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Thursday, April 16, 2020 • Vol. 138, No. 29 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.50
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www.gundersonfh.com East Madison/Monona • West Madison/Middleton • Mt. Horeb Stoughton • Black Earth • Oregon • Cross Plains • Fitchburg • Lodi
Controversial election brought challenges Community, Guard help with shortages of equipment, poll workers RENEE HICKMAN Unified Newspaper Group
In a lot of ways, the 2020 spring election and presidential primary looked like any other election in Stoughton, one poll worker told the Hub. But Amy Ketterer, who has worked the Stoughton polls for more than 22 years, described the differences as “monumental.” Those included face masks and plastic barriers separating voters and workers, confusion the previous day over whether the election would take place and all voting consolidated into a single location at the Stoughton Wellness and Athletic Center, which brought in 821 voters. With the threat of the C OV I D - 1 9 p a n d e m i c looming this year, 16 states postponed their primaries, but Wisconsin moved forward with its election, the fate of its Democratic primary delegates, a Wisconsin Supreme Court judge, and many local offices hanging in the balance. Fears of the virus spreading led Gov. Tony
Evers, a Democrat, to try to persuade the Republican-dominated state Legislature to postpone the election in the weeks prior, all the while stating he did not have the authority to do so on his own. On the day before the election, Evers attempted to move it himself by executive order, but Republican-backed lawsuits led to decisions by the state Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court to move the election back to Tuesday and mostly rescind an extension on the absentee ballot deadline. That extension, delivered by a federal judge the previous week, had allowed voters to return ballots as late as April 13, as the unprecedented number of ballots requested caused many people to receive them late. The U.S. Supreme Court decision kept the April 13 deadline but required all ballots to be returned in person or postmarked by the close of polls April 7. The chaos left municipal clerks like Holly Licht in Stoughton scrambling to organize a safe election in the city despite rapidly changing orders at the state level. That came after weeks of poll worker cancellations because of concerns about contracting COVID-19, and worries
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Marilyn Anderson, Certified Nursing Assistant takes the temperature of employee Evon Slater, materials service technician.
Preparing for the peak Chief medical officer says hospital is preparing in the event of the worst case scenario EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
As Wisconsin COVID-19 cases are projected to hit their peak within weeks, Stoughton Hospital is actively preparing for the worst-case scenario. That would be being overwhelmed by patients exhibiting symptoms of the
illness and not being able to effectively meet their needs, such as what New York City is experiencing now. New York has been the nation’s coronavirus epicenter, and national reports depict staff who are working longer hours and low o n p e r s o n a l p r o t e c t ive equipment while hospitals are short of ventilators and other necessary supplies. That’s left some patients unable to receive the care they desperately require, as professionals are faced with choices on who lives or dies. But as dire as those circumstances are, there’s
already evidence to support that Wisconsin’s efforts to control the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus might be flattening its curve. That’s a silver lining for smaller and more rural facilities like Stoughton Hospital. The Wisconsin Department of Health reported the lowest increase in dayto-day COVID-19 cases in nearly three weeks last week. According to DHS secretary Andrea Palm, cases increased by 87 last Monday, April 6. That number is the lowest the state has seen since March 24, when
the department reported an increase of 41. The most cases the DHS saw on any single day was 199 on April 1. Even so, Stoughton Hospital chief medical officer and general surgeon Aaron Schwaab told the Hub on April 10 the hospital has the supplies and the staff to handle the city’s current caseload. “With social distancing, we’ve seen a drastic decrease at all the hospitals here and in the area,” Tina Strandlie, emergency department manager, said.
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Titanic sinking claimed Stoughton man ‘Jack’ Gill had traveled to England with new bride; collect inheritance SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
A poll worker is shielded behind a Plexiglas barrier as he counts absentee ballots on Tuesday, April 7.
As winter turned to spring in 1912, life was good for Stoughton’s Jack Gill. The 24-year-old had recently gotten married to his sweetheart over in his native England, and was on his way back home, having also inherited a
Courier Hub Inside Vikings get technical in season prep Page 7
On the Web To view photos of documents, and a history of Titanic passengers and crew members, visit titaniccollector.com/aftermath/3_18.html
considerable sum of money. The newlyweds were no doubt looking forward to starting a family and a new life in rural south central Wisconsin in comfort. While his wife – also a native Briton – would stay on a few weeks more to tend to family affairs, Jack was headed back to the states, and he
would be traveling in style. Not only was the HMS Titanic one of the fastest ships on the oceans, the new pride of the British passenger fleet was touted as unsinkable. The second of three massive luxury liners built by the White Star Line, Titanic was constructed to accommodate around 3,500 passengers and crew, though it carried only around 2,300 when it left the British port of Southampton on April 10, on its way to New York City. It would never arrive.
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