11/26 MAILBAG

Elks celebrate history though lodges

Probably many of you know that the Elks Lodge in Baraboo is located in the historic Al Ringling Mansion at the corner of 5th and Broadway.

It was purchased from the Ringling family way back in 1936, and is on the National Historic Registry. It's hard to believe I wasn't even around then.

But did you know that the Elks National Home in Bedford, Va. is also an historic building and also on the National Historic Registry?

We Elks are indebted to the Bedford Historical Society for their efforts in bringing about this distinction for the home.

The Historical Society also made the Elks National Home the theme of its annual meeting in February. The society gave a presentation at the meeting, and later those in attendance toured the home.

The Grand Lodge purchased the Hotel Bedford in a bankruptcy sale in 1902 and dedicated it as the Elks National Home on May 21, 1903. When the hotel no longer met the standards of the order, a new facility was built on the same site. The cornerstone was laid in September 1915 and the home was dedicated July 8, 1916. Those buildings with later additions are still in use today.

The Elks National Home is not a "home" or an "old folks home," but "home" in the truest sense of the word. Those who live there are like family to one another and to the staff.

The mission of the Elks National Home is totally dedicated to providing the best service possible to those seeking retirement facilities. They are committed to providing a comfortable and secure lifestyle for their residents that is within the realm of practicality and prudential living.

Their philosophy is to pass on to those they serve the principals on which the great order of elkdom is founded - charity, justice, brotherly love and fidelity.

To qualify you must be an Elk member in good standing and able to take care of yourself without assistance or supervision. In the case of a couple, both must be Elk members.

Currently there are 111 Elk members living at the home. There are vacancies for singles. However, the waiting time for couples' accommodations is approximately two years.

If you would like additional information about the Elks National Home, please contact me or log onto www.elkshome.org.

Ignoring oversight committees is bad practice.

By state statute, the Sauk County Board of Health is the oversight committee for the Public Health Department.

So, why did administrative coordinator Kathy Schauf fire Michael Steinhauer, public health department director/health officer only hours before his probation was over, without the knowledge of the board of health, and without so much as a single board of health evaluation?

Steinhauer came to Sauk County extremely qualified to lead the Public Health Department. By his record, he didn't do things rashly, and it's difficult for me to believe that he would have thrown his whole career away for the things he was accused of doing.

He has a masters degree in public health from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. His distinctive 30-plus year health care career includes extensive work in occupational therapy.

He was a guest editor of several professional journals, and he helped author and shepherd new administrative rules for occupational therapy to become a licensed profession in the state of Wisconsin. He developed a home health care program, owned and operated a home health agency and established a management consulting firm for the long-term care industry.

He was appointed to several prominent state and federal occupational therapy and home health associations/advisory committees. As section chief for resident care review for the State of Wisconsin, he led a staff of 135 employees in six regional offices.

He was inducted into Who's Who in Health and Human Services and Who's Who of American Business Leaders.  It was an honor to serve with Steinhauer. He made the health department more proactive and visible. In the 10 months he was with Sauk County, he brought new programs and grants to the county, addressed public health issues not formerly managed, handled Sauk County's recent flooding in an exemplary manner and improved staff morale.

The Sauk County Board of Supervisors relies heavily on its oversight committees but, apparently, only when administration feels like consulting with them.

Having been raised in a fine Christian home in Pennsylvania where our parents taught us kids that discrimination against fellow human beings is a sin, I felt bad when I saw the discrimination against blacks going on in Georgia, South Carolina and Mississippi where I was sent for pilot training in World War II, and in Tennessee where I was based during my first year as a pilot in the "off we go into the wild blue yonder" Army Air Corps.

But as bad as I felt about that discrimination down South 46 years ago, it was nothing compared to how bad I felt two years ago when we in Wisconsin passed a "marriage amendment" to our state constitution that was crafted by our Republican-controlled Legislature containing the tricky discriminatory words outlawing anything "similar to marriage."

Marriage wasn't the issue, Wisconsin law had long since defined marriage as between a man and a woman, and that wasn't about to change. What was at issue was whether or not we were willing to discriminate against gays and lesbians by denying them the right to join in civil partnerships, "similar to marriage," that would grant them the same civil rights granted to married couples. Whether or not we realized it at the time, in "voting for marriage" through this tricky proposition, we voted for discriminating against gays and lesbians.

Fortunately, time changes things — usually for the better — and last week Americans struck a blow against the sin of racial discrimination.

Now, let's hope, with Democrats in control of the State Legislature, we will be given an opportunity to strike a blow against the sin of discrimination against gays and lesbians.

If we can do that, our son now living with his partner in New York and our daughter living with her partner in Minneapolis would be able to move back to Wisconsin should they choose to do so. And another blow would have been struck against discrimination.

Dorf Haus performance  was superb

 "Marriage is Murder" is the name of the fast-paced two character play in which Michael and wife Amber Showalter, Mr. and Mrs. Show Productions, performed at the Dorf Hous in Roxbury as part of a dinner theater production.

The play is a rousing comedy with much physicality as well as verbal bickering. Michael and Amber are in top form as Paul and Polly Butler, divorced mystery novel writers who come together to hash out another murder mystery with the intent of it being produced as a movie.

The modus operandi is to act out various murder techniques on each other to see if they work. Their bruised egos lead to an unending game of "Gotcha" as they practice all of the tricks of the trade on each other: daggers, lethal cocktails, rigged shotguns, even to the point of being bound and gagged.

It appears that the collaboration may be mended and they may end up even mending their marriage.

It is all good fun, and the energetic performance by the only two people in the cast leaves one breathless with laughter. The meal was excellent, too.

Always on the lookout for good entertainment.

It wasn't all that long ago that the ultra conservative Republican crowd in Washington was touting the idea that Social Security should be tied into the stock market and workers would put half of their monthly social security payroll deductions into a gigantic stock market mutual fund scheme.

Under their plan, workers would have to invest in America's businesses.

Strangely enough, you don't hear one peep out of them about their scheme now that stocks have plunged to their lowest levels since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Pension checks of most retired Americans will soon be reduced as much as 15 percent or more a month because their pension funds are invested in stocks and bonds that are now worth far less. The recovery could take years.

Fortunately, there are a lot of retired workers who won't have to worry about this problem. The salaries and pensions of federal employees are bullet proof. They're set by Congress as part of the federal budget and the money for those pensions comes from taxes raised to run the country.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us there are 1,800,000 civilians working for the federal government. This does not include the United States Postal Service. It has almost 800,000 employees nationwide who have their own pension plan, funded by postal assets.

There are about 1,436,642 active military personnel in the armed forces and when they retire, they too will draw federal pensions. That number does not include members of the reserve and national guard forces who will draw pensions.

Members of Congress benefit because they set their own pensions and pay increases and when they retire they'll get a very fine lifetime pension based on their years of service and salaries (plus a Social Security check.)

It's hard to believe that Congress worries all that much right now about people losing pension money. They're faced with bigger problems. The big three auto companies need help. They've bailed out mortgage finance companies (Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac) by giving them billions of dollars. Don't look to Congress any time soon for help but at least we're thankful that not all of us are in the same pension boat. The federal government takes care of its own.