Courier Hub The
Stoughton
Thursday, January 10, 2019 • Vol. 137, No. 25 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.25
Inside Girls basketball stays in first place tie in the Badger South Conference Page 7
Spring election
4 candidates, 3 seats on school board No other local contested races SCOTT GIRARD AND SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
There will be a contested race for the Stoughton Area school board April 2, with four candidates vying for three at-large seats. The rest of the area elections are uncontested. In the City of Stoughton, five aldermanic seats are up for election with only four candidates, a group that includes two incumbents and two newcomers. Most area townships are holding nominating caucuses this month, while the Town of Dunkirk already has its candidates determined for all seats up for
Contested elections SASD Candidates: Yolibeth Fitzgibbon (i), Joe Freye (i), Jill Patterson (i), Shawn Rundblade State Supreme Court Candidates: Brian Hagedorn, Lisa Neubauer election. Ballots will also include the statewide election for a state Supreme Court justice, with appellate court judges Lisa Neubauer and Brian Hagedorn vying to succeed retiring Justice Shirley Abrahamson,
Turn to Election/Page 12
Photo by Justin Loewen
Soaking in the snow
Stoughton Area School District
Stoughton residents Adele, 3, left, and Charlene Michaels sled down a hill in Veteran’s Park Friday, Jan. 4, enjoying the little bit of winter Wisconsin has had before the snow melted away over a warm weekend and rain took its place on Monday.
ATM school would be handled by armed guards
Allowing more hens under consideration
Unified Newspaper Group
With the district considering installing an ATM at Stoughton High School, the school board approved a slight modification of its weapons policy Monday night to allow security guards to carry weapons in the school when loading the machine. It was the second reading of the policy adjustment, after a brief discussion of the change at last month’s meeting, in which “everyone seemed on board with it,” said board president Frank Sullivan. The policy now states “contracted personnel that are
authorized by law to carry weapons in the course of their professional duties and for which the District and the contracted entity have a contract that authorizes employees of the contracted entity to carry a weapon on school grounds and in school buildings in the performance of their duties (i.e. armored transport services).” Previously, the policy did not allow armed security guards on school grounds. Email Unified Newspaper Group reporter Scott De Laruelle at scott.delaruelle@ wcinet.com.
Commission revisits urban chicken ordinance AMBER LEVENHAGEN Unified Newspaper Group
The Planning Commission will review an ordinance that would increase the number of hen chickens the city allows per property. After a discussion with a resident who requested the increase from four to six, the commission decided to set a public hearing. The commission will vote at its meeting Monday, Jan. 14, and could send it to the Common Council for final approval. The request was prompted by Amanda Venturino, who
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moved to Stoughton a year ago and works as an animal scientist, according to a letter she wrote to commissioner Greg Jenson that was included in the meeting agenda. “Under the current guidelines and restrictions to four hens, one is unable to maintain a productive flock by utilizing the city’s current resources following national poultry check and welfare standards,” she wrote. “To be able to follow these guidelines and use Stoughton’s resources for keeping backyard hens, we need to increase the number of chickens (from) four to six.” Venturino’s letter explains that while “four chickens is a reasonable number,” the problem lies with USDA regulations and how they do not
approve keeping or selling one solitary bird – so when one of the four chickens dies, she can’t begin growing a replacement chick until another bird dies. This would require a flock to be down to half before replacement chicks could be ordered. “This does not allow for a person or family to effectively utilize their flock as a resource for egg consumption, causing undue financial burden,” she wrote. It gets trickier from there, her letter explains: The store that provides chickens to the Stoughton area, Tractor Supply, has a policy to sell not less than four chickens at a time. And online stores sell in packs of three, she explained. Chicken farms in the
surrounding area within an hour’s drive also require a minimum purchase of three birds at a time, Venturino wrote. Venturino explained that the remaining options are to either purchase extra chickens and euthanize the remainder or wait until more than half of the hens have died before replenishing the flock. “Technically, slaughtering fowl within city limits is illegal,” she wrote. “In addition, my moral compass does not allow for me to do such a thing, which is going to be a similar feeling held by others in this situation. Chicken owners do not get into flock ownership just to euthanize
Turn to Chickens/Page 3
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