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Thursday, November 29, 2018 • Vol. 137, No. 19 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.25 adno=42561
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Recount shows election accuracy .01% discrepancy or 2 votes out of 1,753 ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Dave Kalland
The new clock tower sits next to its future home while a crowd looks on in 1988.
Top of the hour 30 years ago, Stoughton restored its iconic clock tower ALEXANDER CRAMER
for the building to the steeple manufacturers that kept promising delivery dates and then blowing past them, as well as the level of disrepair the building had fallen into by the time restoration work was done. The auditorium, now known as the Opera House, had turned into a de facto pigeon coop, and Kay recalled being told later about how many parasites he probably inhaled from the layers of pigeon poop that had been allowed to accumulate. Still, once he put his eyes on the auditorium, he knew the city had a “real treasure” on its hands. And the first step to reclaiming the building was re-establishing civic pride in a downtown focal point that had been allowed to degrade to the point that some had advocated for its demolition. So Kay got to work, putting together a feasibility study “in 1978 or ‘79” at the city’s behest to establish a cost and scope for the project. While he proudly takes credit for “stirring the pot” and getting the conversation going, Kay gives all the credit to the community for getting the project done, once “they saw it was possible.”
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The summer of 1988 was a time of unrest in Stoughton, with a monthslong labor dispute between auto workers and Stoughton Trailers and a drought that pushed Wisconsin hay prices 50 percent higher than elsewhere in the United States. But it was also a time of renewed emphasis on community, as Stoughtonites came together to raise more than $55,000 to replace the clock tower that had been lopped off City Hall in the early 1960s. With an auction, a “cablethon” talent show broadcast live on local TV and a raffle that featured a 1988 Chevrolet Corsica as the main prize, the community came together to restore what architect Arlan Kay called “the symbol of our city.” On Friday, Sept. 30, 1988, citizens of Stoughton gathered to see a crane hoist a new clock tower atop City Hall, restoring the building to the form it had taken when originally constructed in 1901. “Symbolism is huge,” said Kay, whose firm was contracted to restore the clock tower and install a fire
Photo by Dave Kalland
The new clock tower is hoisted into place in 1988.
escape to bring the building up to code. “There is awe when you have a tall steeple. It’s about civic pride. Without the tower, you just have a brick building.” The project faced its share of challenges, from a City Council that didn’t want to use taxpayer money
Courier Hub
Turn to Tower/Page 7
After a “16- or 17-hour” Election Day Nov. 6, in which 80 percent of registered voters in Stoughton cast ballots, city clerk Holly Licht learned the following week the election wasn’t quite done. The Wisconsin Elections Commission randomly selected 5 percent of t h e s t a t e ’s voting machines for audit to ensure their tally’s accu- Licht r a c y, a n d Stoughton was one of the municipalities selected. Licht, deputy clerk Candee Christen and four volunteer election workers came to the training room at the Stoughton Fire Department at 9 a.m. M o n d a y, N o v. 1 9 , t o count the ballots in Wards
7 and 8 by hand. Though initially daunting, the group managed to count all 1,753 ballots by around 3:30 p.m. which, for those doing the math, is 39 work hours, or the length of an average work week. The only discrepancies the group found were two more votes for Rep. Gary Hebl (Dist. 46) than the machines had, Licht wrote in an email to the Hub, “due to voters not filling in the oval next to their selection completely.” That discrepancy of two votes was “a .01 percent error rate,” Licht noted. The WEC ordered “the most thorough post-election audits and double-checks in state history,” according to its website, because “voter confidence and actual security are not truly protected without checking the election-night output of the election computers to verify that votes were tabulated accurately.” B e f o r e t h i s y e a r, a WEC press release states,
Turn to Recount/Page 16
Stoughton Area School District
Schools meet expectations District’s annual report card score back on the rise SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
The Stoughton Area School District is meeting expectations and improving, according to the annual Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction report card, released Nov. 13. The district scored an overall 71.8 for the 201718 school year — up a half-point from the previous year — placing it in the “meets expectations” category, just below the 73 threshold for “exceeds expectations.” The district
had dipped slightly last year after scoring a 72.6 for the 2015-16 school year. District school scores were once again led by Sandhill Elementary (81.3), with Fox Prairie Elementary (79.4) and Stoughton High School (73.3) joining it in the “exceeds expectations” category, followed by River Bluff Middle School (69.1) and Kegonsa Elementary (68.7), which rated as “meets expectations.” The report cards, now in their third year of using “legislatively mandated calculations,” are intended to help schools and districts “use performance
Turn to Report/Page 13
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