In-person absentee voting for Partisan Primary starts July 25, 2016

The Partisan Primary Election is August 9 and clerks across Washington, Ozaukee, Fond du Lac and Dodge Counties are already preparing for an early start. In-person absentee voting gets underway July 25 – August 5.

In the Partisan Primary the ballot reads: You may vote in only ONE party’s primary. If you choose a party, votes case in that party will be counted. Votes cast in any other party will not be counted. If you do not choose a party, and you vote in more than one party, no votes will be counted.

The only contested Republican Party race in Washington County is for the County Clerk. The candidates are listed on the ballot as follows: Ashley Reichert, Braedy Helmbrecht and Aggie Pruner.

There is no one contesting Jane Merten for County Treasurer or Sharon Martin for Register of Deeds.

Local updates from Rep. Party Convention

The Republican Party Convention begins Monday, July 18 in Cleveland and Washington County Republican Party Chairman Jim Geldreich will be filing updates with Around the Bend and WashingtonCountyInsider.com

People attending the convention from Washington County include Jim Geldreich, West Bend (5th District Delegate), Kathy Kiernan, Richfield (5th District Delegate), Duey Stroebel, Saukville, (At-Large Delegate), Jennie Frederick, Jackson (At-Large Alternate), Crystal Berg, Hartford (At-Large Alternate)

There are also reports Gov. Scott Walker will speak at the convention along with Congressional Representatives Sean P. Duffy.

“The goal of the convention is to nominate a presidential candidate for the Republican Party, presumably Donald Trump,” Geldreich said. “Trump has enough delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot. Kathy, Duey and I are Ted Cruz delegates, as he won the primary vote in the 5th Congressional District, as well as the statewide vote.  Therefore constitutionally, we have to cast our ballots for Cruz.”

Wisconsin has 42 delegate votes altogether; 24 district delegates and 18 at-large delegates.

“I anticipate some resistance to a Trump nomination from certain factions of the party, but I do expect him to win the nomination on the first ballot,” said Geldreich. “Further, I expect Trump to make efforts to unify the party.  He has already embraced the party platform along with Speaker Paul Ryan’s Better Way agenda.”

The convention ends Thursday night.

Laurel’s Camera and Gift is moving

Laurel’s Camera and Gift is on the move. On Sept. 1 the locally-owned camera shop and jewelry shop M.F. Diamonds will move from 239 N. Main Street to152 N. Main Street, formerly home to My Personal Trainor fitness studio, and prior to that Settler’s Park Market.

“We’re just going down the street a bit,” said Pat Fehring from Laurel’s Camera. “We were just looking for a little bigger space so we’ll have a backdrop and we can do studio photography as well.”

The Fehrings will be sharing the space with their son’s jewelry shop, M.F. Diamonds.

Watch for a new business to open shortly at 239 N. Main and coming up this weekend the new sign for Stefanie Ulma’s neighborhood grocery store will be put in place at 237 N. Main Street.

Sale price listed for Heiser purchase

The sale price has been posted for SBS Partnership’s recent purchase of 3.67 acres on W. Washington Street. On June 20, 2016 Sam and Mary Ann Scaffidi, owners of Heiser Chevrolet Cadillac in West Bend, purchased the property from Keajen Properties LLC, aka Steve Kearns, for $2.3 million. The parcel is located across the street from the dealership on the west side of Valley Avenue. Records show Keajen Properties/ Kearns purchased the parcel in 2005 for $865,000.

Washington Co. Board night meetings—2 Votes Short

During this week’s Washington County Board meeting Dist. 3 County Supervisor Christopher Bossert put forward an amendment that would move county board meetings to the evening. The amendment was just two votes short, but closer than the board has ever been towards moving their meetings to the evening.

Bossert wrote this post about the proposal. “At today’s county board meeting, I took a bold step.  A proposed ordinance would move the county board meetings from 9 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.  I proposed an amendment that would instead move those meetings to the evening at 7 p.m.  Supervisor Kelling was quick to step up and second the motion.

I have heard from many of my neighbors regarding the desire to move meetings to the evening, to increase public access to our proceedings.  I am working to try to make that a reality.

I knew going there was fairly strong support for night meetings. While the amendment was two votes short, it was closer to succeeding than any previous attempt at making night meetings permanent. The fight on this issue is not by any means over.  Instead, there are a lot of positives.

1. I now know for sure that I have 10 other Supervisors who definitely share my view on night meetings.

 

2. Three of the other Supervisors who voted in favor of this motion were on the executive board, including Mike Bassill, Tim Michalak, and Kris Diess.

 

3. I also know if our rules would have allowed for an amendment to move the day of our meetings to Thursday, the amendment might have picked up another vote or two.

 

4. Most importantly, the old guard knows how close that motion was, and can guess that the days of meeting during the daytime, away from public scrutiny, are coming to a close.

 

I plan to look at options for bringing this up again next summer.  Worst case scenario, we might pick up a vote or two in the April 2018 election, depending on how those elections go.”

 Jolly Good is in the house

 

A shipment of Jolly Good soda arrived Friday at Klotz’s Piggly Wiggly, 2575 E. Washington Street, in West Bend. Jolly Good is making a comeback in Wisconsin as Krier Foods Inc. is marketing the soda with Piggly Wiggly stores statewide. This is a slow roll out for the Random Lake soda maker and Piggly Wiggly is asking customers to limit their purchase at this time to six cans per person. A 12-ounce can is selling for 69 cents. Jolly Good flavors include orange, cherry, grape, Sour Pow’r, and cream. Jolly Good was popular in the 1970s through 2006.

 Teddy Bear drive

 The Savanna Rose 2nd annual Teddy Bear Drive is happening Saturday, July 16 at the West Bend Farmers’ Market. Savanna Bonlender will be playing guitar at the market from 8 a.m. – 11 a.m. and all the tips will go directly towards purchasing teddy bears for Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. “Last year I was able to raise over $650 and purchase art supplies for the children and the elderly at Samaritan Nursing home,” said Bonlender. “I’m hoping that this year will be an even bigger turnout.”

 Updates & tidbits

 –Downtown West Bend businesses and the Saturday Farmers’ Market all were in the spotlight during Wednesday’s Morning Blend on TMJ4. Jeanne Renick from Savoring Thyme and Nancy Laufenberg from Laughing Mountain Popcorn were the local guest speakers.

 

-There’s word a tenant at Cast Iron Luxury Living is trying to rally a petition to lure Colectivo Coffee as one of the retail tenants. Cast Iron has nearly all its 125 residential units leased and is now jumping into another phase of development by marketing its first level to retailers.

 

-The History Center of Washington County will host a summer evening performance of the West Bend Community Band, the River City Irregulars, on the Washington County Veterans’ Memorial Plaza. The concert is free and begins at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 19.

 

-A new uniform surface has been put down on the pedestrian bridge that links the downtown West Bend Business District to the Museum of Wisconsin Art. The grainy platform makes for a no-slip surface.

 

-There are more than 1,200 participants signed up for Saturday’s Dirty Ninja Mud Run which kicks off at 9 a.m. at Regner Park in West Bend.

 

-On Friday July 22 there will be a card-signing event at Toucan Custard in West Bend from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. to show local law enforcement how much the community appreciates their efforts. Toucan Custard will donate 10 percent of its proceeds from food and custard sales to the “Shop with a Cop” program and DreamMaker Bath and Kitchen will match the donations.

 

-Registration is open for the inaugural Live Like Mike Memorial Golf Outing at West Bend Lakes Golf Course. The August 28 event is being held in memory of Mike Sheehy, 43, who died unexpectedly last September. All proceeds benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Washington County and the Mike Sheehy Memorial Wrestling Scholarship for West Bend East High School. Contact Jenny Sheehy for more details at 262-338-9599.

 

-Holy Angels Parish is hosting a West Bend Community Blood Drive in the Walnut Room, 230 N. Eighth Avenue, on Tuesday, July 19 from 2 p.m. – 7 p.m. All attempting donors will receive a ticket to the Wisconsin State Fair. To schedule an appointment, visit bcw.edu/holy angels or call the Blood Center at 877-232-4376. Refreshments will be provided and appointments encouraged.

 

-On Monday, July 18, by order of Gov. Scott Walker the flag of the United States and the flag of the State of Wisconsin be flown at half-staff in honor of Firefighter Mitchell Koski of the Montreal Fire Department who died while responding to the severe storms that lead to flash flooding near Saxon Harbor in northern Wisconsin Monday, July 11, 2016. In accordance with this order, please ensure that the flag of the United States and the flag of the State of Wisconsin are flown at half-staff at all state facilities, beginning at sunrise Monday, July 18, 2016, and ending at sunset on that same date.

 

Washington Co. Fair is just ahead

 This week the UW-Extension mailed its 47^th annual Washington County Fair Jr. Livestock Auction booklet to area businesses. The 5-page booklet contains a list of potential 4-H youth exhibitors for swine, beef and sheep. The annual auction at the Farm Progress Show Arena gets underway at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 28.

 

Vintage Washington Co. Fair photo is courtesy the Washington County Fair.