I’m always here I’M STILL HERE!for you! 26 years in VASD Housing Market
It’s your paper! Friday, July 10, 2020 • Vol. 7, No. 5 • Fitchburg, WI • ConnectFitchburg.com • $1
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Kathy Bartels 608-235-2927
KBartels@StarkHomes.com
City of Fitchburg
Inside
City rolls back reopening
Meijer eyeing Fitchburg Page 3 Polling places will stay the same Page 3
Public use contingent on low COVID-19 case numbers KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
Photos by Neal Patten
Lead Pastor Daniel Owen shows that Blackhawk is “one church, three locations.” Fitchburg is the third location for the church, which is also located in Madison and Middleton.
Filling the void
Page 7
Sports
Turn to Reopening/Page 18
With pandemic halting services, Blackhawk Church creating partnerships NEAL PATTEN
WIAA BOC busy in June meeting Page 10
Schools MMSD ends SRO contract Page 16
Business
Businesses adapt to Phase 2 Page 19
Unified Newspaper Group
New bar, restaurant restrictions during ‘critical time’ in COVID-19 spread
W
hen Blackhawk Church opened its 42,000 square foot facility in December, providing space as a community resource was a part of its plans. But its leaders found unexpected ways to bring those plans to fruition after the spread of coronavirus forced churches and congregations to close. The building, which can seat over 750 people during gatherings at 5935 Astor Drive, is closed for church services until Dane County reaches at least Phase 3 in its Forward Dane plan, but it’s been open to a Red Cross blood drive and YMCA child care services, and lead pastor Daniel Owen said he’s also petitioning to have it be a polling site for the November elections. “We wanted to find ways to use the facility, not just let it sit empty,” Owen said. “We hate having an empty building.” Exactly three months after the church held a Dec. 15 soft opening in the building, it closed – on March 15 – and has no immediate plans to reopen. Pastor Owen told
Forward Dane heads backward SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
The auditorium at Blackhawk Church can seat over 600 people. He said when large concerts the Star in January he had been looking forward to the massive and sporting events are allowed space being used for more than to return is when Blackhawk will consider hosting mass gatherjust Blackhawk Church services. Since then, Owen said he and ings again. That could be several other church leadership decided months or more. “We want to be really considerthat while churches were allowed to reopen with certain amount of ate of different people and possicapacity restraints under the first ble health conditions. We’re erring two phases of the Forward Dane on the side of caution and protectplan – 25% and 50% respective- ing and caring for people. We want ly – Blackhawk’s reopening was to give them the best and safest going to be toward the tail end of experience,” Owen said. that.
The party’s over, Dane County. With COVID-19 cases again on the rise — and young people gathering at bars identified as a main cause — new county orders starting Thursday will limit bars and restaurants to indoor capacity levels not seen since mid-May. Barely two weeks after moving from Phase 1 to 2 in its Forward Dane reopening plan, Public Health Madison and Dane County (PHMDC) announced new restrictions in a news release Wednesday, July 1, to limit the spread of COVID-19. Outdoor gatherings are once again limited to 25 (not including employees), which is down from 100, with indoor gatherings limited to 10, down from 50. Restaurants will return to a 25% indoor seating capacity, down from 50%. And while socially distanced outdoor seating is allowed at bars, they are only allowed to offer
Turn to Blackhawk/Page 17
Turn to Backward/Page 18 151
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Resident chronicles struggle with child’s addiction
When city administrator Patrick Marsh announced June 23 the city’s plan to reopen facilities, there was a caveat: The number of COVID-19 cases needed to remain under control at the county level. At the time, Dane County’s total number of cases stood at 1,256 diagnosed since March 9; by July 6, that number had doubled to 2,510.
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