Thursday, December 26, 2019 • Vol. 135, No. 28 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1.25
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From house to home
Stories of 2019
Operation Fresh Start revamps space on North Main Street EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Mackenzie Krumme
Vehicles drive through high water on Netherwood Road on Friday, Oct. 4. The Village of Oregon issued nightly closures for the road so that sitting water to the north could be pumped over it.
Under Water
Flooding problems take the top spot in year’s stories regon had no shortage of exciting news this year, both good and
bad. But when the Observer staff voted on stories of the year, it wasn’t even close. The persistent flooding in and around the village was the clear No. 1. It’s flooding nothing new, as the ongoing effort to repair or rebuild the 4 year old Rotary Bike Trail from its submerged state has been stuck in the muck for the past two years. Early this year, residents sought village help with Badfish Creek overflow on Jefferson Street and stormwater ponds at the Bergamot golf
course. Later in the year, the village closed Netherwood Road for several days because of flooding and held a forum to both educate people about what the village is doing and trade ideas. It was even worse outside the village, where several residents around Lake Barney – which has grown from 30 acres to 800 over the past few years – have found their homes continually flooded and drowning in a sea of red tape, dealing with as many as seven government units. Village and school developments dominated most of the
Turn to 2019/Page 12
At a newly revamped house on 437 N. Main St., staff from Operation Fresh Start and the Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development joined local officials in reflecting on the half-year it took to make the building suitable for a family in need of workforce housing. It’s the first house the organizations have worked on in Oregon. OFS is a countywide program that mentors at-risk youth from ages 16-24. Over the summer and fall, it had 50 of those youths
SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
On the Web Find out more about the OMS student petition at
tinyurl.com/sq6hrwe
an Oregon Middle School health class lesson after Oregon School District one student started an administrators and staff online petition about its will take another look at negative effects.
Turn to Fresh/Page 7
Stories of 2019 1. Flooding issues overwhelm village, nearby towns 2. Police chief under fire after SRO debate 3. (tie) Fitchburg school breaks ground, gets name 3. (tie) Carpenter becomes new village president 5. New youth center opens 6. Superintendent Busler announces retirement 7. Sleep Inn and Suites opens on east side 8. Planning for library continues, fundraising starts 9. Traffic issues around OMS, RCI 10. Anderson Farm park gets dog park, plans gardens
Photo by Emilie Heidemann
Operation Fresh Start, with other organizations, revamped a home at 437 N. Main St. The house will be put on the market for $180,000.
Calorie counting prompts class review Student says health lesson can be harmful
completely overhaul the home. The home will be put on the market for $180,000, WFHD executive director Kathy Kamp told the Observer. That’s in contrast to most of the housing market in Oregon, Kamp said. The average home in the Village of Oregon is valued at $305,000, according to village statistics compiled this fall. That cost threshold, Kamp said, has created a situation where the people who work in Oregon can’t afford to live here. She said the North Main Street space is intended to help remedy that problem – though the community still has a long way to go. The house is equipped with two bedrooms, one
Evelyn Becker started a change.org petition over concerns about a calorie counting assignment she said “started my disordered eating” due to the pressure, she said in a news release from change.org. “I had a very strong belief that I wasn’t good enough, and this project made things a lot worse,”
Inside
On the Web Find out more about the myfitnesspal. com calorie counting app at
tinyurl.com/w4ddvur
Girls soccer highlights year in OHS sports Page 8
she said. “I remember logging my food and feeling guilty about every piece of
Turn to Calorie/Page 7
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