Along The Ad Routes

by Mike Reilly

Our Saturday morning breakfast was kind of a bittersweet one. We wanted to have breakfast with or go see good friend Dennis Kopps, a special needs adult who lived in Dodgeville for many years. We had taken him to breakfast many times when he was living here. He mowed lawns for several people as long as he could. He won numerous ribbons in Special Olympics Bowling. Some of the things he looked forward to each day/week was unloading truck at True Value, getting change for several businesses, visiting businesses, stopping at Corner Drug Store for coffee and Diet Coke and just talking to people he would run into. Anyway, Dennis is in Hospice near West Towne and isn’t able to go out. It was Bob, Terry, Dewey, Potsie and me who went ot Denny’s near West Towne for breakfast where we met Larry Alm, Dennis’ brother-in-law. He took us to see Dennis, who is bed ridden now and speaks really softly. We all shared stories with Dennis and had our picture taken with him. Dewey had to leave right after breakfast so he didn’t make it there and Tom had a surprise 70th birthday party for his sister he had to travel to - both said to give their best to Dennis though! For those of you who remember Dennis and his smile, above is a photo of him from Saturday that you can keep in your minds! You can see that he loves the Green Bay Packers by the blanket that he’s covered up with! He said he loves everybody and misses them!

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At Denny’s Saturday for breakfast, we were one of the first ones there and there was only one server so we had to sit in a section that wasn’t really geared to seven of us, but we made do! Sam was our server and she was very patient as we read over the “huge” menu. She brought our drinks and they even had Dr. Pepper for Potsie! We ordered more than we probably needed to eat from their signature breakfast list. I had a Mile-High Denver Omelette that came with a good amount of hash browns and toast. Of course I finished everything! Sam did a good job serving and keeping our coffee filled!

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I had a chance to get to the Democratic Candidate Forum held Saturday afternoon at White Oak Savanna, just north of Dodgeville on Highway 23. It was sponsored by the Iowa and Lafayette County Democratic Parties. There were a lot of speeches and then time for questions and answers. See another part of this paper for photos and information.

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Fall Ball had a little setback Sunday with the rain. We didn’t want to try and squeeze it in by using a lot of that expensive Diamond Dry and that would also mean a lot of extra work for the volunteers. What that means is we will be playing another week, into the first Sunday of October - the 6th!

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Something to look forward to and plan for is the Dodgeville Annual “Trunk or Treat” that is held in the courthouse parking lot on Saturday, October 26 from 1-3 p.m. It’s hosted by In the Beginning Child Care. There’s food, games and fun for the entire family!

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Today is Johnny Appleseed Day. There are probably a lot of you out there that has never heard of Johnny Appleseed. He was huge when I was a kid! Here’s a little about him: “Johnny Appleseed (born Johnathan Chapman; September 26, 1774 – March 18, 1845) was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced trees grown with apple seeds (as opposed to trees grown with grafting to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Ontario, as well as the northern counties of West Virginia. He became an American legend while still alive, due to his kind, generous ways, his leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance that he attributed to apples. He was also a missionary for The New Church and the inspiration for many museums and historical sites such as the Johnny Appleseed Museum in Urbana, Ohio.