This past Sunday the Fischer family was invited to a sneak peek at holiday decorations at the Governor’s Mansion.

You can see all the splendor, too.

Non-perishable food items and warm winter items, including new or gently used mittens, hats, scarves, coats, sweaters, jackets, and snow pants, are happily accepted at the residence during public tours and will be donated to those in need.

At Sunday breakfast this past week our server emphatically told Kyla to stop growing.

Please.

Stop.

Right there.

It would be so wonderful.

So delightful.

So perfect.

Please.

Nice try.

Been there. Attempted that.

Doesn’t work.

2013, the tree lighting ceremony at the Pfister Hotel…

2017, the tree lighting ceremony at the Pfister Hotel…

I know we have her like this for such a short time.

So thank you, dear God. Thank you.

When I worked at WUWM and WTMJ I was a member of the Milwaukee Press Club for many years. I was on the board and even served as President for two terms. I let my membership lapse after I left WTMJ and began working for the state Senate.

As a Press Club board member I was heavily involved in discussions about who should receive the club’s annual Sacred Cat award. From the club’s website:

The Sacred Cat Award is named after the club mascot Anubis, the mummified cat, and recognizes excellence in journalism at the national level. It is presented each spring at the Gridiron banquet, which also honors winners of the club’s Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism competition and a Headliner award winner. The Sacred Cat award has been given annually since 1973, with broadcast journalist Peter Arnett receiving the inaugural award and some of the country’s greatest journalists and media leaders receiving it since then. The Press Club’s board of governors and the Gridiron Committee collaborate in the selection of a Sacred Cat.

I recall being scoffed at by my colleagues when I suggested Rush Limbaugh receive the award.

Shortly after I left the club and had no say in the matter the award was given to Matt Lauer in 1998. At the time I thought it was a terrible choice because Lauer was still too new, had not established himself or a great body of substantive work, and quite frankly was just another  in a long line of TV hosts. Since I certainly didn’t equate him with the likes of a previous winner like Walter Cronkite I would have noted no if I could have. I wasn’t impressed then and haven’t been since.

I’m curious to see what, if anything, the club will now do or even say about Lauer’s firing for sexual misconduct.

Dear Friends,

Please click here to view the 2017 End of the Year edition of “Privileged to Serve”, the monthly e-newsletter issued by my office.

This edition includes many highlights of the work I have done as your Milwaukee County Supervisor over the course of the last year, some of which includes:

-Working to ensure the well-being of Milwaukee County residents

-Notable legislation

-9^th District events, updates, and photos

-Tentative schedule of upcoming major public works projects in the 9^th District

Due to election campaign laws, this will be the last e-mail sent from my office with my monthly newsletter until April of 2018 after the Milwaukee County elections.  However, you can still access my office’s future newsletters by visiting my county website here.

I encourage you to forward this newsletter to anyone who may find it informative. Please do not hesitate to reach out to my office if I can be of assistance concerning any matter involving Milwaukee County.  Happy holidays and thank you for a great 2017.

All My Best,

Steve F. Taylor 

Milwaukee County Board, 2nd Vice Chairman

Milwaukee County Supervisor, 9th District

(414) 278-4267

(414) 223-1380 fax

steve.taylor@milwaukeecountywi.gov

Earlier this month the Janesville Gazette editorialized about a bill passed by the state Legislature allowing kids as young as 6-years old to hunt in Wisconsin.

“ …how does giving guns to small children benefit most hunters? Hunters, after all, stand to lose if a 4-year-old fires a weapon in the wrong direction,” the paper wrote, calling the bill dumb and idiotic.

The Racine Journal Times also blasted the idea.

“Parental control” may be a catchy buzzword, but we would no more like to see it applied to hunting than we would to parents who would decide that their 10-year-olds are fully capable of driving a car on our roads and highways. We don’t see anyone advancing that argument.

One Wisconsin lawmaker argued “To allow … a toddler, a 2-year-old [to carry a gun], and I’m not being hyperbolic because someone will allow it, is dangerous.”

The bill was signed into law by the Governor and the measure went into effect on Monday, November 13, 2017. Then on November 19th…

Lexie Harris, 6, poses after bagging a buck in Taylor County. Lexie is among the first youngsters to bag a buck under the state’s new law that eliminates the state’s minimum hunting age. Photo: TYLER HARRIS

Read about Lexie here.

Today the WI Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) released a report on this year’s deer harvest that read, in part:

Wisconsin’s nine-day gun deer season continued to show hunting as a safe recreational activity, as the season ended with seven hunting incidents and no hunting-related fatalities. None of these incidents involved mentored youth hunters.

Do you suspect that some editors, reporters, and lawmakers were secretly anticipating and waiting, possibly hoping, for “incidents” involving mentored youth hunters that they could subsequently use to write negative articles and news releases about the new law?

I sure do.

I’m rather sympathetic and quite supportive when it comes to the United States Postal Service (USPS) because my late father was a postal employee.

But even he grumbled about his employer, so I guess I can, too.

Look, I understand they’re busy, especially now. From a USPS news release:

The U.S. Postal Service will deliver more than 15 billion pieces of mail this holiday season. In the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, the Postal Service also expects to deliver 850 million packages, which is more than a 10 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

You’ll also be seeing delivery trucks on the roads on Sundays for the next several weeks.

Oh, they deliver. But I wish they would so before I finish dinner.

Last Saturday my mail was dropped off after 6:30. Monday night, it was 7:20.

I’m guessing, according to that same USPS news release that it could get even later.

With an increase in early and online shopping for gifts, there is no longer a “busiest day” for holiday shipping. Instead, the Postal Service’s busiest time is now two weeks before Christmas. Starting the week of Dec. 11, customer traffic is expected to increase, with the week of Dec. 18 – 24 predicted to be the busiest mailing, shipping, and delivery week. During this week, nearly 3 billion pieces of First Class Mail, including greeting cards, will be processed and delivered. The Postal Service also expects to deliver nearly 200 million packages per week during these two weeks.