by | September 16, 2014 · 5:28 pm

South Milwaukee Sports Update: Big Football Game This Friday Vs. Greenfield

From the school district …

VARSITY FOOTBALL

The Rockets improved to 4-0 on a rainy cold Friday night after a 13-6 win over Whitnall.

Justin Oliden (12) threw a 60-yd TD pass to Mitchell Dess (12) and Dess also picked off a Whitnall pass late in the game to help to seal the victory. This was a defensive battle and Coach Morse’s defense held the Falcons to 18 yards rushing. Joey Nelson (11) led the way on defense with 9 tackles and Mike Kowalski (11) had 2 sacks

The Rockets next game is this Friday at Spaltholz Field with kickoff at 7:00pm. The 4-0 Rockets will take on the 3-1 Greenfield Hawks in a key Woodland East showdown.

Friday forecast – High of 70 and sunny!

ROCKET GIRLS’ SWIM

The Rockets hosted their 8th annual Rocket Relays on Saturday and tied for 3rd place as a team! Great job by Coach Sarah Nowak and Coach Kasia Brzezicka and all of the Rocket swimmers & divers!

  • New Berlin Eisenhower 324
  • Franklin 254
  •  South Milwaukee 242
  •  Oak Creek 242
  •  Wauwatosa West 226
  •  Greenfield 202
  •  Racine Park 164
  •  Racine Horlick 158
  •  Greendale 148
  •  St. Thomas More/St. Francis 100
  • Cudahy 98
  •  Kenosha Bradford 62

1st Place in the 400 yd Individual Medley Relay (4:50.05)

  • Holliday, Alexis 10
  • Bocek, Haille 11
  • Uehling, Eryka 10
  • Bellis, Zoe 10

3rd Place in the 300 yd Backstroke Relay (3:36.46)

  • Conner, Morgan 9
  • Thayer, Mackenzie 9
  • Reed, Christine 11
  • Bocek, Haille 11

4th Place in the 850 yd Freestyle Crescendo Relay (9:28.54 26)

  • Bellis, Zoe 10
  • Uehling, Eryka 10
  • Swanson, Natalie 12
  • Holliday, Alexis 10

4h Place in the 400 yd Freestyle Relay (4:21.04)

  • Thayer, Mackenzie 9
  • Hernandez, Vanessa 9
  • Halama, Taylor 12
  • Uehling, Eryka 10

Results from 9/10/14 Dual Meet

South Milw Rockets defeated St. Thomas More/St. Francis on Wednesday!

Varsity Score was 39 STM/SF vs 134 SM.  The JV score was 29 STM/SF vs 103 SM.

200yd Medley relay

  • Haille Bocek, Zoe Bellis, Emma Hernandez, Taylor Halama took 1st with a time of 2:15.29
  • Mackenzie Thayer, Melanie Zabler, Kourtney Kaszuba, Morgan Conner took 2nd with a time of 2:27.69

200yd Freestylers: Alexis Holliday took 1st with a time of 2:10.87 and Natalie Swanson took 2nd with a time of 2:24.61.

200yd I.M.: Haille Bocek took first with a time of 2:41.59, Vanessa Hernandez took 2nd with a time of 3:01.53

50yd Freestylers: Zoe Bellis took 1st with a time of 27.20, Taylor Halama took 2nd with a time of 29.99

Diving: Allison Osell took 1st with a score of 184.60

100yd Fly: Emma Hernandez took 1st with a time of 1:30.92

100yd Freestyle: Natalie Swanson took 1st with a time of 1:04.77, Natalie Swanson took 2nd with a time of 1:05.99

500yd Freestyle: Alexis Holliday took 1st with a time of 5:38.07, Kelly Mildebrandt took 2nd with a time 6:34.28

200yd Freestyle Relays

  • Taylor Halama, Natalie Swanson, Alexis Holliday, Zoe Bellis, took 1st with a time of 1:54.11
  • Vanessa Hernandez, Kelly Mildebrandt, Grace Schneider, Emma Hernandez took 2nd with a time of 2:09.04

100yd Backstroke: Haille Bocek took 1st with a time of 1:12.75, Mackenzie Thayer took 2nd with a time of 1:15.36

100yd Breaststroke: Zoe Bellis took 1st with a time of 1:19.42, McKenzie Halwas (STM/SF) took 2nd with a time of 1:27.69

400yd Freestyle Relays

  • Mackenzie Thayer, Haille Bocek, Natalie Swanson, Alexis Holliday took 1st with a time of 4:20.93
  • Emma Hernandez, Vanessa Hernandez, Kelly Mildebrandt, Morgan Conner took 2nd with a time of 4:43.66

ROCKET CROSS COUNTRY

The 34th Annual Rocket Invite Cross Country was held at Grant Park last Saturday. As usual Coach Druckrey, Coach Watson, Coach Hiegel, Coach Oelschlager, and Coach Miller ran a fantastic meet! Great job by the Rockets!

The individual champion on the boys side was Josh Janusiak (12). Maddie Wood (10) took 2nd overall for the girls. Good luck on Saturday at the Racine St. Catherine’s Meet at UW-Parkside!

Boys Varsity (115 runners total)

1, Joshua Janusiak SR 16:03

13 Jordan Janusiak FR 16:49

14 Chris Sobczak SO 16:49

41 Justin Weber JR 17:43

75 Damon Dettmann SR 18:28

86 Wyatt Schlager FR 18:47

87 Sam Zakovich SR 18:48

Girls Varsity (95 runners total)

2 Maddie Wood SO 19:16

28 Rebecca Heller JR 21:13

45 Samantha Meszaros SR 22:01

53 Alex Krane FR 22:23

60 Madeline Smith SO 22:47

70 Rebecca Schoenike SR 23:26

Boys JV (257 runners total)

44 Andrew Gargulak JR 19:36

47 Andrew Wimmer SR 19:39

57 Nick Schultz SR 19:56

80 Aaron Sowinski SO 20:33

99 Ethan Lentz FR 21:17

108 Danny Rolefson SO 22:16

110 Max Moran FR 22:20

Girls JV (181 runners total)

117 Hannah Breher FR South Milwaukee 26:41.29

119 Melissa Merkel SO South Milwaukee 26:51.15

166 Alexis Evert FR South Milwaukee 30:53.23

168 Jordan Barnes JR South Milwaukee 31:03.15

ROCKET GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL

The Rockets took first place at the Riverside HS Varsity Invitational last night! In doing so they avenged a close loss to Brown Deer from last week by defeating Brown Deer not once but twice to win the tournament! Congratulations Rocket Girls’ Volleyball!!

Good luck today at Greenfield to the freshmen, JV & Varsity teams!

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by | September 15, 2014 · 9:35 pm

Sign Up For Emergency Alerts Through The City

I highly recommend this service, in which the city continues to invest …

What if . . . A child was missing in your neighborhood and your help was needed. OR There was a hazardous chemical spill and your family needed to evacuate. OR After the storm goes through, where will you find recovery assistance for your family?…

The City of South Milwaukee, in cooperation with AlertSense system (mystateusa.com©) is pleased to offer its residents a quick and reliable way of receiving emergency messages and alerts by phone or text message.

This AlertSense system has the capability of notifying residents by phone in the event of an emergency that affects your neighborhood. This is done utilizing a pre-established landline phone database. ‘

In the event of an emergency, you may receive an automated phone call advising you of the nature of the situation and the appropriate measures to take. The caller will always identify themselves as being with the City and may leave a phone number for you to contact for further information.

An added feature of this system allows people to sign up their mobile phones or other communication devices to receive these alerts by text message. (NOTE: This is a free service, but normal text messaging rates based on your wireless service plan will apply.)

To sign up, it is not necessary to complete a registration for a landline telephone, as these numbers are currently available to the alerting system. To sign up your mobile phone, go to AlertSense at https://mystateusa.com/alertSignup.aspx?region=21614 or there is a link on the Cities home page www.smwi.org

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by | September 15, 2014 · 9:34 pm

Grant Park Beach Cleanup Set For Sept. 20

From the Friends of Grant Park, an opportunity to volunteer …

Alliance for the Great Lakes and the Friends of Grant Park will hold a beach clean up on Saturday, Sept. 20th, from 9 a.m. to noon. We will meet in the beach parking lot (weather permitting) and will provide plastic bags, gloves, bug spray and lemonade for participants. To register for this event, go online to greatlakesadopt.org and type in Grant Park Beach, then select “north of playground to rock wall jetty”. Then enter your information to register.

Alliance for the Great Lakes was formed in 1970 and is the oldest Great Lakes organization in North America. Their mission is to conserve and restore the world’s largest freshwater resource using policy, education and local efforts, ensuring healthy Great Lakes and clean water for generations of people and wildlife.

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by | September 13, 2014 · 6:55 pm

Introducing … Rocketober!

Update: We just launched our Facebook page 🙂

We’re just a few weeks away from Rocketober.

Rocketober? That is the name we’re giving to the collection of community-building events building up to Halloween that promise to make October truly something special.

The goal: Build on the fact that we’re already the only community in Milwaukee County to offer Halloween evening trick-or-treating by bringing to life a series of family-friendly activities throughout the month.

Some of these events already exist. There are some new ones too.

By jointly planning, branding and promoting them, this will make all of them better – and create a real point of pride for our fair city.

So, I give you Rocketober. Check out the full schedule here.

Print it off, hang it on your fridge, share it on your Facebook page.

Here just a glimpse at some of the things happening in October in South Milwaukee.

  • Thursday, Oct. 2: The Homecoming Parade is back! The parade goes up 15th Avenue from Maple and is followed a community pep rally and bonfire. The Homecoming game is Friday, Oct. 3, vs. Cudahy.
  • Thursday, Oct. 9: The South Milwaukee Downtown Fall Family Festival returns with free pumpkins and pumpkin decorating, vendor trick-or-treating and a dusk showing of “Hocus Pocus,” the last of three Guardian Movies in the Market.
  • Friday, Oct. 17: Tales and Tombstones is also back after a hiatus. Learn about famous figures in local history like Rawson, Fowle and McCreedy at a candlelit tour followed by refreshments at First Congregational Church.
  • Saturday, Oct. 25: This is a full day of family fun, with a couple of new events. It starts with kickball, costumes and more at South Milwaukee Little League, followed by activities at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, a downtown trick-or-treating scavenger hunt and a Halloween House presented the South Milwaukee E-Lions/Friends of the Mill Pond at the Mill Pond Warming House. The Halloween House is also open from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 26.
  • Halloween: Of course, the month ends trick-or-treating on Friday, Oct. 31. Hours are 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

This list is just the start. From events at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center to a Rocktoberfest beer tasting to Justice for a Cure Day to a Human Concerns Haunted House, there is lots happening next month. And I can’t wait.

It’s been fun working with the dedicated group of community volunteers and business owners organizing these individual events. I thank them for their efforts and am excited to see what next month brings. I hope you are too.

Happy Rocketober!

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by | September 12, 2014 · 2:40 pm

South Milwaukee Alumni Sports Update

From the school district …

John “Boo” Gottwald (Class of 2010)

If you want to get a last glimpse of former Woodland Conference Boys Soccer Player-of-the-Year Boo Gottwald in action for UW-Whitewater, you have your best chance this Saturday!

The UW-Whitewater Warhawks travel to take on the MSOE Raiders at the Kern Center on Saturday at 3:30pm.

http://www.uwwsports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=8665&path=msoc

Aly Pinkos (Class of 2010)

Here are some highlights from the summer for Aly Pinkos as she finished up her collegiate lacrosse career with some really great academic honors! Nice work Aly!

http://www.cuwfalcons.com/sports/wlax/2013-14/releases/20140617o6t9uq

http://www.cuwfalcons.com/sports/wlax/2013-14/releases/201408192zsaf3

Trey McKinney-Jones (Class of 2008)

After being an NBA D League Champ last season, Trey McKinney-Jones has signed on with Gravelines, a professional basketball team in the first-tier French basketball league. Best of luck this season Trey!

http://www.bcmbasket.com/saison-2014-2015/equipe-pro/ 

Gary Williams (Class of 1992)

Gary had been working at Carthage College Since 1997 and on June 1st became the new Athletic Director at Wittenberg University in Ohio. Congratulations Gary!!!!

http://www.wittenbergtigers.com/information/directory/bios/Gary_Williams

http://wittenbergtigers.com/news/2013-14/04_17

 

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by | September 12, 2014 · 9:42 am

Grant Park Beach Walk On Saturday

From the Friends of Grant Park …

  • Where? Grant Park Beach
  • When? Saturday Sept 13th from 5 – 9 P.M.
  • Why? To listen to some great music, kick back and enjoy
  • Activities? Roast a smore ($1.00) — star gaze — stroll the Lake shore lite by luminaries — hot dogs ($1.00).
  • Cost to Attend? Free

Sponsored by the Friends of the Mill Pond and Oak Creek Watercourse and Hot Dog Donation by the Lions Club!

Learn more at the Friends Facebook page and website.

 

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by | September 11, 2014 · 10:14 pm

Crime Alert: Vehicle Break-Ins

Just in from the South Milwaukee Police Department …

During the past few days, the SMPD has received reports of vehicles being entered and rummaged through.  To help keep your property safe, remember to remove your valuables from your car when you leave it.  Purses, phones, wallets, GPS units, etc., left on seats in plain view are easy targets.  It takes the same amount of time to break a window as it does to open a door (several of these incidents involved unlocked cars) so relying on locking the doors will not ensure your property will remain where it belongs!  

If you see people looking into cars, or pulling on car door handles, call to report it.  Please provide as detailed a description of what you saw and you you saw doing it. 

To get on the SMPD’s Crime Alert email list, email Officer Mike Hill at mhill@smwi.org.

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by | September 11, 2014 · 10:06 am

Meet The Mayor … And School Leaders

In the spirit of cooperation, a couple of special guests are joining me for my next Meet the Mayor event: South Milwaukee School President Pat Bordak and Superintendent Rita Olson.

We’ll all be at the South Milwaukee Downtown Market from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25. Look for us at a picnic table near the stage … and then stick around for a South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center concert starting at 5 and the Guardian Credit Union Movie in the Market showing of “Frozen” starting at dusk.

Mark your calendars and stop by to join in the discussion. Questions, comments, concerns — all are welcome.

Also, stay tuned for more special guests at future Meet the Mayor sessions. My goal: Give residents a chance to speak with not only me, but other local leaders.

In other words, invest in transparency and communication.

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by | September 10, 2014 · 11:41 am

Mayors’ Fitness Challenge Update: Sign Up Now!

By now you’ve heard South Milwaukee is joining five other communities in the South Suburban Mayors’ Fitness Challenge.

The news today: Registration is now open. Sign up here!

It’s free and open to all ages.

The Challenge officially starts with a kickoff event at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20, at Oak Creek Middle School, 9330 S. Shepard Ave., and continues into January with a series of free events at local health-related businesses and organizations.

Stay tuned for more information on upcoming events and participating local businesses and organizations.

If you participate in at least 10 events, you receive a t-shirt. There are other prizes along the way, too. In the meantime, please sign up. I already did so for my family, and it’s easy.

Join me in getting fitter this fall!

Be sure to like the Challenge Facebook page to keep up to date on all the events.

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by | September 8, 2014 · 9:14 pm

God’s Work. Our Hands. Making A Difference.

10420395_891827227512486_6162170013646924727_nTrinity Lutheran Church in South Milwaukee — my church — is pretty small. But its impact is big.

More than 170 church members joined many more from across the region to give back to the community on Sunday as part of the “God’s Work. Our Hands.” event.

My family visited Franciscan Villa to meet residents there. Some did cleanups. Others — like the group in the picture above, including Pastor Bill and people of all ages — packed food headed to El Salvador. Some visited the Hunger Task Force Farm.

And that was just the start.

Check out the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story here. More photos on our Facebook page. From the story …

Every Sunday, pastors in the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America invite the faithful inside to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This Sunday, they sent them into the streets to live it.

“This is a chance for us who are people of faith, to put that faith into action,” said the Rev. Bill Mains of Trinity Lutheran Church in South Milwaukee, where more than 170 volunteers took part in the ELCA’s second annual “God’s Work. Our Hands.” initiative.

“The mission is to serve God by serving others…and to be a physical expression of God’s love for us in the community,” he said.

Trinity was among more than a dozen Milwaukee-area congregations to take part in the “Our Hands” project, launched by the denomination last year to mark its 25th anniversary.

Churches large and small sent volunteers — most wearing the yellow “God’s Work. Our Hands.” T-shirts — into their communities and beyond to care for those the Gospel of Matthew calls “the least of these.”

At Trinity, dozens of volunteers, many of them young children, created a series of assembly lines in the basement fellowship hall. One-by-one, the lines filled small bags of vitamin-rich rice and soy meal packs that will be shipped by the nonprofit group Worldwide Hunger Relief to El Salvador, where a volcano displaced 30,000 subsistence farmers in 2013, according to Mains.

Upstairs, new members Shirley Komasa of Oak Creek and her son Joshua Hiett wrote thank you and Christmas cards to soldiers.

Less than a mile away, across from the Caterpillar plant, a small crew, many of them older members, cleaned and organized the shelves and clothing racks at the nonprofit clothing and food bank Human Concerns Inc. It’s all work director Kris Schell doesn’t have time to do with her two-person staff.

Another crew, including several children, picked and packaged ears of corn at the Hunger Task Force farm in Franklin, following behind the massive “Veg-veyer” as it made its way through the towering stalks.

For Patty Johnson, who staffed one of the food pack lines with her family, it was a teachable moment for her children Jonas, 10, and Clare, 8.

“It opens up a dialogue to talk about world hunger at home,” she said. “We talk about how that little package can feed so many people and compare that to the portions that we eat.”

Just as important, said Mains, it helps congregation members connect their faith with their daily lives.

“There’s something about that connection between faith and life — it’s concrete, they can see what they’ve done,” said Mains. “There seems to be this desire among Christian people, especially millennials, to be involved in their faith. It’s not enough just to sit in the pews on Sunday morning.”

I couldn’t agree more. Thanks to everyone who took part. South Milwaukeeans — and Trinity members — always step up to help others. Consider this another example.

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by | September 8, 2014 · 6:07 pm

South Milwaukee Sports Update: Two Cross-Country Champions

From the school district …

Congratulations to the Rocket Girls’ CC team on taking 2nd place as a team and the Rocket Boys’ CC team on taking 4th (narrowly missing 3rd pace) at the Waukesha South Blackshirt Invitational on Saturday.

Girls

  • Maddie Wood (10) took 1st overall
  • Becca Heller (11) took 12th overall
  • Katie O’Neill (9) took 13th overall
  • Sam Meszaros (12) took 17th overall
  • Bristine Fowler (12) took 24th overall
  • Maddie Smith (10) took 27th overall
  • Alex Krane (9) took 28th overall

Boys

  • Josh Janusiak (12) took 1st overall
  • Chris Sobcak (10) took 5th overall
  • Justin Weber (11) took 11th overall
  • Damon Dettmann (12) took 33rd overall
  • Wyatt Schlager (9) took 38th overall
  • Sam Zakovich (12) took 40th overall
  • Sage Leahy (9) took 45th overall

Varsity Football

Congratulations to the Rockets on their exciting 41-35 win over Brown Deer pushing their mark to 3-0 on the season. Justin Oliden (12) was 17-25 for 253 yds passing and 3 TD’s and 113 yards rushing. Mitchell Dess (12) had 8 catches for 129 yards and 2 TD’s and an INT & Ian Pribly (12) had 28 carries for 176 yards rushing and 3 TD’s.

The Rockets next host the Whitnall Falcons at 7:00pm on Friday at Spaltholz Field in South Milwaukee.

Contest

Vote for the Rockets as the WSN Team of the Week using this link down below!

http://www.wissports.net/news_article/show/417664?referrer_id=519407

Boys Soccer

Good luck to the Boys Soccer team tonight as they host New Berlin Eisenhower tonight (4:30pm JV & 6:30pm Varsity) at the South Milwaukee Memorial Soccer Complex on 1225 Memorial Drive.

Girls Volleyball

Good luck to the Rocket Girls Volleyball Teams as they host Cudahy tomorrow at the Sullivan Gymnasium (5:00pm for Freshmen and JV and 6:30pm for Varsity)

 

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by | September 8, 2014 · 5:27 pm

Crime Headlines: Tactical Situation In South Milwaukee Ends Peacefully

For those wondering about the tactical situation in South Milwaukee today, here is a quick update from police …

This morning at about 9:00am the South Milwaukee Police Department received a report of an armed and suicidal subject in a residence in the 400 block of Bay Heights Rd. After successful negotiations the subject peacefully exited the residence and was taken into custody at approximately 2:35pm. There is no further information at this time.

Also, NOW has published new police blotters here and here.

 

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by | September 8, 2014 · 10:12 am

Budget Meetings Scheduled

It’s budget season, and here are some key dates to keep in mind in the weeks ahead …

  • Oct. 15: Executive budget review
  • Oct. 22: Additional budget review, if needed.
  • Oct. 30: Proposed budget published.
  • Nov. 24: Public hearing on proposed budget.
  • Nov. 25: City Council meets to adopt budget.

All meetings are public and begin at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

Levy limits and other economic realities mean things will be tight again, but we’ll continue to deliver our first-class city services, looking to enhance them where possible. I’ll keep you posted throughout the processs.

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by | September 7, 2014 · 9:41 am

Inspiration: Cancer-Stricken South Milwaukee Football Player Featured

Sunday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a great profile of Michael Christensen, who joined the South Milwaukee football team this fall after years of battling cancer.

Check it out. From it:

A year ago, Michael was bedridden, yet he has reached the point where he can finish warm-ups. After he has done all he can physically do, he assists with practice.

“Right now in practice he’s probably walking 2 miles helping us get things set up and taking things down,” Hoff said. “He’s rarely sitting down. I think you’ll see a nice progression and eventually he’ll have a chance to be a contributor.”

He has a jersey and he’s on the roster of a Woodland Conference contender. That’s a big step.

A bigger step has been the support Michael has received from his teammates.

“They’ve been great,” he said. “I love every single one of them. They’re like brothers to me.”

And in a year or two, the sophomore might be ready for playing time.

“Getting through the off-season health-wise will be the true test, to see if he can perform at that level to be successful,” Hoff said. “I can’t wait for the day he suits up and sees his name mentioned for a big play in the newspaper for his football.”

Said Michael, “I live for every day, trying to see what I can do. Hopefully in the off-season I can work up to being more active for next year.”

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by | September 6, 2014 · 9:35 am

Crazy Good: Rockets Move To 3-0 In A Thriller At Brown Deer

“It was definitely the craziest, most fun game I’ve ever played in my life.”

Four lead changes, four ties and 1,065 yards of total offense. Decided on the final play. Not a bad night, as the South Milwaukee football team moved to 3-0 with a 41-35 victory over Brown Deer on Friday.

Justin Oliden completed 17 of 25 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Mitchell Dess, who had eight catches for 115 yards. Running back Ian Pribyl — who uttered the quote above in the front-page story in this morning’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — had 177 yards rushing and three touchdowns.

Next up: The Rockets host Whitnall this Friday. Here is the schedule.

Let’s keep it going!

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