February 2013

Jake Cain and Grant Laurent hoisted regional championships.

Eight others advanced to sectionals.

Overall, last Saturday was an awfully good day for Middleton’s wrestlers.

Sauk Prairie won the WIAA Division 1 Waunakee Regional with 239.0 points. But the Cardinals were second with 196.0 points and advanced 10 of their 14 wrestlers to this Saturday’s Middleton Sectional, which begins at 10 a.m.

Middleton was trying to reach the state team tournament for the first time since 1994, but fell just short.

“As a team we tried not to dwell too much on not winning regionals,” said Cain, a senior wrestling at 138 pounds. “We performed well, but just came up a little short when it was over.”

Laurent, a senior wrestling at 152 pounds, agreed.

“It’s too bad the team couldn’t move on to sectionals,” Laurent said. “We brought some good people to the tournament, but Sauk Prairie just outwrestled us.”

The road won’t be easy.

Then again, it never is.

But Middleton’s hockey team is ready and excited about their postseason chances.

The Cardinals closed out the regular season with a 4-0 blanking of Madison West last Tuesday. Middleton finished the regular season in second place in the Big Eight Conference at 11-3 and went 17-5 overall.

Now, it’s on to the postseason.

Middleton, the No. 2 seed in its sectional, hosts seventh-seeded Madison Memorial Thursday at 8 p.m. at Capitol Ice Arena in a regional.

If the Cardinals win there, they’ll most likely host third-seeded Madison Edgewood Tuesday in a sectional semifinal at 8 p.m.

“Memorial and Edgewood present unique challenges,” Middleton co-coach Steve Libert said. “Memorial has a line of very talented players, but not much depth. In one and done games they will play those guys a lot of minutes. Edgewood is a balanced and tested team.”

The League of Women Voters of Dane County Candidates’ Answers for the February 19 primary are available on their website www.lwvdanecounty.org.   Candidates’ Answers is an independent and nonpartisan voters’ guide which features responses by the candidates themselves.  The Dane County League sends questionnaires to all candidates. Answers are printed exactly as received without editing by the League.  The only statewide primary contest is for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice. Pat Roggensack, incumbent,  Ed Fallone, and Vince Megna are the candidates.  Local alders, school board members, and judicial races will be on the April ballot.

The Middleton Common Council on Tuesday reiterated its opposition to, and significantly increased local penalties levied against, adults who help minors gain access to alcohol.

District 1 alderman Paul Kinne said the ordinance, which was approved unanimously, was designed to counter a “disturbing trend” in which adults believe they are preventing drunk driving and other dangerous activities by allowing minors to drink in a safe setting.

“[P]eople assume that if teenagers aren’t driving … there’s no harm,  no foul,” Kinne stated.

Tuesday’s vote to impose fines of up to $5,000 for repeat offenders showed the Middleton Common Council disagrees with parents who feel that way. The ordinance says it is intended to “clearly address the problem of adult-hosted underage drinking parties, and to discourage underage possession and consumption of alcohol, regardless of the location within the City of Middleton.”