Franklin Today

Parks Commission backs CCD concept, makes recommendation to Council

At last night's Parks Commission meeting, Citizens for Community Development (CCD) was asked to present its concept for lands surrounding Froemming Park and the Milwaukee County Sports Complex. As most of you are aware, CCD has been working on this concept for a little over a year, tweaking it per the input given by the community. In recent months, CCD's concept has gained significant momentum in light of the petition supporting its concept being submitted to the City and with more attention being given to it by other entities. Doing the presentation was myself, as CCD's President, and Mike Soto, who's on the CCD Board of Directors and whose employer, Continuum Architects, donated its time and talents to assist CCD in continuing to mold this concept for our community.

Coach Hughes to be recognized for his contributions to Saber Baseball

This Friday at 4:30pm, the high school baseball diamond will be renamed after Saber Varsity Baseball Coach Jim Hughes. Hughes has a lot to recognized for, including Saber Baseball's 2010 State Championship and being the winningest baseball coach in WIAA history. Hughes has been a tremendous asset to Saber sports, and it is great to see some recognition for his coaching abilities.

Congrats to Saber QB Lance Baretz!

Recently, news came out that Baretz received the honor of being one of 32 honorees who are named WIAA Scholar Athletes for 2011. This puts icing on the cake of a successful high school football career, which this past year saw the Franklin Sabers reach the WIAA Division II state semifinals. Baretz was also named the NOW Newspapers Player of the Year in football after recording the third-highest total yardage numbers in state history at 9,472 yards. He also threw a state-best 34 TDs this year and had 113 rushing and passing TDs over his three-year tenure as the Sabers Quarterback.

Baretz will be receiving a medallion and certificate at the WIAA Scholar Athlete awards ceremony, and will be taking back to Franklin a special plaque for the high school to display.

Again, congratulations to Lance and his achievements!

Congrats to the 6th Grade Lady Sabers!

This comes from Kelly Hooper, who posted a good recap and kudos to the team:

At the end of the Metro South season the two titans stood facing one another in the championship game. Franklin's 6th grade girls team with a Metro South Record of 9 - 0 vs New Berlin West's 6th grade girls team with an identical Metro South record of 9 - 0.

It does not always turn out this way in sports. This time of year, with the Men's and Women's NCAA tourneys right around the corner we often find ourselves rooting for the underdogs. While we enjoy watching the small schools and under staffed teams compete against the well funded established giants, there is nothing like the tension and thick stale air that surrounds a game before two dominate teams "lace 'em up". You could feel this tension Wednesday night March 2.

These two teams have played before and they know each other very well. New Berlin West won the 5th grade title last season, beating Franklin in the very first game of the season. No surprise Franklin took second. New Berlin West beat Franklin in a regular season YGSBL game this season but Franklin took revenge in the YGSBL playoffs beating New Berlin West.

Congrats Lady Sabers on a job well done. As is frequently noted, Franklin's youth sports are strong and have excellent rosters. This makes our Sabers a force to be reckoned with in any WIAA conference.

Franklin Public Schools Facility Survey posted

I know I'm a bit late on this, and I apologize. Please see below for the results of the survey many residents took related to our facilities utilized by the Franklin Public School District. This survey by no means is reflective upon any facilities controlled by the City of Franklin, which is a separate taxing authority.

School Facility Survey 2010

Congrats to our Fall Saber sports teams

With the Fall sports at an end, I'd have to say that the Franklin Sabers did a mighty fine job in representing Franklin well and boosting community pride to new highs. Here are some of their accomplishments:

FOOTBALL: The Sabers went all the way up to the semi-finals in the WIAA Division II playoffs, unfortunately losing again to Waunakee in their quest for the Division II State Championship. Kudos to Senior QB Lance Baretz, who recently received the honor of being named the 2010 NOW Player of the Year. Baretz is the 3rd overall QB to receive this award, and the 2nd from Franklin. Ben Hempel, who was in my graduating class, received the honor in 2004.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL: The Sabers made it to the State tournament for the first time in school history. The tourney was held on November 12 & 13 and included the top 8 teams from the state.  Franklin lost on their match on the 12th and were eliminated.  Marquette beat them in a good match (25-19, 25-20 and 25-21).
Additional kudos goes to Senior John Jablonowski, who was named SEC Player of the Year and also was named to the All-State team.  Senior Riley Stone was named honorable mention All-State. They have a strong nucleus of Juniors coming back, so hopefully the success continues.

BOYS SOCCER: The boys made it to 2 games in the WIAA playoffs. In their first game they beat South Division. Unfortunately, when they came up against longtime archenemy rival Oak Creek, they were unable to knock them off at Oak Creek High School. It was a tough loss for them, as they had beaten them earlier on in the regular season for the first time in many years. The outgoing seniors are as follows: Jonah Spaay, John Janicek, Andrew McCuen, Zach Guzlecki, Dan Singer, Tim Krueger, Antonino D'Amato, Matt Konz, Anthony Warner. 

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY:  Kudos to Allie Fons and our Lady Sabers cross country team. Not only did Allie win the WIAA Division I State Title, she was conference champion and broke both the conference and school records.

Thank you to the parent readers of Franklin Today who helped provide some (or most) of the information used. I have to say, 2010 has been quite a year for the Sabers, with Saber Baseball taking home the WIAA State Championship this Summer. It is what makes efforts like the multi-rec "sports park" concept at Froemming Park worthwhile. Our teams and the parents who support them bust their buns and deliver excellent seasons year after year. It's about time our students are provided with venues that are up to par with neighboring and competing schools.

The sale of Crystal Ridge is back on the radar

The Journal Sentinel reported on Saturday that in his proposed 2011 budget, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker is depending on $8 million from county land sales to make up for some expenditures the county needs to do, such as $6.6 million for renovating O'Donnell Park (the parking garage which had one of its panels fall off this summer). Of those land sales, Walker specifically mentions $3 million from the sale of Crystal Ridge and its ski hill. This number has significance, and it's $1 million less than the original $4 million figure I've been hearing the county has asked for several months ago. Here's why.

Franklin/Oak Creek game updates

For the second time this season, a Sabers game will be televised for everyone to see. The Sabers vs. Knights game will be televised on My24's "Thursday Night Lights". It begins at 7pm. Earlier this year, the Franklin/Marquette game was televised on Time Warner Cable's Sports Channel 32. I'd say it's a plus to have two games featuring the Sabers to be broadcast throughout the metropolitan area. The Saber/Knight rivalry shouldn't disappoint viewers, that's for sure!

Also, if you're going to Oak Creek for the game, remember to bring along a non-perishable food item. It's part of the "Rivals for Survival" program Franklin & Oak Creek holds each year, and all food will be donated to a local food pantry. Everyone donating will receive a raffle ticket with a chance of winning a $50 gas card.

Sabers move to 3-0 with easy victory over Muskego

The Sabers are on a roll again, and I'd like to know which team could stop their warpath. They knocked Muskego out 31-6, putting them at an amazing 92-6 over their opponents this season. This is impressive and shows that the offense and defense are both doing their jobs effectively, and the players should be proud of themselves. 

You can read more about the game itself by reading the recap on FranklinNOW. 

Next week the Sabers are at home as they face Racine Case, who lost last night to Oak Creek 33-0. The games after the Racine Case game will be the determination of how far the team will go the season, with games against rival Oak Creek and powerhouses Kenosha Tremper and Kenosha Bradford, all of which are away games. Many in Franklin will be eagerly anticipating these games because of this.

Which sports will be included in the concept for a multi-rec sports complex?

Friday will mark one month of the petition drive to support a Franklin Central Park & Sports Complex, which is proposed for the Froemming Park area along 51st Street. The people who launched the petition, with the support of Citizens for Community Development (CCD), did so with the intention of gauging community support - including youth sports organizations and Saber clubs. Right now, it stands at 312 signatures and counting. This support has also opened the window as to what residents are looking for in their support of such a complex. The comments section of the petition helped in revealing some of those needs.

Tonight, CCD will be meeting at City Hall after the Trails Committee meeting to in part discuss and finalize which sport amenities will be included in our proposal. The present conceptual site plan is just that - conceptual. It always had the ability to be modified depending on community input, which so far I'm happy to say has been very positive. Once finalized, CCD can move forward and take an even more stronger posture by turning its idea into a true, concrete proposal.

I believe that this is an exciting time to live in Franklin. Given the fact that we as a community have struggled on issues and facilities like this, CCD's concept provides a true opportunity and one where everyone can rally behind in support. CCD is a community organization where politics checks itself out at the meeting room's doorway, and where everyone's goal is to enhance and continually better our great community.