September 2019

One thing I learned early on when coming to the Madison area is that there are a lot of pot smokers around here. I remember driving around last summer and smelling the sweet-scented smoke wafting from a window or yard every few blocks.

I also wrote a story early on at the Times-Tribuneabout medicinal and recreational bills introduced to the Wisconsin legislature last year. Most notably, I talked to Melissa Sergeant, who has introduced several bills with the intent of legalizing the widely used plant. It failed last year. Not one to give up, apparently, she introduced another recreational legalization bill in May of this year–the fourth she has presented.

The bill probably doesn’t have the legs to get off the ground as most Republican legislators have remained strictly opposed to the idea of full legalization, and only support heavily restricted medicinal use, also illegal in the state. 

MIDDLETON–Dementia Friendly Middleton (DFM), a volunteer organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with dementia and their caregivers through awareness, education and programming, celebrates five years of success. 

DFM volunteer Stacy Austin-Li organized the event to celebrate the strides the community has made since the initiative started in April 2014. Fifty business in Middleton have been recognized as dementia friendly, educating their staff and organizing social events for people with memory loss. All city departments including police and fire have also received dementia awareness education. 

Austin-Li says the initiative took off  2014 when the Middleton Common Council voted on a resolution affirming the city's commitment to becoming a dementia friendly community, the first in Dane County to do so. 

Middleton boys volleyball coach Ben White has seen a lot of volleyball.

That’s what two decades of coaching — and more than 400 wins — will get you.

Last Saturday, though, White experienced a level of dominance he’s rarely seen from one of his own players.

Middleton senior outside hitter Parker Van Buren put on the show of all shows and led the Cardinals to the championship at the Wauwatosa East Invite. In Middleton’s 29-27, 25-23 win over Waukesha West in the title match, Van Buren had a whopping 25 kills, three blocks and one ace.

Van Buren’s heroics helped Middleton emerge from a star-studded field and win the tournament for a third straight year.

“Only once before have I seen a performance like that and that was with James Caldwell about five years ago,” White said. “The thing with this performance by Parker though was the efficiency.

In the long and storied history of Middleton’s girls cross country program, no one had ever broken the 18-minute barrier in a 5,000-meter race.

That all changed, though, last Thursday.

Cardinals sophomore standout Lauren Pansegrau set a new school record with a time of 17:57 and won the Hartland Arrowhead Invite. Pansegrau’s big day helped Middleton finish second at the 20-team invite.

“Lauren simply took charge from the start and never looked back,” said Middleton coach Brian Finnel, who is filling in while Alexa Richardson is on maternity leave.

Samantha Valentine set the school record of 18:03 back in 2015. Pansegrau topped that and rolled over one of the top fields she’ll face all season.

Pansegrau won by 1 minute, 8 seconds over runner-up Bridget Flannery of Whitefish Bay.

“She won by well over a minute, a rarity given the size of this meet,” Finnel said.

Pansegrau wasn’t the only one to have a big day.