Wausau news this week | May 27, 2021
Wausau news this week | May 27, 2021
Slander, goats and other Wausau news this week
Mayor Katie Rosenberg declared Wausau a Community for All — and then was slandered by a guest speaker at the next County Board meeting.
The speaker, Kevin McGary, founder of Every Black Life Matters, told the county board that the mayor “is all in with exterminating people… blacks.” How’s that? McGary made the argument that Rosenberg is on the left, the left supports Planned Parenthood and, he argues, that Planned Parenthood was formed to eliminated black people (claiming they targeted predominantly black communities with their outreach).
Although the county has a policy of not interrupting guest speakers at its educational meeting, County Board Chair Kurt Gibbs apologized to Rosenberg and says he regrets not interrupting the discourse when it got personal.
Rosenberg dismissed the comments as nonsense and says she has more important things to worry about.
All this comes on the heels of a New York Times story that had people of all political parties angry and that Rosenberg called “very damaging.”
Gibbs says the county executive committee at its next meeting will likely discuss a policy for speakers addressing the board.
Paid subscribers get all the content on The Wausonian, such as this story about how the city’s new garbage policy, should they implement it, would likely raise prices for most residents except those with the highest home values. Please consider a paid subscription to support local Wausau news! Or, if you’re not ready yet, get the weekly news summary delivered every Thursday for free. Either way, subscribe below today!
Thanks to all our new paid subscribers this week - so glad to have you part of the Wausonian team! You’re helping to make sure news stays local. Thank you!
What else in Wausau?
A new program that would bring goats to a city park has been tentatively approved. The program, operated by the city’s Parks Department, would bring goats to Barker-Stewart Island to eat invasive species. They would be fenced in, and the city would also hold a goat event to allow residents to pet some goats. (Corrected a previous version that said “folks” instead of “goats".”
The Wausau River District is bringing back Dining on the Streets, and adding a day. Dining on the Streets allows diners to eat outside on a closed off portion of Third Street. Besides Wednesdays, the District added Saturdays as well. There’s also talk of expanding it to other blocks of Third Street. See more at the Wausau River District website.
The city council approved an affordable housing task force. The task force will study the current situation around affordable housing and ultimately make recommendations to the city council. Many supported the approach, but Council Member Tom Kilian opposed it, saying he think things such as gentrification were being sincerely taken into account.
Around the metro
The county is taking input from residents about whether they should allow fat tire biking at Nine Mile Forest in the winter. The proposal from the Central Wisconsin Off Road Cycling Coalition would allow the bikes on single-track trails as long as they yield to skiers and snowshoers. An input meeting was held Wednesday night but folks can comment here.
Entertainment
Punk band CASHED will hit the biergarten at Whitewater Music Hall Saturday. The Wausau area band will be releasing its debut album Breaking the Mold, composed and written during the pandemic. The band is looking to get in front of people again. See the above video from their Bard Sessions performance of their single “What’s Next.” The show starts at 7 pm, and food from food truck The Food Lab starts at 4 pm.
Young singer Max Koepke will hit the stage at Malarkey’s Pub tonight (Thursday) at 6 pm. Koepke is a young phenom who’s been playing around town since he was still in school, and his energy shouldn’t be missed.
This weekend will see the Rib Mountain Adventure Challenge race on May 29. The race takes place at… well, they keep that a secret until a week before the race when they reveal the location. No scouting the course! The Wausonian will cover race results in next week’s edition.
Business
Have you seen the new taco joint on the north side of town? Los Victor’s Mexican Food (California style) opened in the former A&W building at 1205 Merrill Avenue. Everything from street tacos to burritos and carne asada fries grace the menu.
Sports
The D.C. Everest girls softball team is in a tight race with Marshfield in the Wisconsin Valley Conference; the Evergreens have a 7-1 record, followed by the 7-2 record of the Tigers. The Evergreens on Tuesday won a pair of games again SPASH, 4-2 and 8-3, to remain in the conference lead. Calista Fuehrer still leads the Evergreens in batting, with a .550 avg, 11 hits and 15 RBIs. And Cassidy Eckes has been the ‘greens ace with two wins and a .54 ERA.
The D.C. Everest girls soccer team continues to lead the Valley Conference with a spotless 8-0 conference record. The Evergreens blanked SPASH over the weekend with a 5-0 shutout. Jenna Baumann continues to dominate with a hat trick, scoring three of the five Evergreen goals against SPASH. Evergreen goalie Sonja Budleski earned the save as keeper, needing to stop only one shot on goal.
On the pod
With the Wausau Center mall starting to come down, I brought on guest host Jarrod Crooks to talk about all of our memories of Wausau Center over the years - and that of some of our listeners too!
Thank you for reading The Wausonian! Got any tips or corrections? Send ‘em my way at keepitwausome@gmail.com. Tell your friends!