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Thursday, July 4, 2019 • Vol. 135, No. 1 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1.25
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Scanning the village OPD says its license plate readers help find, solve crimes AMBER LEVENHAGEN Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Dawn Weed
Oregon Wisconsin Photography Group member Dawn Weed captured attendees taking photos of Oregon’s downtown during its Thursday, June 13, historical walk. Weed is a professional Oregon photographer and has taught five classes for the group on “Mastering Manual Mode.”
Capturing memories
Photography group focuses on creativity, community EMILIE HEIDEMANN Unified Newspaper Group
Dozens of people walked through Oregon’s downtown Thursday, June 13, snapping photos — and learning about the building architecture and
the history of landmarks like the Tin Man and Triangle Park. The walk, titled “An Historic Photo Walk of Downtown,” was held in partnership with the Oregon Area Historical Society, one of the local organizations Oregon Wisconsin Photography Group has worked with since its beginning in April. “One of the people at the historical walk didn’t even know there was a
(historical) society in town,” founder Gilbert Helland said. Attendees were led by historical society treasurer Mary Norwell for the first half of the walk, where she led them up and down North and South Main Streets to Grove Street and on Janesville Street. For the second half, village board trustee Randy
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Oregon native publishes late wife’s book reflecting on her cancer Book also looks back on childhood CONNOR WOOD Observer Correspondent
Over 11 years, Laura Clark-Hansen co-ran a theater company, acted in stage productions, created and toured her own one-woman show, fought cancer three times and wrote – but never published – a book. She passed away in 2016 from her third round of cancer, and her husband Paul Hansen and sister Karen Chacon decided they would work to make sure others could read Clark-Hansen’s words.
Hansen, born in Oregon, and Chacon published “Please Send Hats” in late 2018. “A lot of (the book’s message) is enjoy life while you can ... because nobody is promised to live to be 90,” Hansen said. “We had anticipated being retired and spending our golden years together, you know? Taking care of each other and all that stuff. “ T h a t ’s w h e n r e a l i t y intercedes; it didn’t happen that way.” Clark-Hansen started writing “Please Send Hats” in 2010, five years after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She had been cleared “no evidence of
disease” (NED) after going through chemotherapy. In 2007 Hansen and Clark-Hansen moved to Brooklyn from the Twin Cities to semi-retire from their careers running Cornerstone Productions LLC. They worked with schools to provide workshops where students would create skits about problems they faced like bullying. They also produced short videos with students on the Positive Behavioral Invernations and Supports system, which is used in Oregon schools. Photo submitted Many of the schools they worked with were in Wis- “Please Send Hats” details consin, so it made sense to Laura Clark-Hansen’s three rounds of cancer and her Turn to Book/Page 3 childhood.
It should come as no surprise that Oregon Police Department chief Brian Uhl values safety. A n i m p r ove m e n t o n that, for both officers and the community, is what he considers the main b e n e fi t o f automated license plate readers, o r A L P R . Uhl These vehicle-mounted devices scan and read license plates on vehicles surrounding squad cars when officers drive through town. Uhl told the Observer the system, which OPD began using on a single squad car in June, helps alleviate some of the pressure on police officers who use it, as it scans all vehicles, removing an officer’s
choice of which plates to tag. In use already for several years in several Dane County suburbs, as well as Milwaukee, ALPR has been the source of some debate in the past decade. Critics say the lack of regulations on the storage of driver information could violate individual’s privacy. ALPR photographs license plates and logs time and location information while checking the plates against a list o f ve h i c l e s t h a t h ave been flagged by authorities. Oregon’s ALPR is connected to a database that includes Middleton, Fitchburg, Sun Prairie, Verona, Monona and the Dane County system, with a possibility of connecting to Milwaukee in the future. Uhl said the connection to other communities gives a bigger pool of information if they or other jurisdictions are searching for someone who committed a crime. “A lot of times they go to other jurisdictions
Turn to Readers/Page 12
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