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Thursday, April 4, 2019 • Vol. 134, No. 40 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1.25
Building awareness Family raises $1,500 for special education at NKE EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
Last month, more than 150 students and staff at Netherwood Knoll Elementary School lined the halls with t-shirts bearing the words “Down right awesome.” March 21 was Down syndrome Awareness Day, which marked another opportunity for Jake Hollman to spread awareness about his son Ayden, a third-grader at NKE who was diagnosed with Down syndrome a few months after he was born. This was the biggest year yet for the Hollman clan’s annual t-shirt fundraiser, with sales reaching $1,500, which the family donated to the NKE special education department. For the last few years, Jake has visited Ayden’s classes to educate students about Down syndrome and to make t-shirts. For this year’s fundraiser, the charge for t-shirt sales was paying only what buyers could afford. “Last year, teachers were like, ‘How do we show more support?’” Jake told the Observer. “We ended up setting up a ‘paywhat-you-can’ website.” So this year, people from Washington state to Ireland bought t-shirts for the Down syndrome cause, which Jake said is to show that Ayden, despite having an extra chromosome, is able to live as “normal” a life as anyone else. He said Ayden loves hugs, can sense when people are sad and has an overall “high sensitivity” to how others feel. Ayden resides in Fitchburg with his father, mother Michelle, and little brother Noah. The two boys share a close relationship — one minute, last Friday during spring break, Noah was playing on his iPad and Ayden with superhero action figures. The next minute, they chased each other around their playroom with Thor hammers. Michelle said Ayden has a similar enerPhoto submitted gy in the classroom — “always on the March 21 was Down syndrome Awareness Day. To celebrate, the Hollman clan sold t-shirts move.” When he was born, she suspected to raise funds for Netherwood Knoll Elementary School’s special education department. In the front row is Jake Hollman, his son and third-grader Ayden and teacher Emily Anderson. In the Turn to Fundraiser/Page 12 back is Ayden’s grandmother, Rachel Hollman.
Spring election
Springer defeats Smith for Brooklyn village president ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
Brit Springer will be the next president of the Village of Brooklyn. She defeated trustee Kyle Smith 157 to 114. In Rutland, incumbent David Grueneberg defeated challenger
David Krueger 326 votes to 184. Springer’s two-year term in Brooklyn starts April 16, when she takes over for interim president Todd Klahn. Klahn ran successfully for trustee, as did fellow incumbent Heather Kirkpatrick. Klahn was named interim president earlier this year after Clayton Schulz resigned because he moved out of the village.
With seven votes, write-in candidate and former village president Pat Hawkey will join Klahn, who garnered 120 votes, and Kirkpatrick, who had 116 votes, on the board. Jim Bakken and Mark Bruner tied with five votes apiece for trustee. Springer is a multimedia designer who has lived in the village since 2011 and has been a trustee since 2017. I n R u t l a n d , G r u e n e b e rg and Krueger had opposed one
another over issues of noise and dealing with the racetrack. For constable, incumbents Nels Wethal, with 314 votes, and Shawn Hillested, with 251, beat out challenger Steven Williams, who earned 211 votes. Peter Loughrin, who was running unopposed, will be the town’s next chair, succeeding Mark Porter.
Library looks for feedback Open house, focus groups scheduled for April 8, 10 EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
The Oregon Public Library is looking for input from the community about plans for a new building at upcoming events Monday, April 8, and Wednesday, April 10. All are at Village Hall, 117 Spring St. From 5:30-8:30 p.m. Monday, April 8, the general public is invited to gather in the Community Room to communicate their needs about the new Way library. “We are holding some additional focus groups on April 10 that will be more of a small discussion format that will (look at) specific perspectives,” library director Jennifer Endres Way told the Observer. In the morning on Wednesday, April 10, there will be a new building input session designed for parents with children and a preschool open play at the same time from 10-10:30 a.m. A 2 p.m. session is designed for seniors. OPN Architects will kick off each event by introducing its team and providing an overview about the new library project, Way said, but the goal of the sessions is to listen and learn about what the public wants in a new library building. “There are so many different perspectives in the community and people who use the library in many different ways,” Way said. “Getting as much engagement as possible will help us serve the needs of everyone.” OPN Architects has also been working on a needs assessment, Way said, which involves comparing OPL to other libraries, analyzing Oregon’s population and determining how much space will be needed in the new building from everything from books to
Turn to Input/Page 10
Inside Inaugural listening session held March 20 for new library building
Contact Alexander Cramer at alexander.cramer@wcinet.com.
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Grueneberg defeats Krueger in Rutland
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