WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018
Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
VOL. 120 NO. 28 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: St. Croix Falls wrestlers win conference tournament. PAGE 11
Chieftainette makes All State Team BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
After performing her solo hip hop routine at the state dance championships in La Crosse last weekend, ninth grade Chieftainette Katlyn Koosman was named to the All State Team, reported her mother, Kim Koosman. Koosman, who trained for a decade at Short Dance studio in New Richmond prior to joining Osceola’s dance line team, was one of about 10 dancers chosen to compete at state from 32 competitors in her division. She opted into the solo competition, which is not mandatory for team members. “She went after it,” said SEE TEAM, PAGE 6
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Cheiftainette Katlyn Koosman
Upcoming workshops address mental health A trio of community organizations has partnered to bring two mental health training workshops to Polk County this month. The Northwest Alliance Community Foundation (NACF) and Mental Health Task Force of Polk County will offer afternoon training sessions on adverse childhood experiences and reducing stigma associated with mental illness. United Way St. Croix Valley is sponsoring the workshops. The sessions are designed to help nonprofits, teachers, law enforcement, county employees, healthcare workers, community leaders and the public understand and address significant mental health challenges faced by people in their communities. The event is open to anyone who wants to join the conversation. The program in February 15 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Milltown Community Center. The event costs $10 per person and pre-registration is required at http://www.northwestalliancecf. org/ . To prepay, please use the “Buy Now” button. Attendees may also pay at the door by check on the day of training (written out to NACF), but are asked to RSVP in advance to hq@northwestalliancecf.org.
ACE The first session, a adverse childhood e experiences (ACEs), w focus on underwill s standing the impact o early childhood of Byker t trauma on the community. The s session can count for c continuing educat tion credit. Adverse childhood e experiences include t death of a parent, the b being a victim of a abuse or neglect, or Jackson l living with someone who has had a drug or alcohol problem. ACEs can leave serious, long-term impacts on a child. Both the child’s mental health and well being can be at risk from the higher levels of toxic stress that distress a child’s physical, social emotional and cognitive development. Research shows that ACEs increase the long-term risk for smoking, alcoholism, depression, heart and liver diseases, and dozens of other illnesses and unhealthy behaviors. Betsy Byker will be the ACEs presenter. Byker graduated from UW-Madison’s Infant Mental Health Capstone Certificate
Program and directs her own company called Essential Connections for Families. Byker stated, “The (ACEs) study confirms with scientific evidence that adversity early in life increases physical, mental and behavioral problems later in life. Children adapt to the environment in which they are raised. When that environment is toxic to them, we as a community have a responsibility to understand how that affects them and do what we can to help.” “For me, learning about ACEs and taking the ACEs survey was an incredibly eye-opening and powerful experience. It has had a strong impact on my worldview. I wish I had understood this information sooner!” said Lisa Murphy, program coordinator for the Mental Health Task Force of Polk County. Make it OK The second session will be presented by “Make It OK,” and will focus on how community members can stop mental illness stigma through conversations and understanding. Mental illness can affect anyone, regardless of age, race, religion, or income. But people SEE WORKSHOP, PAGE 6
February primary will narrow field for state Supreme Court justice BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
A primary election will be held Feb. 20 to narrow a field of three state Supreme Court candidates. In the primary, voters will choose between Madison-area attorney Tim Burns, Milwaukee County Judge Rebecca Dallet and Sauk County Judge Michael Screnock. Incumbent Michael Gableman announced in June that he would not run for re-election in 2018. Profiles of the three candidates appear below in alphabetical order by last name. The two with the most votes will compete via the April 3 ballot. Tim Burns Tim Burns has campaigned on a
platform of protecting voters’ rights, workers’ rights, land and water, small b businesses and farms. “We should not be conttent to live in a hollowed c country in which our small ttowns, small farms and ssmall and midsize busin nesses have been strangled b by concentrated wealth,” Burns he writes on his campaign website. He adds, “Courts must carefully scrutinize government actions that weaken laws put in place to protect our environment or public lands and waters.” Burns told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the justice he most admires is former U.S. Justice Thurgood Marshall, who argued and won the “Brown
OUTDOOR RECREATION
vs. Board of Education” case that led to school desegregation before he was appointed to the Supreme Court. Rebecca Dallet Rebecca Dallet places emphasis on her experience, saying she’s “overseen both civil and criminal courts — makiing tough decisions to send v violent criminals away, a and rendered compassiona ate verdicts to give people a ssecond chance.” Dallet said she has sspent the last two decades g gaining experience and Dallet D ll t working to make her community safer, first as a prosecutor and later as a judge. Dallet told the Journal Sentinel she
most admired retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor for her thoughtful independence. “I’m not saying I would decide the way she would,” Dallet told the Journal Sentinel. “What I admire about her is her ability to take an independent look (at cases).” Michael Screnock Michael Screnock’s campaign highllights his judicial philoso ophy, in which “the role o of a judge or justice is to iinterpret and apply the law, n not rewrite the law.” Screnock, who was app pointed to the Sauk County Screnock
SEE PRIMARY, PAGE 6
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