October 2023

CROSS PLAINS–The Village Board Monday awarded a $96,743 contract to a local firm finally resolving whether the village should perform the work in-house or contract it out.

In April, the long-time mowing contractor informed the village it was abruptly ending the service which had been offered at below-market rates.

The village secured a mowing contractor at $4,000 a week. However, that lead to some board trustees favoring adding an employee and equipment to mow the village’s 52 acres of parks and public areas instead of hiring a firm.

The costs of adding a full-time, year-round employee would cost $78,000 in wages and benefits. Mowing equipment and fuel would add $44,700 in largely upfront costs.

Rickman Lawn Care, of Cross Plains, submitted the low bid at $96,743, but Village President Jay Lengfeld said that total would be reduced by up to $5,000 as Rickman erroneously included sales tax in his bid.

MIDDLETON–Middleton Fire District (MIFD) Battalion Chief Brad Subera received the First Responder of the Year Award for Wisconsin Assembly District 79 (Middleton), which is represented by Alex Joers.

On October 17, first responders from across Wisconsin were recognized in the State Capitol with a First Responder of the Year Award for their service and sacrifice.

Subera said he learned of the award when MIFD Fire Chief Aaron Harris called to see if he was home so he could stop by and delivered news of the award on his arrival. 

Both Harris and Adrienne Leslie, MIFD Office Manager wrote letters of support leading up to the award.

“I was surprised and honored,” said Subera who has spent 31 years with the department. 

Subera began as a volunteer for MIFD in 1992. “When it sparked my interested was the TV show ‘Emergency,’” he quipped.

At the time he was working at Gordon Flesch, and several coworkers were volunteer firefighters.

MERRILL–Robert “Rob” Dresen, 59, of Merrill passed away on Oct. 9, 2023 with his family by his side. He was born on Dec. 3, 1963 to the late Norbert and Coletta (Birrenkott) Dresen at the Methodist Hospital in Madison. On June 22, 1991, Rob married the love of his life, Christy Mootz. They loved spending time fishing, enjoying “Sunday Fundays” and just being together. Together they had one son, Bryce and two four legged best buds, Val and Lilly.

Rob graduated from Middleton High School in 1982 and attended Madison College. He started at Fish Building Supply, then worked at Hurd Millwork and SEMCO. He worked in the residential and commercial window industry in purchasing, QA, production, estimating and sales and then retired at OldCastle BuildingEnvelope due to COVID-19 and his health in 2020.

Seven weeks ago, Middleton’s football team was punched in the nose.

Visiting Verona came to town, spoiled a night in which the Borden Athletic Complex was unveiled to the entire community, and defeated the Cardinals, 28-21.

Afterwards, Middleton co-interim coach Tim Simon issued a challenge to his team.

“The thing for our kids to understand is now we find out if we’re a mentally tough team,” Simon said that night. “Anybody can be mentally tough when you’re winning by a couple touchdowns. So we’ve got to hang together.”

Middleton has done just that. And now the Cardinals get a chance at revenge.

Middleton, the No. 3 seed in its bracket, travels to second-seeded Verona for a WIAA Division 1 second round playoff game Friday at 7 p.m. It’s a battle of the Big Eight Conference’s two premier programs and a pair of teams that don’t care for each other.