Fun in Wisconsin

1) A Cop By Any Other Name: Actor Andy Griffith filed a lawsuit in November demanding that the former William Fenrick change his legal name back from "Andy Griffith," which he admitted he acquired only to help himself get elected sheriff of Grant County, WI. He lost the election. I guess he should have changed his name to "Andy Taylor" , that having been the name of the sheriff of Mayberry. Grant County is in the southwest corner of the state and is the Gideon Bible (in Boscobel, 1899.

2)East meets West in the Midwest: At St. Cecilia Parish in Wisconsin Dells, Fr. Felix often begins by asking people to greet the people beside them and tell them where they are from. That is because the town itself has a population of under 3,000 but the place is jammed with tourists during the season. They have Masses going on simultaneously in the church and in the school auditorium, and plans are underway for a new church building. Anyway, the last time I did this, the young couple beside me were from Kiev! The town and its surrounding rural area has too small a population to deal with the tourist invasion, so some time ago the local tourist industry began recruiting college-age workers mostly from eastern Europe. Some places even have the staff include their native country on their name tag. So you are likely to find an entire staff at a fast-food place from Ukraine, and the waitress at the fish fry last Friday was named Natasha. They get better wages than would be available at home, I suppose, work on their English and have an experience of the United States to take back with them. I sure hope they get somewhere besides just the Dells, though. Otherwise they will go home thinking this country consists of waterparks, fast-food restaurants, old-time photo shops, fudge purveyors and tasteless t-shirt emporia.

3) Local police see action: The "Police Reports" in the Baraboo News Republic are perhaps what makes the paper worth the fifty cents you have to pay for it. Recent examples:

Tuesday, May 15
1 pm -- A cat was captured in the 900 block of Moore St.
3:48 pm -- The grill of a vehicle was reported stolen in the 500 block of South Blvd.
8:27 pm -- An officer responded to the 700 block of Sixth St. for a dog at large complaint. On arrival, the dog fled from the area. [NB: Michael notes that the last sentence is grammatically incorrect. It should read, "Upon the officer's arrival, the dog fled..." As it stands it means that the dog fled as soon as it arrived.]

Wednesday, May 16
12:22 am -- Report of a dog barking on South Street. The area was patrolled and it is unknown which dog was causing the problem.
8:28 am -- Report of a dog running at large on the 100 block of Jefferson St. The area was patrolled. The dog was not found.
11:45 am -- Funeral traffic was directed on Eighth Street at East Street.
12:25 pm --Check welfare of a subject on the 1000 block of Lincoln Avenue. Formal action was taken.

Now you see why that guy running for sheriff in Grant County wanted to disguise his name.