Society for Learning Unlimited (SLU)

2011 SPRING KICKOFF AND PROGRAM

Join Max and Donna Daniels for

1:00 pm to 3:00 pm

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

at

First Congregational Church
801 Bushnell St.
(between Park Ave. and Church St.)
Beloit, Wisconsin

 

Max and Donna have an extensive background incommunity theatre and have portrayed Abraham andMary Todd Lincoln professionally since 1988. They are past Vice-presidents of the National Associationof Lincoln Presenters and were named by the Association as the first recipients of its award for “Best Abraham and Mary Lincoln Team” in 1994.

For more information please visit the “New and Improved” SLU Website at www.sluinc.org

If you’re looking for the SLU

(society for learning unlimited) website

Please go to:  http://www.sluinc.org/

Aldrich Middle School – Excellence In Math

The proud faces of Academic Achievement at Aldrich! 

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Did you see yesterdays Stateline News? (see pg. 6)

Aldrich Middle School students competed in the Math League competitions. The sixth grade team ranked 22nd out of 107 schools in the state.

Scores also are compared by region, which includes Rock, Dane, Jefferson, Kenosha, Racine, and Green counties.

The sixth graders came in fourth, the seventh grade team finished third and eighth grade team was fourth.

Aldrich team members included, front row from the left, Maggie Gianvecchio, Adam Socha, Jake McClellan, Andrew Wadle and Cade Johnson; second row, Claudia Aguirre, Christian Schober, Justin Stanton, Felicia Smith, Jose Carrasco, Payton Barrett and Emily Gianvecchio; and back row, Cody Ford, Jacob Bondele, Caleb Schober and Lauren Otto.

~Stateline News, Wednesday April 7, 2010.

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Congratulations kids. Keep up the hard work.

And thanks to the Stateline News for carrying the story, sharing the love and highlighting academic excellence at Aldrich Middle School.

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Hey, share the love.

Below you’ll see a “Share This” icon. Please use it to pass this around to your own online “social networks”.

Paint Color Selection & Application for Old Houses

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When: Monday March 22nd, 7:00 PM

Where: Bushel & Peck’s (328 State Street, Beloit)

Presentation by: Charles Rydberg

President of Beloit based Murmac Paint Company(310 Park Ave. Beloit)

Charles was instrumental in designing the Beloit “College Park Historic Colors” brochure. This publication guided the pallet of colors used on all the historic homes owned by the college.  Charles also helped author the Janesville Historic Preservation Ordinance and also served as Chair for their first Historic Preservation Commission.

Perhaps like “white noise” in the background that goes unnoticed the same can be said for the pallet of colors within many neighborhoods. You’ve likely experienced this, I know I have. You’re driving through a neighborhood and all of a sudden you see a house that just pops. Sometimes the colors are dramatic but not always. Sometimes they’re subtle but somehow the home is striking. At least for me it’s usually not even fully clear why. The colors just seem to harmonize and “Click” together.

Driving around old neighborhoods there are fewer and fewer of the big old houses clad in all white. Even the old-timers recall them as always being white and thought white was the authentic non-color of old houses or perhaps just a low maintenance option. In fact these previously colorful homes were changed to all white as a style trend made popular following the Chicago’s Columbian Exposition “White City” in 1893.

Further, the proliferation of artificial siding has made monochrome still more old houses that originally sported varied siding textures, banding, colors, shades and shadows. Have you ever driven by one of those big ol’ aluminum or vinyl sided “Victorians” and wondered what was underneath? This mystery and discovery is part of the fascination surrounding “Great Unveilings” that have become more and more popular in some vintage neighborhoods.

Even if you have a brick home do you know how to harmonize with the shade of brick and roof color? Simply selecting colors that seem to go together from the swatches or booklets at the paint store may add up to a lot of time and money spent on results that just don’t seem to work like you’d hoped. Or worse once it’s up and done… you “settle”. Eh, it’s ok.

For all the time, effort and investment spent wouldn’t you rather have one of those houses that when you’re done the colors Popped?

Mark your calendar. Hope you can join us!

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1302 Bushnell St. Beloit WI 53511

The Elbert Neese House. Listed on the National Register for Historic Places.

A huge, beautiful, vintage home that still retains most of it’s original historic fabric and character. While situated outside the College Park Historic District the home is individually listed and therefore eligible for the Historic Home Owners Tax Credit. It sits on a large wooded lot that backs up to a wooded ravine and a bit of Beloit history. The ravine once having served as the chase for a mill that was once located further down stream.

We’ve never been inside the home but the realtor has a very nice virtual tour of 1302 Bushnell St. – The Elbert Neese Huse.

• Realtor listing here.
• Individually listed landmark home and eligible for the WI Historic Homes Owners Tax Credit.
• Walkability Score: 78 out of 100, “Very Walkable”.

Realtor

How to Camouflage Inappropriate Replacement Windows on Your Historic Home

I stumbled upon this article written by a Historic Preservation Consultant doing business down in Florida and found it interesting. Given the fact that so much irreversible replacement of original windows has taken place, what is a current homeowner to do to try and mediate what a prior owner had done with the homes windows?

I think it reflects the interests of a growing minority of the home buying market who seek out and choose distinctive old and historic homes and neighborhoods in which to live. They love the old house but what did they do with the windows? Frustrated over what a prior owner did with lowest possible cost rip-n-replace remodeling (or flipping) they’re looking for options.

An interesting read and a cleaver suggestion.

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How to Camouflage Inappropriate Replacement Windows on Your Historic Home

By Jo-Anne Peck

A recent forum post on an old house restoration and renovation website asked what they could do to hide the bright white vinyl replacement windows that the previous owners had installed. They didn’t have the money to replace the windows, and the windows were still working fine, but were glaringly inappropriate for their historic home. For situations like this, an affordable solution is to install traditional wood window screens over the windows.

Wood window screens can be built by homeowners with some woodworking skills or hired out for a reasonable cost from a local carpenter. They are historically appropriate on most home styles since they were commonly added even to the earliest homes by later homeowners. The best woods for screen longevity are cedar, cypress, or mahogany, although other woods can be used if primed and painted thoroughly. Paintable water repellent preservatives applied before priming are also useful for extending the life of the newly built screens. Screen frames are typically 1-1/2″ to 2″ wide and corners can be joined by screws, L-brackets, pegs or historically appropriate bridle joints for more accomplished woodworkers. Screening is applied after painting by stapling to the frame, then the edges are covered by screen molding, which is a narrow rounded trim piece.

When trying to hide inappropriate non-historic windows, full height screens are recommended set flush with the exterior casing or within the brickmold trim. Using charcoal or other dark color screening helps mute the bright white of the vinyl windows behind the screen. Painting the screens a contrasting accent color also draws attention away from the windows behind and adds an attractive element to your home. Forest green, black, deep brown and burgundy were common screen accent colors. Install the screens with stainless face-mounted hangers and your replacement windows will no longer detract from the historic appearance of your home.

Ms. Peck is a Historic Preservation Consultant with over 12 years experience working with historic Florida homes. She is President of Preservation Resource, Inc., a preservation design-consulting company which offers a specialized line of traditional products for historic homes at http://www.HistoricShed.com including traditional wood window screens.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jo-Anne_Peck

http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Camouflage-Inappropriate-Replacement-Windows-on-Your-Historic-Home&id=2323259

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How could I do this?

There are those that are happy to build wood screens and storms for you like the company above. It’s also a service some enterprising local woodworker/contractor could learn and make available to a regional market.

Making Wood Storm Windows – The Belvedere School

Meet Your Neighbors – Tom & Amanda

Meet Tom Long & Amanda Berard… Gretta and Harvey as well.

From: Amanda is from Hayward WI, Tom is originally from San Francisco and more recently from Chippewa Falls WI.

How long in the neighborhood: 10 months, February 09′

Family: Gretta, the white coat golden-doodle looking dog and Harvey the dark haired mix are both rescue dogs they had prior to moving to Beloit. Gretta loves to run, Harvey… he likes being carried.

Occupation: Amanda works for United Health Care and telecommutes managing her team from their home office. Tom works at Kerry as a commercial & operations controller – dairy division.

For Fun: They enjoy walking and playing with Gretta and Harvey. They’re into their Roku digital player for watching TV programming over the net. And on the other end of the technology spectrum Amanda knits, and very well too. Yes we’ve told her about the fanatic knitters in the neighborhood along with the when-n-where. Tom is looking to hone his handi-man skills with various projects planned for the house.

Community Involvement: As they’re new to the community and still settling in their focus has been on getting their new home set up.

Why this neighborhood: They had looked at homes in various communities in the state line area and as far south as Rockford. By chance they drove past the home on Bushnell and saw it for sale. Prior to moving to Beloit they’d lived in a new home where they were the first owner. They were intrigued by the distinctive architectural character of the old house. They contacted the realtor that afternoon and checked out the home that evening. Following that, looking at vintage homes elsewhere regionally they chose their Bushnell St. home. Tom appreciates having a short commute to work.

Best part of living here: They really enjoy being able to walk downtown. They particularly enjoy Nikki’s because they’re open late and they tend to work late. Having the park directly across the street is very nice and they’ve enjoyed events hosted there. They enjoy taking walks through the neighborhood looking at the old houses. There is a lot to do but regret that they’ve missed a number of things they’d have like to attended but they heard about too late.

Aspirations for the neighborhood community: It would be nice if there was a dog park nearby. Tom would also like to bike to work if there was a bike route available. They enjoy the growing number downtown restaurants and look forward to more downtown development of this sort.

Meet Tom & Amanda (and possibly Gretta & Harvey): You’ll bump into Tom & Amanda down at Nikki’s, usually late. You’ll see Gretta & Harvey out early walking their people around the neighborhood.

Click over to meet LaVaughn Kunny

Cash For Caulkers

So, ok. We’ve been through the Cash for Clunkers program. Stay tuned for…

Cash For Caulkers

Or… leveraging economic stimulus funding for old house home owners.

I received the following from Adrian Fine who is a director at the Center for State and Local Policy at the National Trust. It would seem that historic home owners may be misinformed about ineligibility of storm windows for tax credit. Not surprisingly, it is usually a window replacement contractor who tells them this.

So here’s the deal….
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Question: Do storm windows/doors qualify for the $1,500 tax credit.
Answer: YES!

Despite some confusion and misleading information, storm windows and doors do qualify for the tax credit. This chart from the U.S. Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency and Energy Star clearly lists storm windows/doors as eligible products for the tax credit.

Question: Are all storm windows/doors eligible?
Answer: NO.

As stated earlier, the 2009/2010 provisions established a higher standard than in 2007 and all eligible storm windows/doors (purchased from June 1, 2009 to December 31, 2010) must have a U-value of 0.30 or lower and solar heat gain coefficient of 0.30 or lower. Here’s where the main problem lies regarding questions on eligibility. While it is common for new windows to offer specific qualifications regarding performance, it is a difficult to assess for storm windows/doors. Measuring the U-value and solar heat gain of storm windows/doors depends on the performance of the existing window in combination with a storm window, which will always be a case-by-case basis. This can only be tested after storm windows/doors are installed and will vary greatly from building to building.

While some storm window/door manufacturers are marketing their products in conjunction with the tax credit, others are not because the performance standard is difficult to substantiate for all cases. Some are listing classes of exterior windows (single pane, clear glass, double pane, low-E coating, etc.) that a product may be combined with to be eligible in specific climate zones (for a map, go to http://resourcecenter.pnl.gov/cocoon/morf/ResourceCenter/dbimages/full/973.jpg).

Question: What do I need to claim the tax credit?
Answer: Manufacturer’s Certification Statement

A Manufacturer’s Certification Statement is a signed statement from the manufacturer certifying that the product or component qualifies for the tax credit. Taxpayers must keep a copy of the certification statement for their records, but do not have to submit a copy with their tax return. Some manufacturers are providing these Certificates on their website. Other manufacturers are not, taking a more conservation approach and not issuing these certificates since it’s difficult to substantiate on a case-by-case basis. Though there are others, two storm window/door manufacturers that do provide certificates are Gorell  (http://www.gorell.com/pages/energy_tax_incentive_act.htm) and Kaufmann (http://www.kaufmannwindow.com/2009energytaxcredit.htm).

As always, please check with your tax advisor for advice.

**Also, for more information on the stimulus funding, and constantly-expanding case studies, check out the Perfect Storm webpage(s) on PreservationNation

–Adrian
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For more information visit the National Trust website > The Perfect Storm

Or contact Adrian directly at: Adrian_Fine@nthp.org

Meet Your Neighbors – LaVaughn Kunny

Meet LaVaughn Kunny

From: Finley, North Dakota (north of Fargo – it’s very much like the movie)

How long in the neighborhood: 59 yrs. Moved in with Husband Bart in 1950.

Family: Husband Bart passed nine years ago. Three grown children, daughter, daughter, son. Bart was chairman of the biology department at Beloit College.

Occupation: Retired. Taught biology at Aldrich middle school.

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Community Involvements:

• - The Arts League of Beloit – Past president
• - SLU (Society for Learning Unlimited) – Founding member and past president
• - Beloit Historical Society – volunteer
• - Atonement Lutheran Church – member

Why this neighborhood: Bart had accepted a teaching position at Beloit College. Initially they moved into a rental home on the 700 block of Park. They subsequently purchased their home on Church. They moved into the neighborhood because of home values and proximity to work. Also, having studied art and architecture in college LaVaughn loved the character of their distinctive old house.

Best part about living here: LaVaughn loves her home, her neighbors and the neighborhood/community. With her appreciation for architecture and wanting to maintain the unique character of her home, subsequent updates to the home were done with professional architect design. As they entertained frequently they enlarged both the dining room and first floor bathroom.

As for the community, the best part is the diversity she and her family have enjoyed. Her children attended Wright School, Aldrich and BMHS and are the better for having experienced diversity in their education and upbringing. She’s proud of the diverse makeup of her and her children’s friendships.

LaVaughn loves being so close to the college. There is so much made available for the broader community that there is more to do then time to take advantage, and it’s so close.  She’s particularly fond of the symphony, Wright and Logan Museums.

Being a retired teacher she enjoys the affection of many former students who still go out of their way to show her their appreciation and friendship. She has lots of stories. Ask her and you’ll get her going. 

Aspirations for the neighborhood community: LaVaughn looks forward to ever more cultural diversity in the community. She’s particularly hopeful for more active involvement from Beloit’s Hispanic community.

Meet LaVaughn: “You’ll find me at out for lunch downtown somewhere.  Stop and say hello.”

Click over to meet Amanda Berard and Tom Long

Next NPA Gathering: Mon. Dec. 7th.

• - Guest: Acting Police Chief, Norm Jacobs
• - Date: Monday Dec. 7th
• - Time: 6:00 PM
• - Location: Bushel & Peck’s (328 State Street, downtown Beloit)

About this time last year a detective from the Beloit Police Department joined us for one of our regular meetings. It turned out to be a very informative, supportive and helpful exchange. We received a lot of very positive and appreciative comments from those who attended for having hosted that exchange. Well its been a year now and we thought it would be good to get together again.

We’re very pleased that acting police chief Norm Jacobs volunteered to meet with us personally. Given tight scheduling we’ve only got him for about fifteen minutes though so get there early. Additionally, we’ll be meeting a bit earlier then usual in order to accomodate. So note the earlier 6:00 time. He’s scheduled to join us ~6:15.

We appreciate and support the hard work the Beloit Police Dept. provides for us and the challenges they face. Please join us for some direct communication with Chief Jacobs.

Pumpkins for the Park – A big hit!

Wow! The level of creativity shown in the carved pumpkins just keeps getting better each year.

We’ve some very creative folks in the community who would seem to have discovered their creative outlet through pumpkin carving. The volunteer pumpkin carvers really got into it. I don’t think the video really does justice to how cool many of them were. Guess you just had to be there. 

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The creativity seems to have been appreciated as there were hardly any pumpkins left by the end of the evening. A near sell out!

We were fortunate to have great weather and enjoyed a great turn out. Lots of neighbors and friends showed and it was a great chance to hang out and catch up with folks.

The neighbors on Church Street initiated this great event and again outdid themselves. It would not have happened though without the generous help of close friends, relatives and those too slow to duck. I’m reluctant to name names though as I know I’ll forget someone. It’s a great neighborhood though of close and caring neighbors and friends willing to share their time and effort. We raised some money for the park but it’s also just a fun group of folks to hang out with. Thanks to everyone to volunteered.

Also, thank you to our generous sponsors.

Bushel & Peck’s – It’s a great place that keeps getting better and better. Stop by some time for us.

Harris Ace Hardware – Couldn’t be more convenient and the folks there really go out of their way to help you.

Doodles – They’ve got great creativity based programs for the kids. A wonderful opportunity for our community’s kids.

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