high attendance. Special mention must be made for all those who volunteered time and donated food items, without them the event would be impossible. And last but not least, a big blossom to both Darlene Becker for providing free blood pressure screenings, and the Juda Dairy Queen, Tess Zettle, who for nearly four hours graciously served ice cream to those in attendance, and did so with a smile the whole time. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year. - Oakley/Union UMC Ice Cream Social Committee >
Many blossoms to Monroe Dairy Queen and Kundert's 66 Station >on another successful Cruise night. These two businesses work so well together to provide a great opportunity for car enthusiasts, not just one night, but every Saturday night in July. If you like collector cars, you should stop at Cruise Night. - Sherri Perdue>
A barb to John McCain. >Why did it take him more than seven years to figure out this administration is not doing so well? Hope Iraq is not as bad as Afghanistan six or seven years later. - 79-year-old subscriber>
A blossom to the owners of the Heritage House Supper Club >for spending the amount of money and time to afford us here in Monroe and the surrounding area such a place for fine dining in such a quiet and luxurious establishment. Excellent cuisine at reasonable prices here on our doorstep is a plus in anyone's book.
Also, a barb to those of us who succumb to the snob appeal >and feel that we must travel to distant places to spend our money. Just add the price of a few gallons of gas and this may be the best bargain, after all. - Believer in spending locally>
A big barb to Monroe signature institutions >for not having a physical presence downtown. With all this talk about reviving the Square, what is everyone doing out on the edge of town? Swiss Colony, it's great that you are financing downtown studies, but why do you no longer have a shop or restaurant downtown? Monroe is your hometown, show us you believe in it. And Monroe Clinic, you help put Monroe on the map. Shame on you for leaving downtown. And the courthouse, Monroe, you are the county seat, yet you are moving court functions out of downtown. Shame on you! And, as far as that goes, The Monroe Times, shame on you! You profess to be for downtown revitalization. What the heck are you doing out on the edge of town? Move downtown so your employees can shop and eat on the Square at noon. Let's get serious. Put your money where your mouth is, and keep downtown thriving. You all fled downtown years ago. Don't blame the Super Wal-Marts and Menards of this world for destroying downtown. While we're at it, Monroe, why are you charging people for the "privilege" to shop downtown? Lose those parking meters. Invite people to shop downtown. Make it user-friendly. Those meters have "unfriendly" written all over them. Lose 'em! - An anonymous supporter of downtown>
A blossom and a big thank you to the Historic Monroe Inc. >I was honored to be commisioned to create the colored pencil drawings of eight Monroe schools built between 1871 and 1920. These custom-framed drawings were one of their community service projects and were presented to the Monroe Public Library for permanent display in its local history department. Historic Monroe also paid for them to be reproduced on postcards. The cards are available at the Historic Cheesemaking Center, Wing N Pond Gallery and das Baumhaus. Proceeds from the sales are being used to pay for a portion of the restoration cost of the canons and carriages that are located on the grounds of the Green County Courthouse. the cards were created to share the drawings with many people who have fond memories of these buildings. It was a joy to draw these pictures for Historic Monroe and to make many new friends in the process. Finally, a thank you to The Monroe Times for generously publicizing this project. - Jeanne Ausmus, Monroe>
A barb to the owners of the E.D. Clinton House, >1007 4th Street, Brodhead, and another barb to the Brodhead Historic Preservation Commission. >We have lost another architecturally and historical significant home in Brodhead. The E.D. Clinton House was constructed in 1858 and was of French Revival-Louisiana Plantation style architecture, which is unique in Brodhead and rare in the Midwest. E.D. Clinton was originally with Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad, which eventually became the Milwaukee Road. Clinton settled in Brodhead and became a prominent businessman. The house was eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and I nominated it for the Brodhead Register of Heritage Landmarks. The owners are in the process of remodeling the front of the house and, as a result, they have destroyed the architectural and historical character of the house. This is the fault of the Brodhead Historic Preservation Commission. When I, as the consulting historian for the Brodhead Historic Preservation Commission, nominated this house for the Brodhead Register of Historic Places, Commission Chair Barb Krattigar and member John D. Timm said that my nomination and others that I had made were none of the business of the Commission. This, of course, is not true. It is part of my job as consulting historian to make nominations and for the Commission to accept and consider them. To not do so violates the Brodhead Historic Preservation Ordinance and the state law that requires communities to have historic preservation ordinances. Krattigar and Timm are obstructionist and are afraid of controversy. Historic preservation by nature is controversial. If they do not like controversy, then they have no business being on the Commission. John Bernstein, City Council representative on the Commission is just as guilty. - Dave Searles, Brodhead>
Blossoms to everyone who helped out with the Green County Area Animal Sciences Day event >at the Green County Fairgrounds on July 2. More than 300 4-H members from the southern part of Wisconsin took part in a variety of animal-related judging and educational events. From the dairy and livestock host farms that allowed Green County 4-H members the opportunity to practice, to the farms that were asked to provide judging classes for the day, your time and efforts were greatly appreciated. Thank you also to all the parents and volunteers who assisted with setup and cleanup, our outstanding food committee and volunteers that served more than 350 people that day, and to the Green County Ag Chest for providing a malt trailer for an added treat for everyone! Lastly, special thanks go to the Green County Fairgrounds for allowing us to put on this event at its facility and to the committee chairs in the dairy, livestock, horse, goats and beyond for doing a great job! It was a great display of teamwork and leadership all the way around! - Alissa Grenawalt, Green County 4-H and Youth Development Agent>
I'll start out with the blossoms. >I would like to commend I.G.T. Construction company for its work on 16th Avenue. They have been putting in some long hours replacing our sewer and water lines. They do a good job to clean up at the end of the day and water down the sand and gravel to the best of their ability to eliminate the dust when needed.
However, a barb to the Water and Sewer Department of Monroe. >There are very few Temporary No Parking signs put along the construction area to let residents know when and where they can't park in the street or, more importantly, get in and out of their driveways. Come on, do your job, the construction company is doing theirs. - Marie Friedli, Monroe>
