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Thursday, March 12, 2020 • Vol. 55, No. 43 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.50
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Town of Verona
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
The driveway put in prior to when the Madison Metropolitan Sewer District put improvements near Goose Lake acts as an environmental dam for the lake.
Looking for an outlet Town of Verona, Fitchburg call for study to solve Goose Lake flooding KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Mark Nesbitt
Verona senior Cale Rufenacht (right) hugs junior Walker Haessig after the Wildcats beat Notre Dame de la Baie 2-1 in the Division 1 state championship on Saturday, March 7, at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Madison.
Wildcats skate to OT title edged top-seeded Notre Dame de la Baie 2-1 on Saturday, March 7, at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Madison. Full story on the VeroSenior captain Cale Rufenacht na boys’ hockey chamalso scored in the championship. Verona won its second state title pionship win in program history and first since 2014. Page 9 Junior forward Walker Haessig scored in double overtime in the Wildcats’ 1-0 state semifinal win Grant stopped 61 of 62 shots he over second-seeded Chippewa faced in the two state tournament Falls on Friday, March 6. games. Verona junior goaltender Kaden — Adam Feiner
Inside
The Verona boys hockey team played nine periods in a little more than 24 hours and emerged atop WIAA Division 1. Junior forward Leo Renlund scored the game-winning goal in overtime of the state championship as the third-seeded Wildcats
City of Verona
Goodwill reps say there are misconceptions about store Business to open downtown has met with resistance
thrift store into a vacant downtown storefront. But much of it has been misinformation, a representative from Goodwill of South Central Wisconsin told the Press on Monday, RENEE HICKMAN March 9. Unified Newspaper Group An October post about the store in community Facebook Social media in Verona has group, “What’s News in Verobeen abuzz recently over the na,” received 80 comments from impending move of a Goodwill users including “Yuck. What an The
Verona Press
eyesore,” and “Goodwill = NO Thank you.” Other commenters raised concerns about how Goodwill pays employees with disabilities and called for more small businesses in the area instead. A more recent post on the NextDoor app – with 60 comments since Feb. 23 – had a variety of
Turn to Goodwill/Page 13
Turn to Lake/Page 14
Veteran who inspired ‘Hometown USA’ dies Schmidt’s Army unit appreciated his description of community JIM FEROLIE Verona Press editor
The U.S. Army veteran who helped inspire Verona’s adoption of the slogan “Hometown USA” has died. Donald R. Schmidt was 77 w h e n h e d i e d We d n e s d a y, March 4, at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans
Hospital, according to his online obituary at Ryan Funeral Home. Services were h e l d S a t u r d a y, March 7, in DeForest. Schmidt Schmidt was a member of the 101st Airborne in Vietnam in 1966 when the Verona Press printed a short letter he had written on June 20, thanking the Press for sending him a free
Turn to Schmidt/Page 16
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Verona survives three extra periods over two games, allows only one goal
The winter after Town of Verona resident Steve Sheets and his wife built their home along Goose Lake in 1989, he counted 44 muskrat domes on the top of the ice on the lake. In order to build the domes, there has to be vegetation within the lake the animals can use as materials, Sheets told the Press earlier this week as he recalled his first year living in the town. Thirty years later, it’s a different landscape: Goose Lake, a kettle that sits on Dane County Parks land just east of U.S. Hwy. 18-151 and the Military Ridge State Trail in the township, has grown and encroached 25 feet of Sheets’ backyard – and there are no longer muskrat domes
on the ice. “For the last 10 years, there hasn’t been a one,” he said. “I’m not a fan of muskrats, but that’s an indication on how the lake had died.” Goose Lake’s growth, and its subsequent effects of flooding out Fitchrona Road – the boundary between the town and the City of Fitchburg – has prompted the two municipalities to partner on a hydraulic analysis of the lake, its watershed and downstream conditions into the Badger Mill Creek. A city document from February requesting consultant proposals for the study seeks answers on how flooding could be reduced in the Fitchrona Road area, as well as an evaluation of existing or new outlet options for Goose Lake and a determination of what is an achievable water level for the lake. Among the potential short-term solutions are adding culverts to improve flow across 18-151 and removing a gravel road that blocks
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