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Welcome to New Wisco Weekend. I'm Lisa Hale your host. If you look up the word adopt in the dictionary, it means to choose, make or take as your own.
And since it's National Adoption Day, we decided our theme for this issue would be around the idea of adoption.
But not just the importance of adopting an orphaned child. We're also looking into adopting ideas, adopting pets, adopting techniques.
Anytime you welcome something new into your life, it could be considered an adoption of sorts.
Our cover story focuses on the plan for a bridge across I-41 recently adopted by the city of Oshkosh. Amanda Nimmer's commentary discusses chosen family and the importance of adopting others in life.
We also have stories covering winter weather awareness and the techniques you should be adopting to stay safe and warm.
Pet adoption of a totally different sort, the ladies of Lambo and their efforts to help foster kids, and in Marathon County, the ACLU is fighting the Sheriff's Department adoption of ICE programs.
Pete Schwabba is also here to share his classic cinema pick of the week.
We open up this edition of New Wisco Weekend with a Wisconsin man's unique story. He adopted a community in one of the poorest regions of Jamaica.
It was part of a mission started years ago to make their everyday living conditions a little better.
Now the recent hurricane there is pushing him even harder to fulfill the promises he made to those he considers part of his chosen family.
Here's Terry Barr.
He's a local musician who found it's a greater calling in many ways. He has been building houses for those in need in Jamaica for many years.
And I'm looking forward to talking with him about it and getting an update since the recent hurricane.
Please welcome Craig Bauman. Craig, thank you for joining me.
Thanks for having me, Terry.
I know that this has been a difficult time for so many people you know in Jamaica.
Let me first start out by telling people that your organization is Jam for Jamaica.
You're also a member of the People Brothers Band and then your own band, the story.
But tell us about Jam for Jamaica. Why did that really grab such a big piece of your heart?
Something that we all love and we all learn from and we're able to teach through and really benefit some people and help some people.
And we've been at it for 20 years now in the very center of Jamaica in a town called Poros near Mandaville in the Manchester Parish right in the center of the island.
So they took a good shot from the storm, you know, category five, 200 mile an hour winds.
There's some people that are just now getting in touch with me and other people in their lives.
Phone call I got today was in the grill and they're just starting to get some of the logistics back online.
So people can actually think about conducting business and doing what they're doing.
There's just disaster status all over Jamaica right now.
How hard has this been for you to not really see with your own eyes what's happened there?
It's always pretty rugged there, but to see some of the video.
The trees have no foliage on them, which means the fruit fell to the ground.
It's going to take some time for a lot of this habitat to reform.
How many houses or pieces of homes do you think you've helped build in the last 20 years?
Over 200. Wow. Do you have any idea if any of those are still standing?
From what I've seen and heard, everything is still in good shape.
I guess we're doing something right and we'll keep doing it.
What I haven't thought about is some of the damage now is coming through the foundations.
So maybe the house is intact and the roof is still intact, but some of the foundations are shifting.
What would you say about the people that you know in a way you've adopted people there?
We kind of did a copy and paste to make it more feasible for us to not have to cut through so much red tape
and to be able to really help people that need help directly as we see it.
Not just top down type mentality, it's more of a ground up thing, far more organic.
And we've been able to just help people in the matter of a day or a half a day.
After we meet them sometimes we just help them and be on our way instead of cutting through all the red tape.
We can continue to go there and interact with this community that we've really fallen in love with
and have become a part of.
I've been able to take hundreds of people there on these missions.
I'll continue to do it as long as we can and now it's a demand.
It's something that is a necessity.
It needs to happen because of Hurricane Melissa.
There's no way to prepare for any of that and all we can do is just keep our ears open and our eyes open
and make sure that we're trying to help the people who need help.
What happens next?
Yeah, we're definitely going to stop by some of the hospitals and the schools
and make sure that they're getting the relief or at least have a plan in action
for what's going to happen for those types of crucial establishments and crucial teams
that should be supporting anybody else that needs help.
We're going to start there.
We've already had some initiatives in mind as far as rubbish removal
and it's just something that needs to be addressed and now everything is rubbish.
Do you have a date in mind when you hope to get over there?
We'll be there the third week of January.
For anybody that will hear this, if they want to learn more about it,
if they want to make a donation to try to help out, where should they go Craig? What's the best place?
Our website is jam for jam.org.
J-A-M-F-O-R-J-A-M.org.
Jam for jam.org.
I'm mostly speechless.
I've kind of shied away from asking people for help, but this is a time where Jamaica specifically needs our help.
Craig, thank you. It has been a pleasure talking with you. Please be safe in your travels
and I hope you're able to get done everything that you have as part of your adoption of this area
and part of your mission as well.
Thanks, Terry. Thanks for speaking with me. I appreciate it.
And Terry just learned that a $20,000 fundraising goal for the January mission is at the halfway mark.
If you'd like to learn more or adopt this effort, go to jamforjam.org.
We'll share updates when these local volunteers return to Jamaica early next year.
We're wrapping up Winter Weather Awareness Week throughout Wisconsin this weekend.
Civic Media's Joanne Krulotz has some tips that you can adopt in your life as the cold creeps in.
As temperatures begin to drop and winter approaches, now is the time to be prepared for the upcoming season.
To help Wisconsin plan for the months ahead, it's winter weather awareness week in the state.
The freezing temperatures of the winter months can be dangerous for many people leading to cold related illnesses
and injuries such as hypothermia and frostbite.
There were 96 cold related deaths in the state during the winter months of 2024 to 25,
according to preliminary data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
EMS responded to 1,381 calls.
There were 1,433 emergency department visits and 400 hospitalizations in the state due to cold related illnesses last winter.
Winter storms and dangerously cold temperatures can pose real dangers if people are not ready for their impacts.
Stay aware of weather forecast and stock a home emergency kit.
Your home kit should include items such as food and water, cell phone and charger, flashlight and batteries, first aid kit, important medications, a weather radio and a change of clothes.
If you have to venture out, dress in several loose fitting layers where a hat, mittens and snow boots use a scarf to cover your mouth and face.
When arise your car, just as you have a home emergency kit, you need one for your car too.
Pack items such as blanket, snacks and water, a shovel, jumper cables and sand.
Keep your gas tank at least half full.
Ice and snow on the roads remain a major threat to drivers throughout the state causing thousands of motor vehicle crashes each year.
The preliminary data from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation shows 31 people were killed and 2054 were injured in the state from October 2024 to May 2025 from crashes involving winter road conditions.
Make sure to check in with the National Weather Service and other trusted local sources daily for forecasts to inform you of potential and climate weather.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation and Division of Wisconsin State Patrol encourage travelers to know before you go and check winter road conditions with 5-1-1 Wisconsin via 5-1-1-WY.gov or the 5-1-1 Wisconsin app.
Prepare ahead of time for winter travel by stocking your emergency kit and checking the tires and overall condition of your vehicle.
The Wisconsin DMV also advises travelers to consider adding an emergency contact to their DMV record.
Motorists are reminded that speed limits are based on clear dry conditions.
During winter slippery roads often require drivers to reduce their speeds and adjust to the conditions.
This is especially important near snow plows that travel much slower than the speed limit and create clouds of snow that can obscure a driver's visibility.
Always stay back at least 200 feet from a working snow plow. Prepare your home by having your furnace serviced regularly.
Check doorways and windows for signs they are allowing cold air into your home.
Test carbon monoxide detectors and make sure they are working properly and have fresh batteries and keep any freestanding heating devices away from curtains or other objects that could catch fire.
That civic media is Joanne Krulotz.
New West Go weekend presents Peach Wabba's classic movie Pick of the Week.
Are you ever in the mood for a film that makes you want to leave the rat race and move to the beautiful romantic countryside?
This week's film might just make you want to do that.
Baby Boom came out in 1987 and stars Oscar winner Diane Keaton and Oscar nominee and award-winning playwright actor Sam Shepard.
Keaton plays JC Wyatt a high-powered executive at a New York City PR firm called Sloan Curtis.
She's so good at her job in such a workaholic that her boss calls her the Tiger Lady.
JC works 80 hours working her way up the corporate ladder, but just when she is about to make partner, she receives an odd inheritance.
A baby, as it turns out, JC's cousin passed away and left her an infant daughter.
It takes a while for her to warm up to the child, but her boyfriend is incapable of doing so on any level and leaves her.
In addition to that, she gets stabbed in the back at work so she heads for asylum in the countryside of Vermont, assuming like most people who head for any countryside in any movie that life will be bliss.
JC learns that country living can be difficult and it does not take long for her to miss the big city.
I'm going to get out of here. You see, I need to work, I need people, I need a social life, I need sex.
But please, I'm a married man.
No, I'm not here. I mean, how much baby food is the person supposed to be able to make in their lifetime?
I mean, I am a career woman. I am used to having funless and thinner meetings. Do you know what I mean?
No.
I have been yupped and noved to death by you guys. I have padded with whiskers and plaid. Look at me. I am going nuts. I used to be cute.
JC ends up settling in just fine, especially after she inadvertently creates a home recipe for applesauce that her baby loves, giving her a new successful business.
She also meets a local veterinarian played by Shepard.
Keaton has a fun, flighty energy about her as is the case with many of her film roles.
Sam Shepard has a more subtle energy that is a great match with Keaton's.
Fun Wisconsin fact, Shepard and his partner Jessica Lang and their two children lived in river falls for a spell.
Baby Boom is a fun, feel good flick, especially for those of us who also sought asylum, pulled a Diane Keaton and ran off to the beautiful romantic countryside.
And it's this week's classic movie pick of the week. For more movie and entertainment talk, join me weeknights from 6 to 8 p.m. for Nightlight.
Here on WISS and WGBW for New Wisco Weekend, I'm Peach Wabba.
There's still more ahead, including our cover story, an interview with James Robbie about a pedestrian bicycle bridge over the interstate in Oshkosh.
First, you've probably heard of Wisconsin's Adopt a Highway program.
It started in 1991 and officials say there are now more than 3,000 active volunteer groups who regularly clean up their adopted highways all around the state.
This is New Wisco Weekend.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.
You're listening to New Wisco Weekend on your local Civic Media radio stations WGBW and WISS.
Plus we're available at civicmedia.us.
I'm Lisa Hale.
Now, coming up, we've got Amanda Nimmer with a timely commentary on Chosen Family.
But first, this story.
In Marathon County, the Sheriff's Office is in hot water over their cooperation with ICE.
Isabella Nieto reports.
They're being sued by the ACLU of Wisconsin for complying with requests from immigration officials to hold people longer than they should, so ICE can come and deport them.
Those requests are called ICE detainers, and they allow sheriffs to detain people for an extra 48 hours.
Being unlawfully present in the United States is not a crime. It's a civil violation.
That's Hanna Schwars, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Wisconsin.
Continuing to detain someone is under Wisconsin law. This is something we argue.
Ease and arrest. And by arresting someone for being unlawfully present in the United States, you are arresting them for a civil violation.
People can only be arrested for civil violations under specific circumstances, none of which include being undocumented.
The ACLU argues that honoring an ICE detainer is not an arrest that Wisconsin law enforcement has the authority to make.
Schwars said they're waiting for the State Supreme Court to take up the case. The lawsuit was filed in September.
So if we won this lawsuit, it would mean that local sheriffs wouldn't be able to detain immigrant detainees on behalf of ICE.
The Marathon County Sheriff's Office declined to comment on the ongoing lawsuit.
The ACLU of Wisconsin also put out a statement denouncing a potential partnership between the Marathon County Sheriff's Office and ICE.
The 287G partnership, which follows a jail enforcement model, would allow Marathon County Sheriff's to use jail facilities as a kind of ICE detention center.
That means local jails could detain people for longer periods of time than an ICE detainer requests.
According to an ACLU report, 13 Wisconsin Sheriff's Departments have a partnership with ICE.
I'm Isabel Aignetto.
A majority of those counties, with 287G agreements in Wisconsin, are in the Fox Valley and New Wisco.
Including Brown, Fondelac, Kiwani, Manitwock, Marquette, Outagami, Shavoygan, Wapaka, Washiro, and Winnebago counties.
It's now time to welcome New Wisco weekend's answer to Andy Rooney or Irma Bombak.
Our commentator, Amanda Nimmer, listen close and listen well.
Because many of you need to hear this.
Family doesn't have to be blood-related. It can be chosen.
It can be made up of the people that you choose to consider family, and that is family.
A lot of you need to hear this around the holidays because if you're like me, sometimes your blood just sucks, man.
Okay? The maki said, the maki disappointed, and the holidays are every year more and more dreadful as you anticipate them coming up.
But guess what? You can choose your family.
The hard part is doing it guilt-free.
You know, a couple decades later, or not that long. Maybe a year or so later, it's fine.
Don't forget about it. You'll forget about it. You'll feel happy with your decision.
But Amanda, blood is thicker than water. Family should be who you're related to. I-I-see-you-wrong.
See, that quote is always used out of context.
The full quote is the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, which means that the bonds formed through shared experiences
with people you choose to have in your life every single day are stronger than the family you were born to.
So you're using it wrong, which means I'm right. Point me. It's often shortened and used incorrectly.
I have had someone who's been in my life, and I believe we are on our 20th year.
You know, after COVID things kind of started blending together, so quite honestly time is blood and illusion to me.
But I believe if I'm doing my math correctly, we will be friends for 20 years this year. It's a long time.
See, anytime there was a big event going on in my life, shortly after she would have one.
Or anytime she had a big event going on in her life, shortly after I'd experienced something similar.
And no, we're not copying each other because blood family members dropping dead isn't something you want to copy.
No, not at all. And not in the tragic, horrific ways that they happened.
But her and I have a bond for the ages. So instead of saying, oh, this is my friend Nikki, I say this is my sister.
See, we hunt around so much in high school anyway that despite the fact she is stark blonde and I am not pretty sure it's starting to turn black here,
people would confuse us, you know, just didn't make sense. She had nicer teeth and I have a big old gap in mind.
And yet, our names were often confused. So people thought we were related anyway. It's great.
And if you're a J and Silent Bob fan, she is my hetero life mate. My sister chosen for life. She cannot get rid of me no matter how much we fight.
She is the aunt to my kids. And when it comes to gossip, she is included in spouse law. But that's a whole other discussion.
Point being, some of us are getting too old in our lives to constantly have to put the feelings of those we were born to first.
It's especially when it's in instances where you've been hurt over and over and over again. And you get told by the extended family members, oh, they don't mean it.
Oh, that's just how they are. It's okay. I'll just forgive them. They're related to you in this instance. No, I mean, if you're breaking the cycle, you know that it's hard, but you have to say no.
Not only for your mental health, but sometimes just for your peace. So what does that leave you that leaves you with your chosen family?
Or in other instances where this has happened to other people, you then take that person and make them part of your family, like I have with my sister.
You could say that she's been adopted.
Ah, see, Lisa, I use the word tied it in. It's officially part of the episode. And if you're still in that stage of having to give in and do what you can with your blood, you know what?
That's okay. You'll get there in time, choosing to stand up for yourself or choosing to protect your peace is not an easy endeavor.
And sometimes those blood family members can make it so much harder than it needs to be. I'm not saying cut people off. I'm saying boundaries.
I'm saying feel okay, say no once in a while. Alternate holidays. Getting a say in your life and who you choose as your family, because guess what? That's fair.
So while yes, the saying you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your family is true. Doesn't mean you can't adopt way cooler people into yours.
Look, I said it twice. Lisa, look at me. I'm on a roll.
From Newisco Weekend, I'm Amanda Nimmer. And there you go.
Hon, a roll indeed. Next on Newisco Weekend, we flip the page to our cover story with Ashkosh Public Works director James Robbie.
This is Newisco Weekend for WISS and WGBW News. I'm Lisa Hale your host. It's time for our cover story. You know, when a municipality or county government decides to move forward with an idea or a prospect, they call it approving an ordinance.
Giving the go ahead or even adopting the plan. Recently, the Ashkosh Common Council gave its Public Works Department community development and others the go ahead to move forward with a plan to build a bridge for pedestrians and bicyclists over interstate 41, connecting the east and west sides of the city.
Shortly after that meeting, I had the chance to sit down with Ashkosh Public Works director James Robbie to discuss the idea and the steps to bring it to fruition.
I wanted to talk a little bit about the pedestrian bridge that we're thinking about and bike bridge that we're thinking about putting over I-41. Now, I know we're a long way out, but there was a lot of conversation about it at the last Common Council meeting.
And so I wanted to talk a little bit about what is it and where we're going with it. So tell me this bridge where we're thinking or looking at how exactly are we doing? Are we just looking at the possibility of it? Are we planning it? What is exactly happening?
We've been looking at the possibility of it for quite some time. You mentioned the last Common Council meeting, you know, and as you listen and read those materials, this has been in our bicycle and pedestrian plan since 2011 to do something to improve pedestrian and bicycle access across interstate highway 41.
In that first plan in 2011, there were two potential locations identified. One in the area that we're looking at now, and another area would be near where the old railroad crossing was just north of Target right there where Keller Street curves by.
I'm going to date myself here, the old LaSalle Clinic. It's now an ascension building. There's a hotel there. That was another one of the locations that that early plan had looked at in the most recent update to the bike and pedestrian master plan. It was really looking at somewhere in the vicinity that we're looking at now to locate this, which is a little further north.
Yes, it's more in the vicinity of where Taft Avenue is so by Dairy Queen and that leads right to Ashkash West and Pollock Water Pool. So there's a lot of a lot of things in the area on the east side that it would connect pedestrians from the west side too.
The reason for this pedestrian and bicycle cross bridge, so to speak, is for safety and ease of, I guess, I don't want to say pedestrians again because it sounds like we're saying a lot, but for ease of crossing the highway.
Yes, really, now a six lane interstate highway really creates a significant barrier for bicycles and pedestrians to get across. When the DOT did the last round of updates to the interstate highway, all of the overpasses had roundabouts installed at them.
Roundabouts are very effective ways of moving vehicular traffic and improving vehicular traffic safety, but they do cause challenges for bicycles and pedestrians as vehicular drivers were taught as we approach around about you're always looking left looking left to see who's coming around that roundabout.
And if you're not very careful, you can forget to look right at that pedestrian who's about to walk across and front you at a crosswalk and in Wisconsin state law protects those pedestrians in the crosswalk, they have the right way.
So as vehicle drivers, you must yield to pedestrians and there are a lot of people who forget that.
But I said it's your training and these roundabouts is always to look left and you got to remember to look right and that's caused a lot of challenges for bicycles and pedestrians to get through those areas.
Do we have a problem in Oshkosh with safety at the roundabouts for pedestrians and bicyclists?
Certainly it is a concern. We have several residents who use them regularly, some disabled residents who use them regularly who contact us regularly saying we're having trouble getting through these because people aren't paying attention.
So if you look at the crash history, yes, there is some crash history, but it's more anecdotal of the pedestrians who are really paying attention and are calling us they look, the vehicles aren't paying attention to me and I'm having a lot of trouble getting through these.
So you look at several of the roundabouts, there are rapidly rectangular flashing beacons installed, our RFBs, I believe the first place we installed those was at the Murdock and Jackson roundabout.
And even with those installed vehicles still fail to yield to those and that's really one of the biggest challenges that we're dealing with is driver education, but that doesn't mean we don't look to do something to make sure that we are protecting those bicycles and pedestrians.
Because I know a lot of people who want to bike but just won't because they have to get across the interstate or you know I've talked to some staff at the city as well that said you know what we load our bikes up on the car and we drive across the interstate and then we park and get our bikes out and go for a bike ride.
How foolish is that that you're loading your bikes in your car to drive across the highway just to go for a bike ride?
I wanted to ask my husband calls it the me first problem, me first, me first, me first when it comes to the roundabouts because everybody's got the me first mentality.
I'm going to go you're going to have to wait for me kind of thing.
That's what he calls it roundabouts and I have to remind him that pedestrians bicyclists are the first not me first they first.
So I think that's one of the things that people need to look at.
Yeah, I can't count the number of times that as I'm coming around around about and I see pedestrian and stopping you end up stopping in the roundabout and I've almost been hitting numerous times but that pedestrian has the right of way.
Exactly. Now this potential isn't a potential bridge or are we moving forward with it?
We're moving forward with it at this point and we still have a lot of work to do.
There are still certainly some hurdles that need to be cleared but a lot of work to be done but this moves it forward so that we can start working on those things.
At the end of the day the grant that the federal government awarded us is to build the bridge.
I was going to mention that we got an $8,000 grant.
Is that correct? It's a total $10,000.
You're missing a couple of zeros there.
I'm missing some zeros.
$8 million grant from the federal government for this, right?
Correct. It's an 80% federally funded grant.
The application that we submitted was about $10 million total construction cost so that we put it about an $8 million grant.
This money, if we hadn't started moving forward and starting the planning, would we have lost it?
We were at a decision point where we needed council to decide are we going to proceed with the project or not?
If council would have said no we're not going to proceed with the project then yes we would not have received that funding.
That's similar to all grants.
There's always a stage in the grant process where you have to decide are we going to accept this or not?
It's just not usually that size of a grant that we're dealing with.
Right.
Different grant programs do have different requirements.
I've been a part of a lot of different grants.
Some grants require you to have a resolution from your governing body authorizing you to submit it.
Other grants don't.
There's a lot of depending on the program depends on how much work you had to do in advance to be able to submit that grant.
When people are going to be talking about the Oshkosh budget and this would go under capital improvements, right?
Correct.
We're looking at the capital improvements budget.
Not all of this $10 million is going to be spent now.
Correct. It's going to be spread out over the course of several years.
We still have some property acquisition to work through.
Then we have design engineering to work through permitting processes.
Even if we started all of that work now, we're probably two years from starting construction.
That's when the main money would be spent is during construction.
When people are talking about, well, I haven't seen anything on this pedestrian bike bridge.
We've been talking about blah, blah, blah, the pedestrian bike bridge.
We're looking a couple of years out before we start seeing it and it's going to be even more years out before it is built and ready to work.
We're probably a couple of years from starting construction.
We've got a lot of other work to go through and there will be likely more input as we look at moving through design.
There will be some public information input sessions on, okay, this is a concept.
Do we want to look at this aesthetic feature or that aesthetic feature?
There's a lot of those types of things that have to work through the design process and the public involvement process.
Is there anything about the actual project that we need to know as we're looking forward?
I think the biggest thing to know is it's really all about protecting the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians.
The I-41 corridor creates a significant barrier.
The Fox River does, too, but we've got many ways to get across that while I won't say many.
Especially we're sitting here outside your window looking at one of them closed for about eight months.
But yeah, there are four ways to get across the river with the vehicle overpasses.
It's about the same to get across I-41.
How many people do we have in Oshkosh that really do want to walk and really do want to ride their bikes over the interstate to the other side of the city?
I mean, you got the west side and the east side.
It's hard for me to really put a number at that, but I know as we were being notified that we got the award.
There were a lot of the biking clubs that were just ecstatic about the opportunity to have something like this.
I think at the end of the day, the number of people that want to walk or bike fluctuates a lot based on how much fuel costs.
As gas and diesel prices fluctuate up and down when fuels cheap, it's a little easier to just jump in your car and take that five or ten minute drive.
When fuel is expensive, there are a lot of people that look for a different way to get where they're going.
Is there anything about the project at this point?
Because we're not at the point of building. We haven't even acquired property at this point.
But is there anything about the project right now that you're working on and you want the community to know?
The one thing that's going on right now, a community development department is taking Lina and getting the grant agreement finalized with US DOT.
So that's what we're working on right now that we were working on that about a year ago.
Then when the administration changed in Washington, there were some changes in priorities and the grant agreement kind of stopped for a while.
Then it came back and with different clauses put into it based on what the priorities of the new administration were.
So we had to go back and start that process over again.
So that's really where we're at right now is trying to finalize that grant agreement with US DOT and then that's really going to go from the next steps.
And is there anything that we need to know that we haven't touched on?
Not that I can think of right now. It is a big project for sure and it's one that well some people may not be aware of.
Other people are just because of what your interests are kind of governs what you follow and don't follow.
I think as staff it's something we've been very excited to work on and excited about the opportunity.
This started a couple of years ago already.
So the staff that we're working on at the end, some of them have changed.
Some of us are lifelong Oshkosh residents that are looking at this opportunity to provide the word generational project has come out.
But it really is. It's almost like a once in a career type of a project to really have a positive impact on our community.
And for those of us that have grown up here in the community, that's something we're excited about.
Absolutely. James Robbie, thank you very much for joining me today. I appreciate you.
You're welcome Lisa. Thank you.
And with adoptions at the heart of this issue, have you ever considered adding an older animal to your family?
It's senior pet month and our humane societies around Newisko are sharing special or no-fear adoptions for animals that are considered senior citizens.
On the way, speaking of pets, we have the most uplifting and sweet story about an unusual adoption.
Have you ever considered a pigeon as a pet?
This is Newisko Weekend from Civic Media.
You're listening to Civic Media. Find the latest news, information and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
This is Newisko Weekend, I'm Lisa Hale. This issue deals with adoption of all types. And while packer players are adopting plays, their counterparts off the field are doing important work for kids in the foster care system.
Civic Media's county, Finland, has the story.
If I wish people knew about teams of foster care, wouldn't you guys agree?
We're not all in the graded.
Nineteen-year-old Angel puts a face to the foster care term, the Invisibles.
That's who the ladies of Lambo are here to support.
Teens, ages 10 to 17, in the foster care system.
Called the Invisibles because they're often overlooked, unseen and unheard by society and the systems meant to support them.
I did a crisis for them. I was just sitting there struggling with anxiety and depression, so my trauma added onto that because of a lot.
Green Bay Police Commander Shannon Samertabaska knows firsthand what that trauma is like for a teen in the foster care system.
I was rude for my biological parents when I was three due to domestic violence and alcohol abuse in the home. And I spent about 10 years in the foster care system.
Samertabaska shared her personal journey from foster care to law enforcement leadership.
For me, this is really important because, again, having grown up in the foster care system for many years, some of these services weren't there back in the 1970s and 80s.
So being here today and seeing just the turnout of all the ladies here is really touching and very endearing to me.
A handwritten note of encouragement and support, a personal journal, a few name brand items geared specifically toward girls and boys in foster care, seemingly simple things that can make such a big difference for teens in foster care.
It's hard for us to be able to understand that being a teenager alone is already hard. It's not easy.
So that plus trauma in the middle is to be able to make it hard for me to suffer.
A person here?
About 200 ladies of Lambo are here to make things just a bit less hard for foster care kids like Angel.
Then it's just fun to see everybody come together from all different areas of the organization and enjoy the evening together for extremely important cause.
That's Christy Policy, married to Ed Policy, the Packer's new president and CEO.
I'm here because I have the great privilege of carrying on the legacy of my predecessor, Laurie Murphy, who started this tradition back in 2011.
Like Policy, the ladies of Lambo are the counterparts to the more high profile members of the Green Bay Packers, but no less powerful when it comes to their impact on the community.
We all know the wives are the backbone of so many things and the same is true for this group here.
There is so much that they do on many different levels that nobody knows about.
Nobody, but those on the receiving end of those efforts.
Like Angel, who not only gives a face to foster care, but through sharing her story also uses her voice, a voice that matters, a voice that shines light on the invisibles.
In Green Bay, I'm Connie Falman for New Wisco Weekend.
How are New Wisco Weekend, the story of a pet pigeon?
When you think about adopting a pet, maybe a pigeon isn't the first animal you consider.
However, I invite you to listen in while I share the story of Leelu.
And also about why and how I manage to adopt the most incredible and determined bird who loves rice treats.
I live in a rented apartment, and while my landlords are pretty great, they have no dog or cat policy.
I understand the reasons, as one of my bottom kitchen cupboards still has an alarming ammonia smell I can't get rid of.
They said I have to have a pet that lives in the cage, so after researching my options, I decided on a pigeon or a dove.
Because I do a lot of recording for my job, I thought this was the best option because they are pretty quiet.
I reached out to my landlord and got their approval.
Next up, find a pigeon to rescue.
By chance, I found the Great Lakes Pigeon Rescue located in Chicago.
They have so many pigeons.
I didn't know how to choose.
After about two months of emails and forms and discussions, we landed on a bird named Paint Bucket.
The day finally came to pick up Paint Bucket.
They couldn't ship them because it was too hot at the end of June and early July.
So I met a volunteer in Jane'sville to transfer the bird.
Thanks Bob.
I got my adoptee home safely and set their carrier in the carefully crafted home I'd prepared for them.
They needed a large cage, so I got a big dog kennel.
This bird had been in an accident of some kind, and they were unsteady on their feet, so I used an old yoga mat to line the bottom.
The rescuers told me Paint Bucket would never fly again because of their accident.
So I built ramps and a little fort in the cage where they could hide.
I landed on the name Lilu.
It's short for Leonardo Luiz Paint Bucket.
It only took a month before Lilu was trying to glide out of the cage I'd set on top of my cedar chest.
They don't like me picking them up yet.
So I moved the cage to the floor so they can get in and out with ease for their daily exercise in the pigeon playpen.
I lure them out with grains of rice, which are their favorite treat.
Within two months, Lilu started to fly a couple feet off the ground.
At the beginning of October, they were flying to the top of the table, then to the top of their cage.
I kept having to add places for them to land safely.
A couple of weeks ago, they flew out of the playpen area all together and decided to explore the house.
Time to put on the pigeon pants.
If you didn't already know, pigeons poop a lot.
Pigeon pants are like a little swimsuit that goes on around their wings, chest, and bent to catch the poops.
Lilu was not a fan.
After three times escaping and having to put the pants on, they've decided to stay in their designated area.
They've proven what an incredibly smart and stubborn bird they are.
They now fly in circles about their space and front when I get too close.
But I know.
We'll be friends someday, because I supply the rice treats.
For New Wisco Weekend, I'm Melissa Kay.
Thank you for being a part of New Wisco Weekend.
Adoption.
New Wisco Weekend is written and directed and produced by Lisa Hale and Terry Barr, with features from Joanne Krulotz as a Belanietto.
I'm Cindy Filman, Melissa Kay, Pete Schwabba, and commentator Amanda Nimmer.
I'm Civic Media Northeast Wisconsin Bureau Chief Lisa Hale.
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