I hope everyone enjoyed a excellent week! Spring is in the air ~ somewhere...
We have an exciting summer ahead of us with the Mequon-Milwaukee Afterhours RC's Chartering and Polio Fundraising Dinner on Sat 2 May 2015, as well as our 25th Anniversary Celebration just around the corner.
Thank you to everyone who is and has contributed their time an talents in the preparation for these historic events.
This week’s at MTSR:
This week we are meeting at the CUW Friends of Concordia Room and our speaker will be Mequon City Administrator, Will Jones. I am traveling this week, but Mike Kim will be overseeing our meeting in my stead.
As always, the schedule for Greeter, Thought of the Day and Rotary Minute are accessible (click here). Please be prepared when it is your turn and find a replacement if you are unable to attend when you are scheduled.
Referendums pass in Mequon-Thiensville, Fox Point-Bayside By Jeff Rumage
Two North Shore school districts had their referendum wishes granted in Tuesday's election, bucking an anti-referendum trend that prevailed in three other Milwaukee-area school districts.
Most notably, voters in the Mequon-Thiensville School District approved a $18.2 million referendum for the first time in 17 years, after rejecting referendum requests in 2002 and 2006. The referendum would finance $14.4 million in capital improvements, including renovations to the Homestead auditorium, Homestead's gym floors and locker rooms and the replacement of roofs, windows and boilers at several school buildings. The referendum also includes $3.8 million for collaborative learning environments at the middle and high school levels.
In a statement, the school district thanked residents for their support of the referendum, and said the district will continue to inform residents about the referendum through the school district's website:
"As the district proceeds to the next step of this process, residents can be assured that the district will continue to prudently invest taxpayer dollars toward facilities needs while using the strategically developed long-range facilities plan, share information about the impending capital maintenance projects and continuously seek to make the community's schools optimal learning environments in order to allow students to flourish academically, socially and emotionally."
About 61 percent of voters approved the referendum, including Homestead parent Elizabeth Sande, who was interviewed as she left Mequon City Hall on Tuesday morning. She said her three sons have told her about the need for facility improvements at the high school.
Another resident, Alice Ebert, agreed the schools need to be maintained.
"I don't think we should let our schools deteriorate," she said.
Other voters, such as Kay Newell, voted against the referendum. The Mequon resident said the district should have budgeted for necessary maintenance projects.
"I think it's a maintenance issue. These things should've been taken care of," she said. "I think the school district should live within its means."
The referendum would raise taxes on a $400,000 home by $60 to $70 for the first three years, but when the debt from the 1998 referendum is paid off in 2019, the tax rate on refer
Not long after our first daughter was born, I remember seeing her on the exam table in the doctor’s office, lying on her back, with the white paper crinkling underneath her. She was soft and small and fragile. I remember watching the needle pierce her leg, and feeling a strange mix of guilt and relief. There was a slight delay before her face changed and her scream filled the room. As a father, I cringed.
In 2006, there were rumors about mercury in the injections, and some possible link with autism. My wife and I had heard them. With the anxiety of all new parents, we wanted, more than anything, to keep our daughter from harm. But sorting through the opinions and anecdotes and research was overwhelming. We were torn between fear, belief, and trust.
Fortunately, we had a good doctor whom we did trust, who assured us that the shots didn’t contain mercury and that they posed no risk of autism. We believed her. We were too exhausted to do much more than that. Things might have been harder if we’d felt differently about our doctor, or about Western medicine, or about the world. But we didn’t. We just did our best. Today our daughter is healthy and thriving. For that we’re grateful. Yet a surprising number of new parents in my generation don’t feel the way we did. They don’t believe their doctors. And they haven’t come to see vaccinations as an obvious, logical, low-risk choice.
It is time to register for Tri-Con, the multi-district Rotary conference for the State of Wisconsin! We are planning two full days (Friday, May 15 and Saturday, May 16) of Rotary fun and fellowship, with a closing breakfast on Sunday, May 17. More Information …
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