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Thursday, November 23, 2017 • Vol. 133, No. 21 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1
Oregon, Wisconsin
Minihan celebrates four decades serving Dunn’s Town Board BILL LIVICK Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Samantha Christian
Rome Corners Intermediate School sixth-graders Mari Covarrubias, left, and Brenna Kerns, right, dance around the main lounge area at the Oregon Youth Center to the musical.ly app.
Building on momentum OCRN targets youth center as next fundraising project Observer correspondent
From opening the Oregon Welcome Center and rejuvenating the rusty Tin Man to constructing a new facility for the Oregon Area Food Pantry, the community has pulled together in extraordinary ways over the last few years to make these projects possible. But there’s always more work that can be done to improve area residents’ quality of life. That’s why the Oregon Community Resource Network has already identified its next fundraising goal: a new
November 25th
Legacy of preservation
Oregon Community Resource Network
SAMANTHA CHRISTIAN
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Oregon Observer The
building for the Oregon Youth Center. OCRN plans to discuss the idea with the Village Board at its Dec. 4 meeting. “We want to keep the momentum going,” OCRN’s recently elected board chair Randy Glysch said. The OYC has been housed in the former EMS building near the police department at the corner of Oak and Park streets for over a decade. Although there was an addition in 1985, the metal structure wasn’t designed to meet the future needs of the after-school and summer drop-in program for kids in grades 5-9. And
the building’s age – neither OCRN nor the village could say how old – is showing both inside and out. The OCRN board experienced some of the building’s deficiencies and safety concerns during a recent tour and meeting with the OYC board. Cold air rushes in each time the door opens, causing the heating bill to spike. The building layout is awkward and segmented, which makes it difficult for staff to hold group activities in one area or supervise all the kids at once — especially when some are
Turn to Center/Page 13
A s k Tow n o f D u n n board chair Ed Minihan what’s special about the town, and you’ll quickly get a straight answer: “The fact that the populace decided to protect the environment.” Minihan, who celebrated four decades on the Town Board with a party thrown for him Nov. 14, has clearly been a leader in Dunn’s rural-preservation ethic. Forty years ago, when he joined the Town Board, one of its first initiatives was to enact a land-use plan that placed restrictions on commercial and industrial development of the town’s rich farmland. Twenty years later, in 1997, town residents adopted a purchase of development rights (PDR) program that allows farmers and other landowners to put their properties into a permanent conservation easement and get paid for it. Minihan was behind both measures.
“It was a boom time, and things were happening rapidly,” he said of the late 1970s. “What we had to establish was a clear landuse plan. That was the first step, but only a first step.” In an interview about his years in town government – including 38 as board chair – the 73-yearold Minihan discussed his community service background and his decision to move out of the city, but mostly his “mission” to do his part in making the world a better place, starting here in his adopted hometown of Dunn. He said the Lake Waubesa shoreline and Dunn’s fertile fields and prairies would look much different today if not for a small-but-dedicated group of environmentalists, who took the time to talk with and educate their neighbors. “This all has been about people participating,” he added. “That’s the key. This was the populace acting.”
Finding new roots Minihan grew up in a small town but spent time in the big city, too. He and his wife, Sue, moved to Dunn from his home state of Michigan in 1972. Five years later he was elected to the Town
Turn to Minihan/Page 12
Oregon School District
Left turns now restricted Oregon teen chases musical dream out of RCI parking lot seventh grade, though the performance in question didn’t start the way you might think. Full of nerves before she was set to play alone on ALEXANDER CRAMER stage in front of the largest crowd of her young Unified Newspaper Group life – not to mention the Isabelle Krier fell in entire orchestra – Krier love with playing violin in was, by her own admission,
“freaking out a little bit.” “But then, the second I finished my piece, everyone was clapping and it’s just like … I started crying because it was very emotional for me,” Krier recalled. “This is what told me, ‘I don’t want to stop doing violin.’ This is something that’s going to stay
with me my entire life — there’s no doubt in that.” In the intervening years, the Oregon 16-year-old has won numerous awards for her playing at competitions across the country. Last Saturday, she was concertmaster for the Youth
Turn to Violin/Page 14
SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
Looking to reduce traffic backup during student drop-off and pick-up hours around Rome Corners Intermediate School, left turns out of the parking lot are now restricted. Earlier this month,, the Oregon Police Department
placed a sign alerting drivers leaving the school parking lot that left turns are not allowed between 7-8 a.m. and 2:30-4 p.m. OPD chief Brian Uhl said the move was in response to the “ever-increasing” volume of parents dropping off and picking up
Turn to RCI/Page 7
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Krier’s journey started in kindergarten