Three members of the Newton family of Baldwin have a combined total of 120 years of service on United Fire and Rescue Department and before that the Baldwin Fire Department.Verlyn Newton, at right above, has been a Fire Department member for 57 years. During his tenure he served as a captain for many years. He remains active with the Department.
His sons Doug, left, and Gary, center, are also members of United Fire. Doug has been a member for 34 years and served as chief for a time and also as assistant chief. Gary, who is presently Baldwin Station Chief, has been a Fire Department member for 29 years.
B-W students perform in WI State Honor Choirs
Baldwin-Woodville students Jordan Lehman, Brandon Serier and Marah Kittelson were accepted into the Wisconsin Middle Level State Honors Choir. This choir is comprised of 100 seventh, eighth and ninth grade students from across the state. Marah is an eighth grader at Viking Middle School and Brandon and Jordan are 9th graders at Baldwin-Woodville High School.
These students auditioned in April and were invited to be a part of this choir in the summer. They will traveled to Madison on Friday, October 30 to rehearse and then perform in concert on Saturday, October 31 at the Wisconsin School Music Association (WSMA) State Music Conference. More than 1200 students auditioned for the Middle Level State Honors Music Project. Three hundred-sixteen students were selected for the three ensembles – choir, band and orchestra.
Heather Aune was accepted into the Wisconsin High School State Honors Treble Choir. This 100 voice choir is comprised of students in grades ten, eleven and twelve. Heather is a senior at B-W High School. She auditioned last February and was notified in April that she was selected. In June she attended a three day music camp held on the UW-Green Bay campus.
Heather was in Madison on October 28 to rehearse with the choir and put the finishing touches on their music. The WI State High School Honors Choir Concert was Thursday, October 29 at the Overture Center in Madison as part of the WI State Music Conference. Over 1800 students auditioned for the High School State Honors Music Project. Four hundred-thirty students from across the state were selected for the five ensembles – mixed choir, treble choir, jazz ensemble, orchestra, and concert band.
Village budget seeks to hold the line
With the present economic times, members of the Baldwin Village Board were intent on holding the line on spending and not raising taxes for the 2010 budget. According to Village Administrator Cindy Deringer “based on the best assessment we have” of state figures regarding aids and property values, the village board will present a village budget for 2010 that keeps the same mill rate and the same dollar amounts as this year’s budget.
“The board, during these times, did not want to have any increases,” said Deringer about the meeting that was held last Wednesday, October 28.
This year’s budget has a mill rate of $7.98 per $1,000 of valuation and that same rate will be in effect for the coming budget “with some assumptions about how the state sets the assessment ratio,” said Deringer. “Our intent is that it’s the same.”
To accomplish the goal of holding spending to the same level, there were a couple of cut backs said Deringer. There are not as many street projects as in past years. The budget for the Baldwin Public Library was only half of the increase that was requested.
There was money put in the budget to pave the Baldwin EMS parking lot, with most of the money coming from a sinking fund that had been established for that purpose and an additional amount to cover the expected cost over the amount in the sinking fun.
There were some changes in parks outlay, said Deringer, including removing a pickup truck and some irrigation costs from the budget. For law enforcement, a new patrol car will not come from the budget but will be taken out of a sinking fund.
One increase in the budget was for new carpet for the Baldwin Library and Senior Center, said Deringer. In addition, there is money in the budget for park pathways paving.
News From the Exchanges
Interesting items from
Surrounding communities
RIVER FALLS JOURNAL: The Hudson-River Falls Area Rail Group invites all residents to a public meeting “Bringing Trains to River Falls” 7 to 8 .m. Wednesday, November 4 at the public library in the ground floor meeting room. Group member and rail enthusiast William “Bill” Draves said the meeting will be a chance for people to learn the importance of trains for UW-River Falls, the top ten reasons to support train travel and the plans and options for passenger rail access for Hudson and River Falls. “It’s very exciting and important,” Draves said about area rail development. In the next four to six months, according to Draves, Wisconsin will submit funding proposals to the U.S. Department of Transportation for high-speed rail that would link to the Twin Cities and to many parts of Wisconsin. He says most of the local group’s interest focuses on the lines that would connect to the Twin Cities. The most immediate plan is for a line connecting Milwaukee to Madison; Draves said nearly everyone agrees it is needed. That will be the first line running. The second part of that route could be a Madison to Twin Cities line. While the exact route is not yet determined, it’s proposed to run along the river and through Winona stopping in Red Wing, Minn.
AMERY FREE PRESS: An employee at Super America on US 8 near St. Croix Falls saw three suspicious briefcases. The person called the Polk County Sheriff’s Department at 10:25 a.m. on Monday, September 26. The briefcases were located at two sites near the building. Sheriff’s deputies found four more cases across US 8 in the parking area of Wayne’s Café. All the cases were sealed with tape and left in plain view. St. Croix Fire Department was also called to the scene. Both businesses were evacuated. A request for assistance was made for the Marathon (Wausau) County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad. The unit arrived in the evening hours. The bomb squad utilized a robotic device to move the cases away from the building and opened them at a safe distance. All three cases were empty. A bomb squad member then suited up in protective gear and opened the remaining cases in Wayne’s Café parking lot. Those cases were also empty. The incident took over nine hours to resolve and included assistance from the St. Croix Falls Police Department. “This call was costly in terms of lost revenue to local businesses and law enforcement and fire department personnel, as well as the anticipated costs of the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office assistance,” said Polk Sheriff Tim Moore. “I am confident that we took all precautions to insure the public’s safety as our primary interest,” he said. The matter was concluded about 7:30.
HUDSON STAR-OBSERVER: As of Tuesday afternoon, Daniel Craig Christenson, 43, 1321 St. Croix Heights, remains in critical condition in an induced coma at Regions Hospital in St. Paul after being shot by police outside his house at the end of a seven-hour stand off on October 18. Nate Livermore, 15, of Hudson who was one of four teenagers who escaped the house after Christenson began shooting inside at around 5 p.m. on October 17 is recovering from surgery after being bitten by a police dog as he ran from the house. Livermore and Christenson’s son Zachary, 19, broke a basement window and helped a 13-year-old girl and another 15-year-old boy escape through the window before running to safety themselves. As Livermore ran from the house, he was set upon by the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Department police dog that latched onto his arm. The boy was treated for the dog bite at Hudson Hospital on the night of the incident but by Monday had developed a serious infection and was rushed to Regions Hospital for treatment. He underwent surgery on October 20 to replace a damaged artery in his left arm. He came home from the hospital on Friday.
TRIBUNE PRESS REPORTER (GLENWOOD CITY): For the fifth time in the last few months and for the fourth time in the past few weeks, another bank in this area was robbed. Bremer Bank in Elk Mound was the target of a robbery at around 2 p.m. Wednesday, October 21. According to a news release from the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department, a lone person entered the bank at 116 W. Menomonie Street (U.S. Highway 12) in Elk Mound, demanded money from bank employees and threatened that he had a gun. The news release also notes that bank employees did not actually see a weapon. The bank robber was described as a white male, approximately 30 years old, with a thin build and between 5’6” and 5’8” tall, wearing black-framed sunglasses with possibly a blue strip on the bows. He also was wearing a dark-colored baseball cap, green camouflage jacket with a hood up over the baseball cap, dark pants and dark shoes or boots.
WOODVILLE LEADER: The congregation of the First Baptist Church of Woodville held their regular service Sunday morning, but the message from Pastor Dennis Tapp held a special significance because Sunday was their much anticipated ground-breaking day for a new church. First Baptist was founded in 1885 and the original section of the church building was erected ten years later in 1895. That section with several additions still stands to day and has become a cramped space for the active congregation of 100 faithful parishioners. The architect and general contractor for the project have been selected with the work to begin as soon as possible to allow for winter construction and completion to occur in late spring or early summer. The old church will be offered for sale, the new church site is just south of Viking Middle School.
