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June 15, 2005

The King and His Court will appear at St. Feriole Island Ballpark

The King is coming to Prairie du Chien. Eddie "The King"Feigner that is, the self-proclaimed "undisputed greatest softball pitcher of all time."

The King and His Court, are known as the "Harlem Globetrotters of softball"for their spectacular play, showmanship and antics on the field that have thrilled fans around the world for generations. They are currently in the midst of their 60th Anniversary Tour and will be in town on June 22 and 23.

On June 22, fans will get to meet the King up close and personal as he will be conducting book signings from noon until 2 p.m. at Great Country Motors and from 5 to 7 p.m. at AmericInn. His autobiography is entitled "From an Orphan to a King."

On June 23, The King and His Court, consisting of a pitcher, a catcher, a shortstop and a first baseman, will take on the 229th Army National Guard Unit in a game at the new St. Feriole Island Park baseball complex. At 6:30 p.m. there will be a ceremony honoring the 229th. The game will begin at 7 p.m. and is sure to provide plenty of excitement for fans of all ages.

At 80 years of age, Eddie "The King"Feigner doesn't pitch anymore, but his protege, Rich Hoppe, has perfected the King's tricks and is sure to wow the audience as well as whiff local batters while pitching behind his back, between his legs and blindfolded as he makes the ball curve, rise, drop and pop at tremendous speed.

The Prairie du Chien audience will get the chance to see the King and His Court on their next to last tour. The farewell tour, the 61st, will be next year in honor of Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and that fabulous Œ61 season in which both Yankees chased the Babe, with Maris finally breaking Ruth's single-season home run record with 61.

Along with Maris and Mantle, The King has met numerous athletes and other celebrities over the decades. In a 1967 exhibition, Feigner struck out - in succession - Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Brooks Robinson, Maury Wills, Harmon Killebrew and Roberto Clemente.

For several generations, Feigner entertained audiences with a fastball clocked in excess of 100 miles per hour, along with sliders and curves that broke 18 inches. Sometime he pitched from the second base bag or even centerfield, rather than the normal 46 feet.

Besides barnstorming the United States, the King and His Court's four player act has traveled to 102 countries. Some of his audiences have included the likes of Bob Hope, Richard Nixon and another king - Elvis Presley.

Feigner's statistics are astounding. He has pitched in 11,125 games, losing 1,072 and tying 310. He has won 9,743 games. At one point, he won 187 in a row. The King has fanned 141,517 batters and has pitched 930 no-hitters and 238 perfect games. During one season, he averaged 24 strikeouts per game for a nine-inning game. He has pitched to 16,600 batters while blindfolded, whiffing 8,698 of them. The King and His Court have performed before more than 20,800,000 people and have traveled more than 4,100,000 miles.

Eddie Feigner was born in 1924 and grew up an orphan in Walla Walla, Wash. In 1946, after pitching an amateur softball team to a 33-0 victory, Feigner was taunted by the losers. He retorted that he could beat them with nothing but a catcher and two other guys to help with batting if they got on base. The challenge produced a game that Feigner won 7-0 and gave birth to the concept of "The King and His Court."

In the 1950s, The King and His Court barnstormed America, offering anyone $50 who could hit a fair ball off of Feingner and $10 just for hitting a foul ball. In the 1960s, Feigner's act grew in popularity and was boosted by appearances on ABC's Wide World of Sports and numerous other TV shows.

The King and His Court have toured the world ever since and there have been numerous outstanding players on the four-person team over the years. This year's roster includes Jack Knight at the catcher position, Rich Hoppe as pitcher, Eddie Feigner's wife Anne Marie Feigner (the Queen of the Court) at first base and Dave Booth at shortstop.

Pitcher Rich Hoppe once played in 13 different fastpitch leagues during the same season in seven states. He also pitched a baseball, "softball style,"for the Philadelphia Phillies and was offered a contract. Hoppe has participated in 15 national tournaments, and, like the King, has been banned from amateur softball. He has been a member of The King and His Court for 20 years and devotes his time to working with youth to show them that life can be good without drugs and alcohol.

The King and His Court's appearance is a fundraiser to help improve the fields and facilities at St. Feriole Island Park, including the parking lot, lights for the third field and maintenance. Tickets for the event are $5 apiece, with children six and younger getting in for free. The St. Feriole Island Park Committee is still looking for sponsors to help with the costs of bringing The King and His Court to Prairie du Chien.

Advance tickets for the King and his Court are available at Dick's Supermarket and National Guard Armory and BP at Lancaster.

Indians fall in semi-finals

The Seneca Indians knew it wasn't going to be easy. They were going to have to play the game of their lives to get past the defending Division III state champions of Burlington Catholic Central.

The Hilltoppers, who continued on with their 16 game winning streak, defeated the Indians 9-0 in the WIAA state semifinals Wednesday morning at Fox City Stadium in Grand Chute.

Defense was key for the Hilltoppers as pitching ace Brad Lloyd threw a perfect game while striking out 12 of Seneca's batters.

The Indians started off rusty, perhaps shaking off the nerves of their first state appearance, and gave up three runs off five walks in the first inning.

The Hilltoppers scored two more runs in the third inning to go up 5-0 before silencing the Indians with an additional three runs in the seventh.

The Indians conclude their season with a 20-6 record while the Hilltoppers improve to 21-5.

The Hilltoppers advance to the title game which will be played tonight at 7:05 p.m. against either Chippewa Falls McDonell or Abbotsford.

School Board considers costly maintenance and repair

Topics ranged from building repair to administrative compensation at Monday night's Prairie du Chien School Board meeting.

Business Manager, Mike Coughlin, presented options and concerns about the facility projects status. This project includes roof and parking lot repair, as well as many other concerns within the buildings of the district. The most immediate problems that are being addressed by the school board include the roof on the south side, along with the library area of the high school building.

Coughlin said that the school has been receiving bids to repair and permanently fix the roofing problems. He estimated that over the last five years around $45,000 has been spent on the roofs for maintenance and repair.

The board has the option to continue to patch and repair the roofs using money out of Fund 10, which would take a vote of the school board to pass. Another option would require a vote from the citizens to pass a referendum that includes spending approximately $900,000 of set-aside bond money. The money held in these bonds may strictly be used only for building projects.

If the board decides to use the bond money, they will then face the decision on whether to have a public vote during the general elections in November, or hold a special election in September. If the referendum is approved in November, repairs could begin any time after July 1, 2006, during next year's tax season. If the issue were to be passed in a special election this September, work could start as early as next spring, according to Superintendent Jim O'Meara.

School board president Brian Edwards also stated that a main concern was to find money to complete the project without eliminating any positions or people.

Another issue of concern was administrative and management compensation for the 2005-06 school year.

"This is not a question of if anyone is deserving or not," said Edwards on the topic. He stated that the balance fund is down to a point where decisions cannot be made unless it is known exactly where the money is coming from. O'Meara also said that because the balance is so low, any major problems could completely drain the funds.

The district is currently waiting on legislation to be passed before making any decisions.

Another ongoing issue discussed was the teacher-contract negotiations. O'Meara said that an offer to the teachers is currently on the table, and he anticipates hearing from them by the end of the week. The superintendent also stated that the school does have the capability of covering both the contract negotiations and the facility projects because the money will come out of different funds.

June 13, 2005
Falling bricks will not delay Fort Crawford Hotel project

When City Administrator Gary Koch got a report of bricks falling from the deteriorating rear wall of the Fort Crawford Hotel at the end of the first week of June, he knew the city had to act quickly.

The ownership of the Fort Crawford Hotel and the adjoining old City Hall building will be transferred to the Crawford Preservation Group, but for now the city still owns the property and is responsible for public safety.

Koch requested that the City Council Finance Committee recommend approval to spend $3,300 from the Wisconsin Department of Commerce grant of $283,430 to pay for emergency work on the damaged areas of the rear wall. The council approved the recommendation at their June 8 meeting.

Public safety was not the only concern the city has. Lead removal contractors, Green Bay Lead, have been at work on the interior of the building for about two weeks. They need safe access to the rear of the building. The city wants lead removal to be finished as soon as possible so the property can be transferred to the developer and renovation can begin as soon as possible.

According to Gary Koch, Tom Steiner met with members of the Green Bay Lead crew last Wednesday to assess the situation. Steiner issued a letter Thursday morning to the contractor and the city assuring them that the wall was basically safe and would not collapse, but that members of the lead removal team should use caution and wear hard hats when working near the gaping third floor hole in the wall.

Steiner said that the wall, which was weakened from rain running off of the roof and onto the upper northeast corner of the building, could suffer additional damage if it was subjected to heavy rains.

Koch said that Green Bay Lead had completed most of the work they needed to do in the area where the hole in the wall is located and had moved on to other parts of the building.

The Fort Crawford has been sitting vacant at least since the city took over ownership of the structure in 1981. The adjoining City Hall building has been empty for three years, when the city moved into their new building up Blackhawk Avenue.

The redevelopment of the historic hotel has been subject to many long and frustrating delays, due primarily to the high cost of removing toxic asbestos and lead from the property.

The city received a grant for the lead and asbestos removal in November of 2003. Early this year, the asbestos removal was completed. Lead removal work is more detailed and time consuming; Koch says the contractor expects to be finished by about July 15. Up until this point the projects have remained below budget, but additional costs related to the removal of the loose brick and the subsequent delays to the lead removal crew may affect the total cost.

The city plans to transfer ownership of the property to Mark Ihm's Crawford Preservation Group upon completion of the lead removal. Ihm's has preliminary plans to redevelop the building into an upscale, 18-room boutique hotel. Ihm is from Platteville and is a member of the State Historic Preservation Commission.

Refuge workshop will provide opportunity for thoughtful citizen input

On Thursday evening June 16, officials from the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) will once again be visiting the city to discuss the proposed comprehensive plan for the refuge with citizens.

The format for this gathering is different from the previous public meeting held on May 19. Thursday's meeting will be conducted as a workshop where people can participate in small group discussions to address issues and problems. "We want people to work with the issues in the comprehensive plan," said Refuge Manger Don Hultman.

Within the small group discussions, people can brainstorm or come up with alternatives to ideas put forth in the proposed comprehensive plan. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) staff will provide maps and other materials so that participants can mark up and use in their discussions. FWS staff will be on hand to answer questions, but they will not guide any group discussion.

"I think people will offer alternative language for objectives, offer different regulations, suggest deleting somethings, and mark-up pool-by-pool maps showing various features such as proposed electric motor areas and closed area changes. Everything will be on the table for input," Hultman said.

The workshop will held at the Prairie du Chien High School cafeteria, 800 East Crawford St. It will begin at 5:30 p.m. and go until 7:30. From 7:30 until the meeting ends at 9:00 p.m., the groups will report on their ideas and solutions.

In order to get a handle on how many people will be attending the workshops, the FWS is asking people who are interested in participating to register. Anyone may register by calling the FWS at 1-888-291-5719, or by sending an e-mail to lee_donahue@fws.gov.

If the workshop reaches capacity at 120 people, additional workshops will be scheduled. Other area workshops will be held at Stoddard on June 22, Lansing, Iowa, on July 12, and Cassville on July 14. Additional workshops and meetings will be scheduled as needed until the comment period for the comprehensive plan closes on August 31.

The public meetings held throughout the 290-some mile length of the refuge during the month of May were very well attended. According to Hultman, 2,000 people attended 11 public meetings; a testament to how much people care about this refuge. The Upper Mississippi Refuge is both the longest and the most heavily visited wildlife refuge in the nation.

Seventeen-year-old mother dead in Woodman stabbing

Three-week-old infant unharmed; domestic incident suspected

On June 9 at approximately 12:12 pm, the Grant County Sheriff's Department responded to a 911 call on Hwy. 133, west of Woodman. The call was in reference to a male subject bleeding and passed out on his door step.

Inside the residence officers found Cliff Brownlee, 24, bleeding from several cuts and Justina Reynolds-Brownlee, 17, who was pronounced dead at the scene by the Grant County Coroner's Office. Reynolds-Brownlee had been stabbed several times in the back.

Officers also found a three week-old infant girl in the crib who was not injured. Cliff Brownlee was transported by Boscobel EMS to the Boscobel Hospital and later transported to U.W. Hospital in Madison.

An investigation is continuing into what appears to have been a domestic dispute between Brownlee and Reynolds-Brownlee. Cliff Brownlee has been arrested and is in custody.