Letters to the editor

To: Joe Block, Editor, Star News:    The Black Earth Historical Society is pleased to announce that on August 16, 2021, it received a Wisconsin Humanities Recovery Grant in the amount of $9,986 for the “Creation of Digital/Searchable Archives of Black Earth Newspapers”.  In this phase of the project the resulting archive will contain searchable issues of newspapers published in Black Earth and about Black Earth area people and events from 1870 through 1945. People will be able to access these issues from their home computers, free of charge. They can search using family names, community names, and other “tags” to find articles on relatives or friends, on past events or anything else of interest. The Black Earth Historical Society is looking for additional funding to complete the digitizing and uploading of Black Earth newspapers from 1946 through 2005. Our local newspaper is of vital importance. Its issues provide the record of our community’s history--local events and local people’s activities. Black Earth has greatly benefited from publishers committed to reporting local news, starting with the first “Black Earth Advertiser” weekly published in 1870, followed by the “Dane County News”, the “News-Sickle,” the “News-Sickle-Arrow” and today’s weekly, the “Star News”.  Wisconsin Humanities is a non-profit organization whose mission is to strengthen the roots of community life through support of educational and cultural programs that inspire civic participation and individual imagination for communities across Wisconsin.  The Wisconsin Humanities Recovery Grant program assists nonprofit organizations such as libraries, schools, historical societies, museums, and civic organizations who produce community-based programs that make our communities thrive. This project is funded in part by a grant from Wisconsin Humanities, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Established in 1992, the Black Earth Historical Society (BEHS) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization of volunteers dedicated to preserving the heritage of Black Earth and serving as a resource for local historical research. Having a searchable archive of our local newspapers since 1870 will be a valuable resource for carrying out this mission. People’s interest in historical research can come from many sources, such as curiosity about ancestors, past events, or about how people lived in the past. People share such local historical curiosity regardless how different their other views may be. Such common interests can help people to respect each other which is a fundamental basis for the local functioning of democracy as our communities try to deal with local issues.   Wayne Barsness, President of the Black Earth Historical Society   The Black Earth Area Chamber of Commerce wants to Thank the Community for their support for the Tuesday Night Concerts in the Park. State Bank of Cross Plains, John Bird Accounting, Arthur Jorgenson Family, Member Businesses and all Tuesday night donations collected which helped pay for the concert series, a total cost of $6,900. Due to the Covid pandemic and the hardship on our area businesses annual membership dues were not collected for the 2020 year. Unfortunately, the Chamber did not have the money to solely support an event this summer. Fortunately, the Village and Parks committee stepped up with their own plan to organize the Community Park Field Days event on Saturday, Aug. 14.  The Chamber volunteered to oversee the Fun Run; we had 10 participants from various communities as well as made a financial donation to the Village in support of the parade. Thank you to all that attended!