Milwaukee, WI

If you were out traveling anywhere in Wisconsin this weekend you probably noticed a whole lot of dead and gutted deer being hauled home by successful hunters. This year’s gun deer hunting season has begun, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had some really interesting statistics about this year’s hunt.

According to the hunting licenses that were applied for this year, female hunters represented 7.9% of the total number of deer hunters and 13.26% of hunters ages 12 to 25. 20.6% of 12-year-old hunters were girls.

Dane County sold the most deer licenses. (I thought all you Dane County/Madison types hated guns…).

3,100 hunters were over the age of 80.

Source

One thing is certain: this State loves its deer season. 629,752 licenses had been purchased by late Friday.

On this morning’s Kramp & Adler radio show on FM102.1 there was some discussion about the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel cutting a deal with all of the local Starbucks coffee shops to make the JS and the Journal-Sentinel’s free weekly paper, MKE, the only papers available at Starbucks. It looks like they were about half right.

It began with some ads running in MKE proclaiming that they were the exclusive provider of free papers at Starbucks. Not surprisingly, the Shepherd Express caught wind of this and took care of business. From this week’s Shepherd Express:

“Based on limited space in our newspaper racks, Milwaukee-area Starbucks stores will continue to carry the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and MKE newspapers. Individual Starbucks stores will continue to have the option to carry Shepherd Express newspapers based on available space. The decision as to whether a particular Starbucks carries the Shepherd will be at the discretion of each individual store manager.”

Good for you, Shepherd Express. Let’s hope the store managers know that they can carry the Shep.

Apparently a similar situation has been brewing in Portland, Oregon with the Wilamette Week.

And to editorialize a bit: Hey, Milwaukee. We are home of Alterra and Stone Creek Coffee. Why on earth are you even going to Starbucks?

November 10, 2007 marked the 44th annual Veterans Day Parade in Milwaukee. The weather was beautiful and the sky clear for this great event, and the parade was quite impressive. Here are some of the photo highlights:

This was a beautiful sight on that clear Milwaukee day.

I had the privilege of standing near this World War II veteran.

Throughout the parade, many soldiers came up to him and shook his hand and thanked him for his service.

Like all good Milwaukee parades, there were plenty of motorcycles in this one.

There were a number of flyovers during the parade - very impressive.

Korean War Veterans have a special place in my heart.

Military vehicle buffs couldn’t be disappointed during this parade. There was a lot to see.

In all, its was an excellent parade.

As a final note about this Veterans Day, I really enjoyed reading this piece on a Columbus, Ohio blog and I want to pass it on to my Milwaukee readers.

Thank you, Veterans. Thank you to you on Veterans Day and every day.

I hope my readers aren’t tired of hearing about our Veterans, because with one day left before Milwaukee’s Veterans Day Parade and two days until Veterans Day, I still have more to say.

Wisconsin has had its share of very notable veterans through its history. Here are some brief snapshots of three fascinating lives:

John Bradley, one of the six Marines pictured in the image of the Iwo Jima flag raising, was from Antigo, Wisconsin. Bradley gave just one interview in his life. In it he said, “People refer to us as heroes–I personally don’t look at it that way. I just think that I happened to be at a certain place at a certain time and anybody on that island could have been in there–and we certainly weren’t heroes–and I speak for the rest of them as well. That’s the way they thought of themselves also.”

Franklin Van Valkenburg the commander of the USS Arizona when Pearl Harbor was attacked, was appointed from Wisconsin. In February of 1941 he became Commanding Officer of the battleship Arizona. He was killed in action when his ship exploded and sank during the December 7 1941 Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor. For his “conspicuous devotion to duty and extraordinary courage” at that time, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Mitchell Red Cloud, Jr., a Winnebago Indian from Wisconsin, was on a ridge guarding his company command post on November 5, 1950 when he was surprised by Chinese communist forces. He sounded the alarm and stayed in his position firing his automatic rifle and point-blank to check the assault. This gave his company time to consolidate their defenses. After being severely wounded by enemy fire, he refused assistance and continued firing upon the enemy until he was fatally wounded. His heroic action prevented the enemy from overrunning his company’s position and gained time for evacuation of the wounded. U.S. Army Cpl. Mitchell Red Cloud Jr. was honored with the military’s highest honor for his fearless and heroic deeds Nov. 5, 1950 in a battle near Chonhyon, Korea, that saved his comrades and cost him his life.

Please remember all our Veterans this Veterans Day. Consider doing some research about veterans from your own hometown and share what you find with your friends and family so that the endeavors of the men and women who have served our country will not be forgotten.

FM 106.1 deserves a big “hell yeah” for their Holidays for Heroes drive at the Veterans Day Parade in Milwaukee this Saturday. FM 106.1, along with Wisconsin We Care, the Milwaukee County War Memorial and the Veterans Day Parade of Milwuakee, Inc. are gathering items to send to the troops serving overseas.

There are some wonderful programs out there which are geared towards helping individuals send care packages to soldiers overseas. Soldiers Angels is one of the most well-known of these programs. The problem, however, is that shipping a large care package overseas can be very cost-prohibitive for those who do want to give. Drives like this Saturday’s Holidays for Heroes drive lets us skip that shipping cost so we can focus on getting more good stuff to our troops.

At this time, they are asking for donations of holiday items - greeting cards, decorations, etc. - non perishable food items, and items to pass the time like crossword puzzle books. A full list of suggestions can be found on FM 106.1’s website.

The 44th Annual Veterans Day Parade begins at 10:00 a.m. this Saturday, November 10, 2007. The parade steps off from 4th and Kilbourn and heads East to the War Memorial, ending in Veterans Park.

Veterans Day, Military

Last night I had occasion to visit the Wisconsin Humane Society on Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee and I was so impressed that I had to crow about it on this blog.

The primary purpose of my visit was to see whether there were any bulldogs available for adoption. The secondary purpose was to look at all the cute cats and lovely dogs and make goofy baby-talk noises at them. “You’re a cute widdle guy aren’t you? Yes you are! Oh yes you are!” No luck on the bulldog, but I did get to ooh and aww at a kitty or two, so it was a good night.

I didn’t expect to be all that impressed with the Humane Society, though. I’ve seen other Humane Society facilities, and while they certainly weren’t bad, they were just mediocre. The Wisconsin Humane Society, however, really goes above and beyond expectations.

The Wisconsin Humane Society has an extremely up to date and very useable website. I looked at the available animals on the website before my visit, and lo and behold, the website was updated enough that many of those very same animals were there during my visit. (It seems like a small thing, but we’ve all seen horribly outdated websites, so when something is actually as it should be on the web, I’m allowed to be pleasantly surprised). The website shows good pictures and descriptions of the animals and is actually quite entertaining to read.

The Humane Society facility is large, clean, and very comfortable. The cats have their own section away from the dogs, and the animals’ areas are sparse but nice. Each animal’s room has a little description of the animal along with their personality type which makes it easy to find a pet that is a good fit. For example, my favorite dog personality is “Goofball - I’m a fun-loving, happy all the time, glass is half full kind of dog looking for someone who loves to laugh and play. You must have a great sense of humor and a bunch of tennis balls.” Animals that were being considered for adoption were clearly marked, as were those who were going to be going to their new homes in the near future.

We were free to wander among the animal rooms and there was enough staff present even at 8p.m. that when we had questions they were answered promptly.

For some reason there was a large number of labradors at the Humane Society when we visited, so if you are looking for a lab, please check out the Humane Society. Particularly this little gem here named Jessie - she came right to the window, wagging and sweet-eyed when we approached. She’s an adorable little doll and will make someone very happy when they find her and take her home.

With any luck, in a month or two I can share my “We adopted a bulldog from the Humane Society” story here.

Tuesday night, November 6, 2007 two Milwaukee police officers were shot near S. 14th St. and W. Greenfield Ave. These shooting were part of a series of shootings in Milwaukee Tuesday. Officers near S. 14th Street were conducting a drug investigation when shots were fired. The officers called for backup, and it was these responding officers that were fired on.

The victims were a 31-year-old officer a 26-year-old officer. Their names have not been released at this time. Their injuries are not believed to be life threatening, and only the 26 year old officer remains hospitalized at this time.

Shots were also fired near 12th and W. Madison, although it is uncertain whether the two shooting incidents are related. There is an ongoing investigation as to whether these shooting were gang-related.

Two bullet holes visible from Eddy’s Convenience Store.

Maybe this is a problem that plagues every big city, but doesn’t it seem like Milwaukee gets more than its fair share of bad cops? While no one can touch LAPD’s notoriety, Milwaukee certainly makes the headlines more than it should.

Today’s “bad cop” story involves a Sgt. Jason Mucha, and the allegations are downright frightening. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is investigating allegations that Sgt. Mucha beat suspects and planted drugs on them during arrests he made between 2003 and 2006. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel takes credit for playing a role in drawing attention to Mucha’s misconduct when it revealed that Milwaukee’s police department has no real way of tracking police misconduct claims. It turns out that Mucha had been accused of planting drugs or beating suspects in at least ten unrelated cases. That was enough to get an investigation rolling.

Jason Mucha’s Mugshot:

If the allegations are proven to be true, Mucha will be just another bad cop in a long line of bad cops in Milwaukee. It wasn’t that long ago that we were hearing about the group of rogue Milwaukee police officers who referred to themselves as the “Punishers,” after the comic book character with the same name. The Punishers had a reputation for brutalizing suspects, and appeared to play a role in the Frank Jude Jr. beating in 2004. In 2005, officer Steven Lelinski sexually assaulted a woman at her home and in front of her 18 month-old child. He was found guilty of second degree sexual assault after a jury trial earlier this year. These are just a few recent and particularly heinous examples, but there are many more.

It goes without saying that every incident of officer misconduct has a huge impact on the suspect or victim involved. But the misconduct goes well beyond those directly affected. What happens when the public perception of our police force falls so low that people see the police as little more than a band of thugs? What happens to their credibility in court? When does the public stop seeing this as just a few bad apples and begin thinking that the entire police force is a problem? Are we reaching approaching that point yet?