Wausau news this week | May 20, 2021
Wausau news this week | May 20, 2021
A New York Times piece about the Community for All resolution put Wausau in the national spotlight, and not in a good way
A proposal calling for a Community for All was nixed at the Marathon County Executive Committee meeting last Thursday — and that thrust Wausau into the national spotlight.
The Community for All resolution, which essentially asks for equity for people of all backgrounds, has drawn controversy. Much of the criticism that comes from people in rural communities, who feel it unfairly paints the area as racist and might serve to elevate one racial group over another.
The New York Times sent a reporter and photographer to cover the story, which came out Tuesday. The fallout? More than a thousand comments on the story, mostly calling Wausau essentially a racist hellhole.
Later that day, Mayor Katie Rosenberg announced her own Community for All resolution for Wausau, complete with a press conference, to combat the perception based on the article.
If you’re interested, you can read the Times story here.
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What else in Wausau?
Police arrested a 45-year-old man in connection with a shooting of another 45-year-old man while he sat in his car. Police arrested Micheal Turner, 45, in Marquette County a little more than an hour after the shooting 8:45 am Saturday morning on the city’s west side. Police are still investigating the motive behind the shooting.
A recent alleged campaign violation by three school board candidates who were ultimately elected was dismissed with a warning. The state Election Commission decided in an email this week that while there was likely a violation of law in the joint campaigns of Jon Creisher, Karen Vandenberg and Cody Nikolai, they used their discretion to issue a warning. The mistake appeared to come from the printer, and steps were taken to address it.
Roc’s Place might lose its liquor license after the city’s Public Health and Safety Committee voted to revoke its liquor license. After a hearing (they resemble a court trial with attorneys, opening and closing statements, and calling of witnesses), the committee found that Roc’s had numerous fights, many with weapons involved, since 2019. Most crucial in the committee’s eyes was an incident in which video provided to police cut out the part when the incident occurred. Roc’s Place’s owner says most of the incidents took place off the bar’s premises and the video incident was an innocent error. The city council will decide the case later.
Demolition of the Wausau Center mall began this week. Crews have started breaking up the sidewalk around the mall, and letters for JC Penney and Sears have been taken down. The good news is a street closure on Washington Street for utility work was expected to last three days but now will only last one.
Entertainment
Wausau musician Bradley Sperger is in a class of his own. Sperger performs live as a one-man band using live looping, which allows him to create loops on the spot to build songs. He’s also a great music producer, doing his recording and engineering on an iPad. Sperger came out with a new song, Human Again, and you can find it here. See also the Keep it Wausome podcast with Sperger:
Whitewater Music Hall will host Disenchanted, a musical comedy put on by the Out of the Woods Theatre group. It’s pretty cool to have multiple theater groups in town, providing unique performances. The show is at 7 pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Get your tickets here.
Max Koepke will play Trails End! bar at 3 pm Sunday. Koepke has been playing live since he’s a teen and he’s a joy to watch. Check him out for a nice relaxing Sunday.
Sports
The D.C. Everest Softball team is now tied for first place in the Wisconsin Valley Conference with SPASH. The Evergreens defeated Merrill Tuesday in a doubleheader, taking both games from the Bluejays. Calista Fuehrer has been leading the way in scoring for the Evergreens, with a .643 batting average and three home runs on the season.
The D.C. Everest Girls Soccer team remains undefeated on the season, leading the Valley Conference with a 6-0 record. The Evergreens recently shut out Merrill 3-0 to maintain its lead. Jenna Baumann still dominates scoring for the Evergreens, with four goals in DCE’s win over Wausau East on May 15.
The Wausau West Boys Tennis team is off to an undefeated start, and tied at 2-0 with SPASH on top of the Valley Conference standings. The Warriors split their four singles matches with the Evergreens on May 13 but its doubles teams took two of three matches to secure the win.
On the pod
Keep it Wausome interviewed Scott Laub, who spent his early years touring as a musician, and just recently entered a recovery program for alcohol addiction and turned to woodworking instead.
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