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June 20 seconds 20 24
Summer solstice if it's seven o'clock on Saturday morning. It's time for this week in Waukesha. I'm your host Don Brown
I am joined by the mighty max martinson on the board and we are coming to you live and
Local from the office of former Alderman Don Paul Brown here in the WAUK studios in downtown Waukesha right around the corner from
Theodore Yalman's Park where we are proud to honor our suffragette heritage here in the Shah
We've got a full plate for you today. I've got my first two guests already in studio
Here in the hot seat my first guest is Ben Steinhoff who is a
Candidate Democratic candidate for the 5th congressional district currently held by Scott Fitzgerald
Ben, how are you this morning? I'm doing good. How are you doing? Very well. Thanks glad that you're here and Ben is also joined by his wife Vicki
Who's here in the supporting world and
But why did kind of give you the agenda for today's show?
Of course, Ben is my first guest, but then we have
Some some Waukesha news including a new restaurant a new fire chief. We've got
My second guest who is Patrick O'Donnell retired
Milwaukee police officer who started a second career in writing. He's got some books published and he has his own
Podcast series called Cops and Writers and we'll be talking about that
That John and while passed on to we're going to talk about a a huge a landmark
Conviction or sentencing announced yesterday involving us a sexual assault on a local store owner very big news and
We'll be great to get Patrick's perspectives on that as a longtime member of the police force and
And then my third guest is first time here in this week in Waukesha a former colleague on the city council
Is the fourth district Alderman and chair of the finance committee among other committee assignments and that is a smoke and Joe
Piper is my guest here in the second hour. So we're looking forward to seeing
Joe so last to talk about we're also in the second hour. We'll be getting a couple calls in from giving us a report from the farmers market now that the rain has stopped
You know looked rather torrential with a few moments as Max is driving in actually
Things seem to be settling down and it's
It should be a good day for some shopping and especially since the rain scares other shoppers away could you know
The real ambitious ones. I'll have a better pick a litter
But Chris morrow from wauk will be calling in
At the beginning in the second hour and then halfway through so we'll give you some updates and what's trending over there so but
Let's talk about oh, and yeah while Joe's on we're going to talk about some items going on in city council some recent
Provisions that were passed affecting us all so but on a more national level is Ben Steinhoff
Who is a paramedic and you work at Children's Wisconsin correct and
Happily married is why Vicki here recently married recently me. Oh congratulations like 15 March 15th excellent
And and thank you for the friend request on Facebook. I accepted proudly so and
Which is important because Ben is admitted. He doesn't like social media
So and many people don't but I guess first question is um, why do you want to be the fifth district?
US Congressman
Well
What I usually tell most people is I didn't really want to run into this role, but
Looking around the political makeup that we had
Not only in this district, but around the country
I'd realized that somebody needed to step in and do something and we needed somebody who was
More down to earth a little more grounded than the current politicians that we have
It's you know, it's called the people's house and we haven't really had too many people
In there recently
It's just been a lot of people that are going in there for self-service and you know to kind of grow their own
Their own wealth really. I mean we could really talk all day long about you know stock trading and what not that's going on in Congress right now
I currently don't own any stock so I can promise you that once I do get in
I wouldn't be trading my own stocks and you know looking at that
I'd actually be here to serve the constituents of the fifth congressional district
Excellent. Excellent. Now do you live in Waukeshara just in Waukeshara County?
Waukeshara County we're in Piwauke so just north of here. I see Piwauke don't yeah and so um
Have you been had you been involved in politics previously in any capacity?
No, not not particularly
I'd been focused on my career in medicine and hopefully trying to advance in that
but
What really got me involved in politics was back in 2020
That was a paramedic work in the city manona for the
Minona fire in EMS and
As most people know there we had a little little bug going around in 2020 called covid and the
um
National government decided that they wanted to help out local EMS fire police stations and stuff like that with a whole bunch of money that they'd set aside for us to
help by PPE drugs
um, you know airway supplies different things like that and our wonderful state
Legislature decided that they didn't want to give that money to EMS police and fire and so that's kind of when I first started
Poking my head into politics
My brother was very involved in politics down in Georgia
He was working for the Bernie Sanders campaign. So he kind of you know was pushing me more and more to get into politics and
The more and more we got through 2020 um, you know, I was really
Reading more and more getting more involved and I would come home and I would you know kind of just like
Unload everything on Vicki and just be like did you hear this did you read about this and after about a year year and a half of that she
Gracefully listened to me one day and then finally said, you know what then I I love you to death
But you either have to do something urges just shut up about this stuff and so
It was about like two months later. I you know came home and I was like hey, so I think I'm gonna run for Congress
And I thought that she would you know kind of look at me and just like what are you thinking but she was like
Okay, what do we need to do and we started moving forward from there and now we are the
Democratic nominee for the
Wisconsin's fifth congressional district still feels weird coming out of my mouth because you don't have a
You no longer have an opponent for the Democratic primary correct and correct
We are fully endorsed by the fifth CD right now is the Democratic nominee and we're moving forward and
Hopefully getting all the support that we can so we can get Scott Fitzgerald out of office
Well, you still have to go to the motions like you're running in a primary right that first vote for is that in August?
Yep, August 13th and so the way we're actually gonna be running the campaign because
I don't know if most listeners know about this
But we do have two constitutional amendments that are on the ballot this year for the August 13th primary
Okay, and I'm advising people to vote no on both of those because as it goes back to that 2020
One of the constitutional amendments that they have on there is that the governor would no longer be able to
Dole out
Emergency funds or anything like that. Yeah, they would all have to go through our state legislature
They only worked about a hundred days this year. So
We would have to be planning all of our natural disasters around when legislatures in session
Which is pretty difficult, right? Yeah
But uh, yeah, so we're gonna be you know going out
We still want people to go out and support our campaign
Because the more people go out and vote, you know kind of shows a vote of confidence
You want to have strong turnout for exactly sure absolutely and we so hopefully want to defeat both of these
constitutional amendments
Okay max how we doing on time friend. Okay five minutes traffic. So hey, I want to interject something and this is a special thanks to
Luke Mathers our executive producer for civic media who sent me this
Excuse me this press release yesterday and it involves the workshop public library
And July 19th there will be a free stage dramatic reading
Of it can't happen here again
And it'll take place at 4 p.m. That day and as a background on July 14th
2024 at the Republican National Convention Milwaukee
former president Donald Trump will accept his party's third consecutive nomination for their candidate for president
And uh, Waksha County of course is critical to how this historic election will play out
In response to the rnc convention on the 18th and 19th the national group writers for democratic action
And it's Wisconsin chapter of Wisconsin writers for democratic action will launch over 40 stage dramatic readings
Of this play again. It's called it can't happen here again. It's an adaptation of the play by the Nobel laureate
Sinclair Lewis
From most you might remember his book of Main Street
Lewis's groundbreaking 1936 play about fascism coming to America has eerie parallels to the threats
To democracy we face today
In 1936 at the time of the rising authoritarianism
American isolation and right wing media ascendancy
It can't happen here was performed in over 20 locations across the U.S. prior to that presidential election
FDR one re-election in a landslide
Our the one act adaptation
By Sherwood native west Savick formerly of theater acts Milwaukee features noted regional playwrights and actors John
Kishlein and Deborah Clifton
Their son Sam Kishlein also an actor and actor Tom Briggs all our walkershot residents
They'll be joined by Delafield author and Wisconsin state chair for writers
For democratic action jackie lighten. There'll be question and answers
Following so and it just really quick is um what inspired Lewis to write this play was his wife
Journalist Dorothy Thompson interviewed Adolf Hitler
And she said when liberty is taken away by force it can it can be restored by force
Her character says in the play, but when it is taken away by default it can never be restored
And so that's kind of your charge is probably
addressing some of the
Some of the people that kind of staying out of the fight either because it's a bad taste in their mouth or because it's just
It's really never been their mo
And you know like I said earlier was never really my mo was never really my intention to get into politics
But you know looking at the left and the right
I think that we've kind of been you know pushing to our own little corners
And I don't think that that really is reflective of the fifth district or the nation
And so I've grew up in Wisconsin lived here my whole life
And I know people in Wisconsin have been in the food service industry for a long time
Been an EMS for a long time. I've never gotten to choose, you know, which clients that I got they always came to me quite
Literally or called me and said hey, I need some help
So, you know, I know that there's a ton of good people around here
I know that even people on the right are kind of sick what's going on, you know
Convicted felon is going to be there nominee for president
I know that there's a lot of people that can't really believe that myself included. So we just need somebody that has
You know like real-world experience that didn't grow up
You know with the sober spoon in their mouth or anything like that and wants to go and make a difference for that people
That actually live and work and you know go to school here in this district
So I just really want to make Wisconsin and the fifth district a better place and
You know as goes Wisconsin goes the nation. So hopefully we can be a shining shining beacon on the hill for the rest of the nation
sure
and then
We're going to continue this conversation with with Ben Steinehoff can't effort congress
And one thing we're going to want to know is that with the new landmark fair maps that was passed by the Supreme Court
It is yet to affect the congressional maps and so
Ben will have the same challenge at his predecessors had is running in a very red district especially to get out in the rural area
So Ben's going to talk a little bit about his strategies for addressing that and where he's even found some success or at least maybe
Made some traction if you will
plus other local news and
Daniel O'Donnell will be my guest in the next
In the second half here so so much to look forward here on this rainy
Saturday morning on this week and watch on w a uk 540 am 101.1 FM and don't forget to download the civic media app so you can catch
All of our great programming throughout the state
Oh
Don't just talk about it talk about it
Oh
My heart is calling you
I think this we can walk a shot with down brown and we are waiting for the sun to shine
As we enjoy this lovely air from walk shot's favorite son less Paul
And I'm joined by
Fifth District congressional candidates Ben Steinehoff who you like I bet you like less Paul you like guitar
You like good music right of course sounds good and Indy said you'll plan on being here on July 18th for that
That presentation that adaptation of the Sinclair
Lewis novel it can't happen here again
And I encourage everybody to check that out with an open mind and
Because I think as someone I am officially non-partisan. I grew up in a Republican family in a Republican community
And I'm also the son of grandson of Irish immigrants that were obviously very Democrat very pro union
So I was exposed to kind of both sides. I I tell people jokingly that I'm biracial
And so because I think there are certainly good values good ideas coming from from all sides and I you know this whole
It's more important to be right than it is to
Move the nation forward as really crippled us in recent years and it's just really time to put an end to this and so
That's why I'm really encouraged. I'm enthusiastic to see young candidates
For office. We had an 18-year-old is running for state assembly
First Scott Allen seat that was in here. I don't know if that was last week or the week before when we were the young youngster. Yeah, so
But
But Ben what haven't we talked about what do you want people walk a shot? I know there listeners here to know
About your candidate to see why they should take a hard look at you
In what you bring to the table. Well, first thing is the website is Wisconsin for Ben.com
Nice and I've been told repeatedly
I was like what's Wisconsin for what's good for Ben? I was like, what's going on? Oh, Wisconsin for Ben.com. Yes
FOR Ben.com FOR Ben you can find out you know all of our policies on there
You know a little bit more about my background and everything on there. You can also donate
Unfortunately, that's you know part of politics and that's what we have to do
It's my least favorite part I get yelled at by my campaign manager about it all the time
But uh sure, you know somebody who like I said didn't grow up very wealthy and you know currently dealing with our
Current policies and everything. Uh, you know, we just got a house in 2022 got lucky with that, but uh
Chrono our money there. So yeah, it's uh, it's tough to ask people for money when you know a lot of people don't have a ton of it
But you know, it's what drives the machine. Where did you grow up again? Uh lacrosse. I grew up across. Okay. Yep
Moved here when I turned 18 my brother was going to I'm sorry moved to Madison. Okay
2009 and my brother was going to school at UW
He was going for engineering got his degree then that's when he moved down to Georgia
I was still in the Madison area
Just got my paramedic degree and that's when I met my lovely wife Vicki
And she was finishing up her audiology degree. She got a job here in Waukesha and I was like
I can you know, I can be a paramedic anywhere and so we moved here got a job of childrens and
And decided to run for Congress. That's great. No, I love it. That's ambitious
And so yeah, real we're talking about what's is your strategy for getting into the rural areas a real red
Or even a Waukesha which is a me very much
You could say is a red city
What is your strategy for kind of getting across to those people and getting them to take a harder look at your candidacy
So uh just getting out there and uh getting seen um when we first moved into the district to move to lake mills
Because that was halfway between Madison and Waukesha sure and beautiful place love lake mills um in Jefferson County
And you know when we were there
We got to meet you know a lot of different people and saw that it was you know pretty heavy farming community and things like that. So
Just getting out and getting seen
Having people see that you know, even though I am running on the Democratic ticket
We are still running for the rural voters because
La Crosse is you know bigger city
But my dad lived just north of there in Holman, which was a huge farming community as well
So um I've been around farming my whole life my dad it was uh the 10th of 10 children
They all grew up on a farm. Yeah, so um he grew up on a farm
You know, they still own that farm to this day out in sparta. Okay, and uh so that's kind of it's it's a beautiful place
You know, it's the biking capital the world is that hometown of Zeke Slate and astronaut making that right?
Yes, it is
Is uh yeah, so yeah just getting out getting seen by the voters uh just letting them know that
um
Helping farmers is a huge thing because farmers basically run Wisconsin
You know if we didn't have dairy farms here we wouldn't have you know as much of an economy wouldn't wouldn't have a beautiful delicious cheese that we have
I there we go there we go
So uh just you know showing that I am still hardworking um
I am in in this for the farmers and not just you know like the corporate elite or anything like that
So just letting them know that we really are here for them and uh
I want my policies to help reflect that as well. So
So in your uh website you mentioned there's four key issues that you're focusing on
If you give us a summary of that education health care
cannabis legislation legalization and women's health
I uh usually try to save the cannabis legalization for the end because uh you know does turn some people off
But it is 2024. It's legal uh, you know pretty much
Every other state essentially has legalized cannabis
But uh the main reason I usually leave it till the end is because uh you always have politicians talking
Oh, I'm gonna change this. I'm gonna change that. I want to do this and that and lower taxes
Everybody goes well. How are you gonna pay for that? And I always love when people ask me that because I go
marijuana legalization
Right now the state of Wisconsin is missing out on an estimated
$485 million a year in tax revenue and that's just from sales tax that's not including business taxes
Expenses or you know fees and things like that that these businesses are gonna have to pay into
That's just straight money that we are giving to Illinois and uh as a proud Wisconsinite
Uh, you know you and I both know how much we all love Illinois and love giving our money to Illinois
That's what the noise yeah, they're uh, they're obviously not spending it on their football stadium because that thing's still you know
I don't know last time you were at soldier field, but it's still not great
Well, just more that there's now everything's up in the air
They're not we're not sure if they're going back to our length of heights now that's back on the table and um
So yeah, I just don't know
But I keep telling people if they go down to heights
They got to get rid of that big media and on palatine road
Because of so one of those cars dies are you're gonna a lot of angry football fans stock traffic
So I hope that they they have a solution for that. So but um tell us about um
Um education
Well, we have time. So uh one of the main things for education, uh, you know, there's
I don't want to say there's been an attack on education
But you know kind of since the 80s we've been rolling back the funding that we put into our public school system
And we've been taking a lot of money out of the public school system and putting it into private vouchers and things like that
I know these are all state issues, but they are still issues that matter a lot to me
Um, but one of the one of the main things for education, you know, everybody always talks about oh, you know, we need to
We need to you know help get better funding in our schools. We need you know better education for our kids
I also think that we need a much easier path for education for adults
Because as I said, you know, you asked me why I want to get in why I wanted to get into this
I didn't I wanted to go back to school get my nursing degree and then become a CRNA
Which is essentially you know in a nested test because I like what I do. I love working with kids and uh
You know, it's just it's a pharmacology. I think is very interesting
So that's what I really wanted to go back into um, but when I was looking at the the path as a paramedic to get to the nurse and nested test level
It was going to take me like six to eight years just to get into school for the CRNA school
Whereas all my friends growing up who all have accounting degrees they could get there in about two years because they already have a four-year degree
They have absolutely no idea what the medical system is or you know how to how to work in it
And I have over 12 years experience in the medical field and the ORE are
Medflight EMS, you know, I've been at all different levels of it
And it would take me you know, almost a decade to get to a level that they could get to in two years all because they have a piece of paper that says
Hey, you're good at math
So I think that there needs to be a better way to do that. I think there needs to be a lower education cost for at the collegiate level
Uh, you know, just to help out people, you know, advance their future forward. Excellent. Ben Steinhoff
Democratic candidate for the fifth congressional district held by scoffers chill
Thanks so much for joining us this morning along with your wife Vicki and we look forward to having you back on after
When the the primary and we'll have you back on closer to the the general election, but best of luck and
More Patrick O'Donnell's next here in this weekend walk a shot. Don't go away. Thank you
You're listening to this week and walk a shot with your host Don Brown
Coming to you live in local from the office of former alderman down Paul Brown
I got the mighty max martinson on the board and my second guest
Patrick O'Donnell author podcast host and retired Milwaukee police officer
And fellow Irishman Patrick Cade Milafolchia glad you're here. Well, thanks for having me you vet and
Patrick mentioned that he's I guess he isn't regular listener this show because he listened to my guest last week
The nunchucks and it turns out you're a punk rock fan hell yeah
It's so encouraging to see young kids right embracing punk rock. Yeah, so excited about that
And it's like they didn't know a lot about the sex pistols so right which surprised me
I thought that would have been an inspiration to them. I was listening to the soundtrack on the way here
Okay, yeah, that's a great soundtrack. Oh my god nunchucks, huh? No, no, no sex with yeah the sex pistols
Gary Olvin was actually seeing oh
Really, oh movie. Yeah, yeah, it's a Nancy. Yeah, you know Joe Strummers in there
From the clash. Yeah, there's yeah, it's a great great soundtrack. Yeah, that was a really great
Obviously very tragic movie, but great. Oh, yeah, just a great depiction of what was going on back then. Yeah, it's not a feel good lifting
It certainly is not yeah, so it's not gonna be a hallmark movie anytime soon
Right, right, so what but weren't you offended when they're partying on the boat in the police come
And one of them says I didn't know pigs could swim
Traffic so but um
But in your career, obviously very sobering a lot of what you would witness and how many years we on the force in Milwaukee 25 years
25 years, okay, and you served with our current uh or you knew our current chief Daniel Thompson was with Milwaukee
I love Dan Peders. Yeah, hell yeah, he we could not pick a better chief of police
We really couldn't I couldn't agree more. I would endorse him till the cows come home. He's a great guy
I've seen him in action. He's fair. Yeah, yeah, he's he's a good person
And he is exactly what you want to please you. Yeah, yeah, well said well said so
But more about you when did you start writing? Is it while you were serving or was it left? You're retired
I'm a big believer in the saying
Fill the well before your thirsty
Okay, dig the well excuse me dig the well before your thirsty. Yes, and you know
I had it in my head. I started into the police department a little bit later on life. I was 30. Oh wow, okay
Yeah, that was running around. Sure sure. It was a bunch of 20-something year-olds. Yeah, yeah
And uh what happened was I told myself it's like okay 25 years
Yeah, I'll be 55 years old. That's
I've I've reached my expiration, you know, it's like it's a young man's game. It's not an old game sure
And I spent my entirety on the street
Okay, I promote a sergeant after about seven years. Wow. Okay, so I retired as a sergeant
Which was the best job on the department because I got to go to all the cool stuff
You know, I just I had to go to like all the stuff. Yeah, so
What happened was
You know, it's after about 20 years it starts hitting you and you're like okay now what?
I mean, yeah, I'm old enough to retire from police work, but I don't want to retire retire
Right, so I
Before I was a cop I sold cars. I was living in Madison. Yeah, I was selling cars at Don Lancaster
Okay, and I did that for four years. I bartended. I worked enough
Yeah, and I hop downtown Madison. I was a manager there for a year. Yeah, because I did a similar career out as me
I was in the restaurant business and then well, I have a degree in sociology and that's what a four-year degree in sociology will get you
Absolutely, where's your degree from? You don't be whitewater. Okay. That sucks. Yeah. Oh, love whitewater
Oh my gosh, I had a great time there need but what happened was
I after I got on the job people were asking me hey, could you come with me and help me buy this car?
Right, you know like family and friends sure and then it kind of blossomed into a little side hustle right this one
Websites were first starting you go to go daddy and you sure throw something up right and that's about the same time self publishing
Was becoming a thing okay on Amazon and it's like
Somebody told me it's like, you know, you should write a book right about how to buy a car to go along with your business
And I'm like all right, so I wrote under pen name. I was all secret squirrel because yeah
I didn't want to have to get it approved through the chief because any off-duty right employment
Yep, it's like I don't want to go through all that. What was your pen name? Joel Gray. Joel Gray. Yes. All right
So Joel Gray wrote the book I never wore a plaid inside your secrets from a former car salesperson nice
And I mean it's just a horrible cover. It wasn't edited that great right and I sold a bunch not a not a lot
Right enough
But I learned the process and I started going to to writers conferences right and
Inevitably people come up to you like at the happy hour whatever is like hey, you're that cop guy right and I'm like
I'm not wearing a t-shirt. I don't have a sandwich board, you know whatever and
People that know a lot more about the business than I do they're like sure you need to write a book about
Police stuff for writers. Yeah, so I did I wrote two books called cops and writers
And those are more police procedures
For people who want to write like good crime fiction. Okay. Oh wow. How to yes, mm-hmm
Yeah, so I wrote two of those sure and to
Get that rolling to advertise. I started a podcast
And at first it was you know
Not many people at all and that's just explored. I've been doing that for three years
Okay, and I have a Facebook I'm group cops and writers right and I've got it started with me my editor and a couple of friends
Now there's 7500 people in there. Wow literally from all over the globe nice
And I'm meeting people, you know, they're just it's great. I can't say enough good things about it
That's terrific. And so um
How would people find your podcast is it through is it right the cops and writers website?
Yeah, it's either through my website. You know, it's on like 20 different platforms. Okay. Yeah, all the big ones like Apple or Spotify or
That those are the two biggest but okay, also like Amazon music. Yeah, audible. Sure. You know wherever you consume your podcast. Okay
So but that's true and then you also and thank you for this you have a series of books
Uh, like this the one I've got here field training and you co-wrote this with Michael Andrewly is that correct? Yes, what happened was
Bruce city blues book one Bruce city blues. Yeah, it takes place in Milwaukee. Okay. Yeah, and it's loosely based on my experiences in the city as a cop sure
So what happened was I interviewed Michael. He has one of the largest
independent author
publications, okay, he is his own publishing house. Wow and it's called lmbpn
and
I was talking to him after I
interviewed him and
He's like, you know, I want to get in a crime fiction. I'm like, okay, before you know, we struck a deal
Wow, and there was just you know two two dudes chatting and
He also started the Facebook group called 20 books to 50k
Okay, if you're an independent author
That is a great great resource for you. Excellent. Yeah, we had since 2017
We had the largest indie author conference. Okay, in Vegas every year. Wow
So the first time I went was in 17. I knew one person I saw for five minutes and then see to the rest of the conference
So I'm like all right, there was about
three four hundred people, okay, I was there last year and I think they're up to about two thousand twenty five hundred
Wow, and I mean, it's just huge. Sure, and I always bought the last three years. I would moderate a panel
Right for, you know, like lawn enforcement for writers. Sure
And I would have guests from like all over the country
Wow, and it was it's it just exploded. Sure. So it's pretty cool
That's neat. Wow, what an interesting career track you've taken
Yeah, it goes all over this. So as we we discussed this
in between
Before we went back on air and I'm I'm throwing Patrick a little bit of a audible
But he had time to prepare was that yesterday there was landmark
Big news in the city of Waksha
About a verdict in a sexual assault case involving a
A store owner here in Waukeshaw Stephanie Olson a good friend of our of Wau case Johnny Watermelon by the way
And I had the pleasure of meeting her and
She was assaulted by a young man named
Kendru Wilson
And after the attack she went immediately to the hospital reported every to the police the police
A Waksha police credit to them and the supporting agencies around Waksha County
apprehended this guy I believe within 24 hours and
From what I heard was that the the DA's office necessarily didn't have the appetite to really with their busy caseload
and Stephanie was tenacious and
Was very successful in efforts to get this
We can now say convicted, but this this this young man prosecuted to the full extent of the law and he was sentenced to
I believe about 50 years when he gets out he'll be 75 years old and the judge even said
I hope you die in prison because it's just very disturbing
And you talk about stuff, you know, that is maybe book or the sadly tragically is
They found a list in this guy's backpack that had a list of 20 different types of women that he planned on
Assaulting and one of them happened to be an older woman and Stephanie over 60 unfortunately was that one victim
But because of her efforts he's off the street and these other 19 categories of women in all in downtown Waksha by the way
Have been spared this real, you know, awful
Awful setting, but um in Patrick Bowman you might know and I'm sorry Dan Bowman you might know from Waksha
Please captain had you had a PR he even commented like this stuff doesn't happen like this was really disturbing
Yeah, that's a rarity a stranger sexual assault like that right is a rarity and Waksha is a fairly
It's a very safe city for the size of the city sure, you know
I was used to come from Milwaukee, you know, now I live in Waksha and I'm like, oh my god
This place is great, you know, it's like the police do a fantastic job
Yeah
And you know, you want to keep it as safe as possible
But hats off to the victim in this how incredibly brave is she? Yeah, you know, it just it blows my mind
You know the tenacity like you said and the strength in her to you know drive herself to the hospital and
Advocate for herself. Yeah, it would have been really easy just to kind of sit back and it's like well, you know
What happens happens? You know gotty out of she was very public about this
Yes, because she wants other women or other victims of assault like that to step forward and um
I just learned yesterday through a mutual friend that Stephanie has agreed to be my guest on next week's show
Oh wow, so we're really excited that Stephanie will be joining us um
To continue promoting her advocacy
Yes, her survival and her real or her heroics and bringing a very troubled
Individual to justice a violent offender to justice
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, these this suspect, you know in my opinion that is it enough time
Yeah, oh, yeah, I just that should be a life sentence. Sure because obviously he's predisposed to this
He's you know, he's got this list whatever, you know
There ain't no fix in that. I don't think he just got bailed out for an assault on a bus or something like that
I'm not surprised and um
He took the bus here to walk a shun god off and found that Stephanie store was open and and how many and broad daylight and how many women has he assaulted before this that we don't know
Come forward. Yes, you know, and it's like thank god this woman Stephanie. Yeah, you know
Did what she did because she's probably saved some other woman a similar fate
This guy isn't gonna stop. Yeah, and as I said, I met her at the farmers market
I think in a couple other instances through Johnny watermelon and she's just she's just a lovely human being
Sure, and so it just you mean I mean nobody deserves this of course
But when you know the type of person the Stephanie is just like wow, I can't believe
Somebody would treat her like that
You know, it's shocking and it shocks you down to your soul right if you haven't been exposed to this which most people
Haven't been exposed to like violent fine crime, right? It's kind of mind-blowing. They're like it's almost like an out-of-body experience
They're like this can't be happening sure and you know for what I was involved in for 25 years
It's like oh, yeah, you know, you become hyper vigilant
Sure, yeah, too bad she didn't have a gun on her is the way I see it
You know, it's like this is got this guy's a piece of human trash that needs to be taken out right, right
But that's just me sure sure
So but and also through your books you have a great I guess a medium for expressing
Maybe some of your outrage or indignation about what you've witnessed in your years in the force
Absolutely, you know, the Bruce Lee Blues series is is a very much a police procedural
You know, I explained why the cops do what they do
With a story
Sure, and I just started a new series that should be out by the end of summer where it's you know all fiction
Sure, you know, so that one I'm I'm having a blast with that's great. That's great
Um as a good aside
One of my previous writing gets Sarah the author who displays the farmer's market she
She gave me a book called Warren roses that just got published and it's about a woman
Who helped
Her ex-husband who's a county sheriff
Bring some people to justice. Oh, but more of the conversation continues is Patrick O'Donnell and I see Joe Piper wandering around outside the windows
So I'm gonna go fetch him, but uh, we're really excited. It's a great Saturday here on this week and watch out WK 540 AM 101.1 FM and don't forget this is me the app
You
The
Oh
Hey, listen to this week in Wackishon is an ode to my guest
Retired Milwaukee police officer petriot Donald we've got the police
With so lonely one of my favorites from that uh that was from their first album
Yeah, and you admitted you're a punk rock fan and they were kind of in that new wave genre
That kind of was a follow-up to punk and they they had a real edge to them and love the police
That was great band. Yeah, absolutely. Of course. We love our local police
Wackishon and Milwaukee and they'll have their hands full at the RNC coming up
Like all the different municipalities their police forces will be participating if I understand correctly
Yeah, you have police departments from all over the country that are gonna be coming here
Yeah, so I was on the city council with my next guest Joe Piper's who's he was here in studio for district alderman
And we had voted to approve police support for the DNC pre-COVID right and of course COVID happened and some other issues and
They they you know backed out because it all went virtual, but um
Excited that there's another convention. You know regardless of party that hopefully that will be a real boon for our local economy and
We can minimize any unnecessary acts of violence or other things
And um, and I said it's good that we have the full force of our metro area
police departments
In that effort absolutely
So but like I said, it should be a great thing for this area for our restaurants and for retail hotels. Oh god
All the things yeah, because those delegates come from Illinois. They they're
There isn't enough hotels in this area
For them so they bust them up from
Illinois. That's a lot of them come from there. You know really for the RNC. Oh absolutely. Oh wow
Yeah, they're gonna be come from recene canocia
Madison, you know, there's a whole lot of bus I'm going on just for the day. You mean and then going okay? Okay
Yes, because my hope was once the Milwaukee hotels filled up
Was that the area like walk show hotel other area hotels would be booking people and then they would uber in or yeah
I figured out other ways I think a lot of people that's what they start with Airbnb. It's like hey, I can make some money
Yeah, yeah
But then you gotta spend money going somewhere. That's it. So but our friend Patrick O'Donnell makes his
Money another way leveraging all those years 25 years on the police force and his writing skills
And that Irish artist that's in him. I believe it was the most of us to my inner Irishness. Yeah, that's it to
To channel some some book series and also a podcast on cops writers we we talked about this in the phone during the week
There's an insatiable demand
for
police crime
John or whether it's fiction or or real life
Or real to and so you've seemed to really capture or you don't get a bite out of that. Yeah, people are just fascinated by it
Anything police love them hate them somewhere in the middle, you know
It always draws attention whenever you put yellow tape up. Oh my god. It was like was to a flame
Sure no matter what it was and you know right away. It's like who's dad? Who's dad? Somebody had somebody dead. Yeah, really
Yeah, so you'll appreciate the story
Patrick I just thought of it was um and Joe might remember this
City watch the city council. We we approved body cams for our police
But to do that chief Thompson invited all the elders to um they had like axiom had a
Kind of a little mini trade show across the street from the city hall. Did you go to that show?
And yeah, it was great. I was there with Daniel
Mania and we got to try the tasers and
But there was a guy he's retired
Toso police at consults for walk. I forget it's a really funny guy in turns out we had a mutual friend who um
My friend reminds the deputy chief of one of the area police departments there and um
This guy from toast to the consultant sitting at home. He's watching
There was like a murder so I'm in took place and our friends there and he's you know, I had to put a tie on and
And um as he's looking down in this body he gets a text from
And it says
You knew you're going to be on TV. Why didn't you pick a better tie?
There's something like that. It's just oh my god
You know like what is a very obviously very serious moment involves violent murder and violence right?
This guy comes in with a crack
So just some of your your books have a little bit of that you know, there's a lot of dark humor
Okay, then the new series that I'm writing it's even darker and what's that series called
It's gonna be called the good collar. Okay, and if you're a fan of dexter
You're gonna absolutely love it. Okay. It's a combination of dexter with the dash of John Wick
And deathwish
Wow, I remember deathwish
Yep, and it was remade Bruce Willis
Really? Yeah, how long ago? Oh, maybe about 10 years ago. Okay, that wow actually. That was a really good movie
He was the ER doc and was it called deathwish and everything? Mm-hmm. Okay. Oh and Bruce Willis was in ER doc
Yes, okay, turned into a vigilante. Oh, okay. Oh, that's right cuz Bronson was like a businessman
Yeah, business owner. Yeah, his wife and daughter were brutally attacked. Yeah, I know that because I remember I saw that
Yeah, that was something but for my book the police chaplain is the vigilante the police chapter
Okay, yeah, you know indexed release the serologists that okay likes sure well in mind
You know the police chaplain nobody would suspect him and you can go in and out of crime scenes sure computers
Everybody loves them. Wow
Scary yep very dark, but I'm having a ton of fun right there really sounds like it so hey
We have three minutes. We're going to our second hour is there is there what else do you want that our listeners to know
About Patrick O'Donnell and cops and writers that we haven't talked about
Boy, you know, I when we're talking off air. I'm gonna be on a
Crime documentary. I'm gonna be narrating it. Wow. I we filmed it back in November. Okay. It's gonna go live on 2b tv
Sure September 11th, okay
We I don't think there is a
He like a title for it quite okay, but it's you'll keep us posted. Yeah, it's about a Jeremy Simko homicide that happened in Ohio
Wow, okay, it's a wife killing a husband and okay, he took the cops
I think wow the DA five years to make a case against her wow. She's going on cruises. She got a new boyfriend right away after she
Okay, murdered her husband. Wow
So I just had a thought and idea some I don't know if you listen to one of our shows on civic median and w a k
Play it's called nightlight with night with peach waba and it's like
Who is eight to ten Monday through Friday and I think you'd be a great guest on his show
Because I think what you're doing deserves a larger audience. Okay, stay wide and and people out because you like having different writers on and art
And anything to do with these a big TV and movie guy
So I love that that's what we're trying to figure that out
And then a laptop, but since you you're here in walk show you live in walk show
We definitely got to have you back on here. Oh, I love it. And we got to meet up for some coffee talk more about
Your career my writing aspirations are our common Irish heritage and so much more absolutely
So I think we'll have a lot of fun, but I'm really glad we finally got to meet in person. Yes
And you're welcome to stick around too as Joe Piper's on next fourth district alder
Joe Piper wearing his tall sathe shirt is alma mater. So I didn't know that about Joe
But there's a lot to talk about in the second hour some big developments in city news a new restaurant opening up in downtown
And so much more here and this week in walk show and don't forget Stephanie Olson
Of alterations unlimited is my guest next week to talk about her recent experience and her heroics and bringing a
A violin offender to ultimate justice. So
Lots more to end. We're going to have the farmer's market report
Chris Merle be calling in with two reports beginning of the second hour and halfway through and now that the rain has stopped
Could be a good day to get over there and
Yeah, so we're excited again catch the show on the civic media app if you don't have your radio
But it is one of 1.1 FM 540 AM the Shaw
This week in walk show continues
You
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June 22nd 20 24
If it's eight o'clock on Saturday morning, it's still time for this week in Wakashah hour number two
I am your host Don Brown. I'm joined by the mighty the mighty the mighty max martinson on the board
and
We are coming to you live in local from the office of former alderman Don Paul Brown here in the W.A.
studios
right around the corner from Theodore Yalman's park where we're proud to honor our suffragette heritage
Here in the Shah and my guest in our two is a former colleague and
Alderman of the fourth district chair of the finance committee still correct correct and good friend
Smoking Joe Piper mr. Joseph Piper. How are you Joe? I'm good. Don. Thank you sounds great
And I saw you smiling when I was giving my ode to Theodore Yalman's and do you remember how I learned about that?
Or because I think we're on the same I don't but let's so I'd love to be in my first six month months in the council
The mayor Sean Riley gave a proclamation on it was like
for the day of September
19th 2019 in honor of the hundredth anniversary of the
The ratification of I believe it was the ninth was at the 19th amendment that gave women the right to vote and
It
It in particularly appointed out Theodore Yalman's a reporter for the Wakshaw Freeman a graduate of Carol
and the president of the women's suffrage movement in Wisconsin
and according to the proclamation
Because of her efforts and the efforts of the suffrage movement was constant was constant became the first state
To ratify the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote
And
We have one of the ways we honor that Wakshaw is they have this small park kind of across from the rotunda
Like a postage stamp size park. But it's beautiful. It's got like a glass like a greenhouse kind of treatment
And but it's something I think we could do a lot more to celebrate
Her story Theodore Yalman's here in Wakshaw. It's funny people. I know the grew up here
New some of her children like her grandchildren went to school with with the family so they know them
I don't know if they're still here, but it's certainly
Is this one of those great things I learned from being on the council
So and even after 20 years of living in Wakshaw
I didn't know all that history so I learned
Yeah, so maybe you weren't at the meeting of that day. I might that might have been one I missed one of the very few I missed sure sure
but
Thankful to Sean Mira who shares my kind of passion for history and especially local history and so
Joe, I think a good place to start was I got
And I encourage every way to do this get your
newsletter
From from the city Wakshaw
I joking to say
Rebecca Peterson's kind of like my copywriter for the show and I've told her that
But you get so much great information there and it's good to share it and this actually I think was from a recent LinkedIn post where it's
The developments from the latest city council meeting where
You approved a reorganization of the assessor's office to which includes contracting out some work and changes to
other positions
Overall the reorganization will decrease personnel costs and overall budget of the assessor's office
So and you voted to approve that yourself I did so terrific and then you approved the purchase of a new fire ladder truck for
2028
The ladder truck will be ordered now to lock in prices, but the production time is 47 to 50 months. How about that?
So the ladder truck will not be
Received until 2028
We've done this on a variety of different especially you talk close to the mic. Joe. I'm sorry
Yeah, they're just pulled up to you make yourself comfortable sir
We didn't get time to train Joe so that's on me not him
So we've we've seen that with with especially as fire trucks the just a tremendous amount of lead time and
It's been you know, it's attributed to a lot of things supply chain challenges coming out of covid
And as we all know a lot of communities like Wakshaw got a lot of arpa dollars from the feds
And there's been a lot of that money that's been spent towards fire trucks
So yeah, when you order a fire truck you order it today and you get it three years from now
Okay, um, and it never ceases to amaze me and I
When I talk to folks about just how much this stuff costs yeah, and you know, I don't think anybody who really isn't
Isn't following this closely has no idea that a ladder truck that you see in Wakshaw probably every day
Cost over two million dollars to the city now we get a good 20 years out of that piece of equipment
Right we get we get our money's worth sure
But the stuff that you see rumbling around town with a city of Wakshaw logo on it is not cheap and we take that
You know when we when we buy stuff like that we take that into consideration and take it very seriously
Yeah, and that's
It was one of the things I took pride in too is that you you voted out the things are actually very important
So you don't think about that when you think of national news
You need to think like what are the big things women's health or
Healthcare in general or immigration all these you know, but at the local level it's these are the really important things
Yeah, our public safety being one and that's there's a price tag or there's there's a cost for that or an investment is
I like to say so I appreciate it and speaking of
Firetrucks I learned that we have a new fire chief Robert Goplin we do and was approved by the police and fire commission
I think just yesterday I believe sure of it and so you haven't had a chance to meet the new fire chief
I have not I understand he's coming from I think over 25 years of service in green Bay wow
I'm a proud alma mater of the University of Wisconsin green Bay
That's right. The new chief is not your alma mater. I'm just but you travel you visited there just visited there
So Chief Goplin and I will have at least one thing in common as we get to know each other sometimes spent in green Bay
And we're excited excited to have him and look forward to getting getting him started. I think first part of August sure and
And he'll be replacing
outgoing fire chief Steve Howard who
36 years in public service. Yes, we're very fortunate to have him and he continues serving. He'll be teaching at
I think as a WCTC Steve's going to be doing a lot when I at his ceremony
I had a chance to ask him quickly help Holly is going to enjoy retirement and
I heard something this week where it's not retiring. It's refiring. Yeah, I like that
I like that term and I think that I know that that really is going to fit Steve well because he is going to
be very busy in refirement as we like to call it. Yeah, and I know he has one child that lives overseas
So I know he plans on thinking some vacation time out there and that'll be interesting
I think I believe it's an Asia, I think I
Not quite sure. Yeah, he was so we have the show on my podcast page
We we were finally able to get that up so be sure to check out my podcast page. So it was a great interview with it was with
Steve Howard and with
Assistant fire chief Joe Hoffman who was acting fire chief during that time and so I think we're in a we're in great hands
We are Steve's left quite a legacy behind. So and Joe did an outstanding job in the internet sure did
Oh very very fortunate to have strong management. Yeah, really across dollar departments. Yeah
And so that's what I
One thing I asked Joe about and he's committed to doing it in the fire department is
We have the all those defibrillators in our parks now and I thought it'd be anything
I've been when my cuisine has time that the first district ultimate my successor as well as Eric pain
Who's now my older men is organizing something a banding park like a day where
People can come and learn how to use that in the event that
Something because it's great. We've made that investment, but
It you could argue that it's money wasted if people aren't trained and how to use that properly in the event that we do have a
You know someone with a heart incident
So and if for those listening if you haven't
Subscribe to the pulse point app on your phone. I strongly encourage you to do that because that can keep you
That can give you an idea where AEDs are located as you travel around not only walk a shop at the country
So it's a great app to follow sure sure
And that right we don't have any calls in yet from the farmers market, huh?
Okay, so
We'll see, but I'm sure they're having sure they're busy
but
The other we
Another thing to happen at the council is that you celebrated the graduates of the most recent city leadership program 12 graduates from departments across the city
And this program is designed to help develop skills needed for successful leadership at all levels and in all departments
Of the city the employees participate in book discussions interviews of service projects
In more over the months there in the program and in my last
Full year in the council. I got to participate in one of the I was invited along with
Excuse me a couple of elders to speak and answer questions
And I thought it was a really great program and it sounds like it continues
Yeah, it's it's continuing it was something that was started by our previous city administrator Kevin leaner
And Tony Brown our new city administrator is continuing the program
And it it's just one of the one of the many things that we do as an organization because the city
Is government certainly, but it's also an employer and we all know how hard it is to find
Good employees. We all know how hard it is to keep
Good employees. So even in government
We have to do things big and small to bring our people along give them opportunities to grow and via
The leadership this the leadership program is a great example of that
Sounds terrific now when when Joe and I served together on the council
We we had we spent a day together. We kind of did a little tour of each other's districts and
One the couple of things I remember about the fourth district is that it has a
It was an area that used to be a racetrack of one form or another. There's a there's a small there's two alleys
In the west town neighborhood
Off of mapleton court that the story goes that used to be a small little horse track
Okay, so that I don't I'm I'm fairly sure that's accurate
But you know there could be a little bit of walkish. I'll legend in that as sure sure
Yeah, I was asking John Shane connect was my guest earlier and uh
He John would know. Yeah, I would know
So but he he said he's gonna look it up because he wasn't quite familiar with that
So that's that he comes up west town neighborhood is a beautiful neighborhood
And it's one of the older ones in the city and that that very unique stone house that's at the corner of grain you
And summit I love that was actually the sales office for that subdivision that developed after World War 2
Oh, wow, so there was a lot of returning GIs. Yeah, that bought a lot and built a house in that subdivision in the late 40s
Okay, that's it. That's really interesting history and then there was also a
I'm if you call it trailer park or trailer a mobile home community. Is that the correct? Yep
That's right there in the corner of like summit in 18 someone in moreland kind of tucked up behind St William Church
So I thought that was really because people don't really know about that. No, it's it's it's it's a great little community
A lot of I've I've talked to that that's an area that kind of comes in and out of the district because based on redistricting and things
So I've I've had the opportunity to to represent those folks a couple of different times. Okay, it's in quarry pains district now with the
redistricting sure
But it's a great little community. There's people who've lived up there a very long time and
They it's a great little great little pocket of walka shah. Yeah, sure and it's kind of one of that one of the unknown. I guess aspects of our city
Yep, so terrific and then um how we doing a time there mix? Okay, so real quick we'll talk about
Real quick that there was a uh proposed mobile food vendor ordinance and it was the third reading so no vote was taking what's going on with that?
Um, it's it's an opportunity to really formalize how food trucks operate in the city
Um, there are food trucks just are taken off in popularity um and we
We certainly welcomed that but at the same time we just want to make sure that there's some guidelines in place
especially if you're
Using or parking on a city street
Okay, so this really doesn't this really doesn't impact if you want to have a food truck at your business something like that
This really doesn't touch that this is more of just making sure that there's some guidelines in place for food trucks
It want to use city parking lots or use these streets things like that. That sounds great
So the conversation continues with fourth district alderman Joe Piper
And Patrick O'Donnell from the first hour is still here. He may have a few questions for Joe
And um so much more city news to cover here and city government news with with Joe here in this weekend walk a shot
And if you're listening on the radio don't forget to download the civic media app and we'll even take your calls from the civic media app
With that little phone icon there
And if you have any questions for Joe so um
We'll see in a minute
No
Hey listen this week in walk a shot and um
I don't uh, I very rarely play Chuck D in fact is my first time playing him
It's rather fitting. It's a tribute to um bully maize one of the great american icons who passed away
This week number 24 and probably one of my favorite ball players of all
Even though he didn't play when I was you know living or if he did it was in the toilet of his career, but
That catchy made in center field at the polo ground that was for the polo grounds
It was a football stadium where the giant's New York football giants used to play
And so center field went forever
So it wasn't just a typical catch at the warning track
It was like this guy ran a country mile
To catch that ball not only to catch it, but he
He stops and again your momentum is going that one way
But he manages to stop on a dime and then throw this like perfect like throw back to the uh
So in that film always cuts to like two guys in the snow and guy in the stands is like hitting his hand
And then like oh my god, I can't believe what I just saw
That's really what happened. That was just amazing and that was
probably
The most I can't rememberable moment or like probably the greatest moment in like 20th century baseball history
You can think of what like what does most people think of like some people say well Ruth pointing out
Well, but that wasn't on TV
There was Kirk Gibson's home run in game one of the 88 world series where he's on like half a leg, you know, and
Probably had a couple gin and tonics in him before you went out you're coming out of the clubhouse and relief
You know and uh they called a clubhouse for a reason, but um
Yeah, I mean just obviously many great moment
But that's the one that always sticks out in my memory the most and uh, I really thought major league baseball did a great
Thing or for lack of a better word when they had a major league game got moved
I was giants and cardinals at the
The stadium in Birmingham where the Birmingham barons played nor the old Negro league played
And they had a really neat
Ceremony at the beginning. It was a kind of a musical in a dancing and because
Maze like many started out in the Negro leagues
And so they had it was a really nice ode to uh to Negro league baseball
Which has now been integrated with major league baseball statistically
And so I thought um it just one of the greats in baseball and 93
93 he lived too 93 long years old life and someone argues that maybe the greatest all-around player at like over 500 home runs
At a ton of stolen bases
Like 12 gold gloves for playing the outfield. Yeah, one of world series in 1954 with the giants
When they were in New York for they went to San Francisco and so um
It just one of these you know one of these great no matter what team you rooted for you was someone that you you know
You celebrated it was just you was great for the game
And so yeah, and then uh, yeah, we also lost Donald Sutherland recently. You know the great actor. So it's so many. Oh really
um
A fantastic career movies television
Uh, you know so many other you know like even I think he has a voice in many animated films, but
So it the mash movie come to man. Yeah, he was originally he was Hawkeye Pierce. Yeah, that's right
We're the pros from Dover that you see one of my favorite lines. Yeah, Kelly serials Kelly serials. He was great. Yeah, animal house
Yeah, yeah, we could go on out of the ordinary people. Oh god
He probably should have gotten best supporting actor for that. That's right. He was unreal
And that was and very tired more was fantastic in that too
So just yeah, just what you'll quite a career in a great North American. You know a native of Canada. So
We celebrate our our Canadian brothers and sisters. So yeah, and then we also have
We're looking forward to another great
Fourth of July
Celebrations to start with the fireworks on July 3rd
At the um
We'll see him in the park across the chart. Well, I drove by there last night. I come out of my but uh, I heard there's gonna be more
Like raised grain had a truck there that just uh was overwhelmed until they're gonna morph like food and beverage trucks
Yeah, it was um, so we we the city and that's a good problem
It was a great problem and last year, I mean we had of just an absolute phenomenal turnout for fireworks and
Walkshaws kind of fireworks town. Yes, we for many years it was at the airport as we all know
And the challenge with the airport is the tough in and out. It's well, it's tough in and out and then just you know for the from from an airport operation
standpoint
Fireworks and the remnants of fireworks don't play well with jet engines and airplanes
So they just said you know
Well, this is different
The stuff that's left over you know can get pulled into jet engines and with the increase amount of traffic at the walkshare
Airport, which is also a good thing
The airport finally came to the city and said hey, we we think you got a good idea. We just need to move this and
Lowell Park has worked out really well, but last year yeah, the the park rec department
Learned a lot learned a lot last year and we're from my understanding gonna have a lot more just a lot more stuff a lot more restrooms
Yeah, that's fine beverage areas this year, so because what was neat is that there's so many different points of entry and exit
Which is great for traffic
There's we we're at a graduation party for one of my son's best friends from you know football baseball teammate
And that was the same house that we watched the fireworks at last year
You know, it was when you go further up Madison was a left-hand turn and so they're
They're kind of an elevated spot there where you can see the fireworks perfectly from their backyard and there were many
Homes like that
That you could just you could go to that your friend's house and have all those comforts he talked about you know restroom
Of friend you know fun beverages and in eats and so I just that's just a great
Community approach to a firework celebration. Yeah, and we're yeah, it's it's it's a great time of year and the vendor that does it
Always does a great job. I mean people people rave about our parks. Yeah, now are those launched right from the park or like from the
Football field of Waksha on earth my so Don you're testing me a little bit
I believe they're launched kind of from the southwest side of the park kind of the southwest corner of the park
Don't hold me to that. No, that's that's my that was my understanding. Yeah
So but it's a it's a great and I think it was just a great move to and it spread the celebration out across a couple days
So because people I know those people like to do their own fireworks and so they have that night on the fourth to do that
They do and if you do your own fireworks all we ask is just safe just be safe and respect your neighbors and try to cut them off
It was in a blower so my phone and my phone doesn't ring in the least department's phone doesn't
Don't lose anything. I remember during tovid. There was you know a lot of rogue
You know fireworks displays and uh and it it attracted all sorts of craziness including we had ding dong ditch
Vandals
They've victimized it and I guess it's you know poetic justice because that was one of my
guilty pleasures as a troubled tween
So I got my dog would crazy
Oh, yeah, my son and his friends were out chasing the kids. I think they knew them
But yeah, it made for a lot of unnecessary craziness. So but
We are looking forward to so much more this coming
Fourthed July weekend so much so so much to really look so just a great summer to look forward to here in the show
Yep, I'm for the July parade coming up
So that's so that'll be good. Hope everybody turns out for that. Yep. So yeah, I'm really looking forward to
Yes, I'm wak. You know last year we marched on the parade with this year
We're gonna be at the fireworks providing music while the parade goes on
So really that that's a great stroke by by chris maro our station manager the wealth of radio experience
That's a great way for us to uh
Represent the brand but also really support the community. So I'm excited about that and so we got about a minute
Is that right max?
Yep, about a minute so
So yeah, the conversation continues with Joe pipe or fourth district alder
We're grateful for Patrick O'Donnell sticking around my my second guest and uh, we'll give him a chance to ask Joe a couple questions
Um in the next half hour here and hopefully we'll get a call from the farmers market
But if not not to worry my feeling is that they they're busy because the farmers market
It's usually busy
Especially in a day like today where it might be a little bit cooler. It's not raining. It's not raining
The rain has stopped
So and there's just some great buys and um, you know good good time to do kind of your you know fourth of july planning the shelf life
And a lot of those that produce is um almost forever like I still have mushrooms from like three weeks
That's still great great shelf life and they're fun to cook with
So I uh, I hope to make it out there today if time allows
So but uh, yeah, we're gonna talk more at Joe about what his plans are for the summer a little bit more about is uh
Is background and maybe some plans for the the city's future as this week and walk a shot continues and a message from another farmer colleague of ours
Terry theme you just texted in so
Stick around wk 540 am 101.1 fm this week and watch out
Oh
Hey listening to this week walk a shot on wuk 540 am 101.1 fm and uh
And again for Patrick O'Donnell my first hour guest who's a punk rock fan
That's the jam within the city with the new wave movement came out, you know, it's like a
A son of the punk rock movement kind of or an affiliate and um, I like that song because it's kind of how I feel about walk a shot in this city
There's so many things I want to say to all of you and uh, I'm really grateful to have such great guests that
Add so much color and character to the community and that includes Alder Joe Alder and Joe Piper the fourth district and
Patrick O'Donnell of cops and writers
Um, and also long time dedicated Milwaukee police officer now retired and speaking of retired police officers
Joe and I got a nice text here from our mutual friend former Alder and current county supervisor Terry themey the fighting saint
And Terry says hey two of my favorite guys. Thanks for that Terry
Thank you Terry and he says if you have time
I'd like to hear your thoughts on the city attorney position
Should it be appointed or should it be elected currently? It's an elected position. It is Joe Piper
Um, I'm like John McLaughlin Joe Piper, right?
There was a referral made by Alder person Beth molten to take a look at whether to take a look at the role and see if it should be remain elected or if it should be appointed
And I am in the process of developing my opinion on that so Terry
I don't have any I don't have any breaking news for you as far as what my what my final
opinion on that because I'm still in the process of just kind of pulling my thoughts together
But there there's in my as I think about it. There's a couple of there's good points on both sides of the issue
Yeah
You know to be in a city attorney you need to be an attorney and there are only so many attorneys that live in the city of Waukesha
And there are only so many attorneys that might be inclined to run for city attorney. Okay, so if you keep it elected
You know, what's the what's the available pool of of applicants for the for the role sure
To be an alderman you've got to be 18 and not a felon
So yeah, there's there's a pretty pretty wide open
Yeah pool
I you don't need any professional certifications to do this job
Probably that's probably a very good thing
But there is to be a city attorney and then the other the other side of the the coin as I think about this is
You know, there's a level of independence with the city attorney's office that it comes from being elected sure
So if you move that to being appointed the the question for me and again still trying to figure this out
And nothing's been decided is kind of where does that position ultimately report to or report up to is there
Is it the city council is it the city administrator is it a combination is it the mayor
So I'm I think I know that the O and L committee has heard this I think at least once so there's there's a lot of there's some thought that's going into it
But uh like I said Terry. I don't have any don't have any definitive opinion on it yet because I'm still pulling my thoughts together on it
And I apologize for my ignorance because does the city attorney it currently
Report to the council or to the city administrator or the city attorney reports to the to the same bosses that that I have
I mean, okay, they're it's an elected role the people and they report to the people sure
Hey, speaking of attorneys my um resident council here in the office of former alderman dump all brown James Santel
Has uh he's graced my guess on myself with
Canolies from gloriosos all the way on Brady street and
James is on next to show as you know was called morning canolies now known as amicus a lot of you wouldn't I get to call it adicus because
James Jim embodies the spirit of adicus finch so um thank you again Jim for all that you do and also very very good book
Yes, yeah, if you haven't if you haven't made your kids read to kill a mocking bird
No, no, you know now's living in Chicago Chicago land. I should say mayor Richard M. Daily the
The young old mayor daily
He called that the book um he ought to always pick out a book for the public school kids to read and in one year
He made heal macking bird. That was his favorite book and so I uh I always appreciated that he made that public and
Fantastic story and uh and then another member of um
My my circle Mary Jane Sanchez is also uh checked in and she was very um played a very active role
In arranging for Stephanie Olson to be my guest next week and we're really looking forward to having her around and
discussing her advocacy and her heroics as a survivor of a of a brutal assault and
her continuing
advocacy
For women and any any survivors of assault and so really looking forward to that
That show next week and then uh chose
colleague Alicia Halbinslay would also be checking in next week too. So it's always good to catch up with her and
You'll you'll see you're at the farmer's market with her her cat in a uh a cradle area, you know what I
I forget where you can stroll or if you will
So I think that's that's fantastic. She's a she's a real character. I'm really glad to have her on and hey
Let's give Daniel. Do you have a quest Daniel O'Donnell? Do you have a question for Joe Piper?
And if I call you Daniel or Patrick O'Donnell
But if I call you Daniel O'Donnell I'm thinking of the great Irish liberator, of course
So it looks at my who I've been told worse. He's got the emancipation in Ireland and I've been told
So but any questions for Joe Pat, you know what kind of rings to me is
Crime prevention, y'all I come from a police background and this is a very safe
Neighborhood. It's a safe city, you know, I feel safe here
And I think that's an over and we want to keep it that way and y'all Danny Thompson is the chief we couldn't have a better
I don't think I absolutely agree
You know if you ever talked to him if you see him soon or talk to him ask him about getting poisoned by octopus on Christmas Eve
That sounds like a Dan Thompson story. Yeah, wow that poor guy
Just I won't go into the story, but I felt so bad for him
Was it on duty or in a holiday celebration? No, like octopus. It was on duty. I it's an Italian delicacy
Okay, and one of the coppers, you know, we're doing roll call at midnight
And it's Christmas Eve and he brings in this y'all like octopus
So he'd eat that and I'm like you could have that. No, thank you
And he's agon Danny. I was like, come on. Come on. You gotta eat it. You gotta eat it. He's finally like yeah, yeah
So five minutes later he's in the bathroom when he's turning ten shades of green. I'm like, oh you poor guy
So that's the poisoning of our police chief, but on a serious note
You know
England has taken you know great strides in CCTV
It's everywhere. Do we have a lot of that like in the downtown area? I there's a police presence you see like
Beatman walking around which is great. I absolutely love it. Yeah, but is there a lot of video
So the city the answer is not certainly not to the extent that you'd see in England or overseas right
But there are cameras the system it used to be called optic cop
That's how I know it. I think it's got a newer name and these are a series of cameras that are downtown and in some of our parks
That do keep an eye on things and
I've talked to folks that are very very supportive of it
I've talked to other folks that that just don't like it
I mean, there's certainly a group of group of folks that just don't like the fact that they're being that they're being surveilled and
I try to keep it light and I remind them that
If you go anywhere in a given day, you're probably on camera. Oh, absolutely hundreds of times whether you go to you know
Whether you go to quick trip or whether you go anywhere even probably into your office
You're gonna be on camera and if you don't if you're not doing anything wrong, you end up in a worry about right
But it is it is a very good system and it does help
The dispatch center keep an eye on certain events downtown
It has solved crime. I know of different stories especially downtown
And then the other system that
That the city is implemented that's getting a little bit of attention nationally is the flock cameras
And the flock cameras are these are those very small little black cameras that you may see around town
And all they're doing is they're recording license plates as cars drive by
And this system is a nationwide system that's being used by police departments to track down bad guys
And it can be anything from a stolen car. It can be
A wanted subject. It could be all the way down to maybe somebody
You know if you think of a silver alert and it's phenomenal technology
It is helping us keep walkish a safe
I'm a big supporter of it
And it's something that you know, we have the system in place. We're not really looking to expand it at this point
But it's it's definitely helping
And for I think a lot of folks think that you know the data is stored forever. It's not and
I if you have specific questions on that system. I encourage you to call your alderman
That's what I love. I love that's the part of this job where I love to tell people that you know
It's our job to make sure that we answer your questions and
I had a gentleman a business owner in town who had some really just had some pretty specific questions about it
I set up a tour for him at the PD with one of our sergeants. He walked through the whole system
Got educated and came out with a lot of you know with a lot of maybe preconceived notions
Um
Not no longer preconceived. So it was a great meeting
Um, so again, if you have questions on this kind of stuff
Call your alderman email your alderman. I mean, that's that's the big part of our job
I can't thank you enough for saying that Joe because that's something I always tried to emphasize that you know
Demo demo our democratic government small D
democracy's not a spectator sport
And call your alders for any issues you have and as a one of the
If someone called to the complaint in a matter of hopes that they were early sought as an opportunity
And go to their house and there's usually something involving their property or a tree or the sidewalk or something
But then I would refer to them to
The right person in our city government
There'd be an email with all three participants
And no matter who it was across departments. You always got an educated response
And even if it wasn't the response that the constituent wanted
You're grateful for the service and for the knowledge that was being shared
And then and it ledges greater engagement. It's just like
The more connected we can become the better our government will be the more active we are
And so that's why it's important for you know to give public comment or you can send an email and now write for public comment
I believe you can yep, so but um
Because yeah, I want to throw something at you different Joe and I promise there'd be no cheap shots and there's not but
One of the things I'm regretting about my time in the council is when I was on EHR committee
And I voted it in congress
In council
We had passed a law or what do you want to call it that
Forbade our departments from hiring
relatives family members of current staff
And even when I was on HR committee
In the back of my mind I was thinking that
We are all here today the world still exists because of the most blatant form of nepotism that happened at the highest levels of government
And I had it had not been for those two individuals
Those two brothers during the Cuban Missile Crisis none of us would be here right
But then I look at other professions
like
You know in baseball there'd be no berry bonds and that's a bad. I'm not a big berry bonds fan
But you think I can griffy junior there'd be none of these people if baseball had those same rules
And then more germane to our city
Children of police officers
That witness a letter part of that experience
They know the good at the bad and they may be better suited for careers in that
And I thought of this I was talking to one of my friends in one of the departments and she was saying that it's been tough for them to hire
Because there are children of staff that
They want to go into this they want to follow in their parents footsteps
And now we've kind of
You know, we've put this plot and we're kind of especially now that there's such a demand for
Talent and for labor
I I made like give a public comment asking someone to introduce something to revisit that
that provision
And because there's ways you know with hr and everything there's ways to you know
Obviously screen those people if they're not performing the gun in six months or sooner
but um
Chances are when you have quality people working for a city of quality children that
They've earned their degree or they're doing positive things they have a good resume
They compete with anybody else
And so
Again, I threw this at you so it's not something you're but but yeah, tell me your thoughts go if that
And I and I don't have the policy in front of me and I never I it's hard for me to remember the timing of all of this
but I know
That the nepotism policy has been reviewed and I believe in even in the last few years done so to your point
What what you acted on at hr committee? I believe is is different than what's in what's in place today
I also spend revisons because we passed it too in council. Yep
So again, I don't have the policy in front of me and and a lot of times dates and things run together
But it's from what I recall there's been some changes to that policy to to kind of to bring in a lot of your thoughts
Because yeah, it is it is hard to find
Workers it's especially hard to find police and firefighter. Yeah, um, it's unfortunately
It's it's a profession that you know, we're seeing
Less interest in which is just terrible because it's it's such an honorable profession both being a cop and a firefighter
Yeah, um, we are
Thankfully, and I do knock on a little bit of wood here. Um, we've been very very
Very lucky that our processes are still pretty full
We are a fire department and a police department that people want to work at
And as I take that very seriously as a member of the of the council
To make sure that we maintain that because you want
Good cops and firefighters to work in your city and you want them to want to work in your city and
We spend a we spend an awful lot of our our boss's money on police and fire
But Waukeshaw's it's a public safety town and we take that very serious. That's great
The conversation continues with Alderman Joe Piper and the fourth district and
Patrick O'Donnell and we will honor a fallen member of the Waukeshaw
Police staff who who died this year many years ago as this week in Waukeshaw continues on w auk 540 a.m
One one point one FM don't forget to send me the app
We
And
I see them blue
For me and you and I think to myself
What a wonderful world
It certainly is a wonderful world here on this week in Waukeshaw and in our beloved city
Guitar town USA the spring city
And of course who doesn't love Louis Armstrong?
Satch
And thanks to Mary Jane Sanchez here in the office of former Alderman Dampal Brown
We are learning or we should know that the rivers end gallery is closing after
19 years in business located at 380
West Main Street in Waukeshaw come in for all the specials
And then I also wanted to mention we have a new restaurant opening in Waukeshaw where Sakura was located
If you ever been to a game at Arrowhead
On the way there you pass this place
And I'm trying to find the name again. Is it sweet sensations?
Sweet dreams and it's you know it's a good old American hot dog and burger joint
And so that'll be a nice I see them cleaning up at Friday night live
Now that I think about that they're they're looking to open hopefully
Sometime this summer I've heard different things either late July or early august so we're wishing them well
And that's a success and I wanted to I forgot to mention on last week's show in fact
I think I saved this because
Patrick O'Donnell is here in that Daniel O'Connell
But a great liberator in his own right as a retired policeman
That this month we honor and remember fallen detective
Shmidling
Who lost his life in the line of duty on June 11th 1961 he served the Waukeshaw police department for six years
And was in the United States
Navy and last fall in the city installed the public safety memorial outside of city hall
Depermanently honor and remember all our fallen police and firefighters
And you can still purchase a personalized brick for that memorial too
And you can get more information on that from the city website
But uh definitely worth checking out and to me and I think Joe would integrate would agree and I think Patrick would agree that
It's nice to see in that memorial. There's very few
Uh first responders that lost their lives in the duty for this city. I believe there's like two firemen or three and two are in the same accident
and then I think
Detective Shmidling might be the only police officer. I think that lost his life in the line of duty
There might be one more but yeah, there was a detective
In the 90s that also unfortunately lost his life in the line of duty. So yeah, you okay as a city you want
You want a lot of room on a memorial like that. Yeah, but it it was something that
Folks at the police department and the fire department brought forward to the council when we were finishing up city hall
And said this would be something this is something that we want to do to honor the memory of those that made the
Sacrifice for our city and this would be a great place to put it and the council
Agreed completely and it turned out turned out great. It's a beautiful memorial right there in front of city hall
sure, I think so so Joe here in these
These this last segment if you will
and um oh
Terry theme he had uh
Yeah, he said you did good Joe and he says that it was that captain lutz with the Oswalds. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Terry
Captain lutz. Okay, so thanks for that Terry and
What do you want people to know?
About the city watch out the city council that we haven't discussed yet
That
It that we're very approachable and I said this when we were talking earlier
You and in this job you get calls on all different things and I never say they're big and small because
For someone to come to the point to call their alderman. It's a big thing for them
And I encourage folks to
Reach out get in touch with us ask us questions about what's going on in the city ask our opinion on stuff that's going on in the city
The other the other thing that I always encourage folks to do is just talk to your neighbors
And I think that we're all busy. I mean, oh, you have kids. You've got a job. You know, you've got your running around
I think that we need to spend a little bit more time and invest a little bit more time and talking to our neighbors and getting to know our neighbors
There are there are challenges that I get phone calls for that I think
Could probably be worked out, you know
If if neighbors would just simply you know reach across the fence and kind of talk things out
Um, I don't when I get those calls you handle them the same way you don't take anything you don't treat it any different
Um, but I've just noticed in my time in the job that people just get so darn busy that you just don't take the time to really know your neighbors
So that would be one thing that I would love to leave with folks is if if there's a if there's somebody across the street that you've never met
Just walk over and introduce yourself. Yes, and just tell give them your number and your name and number because you just never know
I mean
They you may need their help someday to watch your house or let a dog out or something like that and there's a there's a lot of power in that
Yeah, you know, and a more connected community can only make us stronger. Absolutely. So and it's I remember it's something
Joey talked about in the council too was that well, we talked about this national polarization
in our in our political
Culture currently and in here at the local level. I remember just saying that
The neighbors don't care if it's Republican or Democrat as long as their garbage is getting picked up properly
As long as the police are doing their job effectively and then we have good schools and we have good opportunities for for local economic development
Yep jobs and all the good things
And it's and I found in my my time that I was forming alliances with our other elders that maybe nationally we had very opposing views
And so that was a great at the end of the day. There's so much more that unites us
Yeah, we have we have very good group of of 15 people that that really want to see
The city move forward the city succeed
We get along we disagree. Yes. Who do you like the least? No, I'm just kidding. You know
That we just have some
Everyone in my 14 colleagues sounds great sounds very so two minutes left any big plans for the summer or my wife and I
Are checking two more states off. So
Jen and I
Travel right around our our anniversary, which is the end of June nice happy anniversary. Thank you. Thank you
So we're we're heading off to the east coast to check off Rhode Island and Connecticut nice
And once we're done with those two. I believe we only have three states to go. Okay
And so Jen says we have to wait a little bit to go to Alaska. There you go
But we're gonna we're gonna check off a couple more states when you go to Rhode Island you get to Providence
Of course you got to see Brown University, but check out federal Hill some fantastic Italian food
My my wife is extremely prepared. All right, we've got a PowerPoint presentation ready to go
And I can only just like in that movie
As well as the whole I love it
I can imagine that I can only imagine that that's probably on a put on the PowerPoint
That's terrific. So in any any plans or aspirations for the council in terms of any like kind of short-term goals or
Just real quick the city count
We just finished up revising the strategic plan which was a great exercise because we got a lot of input from the public
There was a number of sessions. I believe three working sessions with the council where we were a little bit more of an informal committee
The whole session where you could just it kind of the formalities breakdown a little bit so you can have good conversations
So we're very excited about that
We're seeing a number of really nice development projects continuing to roll into the city
Which we're excited about
There's one very large project out on highway 18 towards Sendix on the west side of town
There's going to be some nice projects coming downtown walk a shot, which is going to be great
So there's a lot of interest in walk a shot by developers and people that want to invest here
We have a number of companies. I continue to grow. So it's great and don't thank you. Thank you so much
I thank you for this are called them in Joe Piper
Um
of cops and writers
Guru
Patrick O'Donnell not Daniel O'Connell and don't forget my guests next week is Stephanie Olson
Have a great Saturday remember safety is everyone's responsibility and see you
