Today is November 4th.
These are today's vital statistics.
Christine M.B.
58 of Richland Center died at home Friday, September 18th.
A celebration of life will be held Saturday, November 7th from 12.30 p.m.
until 3.30 p.m.
at the Richland Center Community Center.
The Clary Memorial Funeral Home assisted the family with the arrangements.
Christine M.B.
58 of Richland Center.
Stephen Henry Weyland, Jr.
of Richland Center died Tuesday, October 27 at the Harvest Gas Home in Richland Center.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, November 21 at 11 a.m.
at St.
Mary's Catholic Church in Richland Center.
Visitation will be held at the church from 10 a.m.
until the time of Mass at 11.
Lunch will follow at the church.
After lunch concludes, burial will take at St.
John's Cemetery in Spring-Green with military graveside rights to be provided by the Lone Rock American Legion.
The family request memorials in Steve's name be directed to the Peace Corps or to Harvest Gaston.
The Pratt Funeral and Cremation Service is assisting the family with the arrangements.
Stephen Henry Whalen Jr.
of Richland Center.
Susan M. Pyfron, 63 of Richland Center, died Thursday, October 29 at SSM Health in Madison.
Per Susan's request, no formal services will be held.
The Pratt Funeral Incrimination Service is assisting the family with the arrangements.
Susan M. Pyfron, 63 of Richland Center.
This concludes today's vital statistics.
Good morning, everyone, for WRCO News.
I'm Todd Copernall, 53 degrees in Richland Center right now.
Forecast says the high today will be 59.
It was a long night covering the election last night.
It was worth it.
Energized me to do it.
It always does.
And if you haven't heard yet, the results are in, and it was a historically good election for the Democratic Party this time around.
In the state of Wisconsin, David Crowley is the governor-elect.
He will
Follow Tony Evers in the governor's office.
Mr. Crowley won the state by a total of about 217,000 votes.
However, Mr. Crowley won Milwaukee County by about 185,000 votes and Dane County by about 190,000 votes.
So Dane County and Milwaukee County clearly carried Mr. Crowley into the governor's office.
He will take office in early January around the state.
State Senator Republican incumbent Howard Markline was defeated by his Democratic challenger, Jenna Jacobson of Oregon, Wisconsin.
Jenna will become the new Senator in Senate District 17.
U.S.
House of Representatives, District 3, Rebecca Cook, Democratic challenger to Republican incumbent, Derek Van Orden, won that one, and she will represent this area in the U.S.
House.
Also around the state in the assembly, Republican incumbents Tony Kurtz and Travis Trannel were re-elected and will retain their seats.
However, Todd Novak of Dodgeville, Republican incumbent, was defeated by Ben Gruber of Arena and in the Baraboo area, Democrat incumbent Karen DeSanto retains her seat, was re-elected.
so a swing there when after the inaugurations in january the democratic party will hold a majority in the wisconsin assembly and the wisconsin senate and of course the democrats retained the governor's office and on the national level same thing in the united states congress the u.s.
house of representatives and the united states senate will have a majority of democrats once we get past the inaugurations in january
Other local elections, these two candidates were unopposed, but we should announce, for County Sheriff in Richland County, Clay Porter reelected, and the Richland County Clerk of Circuit Court, Stacey Kleis also reelected.
Over in Sock County, Matt Birch has been elected Sheriff, defeating Ryan Jessberger.
Birch was the Republican, and he won that one.
Local referendums in the area here,
Wonnywalk Center, Dodgeville, and Verroqua all passed school referendums.
Hillsborough voters said no.
That one did not pass.
And down in Lafayette County, they had two of them on the ballot, both dealing with the county-owned nursing home.
They had one referendum that would have allowed the county to incur debt to construct a new nursing home.
And then they had a second one that would increase the levy.
It would raise property taxes.
so that Lafayette County could simply operate and maintain their existing nursing home that they have now.
And the voters in Lafayette County said no to both of those.
That's very interesting.
I don't know what they'll do.
They own a nursing home that apparently needs some maintenance and some more revenue.
And the voters said not that way.
And then also decided not to build a new one.
State referendums, the three that were on your ballot this time around.
Voters said no on banning the state from closing places of worship in times of an emergency.
That one was a no and said yes on prohibiting government entities from discriminating or granting preferential treatment based on such things as race, sex or national origin.
That one was a yes, that passed and no.
on banning the state from closing places of worship in times of emergency.
The third one, limiting the governor's partial veto power so that the governor could not use that to raise or to increase a tax or a fee.
That one has, at last I, last update I had, which was just about 15 minutes ago, that had not been decided yet.
Still counting votes on that one.
Someone was very close.
So just, uh, I guess I would say a fascinating election this time.
The pollsters, the prognosticators, they were right.
They were calling for a big night for the Democrats.
And that's exactly what happened.
Um, in Richland center, uh, in the city, a solidly blue across the board for Mr. Crowley, um, for Rebecca Cook and a close win for Republican incumbent Tony Kurtz.
county-wide in Richland County, the county sided with Tony Kurtz and Tom Tiffany, but also with Rebecca Cook.
So the county was mixed.
The city of Richland Center, that's probably as heavily democratic as I've seen Richland Center, whether that is a reaction and a snapshot or a trend.
I don't know yet.
We don't know yet, but that's what happened this time around.
Fascinating election.
I'll have more details in the news at noon.
Also last night, the Richland Center City Council addressed major developments regarding local emergency services, although the city is not legally mandated to provide emergency medical coverage.
It has long arranged ambulance services through Richland County EMS.
After county officials announced that EMS coverage will end June 30th of next year,
12 affected municipalities began collaborating on a request for proposals to secure a new provider.
Consequently, the City Council voted unanimously to approve a six-month Richland County EMS service contract running January 1st through June 30th of next year for a total cost of $63,168.
In municipal administration, it was the council formally accepted the resignation of city administrator Ashley Oliphant.
City Attorney Michael Wendell provided an update regarding legal proceedings between the city and Richland County.
Judge Wood issued an oral decision yesterday in favor of the county concerning a writ of mandamus determining that the city will not
be required, say that backwards here, the county will not be required to reimburse the city for costs incurred maintaining veterans graves until next year.
Administrator Oliphant's resignation will be effective January 1st during discussions on this topic.
Older person Melanie Walters suggested engaging an outside recruitment agency to locate strong candidates attorney Wendell noted.
that the council may also wish to evaluate whether to retain the administrator form of government, a topic slated for discussion at a special budget meeting November 17th.
Budget preparations were another main topic with Alderperson Melanie Walters reporting that budget season is definitely underway.
Discussions touched on capital outlay and proposed project deferrals
raised by older person Frank Hoffman.
In financial actions, the council approved the city's 2027 contribution to the Richland Center fire department and passed an amendment raising the room tax rate from 7% to 8% starting January 1st.
The council approved several legislative and municipal items, including an assignment and amendment of the developer agreement for 291 North Jefferson Street to a new developer, a repeal and replacement of Chapter 452 regarding floodplain zoning as mandated by the Wisconsin DNR.
a 2.45 acre land division request for Crestview Drive, a conditional use permit for a daycare center and professional offices at 45 East Rob Road, and updated airport lease and rental fees.
Marty Richards, director of Greater Richland Area Tourism, delivered the annual tourism presentation, highlighting key milestones such as becoming an independent 501C3 entity.
New room tax adoption by Bloom and Westford Townships.
Growth in direct visitor spending and strategic marketing emphasizing low-cost local activities.
Finally, Mayor Karen Templi presented Police Chief Billy Jones with a plaque commemorating Crash Responder Safety Week.
Yesterday, Judge Daniel G. Wood
ruled in favor of Richland County in a legal dispute over a payment request submitted by the City of Richland Center for the Care and Maintenance of Veterans Graves.
The conflict arose when the city requested reimbursement from Richland County for expenses incurred while maintaining graves for veterans.
While the county maintains a supportive stance toward providing financial assistance for grave care, the city's request was submitted
past the explicit deadline established by state law.
Consequently, the county declined to process the payment, adhering to the same statutory standard applied to all other organizations.
In response to the denial, the city filed a request with the court in October 1st seeking to compel the county to make the payment.
The court issued an initial order October 7th directing the county to pay unless a formal objection was lodged.
Richland County subsequently filed an objection reiterating that the reimbursement request violated state statutory deadlines.
Following consideration of the arguments, Judge Wood ruled in favor of the county and dismissed the payment order.
County officials reaffirmed that their position was strictly rooted in adhering to legal deadlines, emphasizing their ongoing commitment to supporting the upkeep and care of local veterans' final resting places when requests are submitted in compliance with state law.
A special session of the Verroqua City Council scheduled for this evening has been canceled due to the lack of a quorum.
The meeting was set to address several critical municipal topics including a potential closed session to discuss personnel issues involving Mayor Krista Brown and City Administrator Julie Emsley as well as conduct concerns regarding certain elected officials.
The scheduled special meeting
followed previous actions taken by the council during an October 27 closed session.
In that meeting, council members voted unanimously to relocate the mayor's office to a different floor from the city administrator's office, restrict direct one-on-one contact between the two officials and allow the administrator to work remotely from home.
Mayor Brown publicly expressed strong disagreement with these directives and the process leading to the vote, arguing that the restrictions were not in the best interest of the city, nor aligned with city ordinances and state statutes.
In a social media post addressing the cancellation of the special session this evening, Brown noted that while special meetings are typically arranged in coordination with the city administrator.
Recent circumstances led her to collaborate with three city attorneys and the city clerk to prepare the agenda, expressing frustration over the meeting's cancellation.
Mayor Brown encouraged public engagement and claimed that the city administrator and certain council members would prefer for the meeting not to happen and have made decisions to keep information away from the public.
It's the Midweek Roundup.
Wednesday's Roundup brought to you by Richland Hospital, Cardinal Glass EG, and by Badgerland Flooring.
Today, it's Henko or facto.
Hank's got the questions, and Phil, he's got the final say on whether it's fact or something cooked up over a cup of bad coffee.
Confidence?
Absolutely.
Accuracy?
That's where things get adventurous.
Play along and see if you can out-guess Phil, because the truth is out there, and Phil is doing his best to find it.
Wednesday's roundup, where factos, Hankos, and Phil... Oh, collide!
It's time for the roundup.
Hey,
there he is.
Good morning, Philip.
What's up there, brother?
Nothing much, buddy, and you?
I'm doing great.
I'm glad the election's over.
Yeah,
yeah, especially that.
I'm glad the ads are over.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we can talk about that now.
You know, people go, oh, look at all the money.
That money didn't come to us.
Nope.
Nope.
So, um, we're in a network of stations and, uh, it goes to whoever handles the accounts
and it
didn't come to us.
Right.
Right.
As, as we've said in the past too, it's, uh, we legally have to put those on.
We cannot deny unless somebody went on and said something.
They swore or something.
You
know, we might be able to get a different ad, but we have to and we can't discriminate against one party or the other.
So it gets a little bit old for everybody listening and for us too.
It's very old.
So we know when political season hits and it stinks, but we're over that.
Let's move forward.
Let's move it.
All right.
So anyway, big election on Saturday night though coming up for you.
I know the minnow catch is the
last election
of the
last election of the year, the minnows.
Uh
huh.
Uh, what are the grand pooba of the minnow association over at Sextonville Lake?
Right.
I wish you luck buddy.
Uh huh.
Yeah.
So early results coming in, not looking good.
Right.
Well, it's, it's, you know, I don't know how many minnows are in that lake in Sextonville, but, uh, you know, we'll find out, I guess.
Yeah.
We'll see.
Well, right now it's three nothing.
Is that right?
Yeah.
And I think they had a right in vote.
Uh-huh.
Marty Richards is up on you.
Yeah, Marty's.
Yeah.
One to nothing.
Two, two, two nameless candidates.
Marty will be tough to beat.
Yeah,
he will be.
Yeah.
Anyway, your question of the day, buddy, do you like hanging out with old people?
Well, again, your definition of old, you know, my, my dear mother at 90 was like, you know, that, that older lady, that older lady over there and she's
90 years old.
So,
you know,
it's, it is a definition.
Exactly.
And
to me, I do.
Cause I hang out with you.
You and Todd every day.
That's not funny.
Hey, I resemble that remark.
Yeah.
You might be from Arkansas, Phillip.
If the furthest you've been away from home was by mistake.
Yeah.
That's probably happened.
Yeah.
Me without
GPS.
Yeah.
So any big plans for the day
tonight?
Let me see.
Not really.
What about today?
Well, I've got a lot of things going today.
Do you?
We're getting ready for, of course, River Valley.
It's state volleyball.
You and I'll be on the road early on Friday morning and on the load rate
and on the
road late as well.
Well, yeah.
Well, we got a helicopter back to Ithaca Friday night.
I'm getting warmed up.
There you go.
They couldn't make that tournament match any earlier in the morning.
No, they couldn't.
Yeah.
Why not move it to
seven?
We're up there.
Let's go.
Oh boy.
So anyway,
we'll be driving one
day.
We'll be driving in on Friday and then driving back on Friday and
I bet you we find a hardies, Phillip.
You know what?
The
odds are pretty good.
Yes.
Between here and Green Bay.
I
hear the odds are really good with you and I that we miss it on the, on the exit.
I know.
Yes.
I know there's, I think there's one in point net maybe.
Are they?
I think so.
Do we go through point net?
No, but we can.
Yes.
You're driving
Hank, you do
whatever you want.
There's got to be one in that Fox Valley area.
There's, you know, every eating place.
Yeah, but we
may be pushed for time going up and seeing, I love their biscuits and great.
We won't get it in the morning.
We'll have to get them.
You may,
you
may have to hold the biscuits and grave while I'm just shoveling it down.
That's true.
The match will be done by 10.
They probably serve breakfast all 11.
So you probably would be good.
Got a shot.
Yeah.
And the old cinnamon biscuit they used to have.
No, no, it's got raisins.
Yeah, but that was good.
That used to be my problem with hard.
He's like, give me a.
raisins can't you take them off no they're too embedded you can't I'll
tell you what I'll suck them out oh that'd be nice so anyway your rapid fire questions of the day are you ready
yeah
which household object disappears when you need it the most fill up maybe dish soap dish soap okay I thought you were gonna say remote
oh
Yeah, that probably does.
But you know, we have a remote finder now.
Uh-uh.
Now tell me about that.
Well, the satellite has a remote finder.
You just press a button and it beeps.
Really?
Yeah.
It's usually in the couch cushions.
I didn't know that.
With cheeseball or cheese dust on them?
Yeah.
Yeah.
A little dust on them.
I bet you and so proud of you.
What drawer in your house should remain classified?
Oh.
Don't say your underwear drawer.
Well,
my sock drawer.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
That's where is it bad?
All my key stuff is.
Okay.
And, and June made, you know, I had my, my checks, you know, you get your checks, your, your, your box of checks.
Um, that shows I have a lot of money and, um, I had all my, my future checks in there.
So I went looking, she goes, I put those in a box.
Don't you remember?
I said, well, that's, that's my drawer.
I know everything is my sock drawer.
Not anymore.
Not anymore.
Now I don't know where they
are.
You're, you're just so deprived.
I
know
poor thing.
What's the oldest thing in your freezer?
Oh boy.
I think there might be some ice cream in there that's a little freezer burning.
Really?
Yeah.
I tell you what, I should,
I should come check that
out.
Yeah.
I bought it for my last birthday.
I think I
was years ago.
Yeah.
Exactly.
What would a museum of your house display first Phillip?
Oh, probably one of
my.
Victrola or by turntable or something.
I knew that was going to be something with records.
What's possession are you convinced will be useful someday that you've held on to?
Well,
I'm trying to think.
There's a lot of them.
I've held on to a lot of things that I. I
have one.
Do you?
Yes.
It is a, it's a metal piece that you put under, like when you're changing your blades on your track on
the,
you know how they turn.
Right.
This metal piece goes up in there.
Okay.
But I get it, I get it lodged every time I can't get it out.
So it doesn't really work, but I'm keeping it.
Just in case.
Just in case they put a little thing on top of the lower deck where it doesn't
cancel.
Oh,
okay.
That's a good idea.
Yeah.
I just, yeah.
That's more useful than anything that I would have.
Yeah.
Like a hammer shovel.
Yeah.
I don't have too much of that.
Well, I do, but I don't know where they are.
Yeah.
All right.
But I've got a pop can.
belt.
Oh you do.
Pull top.
You'll pull taps up.
You still have that or did you make it?
I had one like, you know, started in probably just out of high school and it goes around the room.
Well, nobody knows what it is anymore.
They're starting to disintegrate though.
The other day I went to move it and it kind of broke.
I'm like, come on.
Go to LNM.
You know they have pop top stuff.
Do
they?
Somewhere down
here.
We can find them.
Brian would help you.
And if you save that until April or maybe March this year,
you could get, you know, that 78 cents, 75 cents a pound.
I don't know.
It's pretty stylish belt.
Is it?
Yeah, you'd have to probably buy the, just the charisma with it, you
know,
just, yeah.
So
anyway, what makes you feel good, Phil?
What
makes you
feel good?
The older generation makes it feel
good.
Oh, having the exact correct amount of cash.
Yes, that's not bad.
Which nobody uses anymore.
The one of the things I noticed the other day when we went to the sectional final at Marshall,
We're not accepting cash.
Yeah, I saw that at the gate.
Yeah, it was all credit cards
or credit card or debit card QR code.
Yeah, too.
What is that?
Well, that's
something you
had to pay.
That's something new.
I don't like that.
That might be a, I mean, if I went to a game right now and be like, well, I guess I can't get in there.
What am I, what am I going to do, Hank?
Sneak in
my checks.
Wasn't in my sock drawer.
My debit card was in there.
No, no, thanks a lot, June.
Now I'm going to be watching it from the parking lot.
Well, I'll bring the extra debit card for Friday cause you never know what's going to happen with
that.
You think so?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Having a restroom or finding a restroom before it becomes an emergency.
Yeah.
That's probably true.
Yeah.
Sleeping through the entire night.
Yes.
Oh yes.
You just wait like, yes.
Some, some nights I do.
Some nights it's like three o'clock.
Oh man.
Are
you one of these people?
Once you, once you're like, if it's three, three 15 and you're up.
Are you done?
Yeah, I was up this morning.
I couldn't fall back to sleep.
So lovely.
Having a freshly cleaned windshield.
Oh,
I love that.
Until the bugs.
Yep.
I love having a fresh clean windshield.
And how about getting the thermostat set exactly right?
How did I do out front so far so good so far?
And did you tell him the story about this?
Well, I thought I'd turn the heat on but I actually
turn the air on.
Well, the air was already on.
Yeah,
but you lowered
it and I lowered it thinking I was, you know, setting the heat and just trying to get the moisture out.
But you got it out.
But there's some cool air.
Yeah,
exactly.
Well, you know, you're a cool dude.
Thanks buddy.
Our scene a cashier.
are seeing a cashier open another checkout.
Yeah, that's hard to find sometimes.
All right, buddy.
Let's see, what else do I have for you?
Oh, your daily dilemma for November 4th.
Would you rather have to ask your teenager for driving directions or let them pick your haircuts?
Oh boy, I don't know.
That would be a tough one.
That's a tough one.
I would
say driving
directions.
Yeah, because I
don't want my son picking out my haircut style.
I promise you that.
Well, you've had the same hairstyle since the 80s, haven't you?
Yeah, I didn't have any.
Pretty much.
All right.
You had some homework.
So here are your questions.
Are you ready?
Yeah.
All right.
What's the worst prize in a raffle?
A raisin pie.
Okay, not bad.
That's not bad.
I said swag.
That's not bad.
Raisin pie is not bad.
What would you call a festival celebrating potholes?
A pothole party.
Okay.
Sponsored by a garage that offers front-end alignment.
Nice
job.
I would call it crater days.
Oh, there
you
go.
Our bump fest.
I like
that.
All right.
What should I parade throw besides candy?
Cassette tapes.
Mix tapes.
There you go.
Here's my band.
I didn't even think about that, but I was thinking the squishy balls.
Oh yeah, squishy balls.
Records will get scratched.
Cassettes fly
better.
There were 846 stitches put handed out in today's parade.
What unusual category belongs in a county fair?
I say a vegetable that looks like someone famous.
I had a
cabbage that looks like Hank Bray or something.
Mine is the best
farmer's tan.
Oh,
I like
it.
All right.
Number five, what would your campaign slogan be for mayor of your own driveway?
I
will make sure grass doesn't grow in the crack.
Mine is finally a politician who knows his asphalt.
Nice.
That's pretty good, Phillip.
I'm impressed.
I'm
impressed.
Man,
likewise.
Hank Orifacto a little bit here.
The amount of water flowing over Victoria Falls every hour would flush five million toilets.
What?
I'm
thinking that might be right.
It is.
It's a
bunch of truth.
Yeah, nice job.
Yeah, that's not bad, folks.
The hottest place on earth has an average annual temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit.
You said temperature, all temperature.
Okay.
Do they have an annual?
They have cheer, don't they?
I think they do.
Yeah.
Close washing.
Here we go.
Here
we go.
All temperature.
The hottest place on earth has an average annual all temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit.
I think that's true.
It is true.
I can't per se.
It's an Ethiopia put it that way.
Well, you got that.
Not
bad.
Not bad.
Let's see here.
Koalas have five fingerprints.
Koalas have fingerprints identical to humans.
I've heard that before.
That's true.
But is it true?
Yes, it's true.
It is true.
Goldfish can cross breed with koi carp.
Um, I think that's true.
It is true.
They can and they do, but they're offspring are usually sterile, fishy romance with limits.
Yeah, I'm very
handsome.
Wow.
All right.
Here we go.
One more.
It's almost time, Phillip, for Hank to, he's got work to do there.
Really?
Yeah.
Let's see if I can find one here.
Oh, here's one.
We've talked a lot about sloths.
Okay.
And how slow they are.
And, um, sloths can hold the breath longer.
than dolphins.
I'm going to say that's not true.
Nope.
It's a bunch of truth.
Yeah.
Up to 40 minutes.
My goodness.
And the dolphins can only hold theirs for around 10 minutes.
Is that
right?
Yeah.
That's, that's pretty, that's pretty sloth.
Of course they're not moving much.
They're not, they
don't do much.
Do us, do us the, before we go off, do you remember the movie where the sloth was a taxi cab?
Oh, I love that.
He's the first, the first.
Version he were he works in the DMV.
Okay, and they're in a hurry and he's like but no, it's
uh, he was a taxicab.
Didn't someone ask?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So let's go ahead and go go from the top field.
Ready action.
Well, is it Zootopia?
I can't think I saw it with the granddaughters.
Okay.
Not that long ago, but yeah, the sly fox asked, can I have a ride?
And he goes, no.
He's
always in a
hurry.
He's always in
a hurry.
Yeah, exactly.
He drives fast, but he can't talk.
He can't talk
fast.
All right, hook or hang down phonics.
What is my word today?
I don't know if you that one or not.
This one here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm going to say that's ever set ever set ever set
ever
set.
Is that that?
No.
Okay.
What is it?
Effervescent.
Effervescent.
Effervescent.
Talking about your bubbly, lively, enthusiastic personality.
Effervescent.
Yeah, that can't
spell.
Yeah.
Well, thanks a lot.
They used that in an ad too, wasn't it?
Yes, they did.
But your dentures or whatever?
Effervescent.
The
bubbles that
clean
them.
You're a good man for somebody.
Well, thank you.
Hey, have a great day, my friend, and be kind out there.
That's Hank Bray.