Thursday, September 5, 2019 • Vol. 135, No. 10 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1.25
Oregon Youth Center
‘All for them’
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Oregon Observer The
Oregon School District
Attendance up as programs transition to school year Observer correspondent
Summer is typically the “quiet” time at the Oregon Youth Center, when school lets out and the weather warms up, OYC director Diane Newlin said. But this year, the building has been a hive of activity as fifth through ninth graders in the Oregon School District dropped by the new space everyone seems to be buzzing about. “This is crazy,” Rome Corners Intermediate School sixth grader Cash Weaver-Larson said while eyeing up his shot playing pool at the OYC Aug. 23. “The old building could fit on the basketball court.” The 11 year old’s estimation is fairly accurate regarding the building’s jump from nearly 2,500 square feet – about a halfsized basketball court – to 6,000 square feet. And like many other kids, he’s been
Summer numbers up The Oregon Youth Center saw an increase in average attendance from last year: June 2018: 15 kids/day June 2019: 35 kids/day July 2018: 20 kids/day July 2019: 28 kids/day Aug. 2018: 12 kids/day Aug. 2019: TBA* *still being calculated inviting all his friends to come check it out. “It’s something that the kids can be proud of and are excited to show their friends and family,” Newlin said. “They are loving the space they waited so patiently for.” Attendance doubled
Turn to OYC/Page 12
Village of Oregon
At least four apply for open board seat Deadline was Wednesday; interviews Sept. 9 EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
served two terms on the board, from 2010-2014. Hans Noeldner, a retired m e c h a n i c a l e n g i n e e r, served from 2005-07. The pool of potential trustees also includes Ashley R. Kortte, senior applications systems analyst with Tickets.com, and Kimberly Graff, University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student. The deadline to submit application materials was Wednesday, Sept. 4. But
Two former trustees are among the four candidates who had applied for an open Oregon Village Board seat as of Friday, Aug. 30. David Donovan, general manager at Xcel Energy, Turn to Applicants/Page 10
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
Sherry Soliman, Jackie Amlong and Wendy Kjellstrom watch as 4K students get off the bus to help direct them where to go on the first day of school outside the two Village of Oregon elementary schools on Tuesday, Sept. 3.
A windy and wet welcome back
The Oregon School District went back to school on Tuesday, Sept. 3, on a rainy, windy and cloudy morning. Students at Prairie View and Netherwood Knoll elementaries were dropped off by parents and buses, and a few kids got to do both on Tuesday morning. – Kimberly Wethal
Dane County
Anderson Farm park on track for off-leash dog area EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
Oregon and Brooklyn canines will soon have a place to play fetch, roll around in the grass and run free without a leash – and their human counterparts can come too, of course. At the next Dane County Board meeting on Thursday, Sept. 5, a $48,934 contract with KL Engineering for design and architectural work on an off leash dog park facility at Anderson Farm County Park, 914 Union Road, will be up for a vote. The Dane County
Park Commission recommended the contract to the board Aug. 28. It would be the eighth dog park of its kind to be constructed in Dane County, according to a county news release, with parks currently at Badger Prairie, Capital Springs Recreation Area, Indian Lake, Prairie Moraine, Token Creek, Viking and Yahara Heights parks. Permits are required, and are valid at all parks. “Dane County currently is considered a national leader in this area,” the release states. County senior landscape
architect Chris James told the Observer the recommendation for a park in the Oregon-Brooklyn region is around 10 years old, and part of the Dane County Open Space Plan, which is updated every five years. The county identified a need in the area, he said, as it has continuously sought to put dog park facilities in major population centers, keeping them evenly dispersed. James said when Anderson Farm County Park “came online it just seemed like a good fit.” A dog park is a part of
the Anderson Farm County Park master plan, which the county finalized back in 2014. James said the KL Engineering contract was selected among four design requests for proposal. County parks facility planner Alex DeSmitt told the Observer if the board awards the contract to KL Engineering, the next step is to put the actual design plans together, with construction anticipated to start this fall and conclude by spring 2021. The park would be 35
Turn to Dog/Page 3
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