The Journal Times from Racine, Wisconsin • 3

the Journal Times SUNDAY March 12, 1989 Coming this week: 3A Monday: Tteiro's in) rdIsic lite Bftoinru sshofl More and more people -these days are planning their own funerals, mapping out details of the service and setting aside money to pay for it. Find out why, and how, in the "Your Money" section. Tuesday: 1 -J 1 1 A. 1 J0 i I 11V i Wondering about what to eat besides corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day? How about Irish pancakes? They're the creation of this week's Cook of the Week, Louise Klein.

Check out her recipe in the Food section. Legislative reporter Joe Hanneman will be in Madison covering the three-day legislative session which begins Tuesday. See his series of articles beginning Tuesday. home-school academies, while others develop their own. Since last fall, a support group of home-school parents in Racine has been a place to exchange ideas as well.

There are 27 home-school families in Racine with 58 children learning at home, Bratton said. At the Bratton home, "school" is limited to five hours a day. "At 2:30, we put the books away and they can read or play," Bratton said. "It's not as structured." Flexibility is one of the key advantages of home schooling, the mothers said. If a child is captivated or frustrated by a subject, there is the option to stay with it or put it aside and come back to it later.

"The more we started reading about it (home schooling), the more we found some real positives," Plagemann said. "We've developed a better relationship with our children. They are less peer dependent." The mothers said there still is plenty of interaction with other children. At the Thursday physical education sessions, there are 10 children ranging in age from 6 to 13. The four mothers who met at the center Thursday said they also are active in their churches.

Dan Bratton, who went to one year of public school, said he doesn't miss it. And Anna, his sister, said, "People at the library are our friends." Sandy has' been home schooling with her two daughters, ages 8 and 12, for three years. "We feel closer to them as par-. ents, but they feel closer as sisters," she said, addding that both children benefit from hearing the other's lessons. There are, however, some problems.

Bratton said the support group was formed in part to help give the children some of the activities they miss by going to school at home. The group recently put together a talent show and has made arrangements to, like other schools, have their art work on display for a By Barbara Taylor Journal Times In a clean, cozy living room in a Wisconsin Avenue home, Dan and Anna Bratton sat on the couch in their stocking feet practicing multiplication tables with a new educational toy. Their mother, Mary Jo, sat nearby in a rocking chair, gently prodding Dan, 9, and Anna, 7, to concentrate and come up with the correct answers. Behind the couch were garage-sale desks, a quilt-covered chest, book-lined shelves and a stereo turntable, playing gentle classical music. For the Bratton children, this is school.

And for 875 hours each year, their mom is their teacher. State law permits parents to teach their children at home as long as they certify to the state that the 875 required hours of instruction are met. In December 1986, the Brattons took their children out of Racine Unified School District. Bratton, like other home-school parents, said she wanted to be closer to her children. "It really wasn't a turning away from something negative in the public schools," Bratton said.

"It was seeing something better and going for it." And although the task is significant, four home-school mother-teachers who met Thursday for their children's weekly physical education class at Peppermint Children's Fitness Gymnastics Academy said teaching at home is a manageable and challenging career. "It's totally overwhelming," said home-school teacher Sue Plage-mann. "But after the first three months, you figure out there's no real mystery to this." Bratton said, "Once you latch onto the network, you can find so many things. There's so much teaching that you do in the home all the time, you just have to think of names to call them." Some families buy lessons from Wednesday: Mary Jo Bratton and her studentschildren, Danny and Anna, attend to their lessons In their modern version of the one-room schoolhouse. ihyiMd rsA tiu' 1 -TJK llttwuk nxMhwio -r I lS Hrt y- JL Colon Bloddor -y Home school student Danny Bratton climbs the rope during his physical education class at Pep-permlnt Gymnastics Academy.

pendently. "It's worse when I have the flu they bring things to me on the couch," Bratton said. "They're disciplined enough to come down and work on their own." All four mothers said it is a year-to-year decision about whether they'll continue to teach at home. For now, they said they're happy, and so are their children. "We plan to do it as long as it works," Bratton said.

month at the Racine Public Library. And, teaching, the parents have discovered, is a lot of work. "It's fun, but it's like a career," Bratton said. "Even if you love your job, there still are some days you don't want to go in." Normal problems, such as colds and flu, can become bigger problems in a home-school setting, but Bratton said her children have developed the discipline to work inde Some call it quackery, some call it salvation. Photos by Mark Hertzberg It's reflexology, the art of Liar's Club founder FflimdDODg the purHfecti cat dead at 91 33 massaging pressure points in the feet to relieve the pain of everything from headaches to heart disease.

Does it really work? Find out what practitioners and patients have to say in the "Hearth" section. Thursday: LxX A. 1 i I i JT lit By Karen B. Tancill Journal Times The judge wore a plaid polo tie with Scotties on it. But the cats that Larry Swanson held in his hands Saturday didn't seem to think he was a traitor.

Swanson, of Palos Park, 111., was one of five judges at an all-breed cat show and competition sponsored by the Dandy Lions Cat Club in the Racine on the Lake Festival Hall. The show continues today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $3 for adults; $2 for senior citizens; and $1 for kids 12 and under. Swanson had quite a purr-full.

Before the day was out, he would handle 208 cats some of them more than once and he'd be on his feet most of the day looking for winners. "The winner's ribbon is simply a qualifying step that says you're a decent cat," said Bruce Nickerson, president of Dandy Lions. A cat has to get winner's ribbons from six judges before it can become a champion. The goal is to become a grand champion. i "'if By Sara Lamb Journal Times BURLINGTON The city lost one of its favorite pranksters Saturday.

Otis C. Hulett, who founded the Burlington Liar's Club in 1929, died at age 91. "It's just the passing of a guy that really put Burlington on the map," said Don Reed, vice president of the Liar's Club. He said Hulett was "feisty" right until his death. "Otis, in his younger days, was quite a prankster.

In fact, it was a prank that started the Liar's Club," Reed said. Hulett, former Journal Times bureau manager in Burlington, started writing stories with fellow newsmen about hunting and fishing yarns exchanged at the old Burlington Police Station. The Associated Press picked up the stories and soon people from around the nation were sending in their own exaggerated tales. On Jan. 1 every year, the club names a grand champion liar from among hundreds of entries from all over the world.

Hulett was club president from 1929 to 1979. Reed remembered one particular prank that Hulett and a watchmaker named Irv Riley pulled "back in the 1930s." The two men knew that a shoe store owner closed his shop every day at a certain time, but he never locked the back door. One day, Hulett and Riley waited until the store owner left. They entered the store from the back and took the cash drawer, Reed said. Assistant sports editor Sue Shemanske continues her coverage of the Milwaukee Brewers training camp in Arizona.

Look for her reports in Sports II Friday: -JLL- i dhuck O'Acqulsto Journal Tlmas Otis Hulett Liar's Club founder Hulett and Riley waited until they knew police were responding to the shoe store burglary, then darted over to the police station and put the cash drawer on the chief's desk, Reed said. "Then they got the hell out of there," he said. Hulett was also a charter member of the Burlington Historical Society, a former member and charter member of the Wisconsin Press Photographers Association, and a member of Union Grove Lodge No. 288 and Plymouth Congregational Church in Burlington. He also served in the Navy during World War I.

Hulett is survived by two nieces and one nephew. Services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday at Plymouth Congregational Church. Who's judging whom? The caged cats keep an eye on the audience as Larry Swanson of Palos Park, judges one of their fellow felines at the Dandy Lions Cat Club's all-breed cat show at Racine on the Lake Festival Hall. 5J "To become a grand champion, you need to defeat 199 other champions," said Nickerson.

As of Saturday afternoon, two cats at the show had enough points to complete the grand champion ranking. Silver balloons floated above their cages. Swanson is a cat breeder himself, breeding primarily shaded silver Persians. "We currently have 17 cats," he said on one of his few brief breaks. To enter the judge training program, candidates must have bred grand champion cats, said Nickerson.

A judge cannot judge a cat that he owns or has bred, but he can judge the type of cats he breeds, said Nickerson. "Most exhibitors like to have a judge that knows their breed because then you'U get the best judging," he said. During judging, Swanson would stroke the fur, ruffle it, sometimes draw out the long tail. Apple Valley Lodge checks out of business The club's focus is on less well-known breeds, such as Tonkese cats, a hybrid between Siamese and Burmese. Others are Japanese bobtailsScottish folds, Devon rex, Cornish rex, British shorthair, somalis and birmans.

There were 219 cats entered in the show, most owned by people from the Midwest, said Nickerson. "The farthest away that I know of is Quebec," he said. The ribbons and rosettes that went to the winners mean their offspring are more valuable, said Nickerson. But the main value to the owners will be in pride, he said. "They have the fun of knowing they have bred a really fine example of the cat," hie said.

"Anybody that does that is proud." Other times he'd also push the fur back to check the animal's bone stucture. "Lovely plume, lovely body," he noted of one long-hair. "Real charmer," he noted in amusement as the cat tried to step off the platform. Between cats, he sprayed his hands and the platfrom with a disinfectant. "Good feel, lovely chest, muscular," he said of another.

"Lovely long body," he said of a white Turkish angora, holding it up off the platform. Nickerson said this weekend's show was the first sponsored by the club, which formed about l'i years ago. It's a regional club, drawing members from as far away as Kansas and Ohio. turday. Terrell said the partnership had to come up with $400,000 to continue the lease.

Trustees for the trust, which consists of the estate of real estate developer Spiro J. Papas, are Constance G. Bacantain and John Dassios. Bacantain is Papas' widow and Dassios was a long-time employee for Papas. "What will happen to the property is unknown," said Brown.

"It will not be operated as a motel, at least immediately, until my clients decide how they want to handle the property." Terrell said he began laying off his 30 employees a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of the closing. He will go to Mokena, 111., to operate a Days Inn franchise, he said. By Karen B. Tancill Journal Times Apple Valley Lodge will check out of the motel business today. That's the word from Joe A.

Terrell, who has been operating the 78-room motel at 5005 Washington Ave. under a contract with a limited partnership called Clayton House of Racine since June 1987. Rumors Lounge also will close today, said Terrell. Clayton House of Racine had a long-term lease on the property. A year ago, a legal judgment ordered that if the partnership didn't pay overdue rent and back taxes, the Papas Trust would take possession of the building March 14, said Racine attorney Harley Brown, who represents the trust "On Tuesday, the owners expect to take possession," Brown said Sa You've heard what the critics have to toy about Geraldo Rivera, now read what the controversial talk-thow host has to say about his critics people he describes as and "hypocrites" to "Hollywood Hotline-reporter Gary Schneeberger.

Also, find out the one topic even Geraldo wouldn't consider doing a show on. In "Celebrity." Winner of $10,000 auction raffle named arship fund. According to Cole, auction patrons helped raise a total of $142,583.86. Jane's Boutique, a feature of the auction since 1971, made $15,977.67, Cole said. Green Bay Packers, who was at the auction to sign autographs, said Kathleen Cole, an auction spokeswoman.

It was the 22nd annual auction and rummage sale for the school. Money raised goes into the schol The winner of the $10,000 cash raffle at the Prairie School auction Saturday was Brian Page, of 3217 Terrace High, Caledonia. Page's name was drawn by Don Majkowski, a quarterback for the.