Technical colleges are about connecting trained workers with the businesses that need them. So state leaders wanted the system to be governed by "people from the world of work," said Paul Gabriel, executive director of the Wisconsin Technical College District Boards Association.

In other words, career politicians need not apply.

When Gateway came along, its board was bound by those rules. According to Gateway officials, two seats each are reserved for employees and high-level executives within the three-county area. Another is set aside for a school administrator and, yes, one for an elected official.

The chairmen of the Racine, Kenosha and Walworth county boards appoint the nine board members, who serve three-year terms. That grates at some taxpayers - especially now, when they see no way to fight a proposal to bump up the Gateway portion of tax bills by nearly 5 percent.

Appointed officials can be held accountable, too, Gabriel said. If pressured, the committee can call a public hearing to remove a board member without cause.

In 2003, a state task force recommended leaving the appointment process as is.

Some TV programs run over by a minute or two, making it hard to record them on DVR. Why do networks do that?

"When they have a popular show, they sometimes deliberately schedule runovers to flow viewers into their following programs," said Michelle Vetterkind, president of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association.

At 8:07, you're more likely to stick with that channel rather than flip to another station in the middle of a show. Vetterkind said some digital video recorders automatically update to record the extra time.

Not mine. I've learned the hard way to record whatever's after the game, too. And then delete it quickly, before my wife can tease me for taping "Entertainment Tonight."

Whenever I walk along the lake at night, I see a ghost, a man wearing a hat. Has anyone else seen it or know who it might have been?

If you mean Lake Michigan, the Racine Heritage Museum - which keeps an extensive folder on local phantasms - has no record of it.

Heidi Hollis, a Milwaukee woman who has written books on the paranormal, coined the term "Hat Man" for a trenchcoat-wearing figure people have seen worldwide. Yet Hollis said most people describe that as devil-like rather than a harmless ghost.

If anyone has seen the figure the reader described, let me know.

Mike Moore compiles the Glad You Asked column. Call us at (262) 631-1758 or e-mail:

ask@journaltimes.com