The issue that brought out the most emotion at Tuesday’s Crawford County Board meeting was the resignation of Melodie Betts from the board.

County Board Chairman Ron Leys said that he is quite upset that Betts’ employer Marine Credit Union of Prairie du Chien will no longer allow her to serve on the board while also working for the credit union.

"Melodie has thrown herself into her work on the board," said Leys. "Melodie has been an extremely good supervisor."

Leys said that he has expressed his disappointment in the credit union in a "rather stiff" letter he sent to the President/CEO of Marine Credit Union Shawn L. Hanson.

County Board Supervisor Larry Kapinus also said that Betts was a very good supervisor and that he is miffed at the credit union for not allowing her to remain on the board.

"She has been a very big help to our finance committee," said Kapinus, the finance committee chair. Kapinus said that Betts has worked very hard and that some committee meeting times in the past had been rearranged in order to better accommodate her schedule.

Kapinus said that the credit union has not acted very well regarding Betts and her service to the people of Crawford County through her work on the county board, especially considering the recent government bailout affecting the financial industry.

"This is a slap in the face to our government," said Kapinus. "It’s reprehensible. I don’t understand it."

Many of the other supervisors spoke in support of Betts. Pete Flesch said that the credit union was "not a good corporate citizen" in not allowing Betts to be on the county board.

The county board voted to not fill Betts’ seat for 60 days in order to see what may develop. Betts had been a board member since Oct. 30, 2007.

In other business, the board heard a presentation by County Conservationist Russ Hagen who said that Prairie Sand and Gravel of Prairie du Chien has applied for a reclamation plan by which Prairie Sand and Gravel would be able to undertake non-metalic mining on a bluff located across Highway 35 from Cabela’s. Hagen said that the plan calls for the removal of "quite a bit of the bluff." Hagen also said that anyone with property within 300 feet of the bluff could request a public hearing on the matter.

Board member Larry Kapinus, who is also the chairman of the town of Prairie du Chien, within which the bluff is located, said that the land is zoned as agricultural and that the whole issue would become mute if the town of Prairie du Chien does not approve of a zoning change to allow for the proposed rock quarry.

In further business, the board:

• Heard a presentation by Sheriff Jerry Moran and Emergency Government Director Roger Martin, in which they said that there is a possibility of a new communications tower to be erected at the current tower site in Seneca. The proposed tower could be constructed by Alliant Energy at a cost of approximately $250,000. Space for equipment on the Alliant-owned tower could then be leased to the county.

• Voted to approve of a resolution by which county offices may be closed by the sheriff, emergency government director, or the county board chairman due to severe weather or a state of emergency. The resolution states that during such a closure, county employees have the right to utilize vacation, compensatory time, holiday time or take unpaid time off.

• Discussed the possibility of applying for federal economic stimulus funding for county projects such as the proposed relocation of Gays Mills, an HVAC overhaul in the Crawford County Courthouse, and other projects.

• Heard a presentation by Larry Ward about the Riverlands Economic Advantage Partnership, a 14-county region in Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois through which Crawford County could gain economic growth.

• Heard a presentation by County Agent Vance Haugen regarding the campaign to attract new farmers to Crawford County.

The Prairie du Chien School District has offered the Prairie du Chien Education Association (PEA) two final contract options. The two options have been submitted through the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) mediator.

One option offers the teachers a total salary and benefits raise of 4 percent with minor language adjustments to the contract.

The other option also offers the teachers a total salary and benefits raise of 4 percent with minor language adjustments, plus a change to the layoff language to benefit teachers by recognizing previous teaching within the last five years. The quid-pro-quo offer to this language is to clean up and standardize overload pay to approximately $27 per hour prorated by minute and a reduction in prep time to 60 minutes per day or a possible increase in teaching time for teachers by 19 or 30 minutes per day.

The PEA (teacher’s union) is presently reviewing each of these two offers. If the teachers choose neither of these offers, the mediator will likely send a letter of impasse to both parties regarding the teacher contract negotiations.

In the event that the mediator sends a letter of impasse, the Prairie du Chien School Board would likely impose a qualified economic offer (QEO) for the 2007-2009 contract period, said District Administrator Drew Johnson.

The QEO is a total salary and benefits raise of 3.8 percent for the teachers.

The last time that there was an actual settled contract was the 2003-2005 school years. During the 2005-2007 period, there was a QEO.

In a matter not related to the teacher-contract negotiations, the Prairie du Chien School Board approved of not renewing the employment of a librarian and an 80 percent art teacher during the board’s regular meeting Feb. 9. The non-renewals were done for budgetary reasons. The two staff members were members of the PEA.

One of the mottoes of Dr. Roger Rademacher, which he dispensed along with his medicine, was that we all know we’re going to die, and we need to live each day until that time. "He felt it didn’t matter how long we lived," said office manager Brenda Jones, "it was how we made each day count that mattered."

Dr. Rademacher, Prairie du Chien resident, physician and surgeon, died in a car crash Jan. 17, and the legacy he left to his family, patients and the entire community is proof that he not only dispensed that advice—he lived by it.

Roger’s early years

His wife, Mattie, isn’t sure of all the factors which influenced him to become a doctor, but he told of waking up as a child in the middle of the night to hear the doctor next door start his car and pull out of the driveway. The next morning, the doctor’s son, Rademacher’s best friend, filled him in on whether his father had been delivering a baby or making an emergency call.

There was nothing, however, in Rademacher’s early years of school to indicate he considered a career as a doctor. He attended parochial school, where the nuns urged every student to do his or her best, but, said Mattie, "it went in one ear and out the other." Known as Butch throughout his school years, he apparently concentrated on being a clown and having a good time. At some point in high school, when he told one of the nuns he wanted to be a doctor, she told him he’d never succeed because he was too lazy. That apparently was a turning point, said Mattie, and he began to take his studies seriously.

Nevertheless, when he graduated from high school he couldn’t afford to go to college (he became the only one in his family to graduate from college), so he enlisted in the Navy. His aptitude tests indicated he would do best as an electrician, but he told his superiors he was interested in becoming a physician. He was trained and served as a Corpsman for three years. "He must have been impressive even then," said Mattie, "because as a 20 year old, he was made charge nurse on the night shift at the naval hospital in Pensacola."

During the time he was in the service, Mattie had visited the Rademacher home in Charles City, Iowa several times as the guest of his sister Sandra, a classmate at business school in the Twin Cities. "I was calling his mother ‘mom’ before I ever met my husband," Mattie remembers, "because everybody called her mom." She met Roger in 1961, and although they never went out on a date at that time, she says, "We made a connection."

He returned to Pensacola, and she got her first job in Washington, D.C. working for the Navy in the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. They wrote to each other often, "at least five times a week," she recalls, because they couldn’t afford phone calls.

Student, husband and father

Roger had saved his money while he was in the service, and when he left the Navy he enrolled in junior college in Mason City, Iowa. By this time Mattie had been in D.C. for three years, and Roger began writing about expanding their relationship beyond a friendship. She transferred to Minneapolis and started working for the Dept. of Agriculture. Roger transferred to the University of Iowa and got a job in the blood bank at the University hospital. He worked there for a year and then proposed.

Mattie accepted and, she reflects, she knew even then what she was getting into. The class clown had undergone a metamorphosis and was now a focused, goal-driven person. The highest divorce rate in the professional fields is in the field of medicine she explained, "but we worked together as a team to help him achieve his goal." After they’d had been married for some time, he told her one of the things that attracted him to her was a quiet strength. He said he needed a wife who could stand by herself.

They married in 1966, and while finishing his degree in Zoology, Roger continued to work at the blood bank, often getting by on three or four hours of sleep. When he graduated, he applied to the University of Iowa for medical school the following year. He did not make the final cut. He was accepted at three other medical schools, but would not be able to begin his studies for a year. Then, a colleague in the blood bank recommended he apply to Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. Roger was one of six candidates interviewed for a sudden opening there. Mattie remembers they were sent to await the decision at a nearby cafe. Roger, she said, was so nervous he couldn’t eat. Finally, the manager called him to the phone. "At first," Mattie remembers, "he turned his back to me as he talked. Then the turned around with this grin on his face." On the way back to the table, he jumped in the air and clicked his heels together, eliciting cheers and laughter from the cafe patrons. They were given two weeks to pack up their belongings and their new baby and move to Kansas City.

The young doctor

After completing medical school and a year of internship, he opted to go into family practice, and out of seven different choices, selected his home town of Charles City. He stayed there for seven years and paid back the remainder of his educational bills.

Somewhere during that period, Mattie remembers, she watched him clean a rabbit and remarked that he did it as if he were a surgeon. He responded by laughing and saying her response was interesting, because that’s what he wanted to do. This would mean more training, more residencies, and at least one move. By this time they had three children, Amy, Polly and Wendy, and they sat down as a family to discuss it. The children were reluctant to leave their friends, but finally agreed. They moved to Des Moines during his years of surgical residency, and in 1983 they came to Prairie du Chien.

Prairie du Chien

He and Dr. Tom Pelz, with whom he had practiced in Charles City, opened a new clinic. His parents had moved to Harper’s Ferry, so he was familiar with the area, and he wanted to live in a place where he could fish and hunt. They moved just six months after their last child, Mark, was born.

The first years were difficult both socially and financially. "It took a while to break the ice," Mattie remembers, and there was one surgeon in the city already. At one point, Roger thought he would have to sell his guns so he could buy Christmas presents for the children. Fortunately, business picked up and he kept his guns.

In addition to Prairie du Chien and its hopsital, Roger also traveled to several area hospitals, but concentrated on Elkader and Guttenberg, Iowa and Boscobel. He recently dropped Guttenberg after he helped that hospital obtain another surgeon.

Roger typically put in 10 and 12 hour days, said Mattie. The day he died was to be a day off, and the family had planned a trip to celebrate a cousin’s birthday in Iowa. However, he did surgery that afternoon and sent Mattie on ahead. He talked to his son, Mark, about 6:45 p.m. saying he was finally leaving town. Mark told him to be careful, since it was windy and there were slippery spots on the roads. Roger was killed about an hour later on his way to the celebration.

Ironically, he and Mattie had discussed the subject of death not long before that, but it was about her death—not his. She had developed life-threatening complications after an emergency appendectomy in November, and Roger told her afterwards he feared he was going to lose her.

The legacy

Although Roger has died, his influence will continue to live on in his family and in the community,

His daughter Amy is a physician in Elkader, and his daughter-in-law, Emily, was inspired to go to medical school, choosing to get her training in Kansas City where Roger and Amy trained.

He also enjoyed flying, and his daughter Polly became a commercial pilot for United Airlines. She currently teaches aviation courses at the University of Dubuque.

Roger’s influence spread far out into the community he served.

Two of the staff members at Roger’s clinic, Prairie Medicine, took time from their tasks to talk abut him. Brenda Jones, the office manager, started working for Roger and Dr. Pelz when the clinic opened in May of 1983. Sue McMillan, the clinic’s Family Nurse Practitioner, started in July, 1989.

Brenda remembers the early years and the lean times. "We had a typewriter and a few charts—we started bare bones," she said.

He was, they said, a rare and exceptional employer. He urged staff members to take the time they needed for their children, and encouraged them to improve themselves or continue their education. It was at his urging that Sue, who started out as a nurse, returned to school to become a Nurse Practitioner. Both agreed, however, that they learned the most from him and his example. "No amount of education could match what he’s taught us over the years," said Brenda.

He was a man who always took time for people, they said, whether a patient, an employee who needed to talk, or a pharmaceutical rep. "It didn’t matter how busy he was," said Brenda, "he took whatever time was needed." Many nights after the office closed, he would go to the surrounding hospitals and make rounds, visiting his patients. His day, they said, might begin at 5 a.m. and end at 9 p.m. "He just really put the emphasis on taking care of the patient," said Sue.

He took great pride in his family, they said, and gave his wife Mattie, a lot of credit for his success. He also took pride in his work and his patients, following them from pre-op through their surgery and recovery.

Dr. William Fast of Boscobel met Dr. Rademacher years ago when he offered his services to the Boscobel hospital. Fast admired him both as a person and a surgeon. "He was friendly, down to earth and outgoing. He always had a big grin on his face. He was one of those guys you like to be with," he said.

Before Rademacher came, Boscobel had no resident surgeon, said Fast. Rademacher’s presence made it possible for people to stay in Boscobel for their surgery rather than go out of town.

"Years back, I spent a lot of time scrubbing for surgery with him," Fast said, "He was very knowledgeable; he was a teacher and a mentor to us."

His legacy to the Boscobel hospital, said Fast, was his stress on care of the patient and what was good for the patient. "He really advanced patient care," he said. He was in the forefront of rapid mobilization of people after surgery, which cut down complications and shortened hospital stays. One of his last projects, Fast said, was a surgical improvement project to minimize surgical errors and prevent and control surgical infections.

Fast noted that Rademacher was very involved in the Boscobel hospital. "You’d have thought he lived right here," he said, "and I’m sure it was the same everywhere he worked." Because of his faithfulness and dedication to his patients, said Fast, "I’m sure he missed many a meal and many a family outing." Fast also noted his generosity: "If he thought something would improve patient care and it wasn’t in the budget, a lot of times he donated it."

Rademacher also served as surgeon at the Elkader Hospital for over 20 years. Fran Zichal, CEO of the hospital, noted that he had taken special training to work in rural areas, where a broader scope of surgical experience is required. "He had a tremendous understanding of rural health care, " she said, "and very much wanted all the rural hospitals to survive."

Zichal said the hospital was fortunate to have such high quality surgical services for its patients, but over and above all that he had two other qualities that stood out: he wanted the staff to keep reading and improving, and his clinic staff and office were extremely organized, with good communications and organized patient flow. Zichal said he also mentored many surgeons: "He’d stop what he was doing and help surgeons in the various communities."

As a person, she said, he "really enjoyed life." It was important to him to try new things, whether it was new foods or new experiences. He also had a skill for remembering people’s names, and always had something to say to everyone.

Ellen Zwirlein, director of nursing at Prairie du Chien Memorial Hospital, echoed the feelings of others. "I worked with him a lot of years," she said, "he was a very caring physician who gave a lot of his time and talent. He provided leadership to the staff and very much cared about all patients."

Prairie du Chien Memorial Hospital is establishing a scholarship for clinical excellence in Dr. Rademacher’s memory. In announcing the scholarship, Bill Sexton, CEO of the hospital, said, "Countless rural clinical professionals have benefited from Dr. Rademacher’s leadership and his expert mentoring. The program offers us an opportunity to honor the life of Dr. Rademacher in recognition of his dedicated service to area communities and his passion to rural medicine and rural healthcare."

Memories may fade with time, but the impact made by Dr. Rademacher will continue to spread.