A few months ago, a large tax cut was approved to help bring movie/commercial production work to Wisconsin. First, Johnny Depp came to town and got everybody all lathered up. Now… Epic Creative Communications announced that it will be building a huge new production facility in West Bend, down by the rihhhhhhver.

Congrats to Jimi, John, and the guys at Epic who have a nice studio… but really deserve this new one. (yes, that’s me sucking up ).

Even though the school district teaches some of its students in trailers, both of West Bend’s high schools were named in Newsweek’s Top High Schools report.

West Bend West is ranked number 1206. West Bend East is ranked 1248 (which is odd since they’re in the same building).

The top school in the area was Rufus King in Milwaukee.

Of course you have heard by now that the Home Depot is closing three stores in Southeastern Wisconsin. Of the stores are two near my home — Home Depot, Beaver Dam and Home Depot, Fond du Lac.

Before my kitchen-remodeling project, I bought some tiles from the Beaver Dam store. Luckily, I purchased the rest of my supplies from Home Depot or Menards in West Bend. Today, when I went to take back the extra tiles that I had, the lady at the Home Depot in West Bend said, “sorry, sir, all sales from Beaver Dam or Fond du Lac’s stores are final.”

WTF? It’s a national chain store that is corporately owned. What’s the difference if I bring back a box of tiles that it stocks at every single Home Depot store?

Since I’m sure I’ll end up buying from The Home Depot again, I’ll simply return the tiles without my receipt, so as to get in-store credit. It’s just ridiculous, though, that I have to jump through hoops to get $6.97 back.

On another note, I think that it’s completely ridiculous that The Home Depot will come in to a town, build these sprawling stores on vacant land, and then close up shop within three years. All while vowing to open 36 new stores in the U.S. this year. How about making your other stores profitable before building new ones?

West Bend’s mayoral primary is today.

Their choices:

1. The Queen elect, Kristine Deiss - eek
2. The 18-year-old who plays with light sabers in his front yard with his brother (according to neighbors), Christopher Jenkins
3. The liquor store manager (who is also a member of the Downtown West Bend Association), Michael Christian

I’m thinking that Michael Christian is the least-worst choice in that race, but like the presidential primaries, there isn’t really a good choice.

You heard it here first… Synergy Health and Aurora’s deal didn’t go through, but now it looks like Synergy is possibly going to team up with Froedtert & Community Health.

My main main, Mark Morris, will have all the details on WBWI in an interview with Synergy’s Greg Banasyznski at 8:45 this morning.

Okay, maybe you didn’t hear it “here” first… but it should be interesting.

During one of my on-air contests this morning, a West Bend middle-school student got through as my contestant. I asked her if she was excited to go back to school this morning, and her reply was, “yes, we’re going bowling.”

Now, I know this caller goes to Silverbook Middle School in West Bend. My question is this, if the school district is so hard up for money that they are forcing kids to have class in trailers, then why the hell are they wasting time and tax-payer dollars taking kids friggin’ bowling when they should be learning? Pat Herdrich, can you answer this, please?

Yesterday, on the air, one of the school-board members was talking about how West Bend School District is not competing with Slinger or Hartford schools, but rather with China and India. Okay, so do you think the Chinese students take time out from learning four different languages in order to go bowling? I’m guessing not.

The student’s mom did call me and tell me that the kids were being rewarded for good work and that the parents paid for the bus, the bowling, and the shoes. The parents, however, are not solely paying for the teachers’ salaries or the fixed costs of the heat/lights in the school building while these select kids are out breaking pins.

They could easily hold this “reward” at night after school or even on a weekend. I know that some schools have deals with places like Pizza Hut or McDonald’s that give the students a gift card when they do well. Why can’t the kids get a “bowling party” gift card or something like that?

Seriously, the school board can’t talk about how badly they need money when they are spending some of ours at the bowling lanes. Furthermore, don’t talk about “competing with China” when we’re taking our kids out of the classroom and putting them in a bowling alley/bar during normal learning hours.

In case, for some awful wonderful reason, you come to me for your news… I just thought I’d let you know that the $119M West Bend School Referendum was a miserable failure. The referendum was turned down 63-37%.

Owen asks if you think that the West Bend School Referendum will pass? (Not if you are voting for or against it, but whether or not you think it actually will pass or fail).

I think it will pass. But there very well could be an uprising of those who are against the referendum. We shall find out tomorrow, I guess.

Wow… talking about pulling the wool over the eyes of the taxpayers in West Bend. Owen is reporting that the total tax impact of the $119M West Bend school referendum will be $207M. That’s a whole lotta M. You would think that they would have disclosed that from the start…

…one more reason that residents in the West Bend School District need to dump their current board and elect a new one. I’m just sayin’.

One B&S commenter does have a good point, though.

When someone asks how much your house cost, do you really calculate your total payments over the 30 year mortgage? Let’s get real here.

…but only because a) my daughter will be going to public school in West Bend AND b) I don’t pay property taxes in West Bend. Otherwise, I’d think twice.

The West Bend schools, as they sit, are pretty screwed up. There was poor planning for growth, the schools themselves are in disrepair, and some schools are in really bad shape maintenance-wise. This entire problem is due to mismanagement by the school board. Now they need to do something to get the schools back in the right direction.
That being said, the people who actually pay taxes in the West Bend school district also need to do something to get rid of those who were incompetent enough to let the schools get to where they are now. This all would have been an easier pill to swallow had they made their plans known in advance and made incremental improvements.

But again… I don’t live in or own property in the district.