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Up to speed on monsters, memorials
Shut off the creepy music. The creature is heading north.
This month's updates-and-feedback column begins with the It Came From Lake Michigan film festival, which local filmmaker Wayne Clingman hoped to make an annual event in Racine. The idea screamed out to the film buff in me, and I wrote a couple of columns on it.
The mostly horror film festival will emerge from the lake for a second year, but in Milwaukee this time. It's scheduled for Oct. 25-28 at State Fair Park.
Clingman said Milwaukee was a better choice because the new site has advantages, like cheaper rent and free parking. An on-site hotel also made it more convenient, he said, with its management offering more cooperation.
"I don't think we felt any big shot in the arm from it," he said, but deferred to the county tourism types who were more involved in the effort.
Clingman understands the concerns about the low turnout. Dave Blank, executive director of the Racine County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said it's not unusual for a brand-new event to struggle. He'd still like to land some kind of film festival.
Road worriers
Reading my column complaining that the massive project on Interstate 94 does nothing to make Racine more accessible, Jim Bell came back with an idea. He suggested extending the Lake Parkway from Milwaukee south along railroad right-of-way to the spot where highways 31 and 32 meet.
"Having traveled in different parts of remote Wisconsin, I've been amazed at the superlative four-lane highways with virtually no traffic," he wrote in an e-mail. "Isn't it time for Racine to open up a new artery that would benefit the whole system?"
I ran the idea, a smaller-scale version of the Lake Arterial plan that was defeated years back, past Ken Yunker of the regional planning commission. He couldn't remember that particular route being considered before, but he doubts all of the necessary land could still be obtained.
So the search for the perfect patchwork of so-called shortcuts continues.
Military graves
I have an update on my Memorial Day column on the Dutch families who faithfully care for Racine soldiers' graves. A few relatives of the various men have called with more details to help fill in the picture.
Nicholas Miller of Sturtevant is the younger brother of Robert V. Miller, one of the men buried at Margraten cemetery in the Netherlands. He said the family chose to leave Robert buried alongside his fellow World War II service members. It was very much a personal choice; Nicholas said. When another relative was killed, the family decided to have the body shipped home.
Another sibling, Sue Jelinek, was 9 when her older brother Robert died. Never able to visit Margraten cemetery in the Netherlands, she put a flag between her mom's and dad's graves at West Lawn Memorial Park.
Jelinek remembers her mother sending clothes and money to the family who adopted the grave, but the communication eventually stopped. Nicholas Miller and the current caretakers now have each other's address.
Linda Smith saw her dad, Toke Kloe, mentioned in the column and offered to exchange e-mails with Dennis Notenboom, the Dutchman who recently assumed the care of Kloe's grave. Pictures are all she has of Kloe, who died when she was only a toddler.
"It's nice to know that the people over there were really appreciative of us helping them," Smith said, pointing out that Americans are typically only touched by death when it's someone they know.
Elaine Pap of the Town of Raymond was surprised to see the name of Milton Fohr. His death left her a young widow with their two children, and she couldn't afford to cover the funeral here. After she remarried, she heard the VFW post in Wind Lake had been named partly for Fohr. Mike Lawrence, vice commander for the Schiller Kulchar Fohr post - who had been seeking information on its namesakes - was able to connect with her last week.
Some new relationships span the seas, while others only have to span the back yards.
Mike Moore can be reached at (262) 631-1724 or mike.moore@lee.net
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