Wisconsin State Journal from Madison, Wisconsin • 3

A3 THURSDAY, JULY ia 2013 Council approves Monona Terrace renovation plan DEAN MOSIMAN dmosimanmadison.com, 608-252-6141 After years of planning, the Madison City Council late Tuesday approved moving forward on a multi-million-dollar renovation project including new carpet and bathroom improvements for Monona Terrace. But the approval of plans and advertising for bids came amid concerns by homeless and social service advocates that funds could be put to better use and questions by council members about whether the city is spending too much on cosmetics as opposed to true maintenance. The renovation is estimated to cost about $3.2 million in 2013- 14, according to Monona Terrace manager Gregg McManners. Projects include new carpeting, bathroom remodeling and other updates. Renovating the bathrooms at the citys convention center has been estimated at $1.2 million, drawing protests from council members who believe the city has more important items that need funding.

The improvements, funded by the citys room tax, are needed to address customer needs and ensure Monona Terrace keeps pace with similar facilities in other cities, McManners said. This is an opportunity to make something good, better, he said. But some questioned the citys priorities in spending significant sums on the renovation, especially to improve bathrooms, when local governments are reluctant to spend even modest sums to provide restrooms and other basic services for the homeless. Others noted the city has other needs such as low-cost housing. City Finance Director David Schmiedicke noted there are restrictions on how room tax funds can be spent.

The council refused a proposal by Aid. David Ahrens, 15th District, to refer the carpet and bathroom bids back to the Monona Terrace board. You cant let a facility fall into shabbiness, said Aid. Lauren Cnare, 3rd District. PREPARE TO SET SAIL La Follette alumni celebrate 50 years Lancer graduates are welcomed back for festivities marking the high schools success.

ANDREA ANDERSON aandersonmadison.com, 608-252-6143 In the fall of 1963, the first crop of students entered the halls of La Follette High School and now, 50 years later, they, and all other past and present Lancers, are being welcomed back for a kickoff event Saturday marking the beginning of a yearlong celebration of La Follettes success. LHS Fifty Fest, according to Terry Meissen, a 1976 La Follette graduate and current assistant principal, will bring generations of Lancers together to reminisce and enjoy food, beverages and entertainment. I hope a lot of the La Follette community comes out to see what La Follette has now and walk down memory lane and support our school community, Meissen said. The fest, open to the public, will not only mark the beginning of the 50th anniversary celebration but also serve as an unofficial open house with classroom tours and class reunions for 1973 and 1983 graduates of the East Side school. Chuck Chvala, a Madison lawyer and former state senator, is a 1973 La Follette grad with a long stretch of family history at the school.

His father and sister worked there, and his children were LHS graduates. Chvala said he is excited to share his reunion with other generations of Lancers and the public. When you get 50 years together you get a lot of associations and generations, Chvala said. What Id love to see is someone who started the very first day it (La Follette) started. Saturdays kickoff is split in two with afternoon and evening events.

The afternoon events for the whole family begin at noon at the high school with the recognition of Rod Witte, a retired choir teacher, and the placement of a plaque in his name on the Wall of Honor. The Wall of Honor is a project aiming to expand the schools endowment by $100,000. People nominate hard working staff and students for $500, and for an additional $5,000, a plaque with their name is placed on the wall. After the ceremony, current and former Lancer choir students will take the auditorium stage and perform LHS classics. Witte himself will conduct a few numbers.

If choral music is not of interest, Meissen encourages La Follette community members to take a bite into one of the 500 cupcakes donated by Summit Credit Union, concessions provided by the booster club and 200 brats donated by Kens Meat and Deli. After the choral session, Battle of the BandsLancers Got Talent will kick off at 3 p.m. and go until the evening entertainment at the East Side Club. There, a reception with a disc jockey, cash bar and food provided by Smoky Jons for La Follette graduates 21 and older will go well into the evening. This is a chance for a wonderful community school to get together and celebrate 50 years of history, Chad Wiese, principal of La Follette said.

I hope to hear some stories and share some history with Lancer alumni. For more details on the days events and events that will occur throughout the year, visit lafollette50th.com. fW i CHRIS (RICKERT School Districts priorities changing? Two years after a controversial charter school proposal brought Madisons low-income and minority achievement gap into uncomfortably sharp relief, the problem seems to have again retreated into dirty-little-secret status. Funding for the Madison School Districts plan to close the gap took its latest hit last week, and recent leadership changes at the district mean it could be a while before administrators feel prepared to give the problem the attention it deserves. Meanwhile, this summer could have marked the end of the first school year of a bold experiment aimed at closing the gap.

Alas, the nonunion Madison Preparatory Academy failed to get the go-ahead from a teachers-union-centric school board, so I guess well never know what it could have done right (or wrong). Of course, school officials deny the achievement gap has fallen down the priority list. "The overall goal of addressing the achievement gap certainly hasnt receded as a goal, School Board President Ed Hughes said. He pointed to initiatives including the continuation of the AVIDTOPS college readiness program and a new after- school tutoring partnership with the Urban League of Greater Madison, which proposed Madison Prep. In a statement, district spokeswoman Rachel Strauch-Nelson said a "strategic framework that new superintendent Jennifer Cheatham will introduce on July 29 will directly address gaps in student achievement and the work we must do to ensure all students graduate ready for college, career and community.

Still, much has changed since former superintendent Dan Nerad introduced a $105.6 million, five-year achievement gap plan in February 2012 as something of a pacifier aimed at angry Madison Prep supporters and others who thought the district wasnt doing enough to close the gap. Once the smoke cleared, Nerads plan was quietly cut by about half. Budget negotiations for the last school year resulted in another trim to the plan to $49 million, and just last week, Cheatham introduced a budget for next school year that would hold the plan's funding flat. More money could be allocated to existing gap efforts as Cheathams proposed tax increase is less than half of what it could legally be but she said Monday she was reluctant to suggest higher taxes before making sure every taxpayer penny was being spent wisely. Not that the board, mindful of taxpayer reaction, would go for higher taxes anyway.

Indeed, while the district can rightfully be blamed for letting the gap persist, the gap wont be eliminated unless the older, whiter people who make up the majority of district taxpay-. ers are willing to accept a little more financial pain in service of the younger, more racially diverse people who make up the districts student body. No doubt Cheatham deserves a chance to come up with her own achievement gap-closing strategy. Thats part of why we hired her. And maybe it will turn out her plan looks a lot better than Madison Preps or Nerads.

At least it will until the next superintendent or budget cycle comes along, or until the teachers union decides to oppose it. A nearby sailboat is reflected in the sunglasses of Hoofers Sailing Club instructor Mikki Heckman on Wednesday as students in a weeklong sailing camp take to the waters of Lake Mendota near the UW-Madison campus. Man sentenced in fatal car crash JOHN HART State Journal After the party, Montgomery, who seemed the least drunk, drove Mlsnas car. It was a Friday, she said, and Montgomery was drinking before heading to jail the following Monday to serve a sentence for his second drunken driving conviction. None of the three were wearing seat belts.

Christie, who was in back, died at UW Hospital. After the crash Montgomery, sitting across the street from the crashed car, said to a police officer who asked him if he was injured from the crash, What crash? He also said he wasnt driving and nobody was in the car. Montgomerys lawyer, Mark Frank, said Montgomery was drunk and dazed, and didn't know what he was saying. Frank also argued that because all three people in the car were drunk, Christie and Mlsna were essentially accomplices who helped Montgomery commit the crime. Hanrahan dismissed that as victim-blaming.

Instead, Hanrahan said Montgomery chose to drive drunk with marijuana in his system. You took a risk, you made a choice, he said. The fact that you ended up driving was your choice. teen neighbor defense. Dr.

Basil Jackson said his examination of Spooner revealed a man with anger issues who periodically dissociated from reality. Spooners daughter once brought home a kitten that he didnt want so he took it into the basement and killed it, Jackson said. Spooner also used to choke and beat his late wife, the doctor testified. The violence shows Spooner occasionally loses the ability to control his anger as during the moment that he shot Darius, Jackson said, describing such incidents an eruption a loss of control. ti But it was Mis -nas plea not to send Montgomery to prison for her injuries that prompted Dane County Circuit Judge William Hanrahan to give Montgomery a concurrent prison sentence for the injury conviction.

In all, Montgomery was sentenced to 10 years in prison and seven years of extended supervision for the homicide conviction. He also was ordered to spend six months in jail for his third drunken driving conviction, though Montgomery wont serve it because of the credit he got for the time he has spent in jail since the crash. At the time of the crash, he was free on bail for his third offense. The crash was his fourth offense. You killed your friend, you maimed another," Hanrahan said.

The hopes and dreams of many people on both sides of the courtroom died that night. Thompson said Montgomery and Christie were drinking at a bar that night, but left Christies car at the bar and went to an after-bar party with Mlsna. fatally shooting pointing a gun at him from about 6 feet away and shooting him in the chest. Darius mother, Patricia Larry, testified that she cradled her son in her arms as he died. Spooner entered two pleas to the homicide charge: not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.

That set up the trial to be conducted in two phases: the first to determine whether he was guilty of the homicide, and if so, a second to determine whether he was mentally competent at the time. With the first phase complete, the second began with testimony from a psychiatrist hired by the Lawrence Montgomery hit a tree on Odana Road, killing his best friend. ED TRELEVEN etrelevenmadison.com, 608-252-6134 A Madison man who was driving drunk, celebrating with friends before he was to go to jail for a prior drunken driving conviction, was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for the crash death of his best friend. Lawrence Montgomery, 22, who was injured in the Oct. 13, 2012, crash that killed Richie R.

Christie, 21, said he had no memory of crashing into a tree in the 5900 block of Odana Road. I lost my best friend, Montgomery said. I took him away from his loved ones. Montgomery pleaded guilty in April to homicide by drunken driving and causing great bodily harm by drunken driving in a crash that also badly injured Samantha Mlsna, 20. She suffered a skull fracture and brain trauma, among other injuries, and had to relearn to do things because of her brain injury, Assistant District Attorney Emily Thompson said.

Man guilty of DINESH RAMDE Associated Press MILWAUKEE A Milwaukee man who suspected his 13-year-old neighbor of breaking into his home and stealing weapons was convicted Wednesday of fatally shooting the boy as the teens mother looked on. Now, jurors will decide whether the defendant, 76, was mentally ill at the time. A jury deliberated for about an hour before finding John Henry Spooner guilty of first-degree intentional homicide. Surveillance video from his own security cameras showed him confronting Darius Simmons in May 2012, IF YOU GO what: La Follette 50th anniversary celebration when: Noon Saturday for fes- tivltles at high school; 6 p.m. for reception at East Side Club Who: Afternoon festival is open to the public; reception is for Lancer alumni 21 and older Where: La Follette High School, 702 Pflaum Road: East Side Club, 5 3735 Monona Drive Contact Chris Rickert at 608-252-6198 or crickertOmadison.

com, as well as on Facebook and Twitter (ChrisRickertWSJ). His column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. v1'.