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Our latest edition published March 9 and is available, free on newsstands in the area.

The next edition will publish March 23, and will be distributed by March 29 due to backlog created by illness during the previous edition. We look forward to being back on schedule in April.

As always, the community calendar will be updated and published here.

The March 9 e-edition is available below:

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Valley Sentinel is your independent, local news source covering arts & culture, outdoors & recreation, local meetings, events in our larger Lower Wisconsin River community.

In times like these, our community needs to come together.
So, let’s build community together.

Covering Arena, Lone Rock, Plain, Spring Green and the surrounding areas in Sauk, Iowa and Richland counties.

Recent Stories (updating soon!)

An undated picture of Minerva Montooth. Photo courtesy of Minerva Montooth.

The (not so) Plain and Simple Correspondent: Minerva, Goddess of Wisdom

In the Roman pantheon, Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade and strategy. Gracious! It boggles the mind that even a goddess could possibly incorporate so many sterling qualities. As it happens, there is a human being who comes close. She lives at Taliesin – “Shining Brow”,…

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David Kopitzke speaks to Senator Marklein and Assemblyman Kurtz about the need to take action to save our campus, at a recent listening session held in Richland Center. Image Credit: WKOW

UW-Richland information session and town hall meeting to be held

Community is invited to share ideas about how to save campus. An information session and town hall meeting will be held on Thursday, January 26 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. on the UW-Richland campus in the Pippin Conference Center of Melvill Hall. 

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With the many things going on in Lone Rock and Richland County covered by this edition, we wanted to put together an illustration that created a representative interpretation of the issues raised. “County line, Lone Rock, Wisconsin” (2023) Mixed media/digital, by Valley Sentinel/AI/ Public Domain.

Legal Editor’s Column: We’re suing Lone Rock over public records, here’s why

Last Halloween, the Village of Lone Rock held a public meeting and did not notify the Valley Sentinel. The next night they held public hearings on their annual budget and a village board meeting. The Valley Sentinel was sent an e-mail notice less than an hour before the meeting started. We asked for various public…

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The exterior sign at the UW-Platteville Richland campus in Richland Center. Photo via UW-Platteville Richland

EDITORIAL: UW-Richland will not be saved outside the courtroom, action is needed now

Richland County and the greater community were disheartened just over a month ago when a unilateral directive from University of Wisconsin System President Jay Rothman directed the administration of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Richland campus in Richland Center to start winding down operations and to plan to discontinue in-person instruction starting fall 2023, with the…

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Red Cross nurse Emma Cannon, left, swabs the Scott Heimerdinger’s arm after he gives blood Jan. 6, 2021, at the blood drive held at the Arena Fire Department

Area blood drives scheduled in January, February

Blood drives are scheduled for Friday, January 6, 2023, in Spring Green and Arena, and Tuesday, February 7, 2023, in Lone Rock.

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Selina and Red were more concerned about sleep than hunting at times on this trip. Photo by Mark Walters.

An Outdoorsman’s Journal: Mississippi Duck Hunt/The Best of Times

“Fifty-one opening days of duck hunting ago I was a very young boy in a very low income, single parent family, and my dad was raising my brothers Mike, Tom, myself, my sister Lynn and sometimes my brother Bob. We lived kind of like I do now, which is a very busy life that is…

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Over five months of hard work was spent in the forests and swamps for Mark Walters to harvest this bear. Photo by Mark Walters.

An Outdoorsman’s Journal: Success on the Bear Hunt

“This week’s column is about a successful conclusion to my 2022 bear hunting season that has absorbed large parts of my time, thoughts, and pocket book since I began running baits in northern Juneau County as well as southern Jackson on April 15th.” Follow along each week on the adventures of Mark Walters, a syndicated…

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It had been 21 days since Mark Walters had a day time hit at his baits when these two bears showed up. Photo by Mark Walters.

An Outdoorsman’s Journal: Ten Sunsets on a Bear Stand

“This week’s column is a short summary of the first ten days of my bear hunting situation in which I did not miss a day sitting in a tree.” Follow along each week on the adventures of Mark Walters, a syndicated outdoor adventure columnist who lives in Necedah, Wisconsin. He began writing his column, An…

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