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Thursday, April 9, 2020 • Vol. 135, No. 41 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1.50
connectoregonwi.com
Spring Election
COVID-19 response
Voting proceeds in pandemic High courts overturn postponement, deadline extension RENEE HICKMAN Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Mackenzie Krumme
Blue tape defines a barrier around the cashier’s desk at Dorn’s True Value on Wednesday, March 25, to encourage customers to stay 6-feet apart.
Preparing for the hit JIM FEROLIE Observer editor
With face masks now commonplace, and a fight over whether to postpone a statewide election, constant change was the norm in Oregon
during the fourth week in which the coronavirus and COVID-19 has turned our lives upside-down. T h e O r eg o n S c h o o l D i s t r i c t switched its high school grading for the rest of the semester to pass/fail and began teaching students through virtual learning, and area churches prepared for virtual Easter services. The number of COVID-19 cases in the country more than doubled to 360,000 as of Monday, April 6, the
Residents stuck at home A community finds ways to pass the time EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
Aimee Bailey is doing her best to keep up a regular routine amid a global health crisis. The Oregon High School teacher is engaged in projects like writing letters to her mother at Sienna Meadows and making things her mother can put in her window. “It’s breaking my heart,” Bailey told the Observer in an
email. “Her hospice nurse is working on video technology so we can communicate with her, which presents its own challenges with a person who has dementia.” Other Oregon residents have experienced a similar challenge of finding a new normal as they hunker down at home to curb the spread of the COVID-19. There has been no leaving for a night out on the town, sitting down with a friend over coffee or visiting loved ones.
number of deaths more than tripled in the past week to 10,000. The illness crept further into Dane County, which reported more than 300 cases as of Tuesday. Updated information on the spread of the virus led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend the use of face masks – even homemade cloth ones – for any public outing. Many people here took
Turn to Quarantine/Page 10
Serving up hope amid a pandemic Chef spearheads efforts to help local farmers, curb food insecurity
Inside Spring scavenger hunt Page 2 Fire/EMS has enough PPE for now Page 3 OHS switches to pass-fail grading Page 5 Updated restaurant listings Page 6
Turn to Time/Page 12
Turn to Poll workers/Page 11
EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
It’s a trying time for individuals and families whose incomes have dwindled, making them unsure about how they will put t h e i r n ex t m e a l o n t h e table. It’s the same for local farmers, who have seen their sales plummet as restaurants have closed and grocery stores limit customers to curb the
spread of COVID-19. But Chef Dave Heide, owner of Charlie’s on Main in Oregon and Lilana’s Restaurant in Fitchburg, is looking to combat those crises in the coming weeks — finding an outlet for beleaguered farmers and families who are struggling with food insecurity, unemployment and homelessness. Liliana’s is working with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dane County and Reach Dane to help get meals out to families and kids in need, Heide said. In the next few weeks, the Charlie’s on Main neighboring Main Event venue will serve as a packing and processing
Turn to Meals/Page 11 151
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Oregon dons masks, hunkers down as state COVID-19 death toll spikes
Election Day continued as planned Tuesday, April 7 despite the ongoing threat of COVID-19. I n O r eg o n , a s t e a d y stream of people walked into Village Hall to vote in person, while others placed their absentee ballots in the mailbox or voted curbside. Voters, many of them wearing masks and bringing their own pens with them, stayed six feet apart while poll workers counted absentee ballots. In an effort to halt the possible spread of the virus at voting sites, Gov. Tony Evers issued Executive
Order No. 74 on Monday, April 6, which would have postponed the election until June 9. But by late afternoon that same day, the Wisconsin Supreme Court had overturned the order on a 4-2 vote, stating that Evers lacked the authority to move the vote on his own. More changes came that evening when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled a previous extension of the absentee ballot deadline by a federal judge. That extension would have allowed state clerks to accept ballots postmarked or returned at any time up to 4 p.m. on April 13. After the 5-4 court ruling, absentee ballots had to be postmarked or hand-delivered to municipal clerks by the close of polls at 8 p.m. April 7. But, many
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