Thursday, December 6, 2018 • Vol. 134, No. 23 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1.25
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Post Office outgrows its space Considering move to current Thysse facility in 2021 ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
Oregon and Brooklyn firefighters monitor the flames during the controlled burn Nov. 27.
Photo by Amber Levenhagen
Waterfall Motel comes down The Oregon Area Fire/EMS District got a rare opportunity to burn a building for training purposes Tuesday night, Nov. 27. “Normally, we’re there to put the fires out,” Oregon fire chief Glen Linzmeier said with a laugh. Oregon’s 27 firefighters were joined by around 10 from the neighboring Brooklyn Fire Department. Linzmeier said the burn “went great” and said the neighboring departments are always looking for ways to collaborate and improve their teamwork. “There are a lot of responses done between the two departments,” Linzmeier said, noting the pair are responsible for more than 100 square miles of territory. After a 5 p.m. briefing, firefighters began firing the building room by room around 6 p.m., and it was fully engulfed in flames by about 6:45 p.m., at which point about a dozen spectators had
Inside See more photos of the Waterfall Motel controlled burn Page 7 gotten out of their cars to watch. The goal was to simulate a “room and content fire” the chief said, which the departments accomplished by stuffing some of the rooms with pallets and other kinds of clean wood. They coaxed the fire through the eves and into the attic space to give firefighters experience dealing with different kinds of fires. Once the fire was lit, the crews never suppressed it completely, something Linzmeier said went against muscle
memory. They had to pull crews out to make sure it would keep burning. No injuries were reported, and by morning the site was completely flattened, with some white smoke still escaping from the black ruins by early Wednesday afternoon. The Village of Oregon purchased the Waterfall Motel and Restaurant site in January to clear the Park Street area for redevelopment where a new Sleep Inn is being built. The motel had between 10 and 14 residents until this summer, when the last of them left, some with the assistance of the village’s senior center case managers. The complex was built more than 50 years ago by Forest E. “Steve” Madsen, who served for 36 years as Village President. The village originally planned to burn the building in July. A date had been set for Oct. 20, but high winds forced it to be postponed.
Dancing lions abroad OMS students travel to China for dance competition EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
Two Oregon Middle School seventh-graders recently traveled to Macau, China last month to tell a tale — the tale of a lion who crossed a bridge in a simple act of bravery. Josie Feldhausen and Renee Erdmann did this while operating a
colorful, puppet-like lion costume in a Chinese martial arts tradition known as a lion dance. The dance won the seventh-graders and the rest of their junior United States team a bronze medal in the first junior lion dance competition at the Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer International Lion Dance Invitational, held Nov. 10-11. “They were thrilled,” said Colleen Feldhausen,
Josie’s mother. “They practiced for months.” The junior team also included Emerson Elementary fourth-grader Solomon Beebe Collum of Madison, who played drums during the girls’ performance. They traveled with their families, and the Zhong Yi Kung Fu
Turn to China/Page 8
The Oregon Post Office has outgrown its current space and is looking at options to expand, possibly including the Thysse building on the village’s northwest side, postmaster Brandi Simmons told the Oregon Village Board Monday night. The post office processes more than 2,000 parcels per day, Simmons said,
and the cramped quarters are becoming a “safety issue.” Plus, both customers and employees have been complaining about the lack of parking. “We are outgrowing this post office,” Simmons said. “I’ve already added one route, am going to be adding a second route and may be adding a third route later this year.” The village owns the post office building at 252 Brook Street, receiving around $55,000 in rent per year. In exchange, it’s responsible for maintenance and repairs, like
Turn to Mail/Page 12
Inside Alcohol policy up for debate Page 12 Village plans to stand against vaping Page 12
Oregon Area School District
Changing of the guard Janesville Street student crosswalk to switch Dec. 10 SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
Since they can only help where people are crossing, the Oregon Police Department is moving its Janesville Street crossing guard down the road to a higher-traffic intersection. Seeking to “better utilize our resources and further protect children at this intersection,” starting Dec. 10, the guard will switch from the intersection of Janesville and Elm streets
to Janesville and S. Perry Parkway. According to an OPD news release, there are “many days” when no children cross at the Elm Street intersection, which the department has “determined to be infrequently used by students.” Instead, they are using the crosswalk at the Janesville St. and S. Perry Parkway intersection “on a regular basis,” creating a “higher volume of traffic at this location.” OPD Lt. Jennifer Pagenkopf told the Observer the department has received several complaints about the S. Perry Parkway intersection, with “a lot” of
Turn to Guard/Page 12
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