Community

The air was thick with pesticides and the shouts of children. Adult voices hurdled down from apartment windows. Gang members, merchants, cops, priests and mothers lived side by side, playing out their individual dramas on concrete stages of streets and stoops.

“If I close my eyes and imagine it, there is always a hint of DDT in the air,” recalls Nick Chiarkas, smiling tenderly as he envisions the housing project where he grew up on New York City’s lower east side. “As kids, we would chase the trucks that drove through the city spraying it. Elsewhere people were shouting from windows. Men would urinate in the street, between parked cars, and that was considered okay.”

The children spawned by that bygone era were “alert and resilient,” whether they became cops, criminals or soldiers. (Chiarkas eventually became two of the three.)

They learned to make enough eye contact to seem tough, but not enough to invite a beating.

It’s a blustery Sunday evening in rural Mount Vernon, but the howling of the wind is no match for the countrified thump shaking the white stone walls of the “Donkey Hole.”

It’s a quintessential Wisconsin man cave, rigged with tap beer, neon signs, and even a circular tin of popcorn to act as a boisterous fire alarm if things ever get too hot. A place where blown up amplifiers and a bit of healthy tinnitus are all in a good night’s work.

But the barn wasn’t always this way. The place where the Feralcats currently hone their popular brand of honky tonk was formerly used to house burros – hence its name – and it required a thorough mucking in order to begin its transformation.

Editor's note: In the last couple of years, an unprecedented number of Dane County residents have died from heroin overdoses. Most recently, Middleton High School graduate Kyle Wood, 32, died following a long battle with addiction.

As authorities struggle with how to contain the epidemic, The Middleton Times-Tribune, over the next several months, will publish the first-person accounts of an addict currently in recovery. That addict, Nathan J. Comp, has contributed to the pages of this newspaper as well as several other publications throughout the state, including Isthmus and The Capital Times.

His work has been recognized by several distinguished organizations, including The American Academy of Childhood and Adolescent Psychiatry for a series he wrote in 2004 on drug use among Middleton teens following the death of 16-year-old Julie Zdeblick, who died of an oxycodone overdose that same year.

The Middleton Community Orchestra (MCO) rang in the New Year by earning an accolade from The Well-Tempered Ear, a popular blog focused on classical music in the Madison area.

Ear founder and writer Jacob Stockinger on Dec. 31 named the MCO “Musicians of the Year.”

Noting the orchestra’s “admirable achievements in only four seasons,” Stockinger went on to laud the group for keeping alive the age-old tradition of amateur music in a local setting.

“I’ve been very impressed with the quality of the stuff they do,” Stockinger told the Times-Tribune. “And with their featured soloists and the shows in general.”

“I think the Middleton Community Orchestra recaptures the integration of arts into our workaday world and daily life,” he added. “They really do a good job.”

When doctors told Marybeth Haunty her son, Alex, wouldn’t ever walk or talk, they forgot to mention fly. They would have been wrong on that count, too.

Haunty, a 22-year-old Middleton entrepreneur, is known locally for his colorful paintings and note cards, hugs, goodwill, and loquacious conversation. But for over a year he had to keep secret his role in the Overture Center’s 10Fest Celebration, held the last weekend in September.

“Sometimes I got so excited that I let the cats out of the bag,” Haunty confessed in the speech he gave at the Overture Center private reception to honor philanthropists Pleasant Rowland and Jerry Frautschi.

The “cats” were that staff had commissioned Haunty to paint a gift of thanks to Rowland and Frautschi on behalf of the greater Madison community, Overture Center spokesperson Robert Chappell said.

Middleton’s police and fire departments faced off Saturday in their third annual softball game fundraiser benefit, “The Battle of the Badges.” 

The Middleton Good Neighbor Festival Trustees are proud to announce that Charlotte Deleste will be the 2014 Parade Marshal.

The Midwest Mustache & Beard Wearers Championship took place Saturday at Capital Brewery. While most of the  competitors were male, some of the most creative styles were worn by women (who, unlike their male counterparts, were allowed to use fake beards). This one was worn by Krista Brickbauer. To see more images from the event, turn  to pages 10-11 in this week's print edition.

The Greenway Station Farmers Market is in full swing, taking place each Thursday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farming is a family affair for vendors (left to right) Maichi, Yasoua and Sue V. Vang, who sell fresh vegetables at the market.

On Monday, May 19, the presence of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) was identified and confirmed in the 6900 block of Cooper Avenue in the City of Middleton.

An employee from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service was conducting pest surveys and notified the WI Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the City of Middleton City Forester.  Officials from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources made the final confirmation. Middleton now joins a growing list of Wisconsin communities where the insect has been detected.