Verona Press The
Thursday, September 27, 2018 • Vol. 54, No. 19 • Verona, WI • Hometown USA • ConnectVerona.com • $1.25
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VASD: Family of students among ICE detainees Police say they were not notified directly of federal presence SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Federal immigration officials detained “parents or family members of Verona Area School District students” among widespread actions in the Dane County area over the weekend, the Verona Area School District reported in an email to families Monday. A news release Tuesday from Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated 20 people had been arrested in Dane County by ICE agents as part of a four-day “enforcement surge” that netted 83 arrests. At least six people were stopped while driving in Fitchburg and detained by ICE, Sam Singleton-Freeman, communications coordinator for Immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera told the Press in an email. Agents were also around the Parkview Lane area in Verona, according to a Verona Police Department incident log entry, which said a VPD officer stood by at the request of the agents as they knocked on a door to no answer. According to the incident report, ICE had detained
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the mother of the children in the home earlier in the day while looking for another person of interest. The officer responded to a call from one of the children, a 13-year-old who had expressed concern for herself and siblings. A Department of Homel a n d S e c u r i t y o ff i c i a l advised the officer the mother could return to the residence “with paperwork on how to get a valid visa and begin the process to avoid deportation” if she “decides to cooperate,” the report said. VPD chief Bernie Coughlin told the Press that ICE had called the county’s 911 communications center Friday morning, the day before its presence in Verona began, while Fitchburg Police Department chief Chad Brecklin said the department had not been contacted by ICE ahead of its presence there. Coughlin called that “totally permissible” but added, “Technically, they notified us, but it would have been preferred they make a call to us directly.” Madison police chief Mike Koval and Mayor Paul Soglin both complained in a news conference Friday that ICE had not followed established protocol by contacting them directly, expressing
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Verona Progress 2018
Inside County M nears completion A message from the mayor Page 2 New high school plans continue Page 3 Matts House gets a renovation, plans for The Purple Goose Page 5 Epic construction stalls after years of growth Page 7 Town comprehensive plan update Page 8 Plans form for new public works building Page 10
Read about school board’s Wednesday decision on turf, second pool
New business questionnaires Page 13
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Photo by Kimberly Wethal
A race participant charges through the mud pit near the end of the course during the Tri 4 Schools mud run held on Saturday, Sept. 22, at Hometown Festival Park.
Morning mud fun
The annual Tri 4 Schools Family Mud Run was held at Verona’s Hometown Festival Park on Saturday, Sept. 22. Race participants ran a 0.3-, 1.5- and 3-mile course filled with obstacles like wooden walls, hay stacks, pools of water and a mud water-filled pit to finish off the race. The proceeds from the race registration go back to the schools of the children participating to help fund health and wellness initiatives.
Inside See more Mud Run photos Page 8
‘Down to earth’
VAHS grad to present studies on planetary science Oct. 5 SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Ali Bramson still recalls how happy she was to go to space camp at the Kennedy Space Center as a fifth-grader in Verona. “I cried, I was so excited,” she told the Press. It was an easy moment to recall when she stood in the Florida NASA base again about 15 years later, in the midst of working toward her PhD in planetary science, as she watched the Mars MAVEN rover launch — this time “with a VIP badge.” Next week, the 2007 Verona Area High School graduate will share with the Verona community part of that experience, and the rest of the work she’s done on the topic during a presentation at the Verona Area Community Theater building, 103 Lincoln St. Bramson said the idea for the local
If You Go What: Ali Bramson presentation on planetary sciences When: 6 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. presentation Friday, Oct. 5 Where: Verona Area Community Theater, 103 Lincoln St. RSVP: jembramson@gmail.com
presentation was her father’s, and it seemed a good way to share her work with family, friends and former teachers who could not travel to the University of Arizona to watch her defend her dissertation July 31. She received her PhD the next month, and is still working at the university on her post-doctorate. “What if you give a version of your talk in Wisconsin so that all these
people that have supported you and everything over the years can still see what you’ve been working on?” Bramson recalled her dad asking. “The Verona Area School District is amazing and I’m really appreciative of everything (I learned there),” she added. Bramson said she began saying she wanted to be an astronaut at 4-yearsold. And while she doesn’t go to space herself, she feels “so fortunate” to have found a field that is “as close as I could get to being an astronaut while being ... a scientist and staying here on earth.” “Part of me wants to go back and tell my 4-year-old self, ‘You’re gonna have the coolest job, stay on this path,’” she said. “At the same time, 4-year-old me knew this was gonna work out.” She hopes the talk here in Verona,
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