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Thursday, April 25, 2019 • Vol. 54, No. 49 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
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‘Magical day’ GE teacher runs Boston Marathon SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Lindsay Herb woke up to thunder around 6 a.m. April 15. “I was like, ‘Oh no,’” she recalled thinking as she opened the blinds to see rain pouring from the sky. It was 6 a.m., and the Glacier Edge Elementary School teacher was five hours from crossing the starting line for what had been a dream for the past six years: the Boston Marathon. By the time she got there — a poncho, muddy old running shoes and an hour and 15 minute bus ride later — she couldn’t believe the crowd of people surrounding her as the sun turned it into a beautiful Monday. She was one of more than 32,000 to run the race this year, her sixth marathon since taking up distance running in her mid-20s as a way to stay in shape. At that time, it was 5K races that were on her mind, at least for a little while. “It was definitely, ‘Let’s stay in shape, let’s do some 5Ks,’” she recalled. “Then it turned into, ‘Let’s try
10K, let’s try a half-marathon.’ Then it just seemed like the right progression to try a full.” That try came a year after giving birth to her second child when she ran the 2013 Fox Cities Marathon, the first of five she planned to run in her lifetime. One month later she ran her second. “That was a mistake,” she recalled. “I had the idea that more time on your feet and more miles is great for you.” But instead it left her injured, forcing her to change her workout techniques to add strength training and adjusting her long runs to mimic how she planned to race. By May 2018, she had learned her lesson, finishing the Green Bay Marathon more than six minutes under the qualifying time for Boston, assuring her place in the historic race. “The Boston was so exciting and it gave me chills,” she said, “but Green B a y wa s s o e m o t i o n a l because I accomplished it, I did it.” Before she left for Boston, the GE school community celebrated that accomplishment, giving her a
Turn to Marathon/Page 20
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
Owen Weyenberg, 3, goes after Easter eggs immediately after being given the go-ahead to start the hunt during the Egg-stravaganza Spring Festival on Saturday, April 20, at Harriet Park.
An egg-cellent time Hundreds of people spent the morning of Saturday, April 20, at Harriet Park celebrating spring. The Verona Area Chamber of Commerce hosted its Egg-stravaganza Spring Festival, its second spring festival but its first Easter-themed event. The event included an egg hunt for children, a pancake breakfast, field
games and an opportunity to meet animals a petting zoo. Chamber executive director Le Jordan told the Press that more than 700 children participated in the egg hunt, and they went through 90 gallons of pancake batter.
Inside More photos from the Egg-stravaganza Page 8
– Kimberly Wethal
City of Verona
Sustainability policy covers infrastructure, vehicles, nature Resolution: Ordinances should conform, as well JIM FEROLIE Verona Press editor
Photo submitted
Glacier Edge Elementary School teacher Lindsay Herb reacts seeing some of her friends and family while running the Boston Marathon Monday, April 15. The
Verona Press
Verona has joined hundreds of cities around the country in creating a sustainability policy. It doesn’t prescribe any specific requirements, but it addresses future construction, building retrofits, vehicle upgrades, conserving and preserving natural areas and resources and designing infrastructure to deal with the possibility of more extreme flooding and weather events.
It also recommends changing city ordinances. The resolution establishing the policy prefaces its list of recommended measures with a long explanation of why, relating to climate change, dwindling nonrenewable resources, the increasing availability of renewables and the impact of severe weather. It cites the prudence of planning for change and the benefits of trees and other vegetation on health and happiness and refers to Wisconsin-based environmental leaders John Muir, Aldo Leopold and Gaylord Nelson. “The city and the utility serving the city must take strong action imminently
to reduce carbon emissions and shift to 100 percent renewable electricity as soon as feasible,” it states. Mayor Luke Diaz told the Press after Monday’s Common Council meeting, where it was adopted unanimously, he decided to introduce the policy and wrote most of it, with help from similar policies in neighboring cities that have adopted them in recent years, such as Fitchburg, Middleton and Monona. In addition to his own interest in environmentalism, he said he had been hearing questions from constituents and alders about whether the city had such a policy. “We are going to have to
deal with climate change,” he told alders. Ald. Sarah Gaskell (Dist. 2) asked whether the city would turn this resolution into a more formal sustainability policy. Interim city administrator Adam Sayre said it could be done but was not being worked on, explaining that the resolution essentially is the policy, and the two could be considered interchangeable. He also alluded to a staffing shortage. The policy has been distributed to department heads to consider as they budget this year, he said in response to a question from Ald. Kate Cronin (D-3).
Turn to Nature/Page 17
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