The Wisconsin Magazine; 1305

New. Treatment. It. Is not. The simple way. In which he was killed by a handful as a legislator it. Was something. That I will never forget. I'm going to be.

There. Tomorrow. You see there's a presentation of Wisconsin Public Television. Good evening I'm Dave Iverson will also spend some time tonight with politics. We're review the results of the election and hear from assembly speaker Tom Loftus about how the legislature will respond to the new Republican administration and we'll hear from a top member of the new administration to start though a health report. It is impossible to watch television these days without being bombarded with health information. Sometimes it comes in the form of commercials sometimes in the form of news reports and sometimes those stories conflict. Such is the case with osteoporosis. The main controversy concerning treatment of osteoporosis revolves around taking calcium. We have a report on that tonight called brutal facts. The reporter is Steve Jenne to say thank you. Make a.

Landing in. September was asked to approach this awareness month in Wisconsin has declared by Governor Anthony Earle the State Department of Health and Social Services produce this public service announcement to run on statewide television. No matter how young or old you are you can fight osteoporosis. Just ask your doctor. Stop osteoporosis. Lady killer. The message is not subtle. When they arrive it's the secretary of a Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services. The first time I saw it I kind of went oh I wish I had seen this before but one gets used to it. And the other thing I think is that we are trying to break through. So it's going to be something that's fairly direct and fairly sharp. Osteoporosis is a disease which results in a loss of bone mass bones become so brittle there's an increased risk of fracture in the hip spine and wrist osteoporosis affects 15 to 20 million people most of them elderly women. The numbers show that overall women with hip fractures which are a

result of osteoporosis. I think the numbers are 20 percent die within the first year 20 percent more never walk again. And 20 percent even more. I live in a nursing home. Those are pretty significant numbers. The state's public service announcement was designed to tell women to seek information on osteoporosis from their doctor. Private says the public service announcement received a lot of attention. Some good some bad. Some folks here don't like it at all. Very frankly they have written me very strong letters. They don't like the idea lady killer. They think it's putting on myths and misinformation. My initial reaction was no different than the reaction of my wife. Thought it was quite offensive. Dr. Adel Corker is head of the metabolic bone disease clinic at Frederick memorial Lutheran Hospital in Milwaukee. I think that building more fear and our public is a sax and I think it's about time instead of telling

people if you have you know you're going to be going to die tell them what can they do to prevent it from happening. The state's promotional campaign generated more discussion on a topic that already has enough confusion and misinformation. Specifically there is controversy over the role of calcium in the treatment of osteoporosis. Calcium as a treatment for osteoporosis is not effective. Dr. Hector DeLuca is with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Biochemistry and an authority on Vitamin D in bones. He points out the promotional campaigns and advertisements for calcium can be misleading to the public. I think when they start talking about preventing fractures of osteoporosis or a curing process then they're misleading the public because there just isn't any real support for the idea that extra calcium is going to do anything against this disease.

Dr. Richard Mayes is the University of Wisconsin-Madison bone density researcher takes an even stronger stand on calcium. He likens calcium to the drug lay a trail an alleged cancer cure that researchers say is worthless like Les it's well calcium is. Largely in effect a. Drug one which has been demonstrated to be ineffective. But even more than that I think it's a drug which is being you administer as well as preventing people from taking effect the therapy drug. You'll see advertisements for calcium supplements like this one have become common on television and in magazines. Again Dr. Maizes takes a hard line on the hard sell. I know the calcium supplements are pure hokum. There is no necessity it's purely a scheme to get a lot of money to the calcium factory and drug companies and I think it's disgusting because you take a look at any magazine right now every other page there is one thing. Even

some of the manufacturers who make products that happened to have calcium in using the calcium component of it as an additional advertising campaign and I think it's a bunch of nonsense is a natural part of aging. Everyone starts to lose bone at around the age of 35 increases in women however at menopause when the hormone estrogen is no longer produced. Dr. DeLuca says calcium is ineffective at this age. You have Recent evidence has shown that. Giving extra calcium. The recommended daily intake of 800 milligrams to a post menopausal woman does not prevent the loss of bone that occurs as a result of the menopause support for calcium in treating osteoporosis comes largely from the studies of one scientist. Dr. Robert Haney of Creighton University in Omaha Nebraska University of Wisconsin-Madison is Dr. Everett Smith follows Haiti's research closely. Smith believes calcium plays a role even for the post menopausal woman with post menopausal women. They require a greater level of calcium in the diet.

In 1900 for the National Institutes of Health recommended that everyone consume 1000 milligrams of calcium a day post-menopausal woman should take fifteen hundred milligrams a day. Dr. Smith is a proponent of the higher calcium intake along with exercise as a way to prevent bone loss. We've observed that those people on a higher intake lose bone less rapidly than those on the low calcium intake. But at the same time we can't forget that exercise plays an important role also. You can have a balance calcium dide intake but be at bed and you lose 1 percent of the spine or 1 percent of the heel bone per week. Dr. DeLuca claims there is no scientific research that indicates a higher calcium intake will prevent bone loss unfortunately. Even though you give that amount it's not absorbed and it's not utilized and hence it doesn't match what's lost you lose calcium from the bone anyway. In a doctor to look at says the scientific research so far indicates the best method of treatment for

women over the age of 55 who are in danger of hip fractures because of osteoporosis estrogen therapy in post menopausal women. Estrogen clearly does help prevent bone loss. Other treatments include estrogen in combination with calcium and fluoride but calcium alone has been shown to be ineffective according to Dr. Maizes because estrogen has some effect I think calcium is so in effect that it's really an amazing contradiction for anybody to come out and say that calcium is a useful agent is totally irresponsible. The problem is there is no cure and there is no proper preventive short of estrogen for the post menopausal woman. There is nothing anybody can say with confidence that an older person should take in order to prevent hip fracture which is what happens to old people. For.

Every beautiful move you may. Give your party the natural calcium and very. Well the scientific community cannot agree on the role of calcium in the treatment of osteoporosis. There is some agreement on the role of calcium in the prevention of osteoporosis. I believe the calcium is very important but I think it's much more important in that early stage where a bomb was being formed and born last has been established. Peak bone mass is reached in early years. The higher the peak bone mass the lesser the chances of severe osteoporosis later in life. It is in childhood and adolescence that adequate calcium intake is needed. Probably the most important risk factor that would predict whether you're going to have a fracture or not at age 50 is really what was your peak bone mass when you were 20 and the rate at you know roster bonus and. Calcium plays a role in bone development in early years. And most researchers agree that dairy products are the best source of calcium. We sure intended in my opinion. Still the best way to get

calcium is to get it through the neck. Dr. Corcoran other researchers say there are things one can do to lessen the risks of osteoporosis. I think that the best thing to do would be to make sure they take getting adequate calcium intake and the diet and the range of 800 to 400 milligrams a day. If they're not taking any if they're not taking any of them the calcium in milk and they don't like that I think that taking a calcium supplement won't hurt. It should be stressed that this is during the time of bone development up to the age of 35 or 40. Another thing you can do is exercise certainly exercise increases bone mass I think Dr. Sonesta viewpoint is correct. The other things one can do are not smoking not drinking alcohol. Dr. Corker believes the focus of osteoporosis education should be on younger women. He says healthy lifestyles can delay the onset of osteoporosis or prevent it altogether. But if taken out of the ordinary Aust post menopausal poses I don't really know

her calcium supplement is going to prevent her from having a bone fracture 10 years out of life. Most women are aware of osteoporosis but the point doctors Corcoran DeLuca are trying to get across is that women should not get the false impression that extra calcium can stop bone loss in later life. I think you can take extra calcium at the menopause if you want. It's just that I don't think you should delude yourself into thinking you saved yourself at this time from fracturing. And they blame advertisers to a certain degree for hyping calcium as a treatment for us to approaches and adding to the fears and the myths of the disease. Patients want something. Calcium is one such thing and I think the commercial. People are commercialized calcium have gone a step further. They're trying to sell their product and they may get it. I mean the people who sell it may actually believe in it. But as a scientist reading the literature would have to come away and say that calcium given after age 50. In large excess.

Does not necessarily do anything. A report was produced by Steve gent a sec now to the news of the week really the news of one day Tuesday November 4th Election Day across the country Democrats may have had reason to rejoice but not so in Wisconsin. Here with a quick snapshot of what happened election night is reporter Art Hackett. The administration of Governor Anthony Earle had a final peak around 9 o'clock Tuesday evening. Early returns from large cities looked good. It was all downhill from there. Won a sweet victory in waiting for an election that seemed close throughout the campaign and indeed throughout the night. It really wasn't for a wound up on the short end of a nearly 100000 vote margin. My purpose here is twofold. The first is to extend sincere congratulations to Tommy Thompson and Scott McCallum. But I don't know I don't know we've got to wish them the very very best. All of us care deeply about the state of Wisconsin I

know everyone in this room everyone who is viewing and watching us cares deeply about the state of Wisconsin and I wish them the very very best. I never expected to have this many people here as minority leader and. The next day he was governor elect. Tommy Thompson he offered his thoughts on what his election would mean to the average Wisconsin resident. The average person. I hope. Will be able to after four years say that he is better off now than he was when he first started under the Tommy Thompson administration. That his gross income is better. He has a better job. He feels better about himself about his family and about the future of his of his own destiny and that of his family. In other statewide races Bob Kasten held on to his U.S. Senate seat despite a serious challenge by Democratic candidate Ted Garvey. Cashed in spent over 3 million dollars in his quest to retain his Senate seat. He won by

only four percentage points years. The Republicans also won the attorney general's office done handily upset incumbent brands in the fall in a race that became a referendum on the fall its ethics. But despite major Republican gains in statewide offices the Democrats maintain their majority in the state Senate and Assembly. The Democrats now hold a 20 to 11 majority in the state senate a net gain of one and they hold a 54 to 45 majority in the state assembly a net gain of two. Joining me now to talk about the new administration of Governor elect Thompson and the new legislature are James Clawson who will head up Governor elect Thompson's transition team and then serve as his head of the department of it in ministration and the Democratic speaker of the assembly Tom Loftus. So Acosta let me begin with you. The Wisconsin State Journal this morning said that you are now the second most powerful person in Wisconsin government. How does that feel. I don't know if I'm the second most powerful person but I.

You know I've been involved with government for a long while I'm overwhelmed at the present moment with the variety of tasks that confront us. So I know we will address them. What will be the top agenda on the new Thompson administration agenda list he mentioned in the tape we just saw of changing the lives of Wisconsin residents in a broad way. What about the specific things that you'll try to accomplish. Well I think the things we will focus on in the budget will be the level of state spending. And how that then relates to tax levels. We will look at property taxes. And the welfare system. Not really so different to listen then Governor Rell approach four years ago is that Mr. Loftus how will things be different for you. Well things will be different for me. Obviously it's my job changes quite a bit with a Republican governor. Tommy is an old friend of mine. We worked well for six years together that's not going to change I hope. And he's a creature of the assembly which is a strange creature indeed and

they I think that will work well together. We're going to have our differences with him but the issues of welfare reform property tax relief spending are all going to be there. I think there's going to be a Democratic position on welfare reform a Democratic position on property tax relief. And where we differ with the governor will articulate those positions. What about some of the old causes that were important to the governor Earl things like comparable worth is that dead now. Well they say if you want to be immortal you should be reincarnated as a bill in the state legislature they never die. I don't know if the comparable worth is dead and I certainly have my doubts whether marital property will be changed at all do you think Governor Thompson when he takes office in January will be able to redirect those kinds of initiatives that were prevalent in the early administration Mr. Consul. I think yes I think the governor by virtue of being the the. Son for the leader of the state can redirect many of those things.

Yes but you're facing strong Democratic opposition in both houses. I don't know if I would agree that there is there is necessarily opposition the fact that there is a Democrat majority in both Houses that is a fact. But that does not mean the legislature is opposed. To the proposals that will be coming forth you mention that you and Governor like Thompson are both creatures of the lie just like you. You are as well Mr. class or as as a as a lobbyist for many years you probably know the legislative process as well as anyone. Can you work together despite wide ideological differences. Well before I want into the private sector spend a couple of years working on legislative staff area and was a staff director for the Republicans in the Senate. And so while I don't think I could stretch it to say I'm a creature of the Senate I do have a Senate orientation. I think that balances a little bit and clearly the legislative process is one of proposing Connor proposing compromising. I don't think it's the governor elect's nature nor is it

mine to intentionally confrontationist share that assessment would I. I think Tommy is more of a compromiser than people noticed. Quite frankly you know he was supposed to be Dr. No. We never mention when he was Mr. Yes. But again it is the Democrats. We have had Senator Coburn has had experience with another Republican governor lead Dreyfus. I think we're going to do it different this time will do it better. I think that Tommy knows government he knows what he wants to leave Dreyfus was always a moving target. Democrats were oftentimes afraid of Dreyfus because of his immense popularity and be afraid of Tommy Thompson. No. What about some of the you know the results really from this election like your analysis of both of that it was a Democratic night in many ways across the country Democratic night in Wisconsin in terms of the two houses and yet this rejection of Governor Earl why did that happen to you.

Well Wisconsin Democrats had had some bad luck in the wrong election. Bronson the fall it's trouble with the ethics situation the degenerative race of the Guardian cast and where the issue became the race itself rather than the issues. And Governor Earl's inability I think to get across to his pluses all led to the fact that Wisconsin didn't participate in what was a Democratic night throughout this nation. I was. Made me sick to see Republican senators falling like bowling pins all over the nation and us not following suit I thought that was the wrong thing to do but. We missed a big chance but it showed that the Democratic Party is in good shape I think in the legislative level. And from my point of view we look to be in good shape two years from now and going into the presidential election and going into reapportionment class or your thoughts on what 1086 really meant.

I think clearly Wisconsin on a state election basis was a counter-trend to much of the country. The Democrats success in the local legislative races. I think the legislative races typically will be a local issue. And those constant voters. I think all of us who've watched elections or been involved over the years are markedly independent in their ability to move back and forth and make their decisions they apart from all the polls and you contract and do this and that. The voters in Wisconsin I think know what they want to do. And do it. I think it shows really that both parties are strong. We did re-elect a Republican senator. We did elect. An on seat. We elected a Republican governor and defeated a Democratic governor. And an attorney general. Both parties are strong. With that we must close one quick question let me be the first person to ask you you're going to run for governor in 1990. Well it's almost an obligation because it's coming from the assembly that you have to do that

time leftist dance class or thank you. We'll close out our election coverage now and let our satirist Joe McNally have the last word on campaign 86. It's the same after every election day. Life just doesn't seem worth a plug nickel anymore. We've been worked into a frenzy. We just had teeming hordes of candidates scampering around underfoot. We've been battered by a barrage of commercials that make TV Linny look like a quiet wreck loose and suddenly it's all over. The abrupt change can be a terrible shock to the central nervous system.

Many people become disoriented. They wander aimlessly babbling incoherently. And that's just Tommy Thompson Bob Cassin those other guys who were elected. We need support services for people who really believe all the things that were said during the campaign. Many of these people are terrified. They're afraid to park at Milwaukee County Stadium. They think I'm flying. Prison is going to drop out of the sky on their heads. Everyone is still hopelessly confused over with professional football player support which Senate candidate should at least divide up into the shirts and skins so he could tell them apart. Everybody complains about the negative campaigning but it's actually a healthy emotional release without all the public venom spewing about. People have to go back to abusing each other. But the election is over now. Somehow we have to put our lives together and go on.

It won't be easy. We're facing one day of reality at a time but there really is life after Election Day. It just may not be intelligent life. Still to come in the magazine the lower Wisconsin stretching 92 miles from Perth to Sark to the Mississippi. A controversial plan would restrict development on the lower Wisconsin by turning it into a state forest. The story of the lower Wisconsin. Still to come on the magazine. This year marks the 20th anniversary of NOW the National Organization of Women. It is an anniversary that is especially significant to Wisconsin since women here played a major role in the formation of now one individual who helped shape the organization's development is Judy Goldsmith of two rivers. Until last year she was president of NOW and she is also the

subject of this profile now and then produced by Carole Larson. And Judy is the most extraordinary feminist leader it has ever been my privilege to know and would like to introduce you to Goldsmith. People called it a feminist manifesto a celebration of a 20 year existence of the National Organization for Women. Its victories and those from Wisconsin who came together to fight for women's rights. It is also that sense of connection to a considerable extent that motivates our activism because we feel a responsibility to our communities and to the people who make up those communities. We take action. This was not however an afternoon for activism but for socializing or getting reacquainted and for reminiscing about 20 years on the front lines of feminism was a sub rosa or.

Lawyer. Or at her house and she would say. That. I was at the center. As she worked in the justice. Is right there on campus was our Satinder. That's the. Thing. I wanted to read you the inscription on a plaque they were giving each of our founders it says and this was also a day for honoring our founders. Seven of whom were among the first twenty eight to 20 years ago sat in a Washington hotel room and decided it was time for a national organization Way to represent women and every. One of us. There. Were. Black. But the special honoree of the day was Judy Goldsmith who until last year was the president of NOW. The man is going to hand to my laptop. Frankly we give a lot of lip service to our children and to families but we get precious little real support to them in Wisconsin.

Goldsmith is still considered now as a leading lady at a press conference. It is her views that take center stage whether on aid to dependent children equitable pay or the bombing of abortion clinics the government has continued to drag its feet and taking any kind of action to effectively stop. What has been nothing less than domestic terrorism and aimed at women. Goldsmith is considered not only a leader of the past but perhaps of the future as she moans over the idea of returning to her home into rivers and running for Congress. And when it is I'm I'm not absolutely certain either. But I'm 47 and I have several good years in me yet. And. So I'm you know it's still looking at it as a possibility. The truth is Goldsmith has been a part of now two of them as president for years been fighting for the basic issues of the women's movement equal job opportunities abortion

rights and for the ill fated Equal Rights Amendment. A fight that has left many feeling defeated and frustrated. For something so important to women and the protection of women's constitutional rights. The cynical way in which they were was killed by a handful of Neanderthal legislators was something that that I will never forget and and I think probably will never forgive. Goldsmith the lone activism along with being out of the limelight has given her time to assess the past. I think that we are really at a point of re-evaluation. We may have moderated some behavior and dealt with some of the most visible manifestations of discrimination but we haven't ended discrimination. We're still working at that. We're still committed to ending discrimination but the achievement of that final victory is still a very long way down the road. I've thought a great deal over the past year about values and

principles and what we stand for as feminists. Goldsmith wrote is now the lecture circuit speaking to groups around the nation and at present she is also helping with the production of a new PBS program discussing national issues and her activities today follow her longstanding reputation as a coalition builder trying to bring people together to fight for their mutual interests. We are people who traditionally don't have the big bankrolls that can command the attention of the system and we have traditionally been closed out of the councils of power where decisions are made that affect all of our lives. All we have. Is our numbers and the determination to use those numbers effectively to achieve our goals. It is estimated by the Census Bureau that eight million more women than men will vote in November. We can make the difference and we intend to move. And now did accomplish one of their major goals to put a woman on the presidential ballot backed by a formidable coalition of women and other civil rights groups. The 1984

ballot Kerry Geraldine Ferraro as a vice presidential candidate. The ground has been broken or as they say the image Jerry was like to use was the door has been opened and it can't be closed again. Now it will only be commented upon if women are not a part of the process. Much has been accomplished. Now do they help make women part of the political process. We are now members once sought out politicians to support women's issues. The politicians today come to now for help with their campaign. I think that one of the things we probably would have done if we had known 15 years ago what we know now is gotten involved earlier in the political process. Certainly a men's record has not been so sterling and so flawless that we could not look to at least equal quality from women political figures. So we will most certainly be having women vice presidential and presidential candidates from now on. I think its you know

it will probably be a little slower going for presidential candidates will be the last. The last barrier to the political pundits and analysts tell us that the one person it is pure madness to attack today is Ronald Reagan. Well I can't help it. It's more than others spend a lot of time thinking about presidential barriers and how the country's present leader has stalled many feminist initiatives and tried to divide the powerful coalitions. Goldsmith helped to create. We must guard against the ongoing attempts of the Reagan right wing forces to splinter off of the classic divide and conquer tactics to split us off from our natural allies. The biggest division in the National Organization for Women was not caused by outside politics but by internal politics. In July of 1985 in New Orleans the national now convention became a

battleground between incumbent Goldsmith and another past president Ellie Smeal who thought Goldsmith spent too much time in political corridors and not enough marching in the streets to do is change the direction of the movement we want frankly to be out there very visible. In the end Ellie Smeal the marcher won a narrow victory over Julie Goldsmith the coalition builder of battle which left the candidates weary the members divided and the future of the organization uncertain. There are a bunch of feisty feminists. It's not uncommon that we disagree. We have done that periodically over the years sometimes it has been more disruptive of the organization's work sometimes the work of the organisation whether it is done in fact by one organisation inside of it or outside. It is work that is going to continue because it is an unfinished agenda. We have seen the women in our communities chronically and systematically underemployed and underpaid trying desperately to support

their families with some semblance of dignity. We have seen the women suffer sexual harassment. The feminist agenda continues. But whether the present National Organization for Women will revive enough to again lead those fights remains uncertain. For the Wisconsin feminists. This celebration turned into an affirmation that regardless of what group leads the fight for equal rights and their role in that fight is not over. And this is yet another variation of the old refrain. The women's movement is dead isn't it. Well no actually it isn't. When will they learn that no struggle is over and while need exists and care and people see that need. I love you and I thank you. I was. Thanking you if you would like to comment on this week's

program. Write to the Wisconsin magazine a 21 University Avenue of Madison Wisconsin 5 3 7 0 6 pool. The Wisconsin River the Department of Natural Resources has offered one plan for its future it creates a state forest that stretches along the river from Prairie du Sac to the Mississippi. The state forest would be divided roughly into thirds allowing for a variety of recreational uses. We'll talk about the plan and some of the concerns that people have about it in a moment but first this essay on the river itself. The lower Wisconsin written by Mark Weller and narrated by Joanne Garrett A. The lower Wisconsin River the place where Blue Water is paralleled only by blue sky. A place where earth and river combine to make a perfect picture. A place that is as much Geographic oddity as it is a masterpiece.

This is the river of Joliet when Mark used to search for the Mississippi it is also the river awaits the former secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in 1888 he wrote before us the dark and treacherous river with its shallows and its mysterious dams beyond their great stretches of sand extrude with the forest and the rain. As a generation it's more a historical accident than planned execution. The response is relatively undisturbed. It is still free to roam. Here today there are two more but always flowing by natures rather than man's. Not many rivers get a second chance to stay wild and natural. Yet the word

Wisconsin is one of the fortunate. The Department of Natural Resources is developing a plan that will protect and preserve the river buffer it from its half million visitors buffer it also from economic development. Create a state forest covering 71000. Sconce I am very. Disturbed stretches some water. And joining me now to talk about that plan is Phil Roberts who serves on the Citizens Advisory Committee a group that is working with the DNR to develop the plan. And also Bob blank who represents a group called Friends of the lower Wisconsin. Mr. Roberts you have lived your life along the Wisconsin River the one thing everyone agrees on is that it's a special place and ought to be preserved. But what bothers you about the direction that the plant is currently taking.

My big concern right now is that I'm in the middle of the top third segment and that's that segment from Prairie du Sac to spring green correct. In a Reno is right in the middle of it and that is the one that's going to be the commercial one. It's going to be too many people. So to review the components of the plan brief of the ideas let's keep it more developed in the upper third of the lower river have a moderate use between spring green and about basketball and then more pristine from basketball down to the Mississippi River. And you're worried that it's just going to clog everything up in that upper third correct. How do you respond to that. Well I'd say that the hope of the plan is that we don't see any increased use on the upper section. The idea is just try to. Stabilize things and what we're seeing every year seems to be an increased use. Is that realistic. I mean it seems to me Mr. Roberts has it has it has a point that if we if we try to keep the other part you know pure then that upper third is going to be that much more clogged would it not. Well the idea behind a plan is to as I say stabilize things as much as possible and

by dealing with some of the land use issues to try to decrease the use of the whole the whole river or at least stabilize it. Mr. Roberts What would you what would you prefer to see would you like to just let things go as they are or what is the middle ground between a totally laissez faire sort of approach to all of this and the proposal as it now sits. I guess I would like to see a bit on the committee. Talk to her told him play ideas I would like to see him leave it the way it is because what goes around comes around and it's not repeat our canoe people are users to know is starting to level off and go don't. I would like to see the DNR come out and improve law enforcement on litter. I'd like to see the DNR improve launches. I'd like to see the DNR improve toilet facilities and then look into this plan like Bob is Ted. I agree we need a plan down the road but I'm not qualified to look down the road that far.

So you'd rather just see how things go for a while. What about that why not let things float and I think I think that we really have to think now about the future because there's a tendency to let long term planning slip away. You get he get caught up in the year to year and the 5 year issues and you don't think long enough in advance and and you run into some of the cumulative effects of this sort of activity. This is a long process in itself. I mean you're there is an advisory group there's talk back and forth and it goes before the DNR so we're by no means set in all this. Can you work together Traditionally there's there's a conflict between environmentalists on the one side developers on the other you two represent somewhat different views can you work together so that there is a plan that works for for all of southern Wisconsin. Well I hope so. I think I think the citizens advisory committee to work has been. Has been showing that we can work together there are different perspectives on that committee and I think the DNR is attempting to get those perspectives so I think it is possible and it's working. And Mr. Robert your view on that. Definitely. I think we can work together and I think we can work together better know when we've got a new governor coming in

definitely I think that I can work with him better than I could at the old one. All right we'll let it go at that. Thank you for joining us this evening Mr. Roberts and Mr. Lincoln's views on the Wisconsin River. Now for one of the state's most famous 11 year olds Sherry Lynn beaters a key like any kid Sherry listens to popular music but she is also a performer a classical pianist who's been heard on the radio all the way from Milwaukee to Moscow playing for peace is the name of our story. It was produced by reporter Rick Rockwell. This is where Sherry Lynn Peters said he thrives in front of an audience on this day she's playing at her elementary school in the South Milwaukee suburb of St. Francis. Plays its her song the song. We can walk in peace. It's just one of the songs she's written but it's the song that she performs more than any other in public.

Last. Year. Was playing her song again as a welcome to Mikael tour today. An official from Radio Moscow tour a tutor visited Cherie school partially as a salute to the girl who captured the ear of Mikhail Gorbachev with the peaceful message in her music. Cherie is really talented and very gifted. Her songs became very popular in the Soviet Union very song which you've just heard. Cherie song would never have achieved that popularity if she hadn't sent a tape of it to Mikhail Gorbachev over a year ago. Ironically sherry and her song have gained wider recognition in the Soviet Union than in the US. But her accomplishments have been noticed by Wisconsin newspapers.

She's also won a number of competitions for her performing and composing including the International Copeland competition where she met the awards legendary namesake. The thing that I like about being on show things is that people if they think about problem will have people think about it. So it's just a way of getting your message across. Sherry's parents Tom and Judy beaters say their daughter's been taken with the piano since she was three little songs. The next day she come back and play the same little song and maybe add something to it. Sherry began playing on this toy piano that still sits in her room. I am a little bit of this and that. In eight years Sherry has graduated from a toy piano to the grand piano at the

Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee. So here again you got to keep your hands stretched out for these arpeggios because you can have your hand all clustered together and then figure out OK at the conservatory Sherrie studies piano under Elaine bliss. She's really very much a little girl and she's a joy and she pulls things sometimes on stage.

There was a song without words and she was playing it for a very elite. Group of people. They all know it. I'm sure you know by now what. And she's in the middle of the song improvised and put her own version in. Musical stunts are no problem for Cherie. It's not hard to believe she can carry them off with ease when she's explained her deceptively simple method for composing. Experts know that she has a natural talent for hearing tunes and transposing them into music. What makes them impressive is the fact that they have a structure. Her composition is they have a form that makes sense a real musical form that makes sense. Modulations that makes sense and so forth when she doesn't even understand what she's doing. She doesn't even understand how these modulations came

about or even what a modulation is particularly that sort of thing. Sherrie Have you had any chance to do any writing. Any composing. The last couple of weeks. Like your computer. How did you do that. Wasn't time. Discouraged. Because. But this young composer has been known to spin out her new tunes at eccentric hours like 2:00 in the morning. It's all part of her parents formula again a deceptively simple formula for keeping her interested in music. You'll be watching every movie and she'll just get up and we'll play the piano. And. We just if. We just. Encourage her so I would be foolish for to say don't play it. Sherry definitely believes in keeping her music playful So she faces two hours of

practice a day. She keeps it lively by jazzing up the pauses in the music. Sherry's talents have made her a local celebrity. The summer she rode in the Rocky city of festivals parade Sherri the little composer for the Francis response and has received worldwide attention for her song a piece that was acknowledged by Soviet leader Gorbachev. Boy that was an exciting moment for her and Barbara Playboy great directors that Cherie really tells the great story what it's all about that we can all walk in peace. At our school Sherry's picture hangs prominently in the trophy case eclipsing the athletic awards. Even here her status means sometimes she has to put up with the indignities of crowds and television cameras in what. Was. The word I want to give. You a once in a bit but for all the glory she's gathered at such a young age. Cherie seems unaffected. And mindfulness.

And. I always. Tell them. Hey wait. She also has a casual attitude about some of the people she's met because of her fame. The list includes Liberace governor Tony Ural and a host of others. It's Kissinger and Winkler that's made a lot of people and they're very nice too. But the word that best describes how Sherry sees her childhood stardom is neat. At least that's how she likes to describe her experience her music and just about everything else. I think it's an instrument and I just. Like the way it sounds and like. I like. Everything about the piano. A composer like Bach he writes to melodies at the same time sometimes. And that's I think that's pretty neat when does that when you write music I think it's neat because you get to write anything you want and you get to choose what you want and you don't have to write a certain thing and what does she

think about the record albums Mikhail Gorbachev's center and gratitude for her piece song. You can guess the answer. I think it's real. What's neat about it. Well I like doing like this. I like. I like everything about WTMJ Radio. Oh radio. It's me Sherry Sherry's popularity in the Soviet Union is carried on via radio shows taped at WTMJ Radio in Milwaukee. I'd like to thank you for radio but it's too it really turned out great. We are all becoming friends now. I was so happy to hear from my friends in Russia again on the radio Sherry sounds like the late Samantha Smith another girl who promoted peace with another Soviet leader. If we try we can join all the children in both our countries in friendship. We are free to go that the Soviets are using your daughter for propaganda games. I don't think.

She has a pen pal there that is the daughter of the head of Radio Moscow and the two of them write love letters to each other so I don't. I don't think so. Mikhail Tierra to Radio Moscow see Sherry's efforts contributing to world peace and I am really happy here that children know our peace force. But I'm sure their children can do a lot because children can create an atmosphere and probably in some cases can accomplish what adults may not accomplish at least for a given moment. We don't. Tell Sherie to. You know tell him to stop making bombs or whatever. We don't get into that. That came from her heart. It's just a friendship right. We just wanted a friendship on. That step. Her. Friendship is what brought Mikhail Tira tutor to Sherie school in the wake of Reykjavik. His gesture

was all the more meaningful. The paradox of our time isn't that our two countries can annihilate the world. If they are if they are part. But if they go together they can create fantastic saying. It also holds fantastic promise are the hopes and dreams of this 11 year old girl. By appearances another freshly scrubbed all-American kid full of cuteness and charm. But inside she set important goals for herself to meet goals with an amazingly mature outlook. From a story about peace we will turn now to this topic of Veteran's Day which is next Tuesday Joining me to do that now is Tom Miller who directs the Wisconsin Vietnam Veterans Memorial Project.

Mr. Miller we just saw a story about a child who in her own way is trying to to to bring about a better understanding in our world and in a sense I suppose if I'm not stretching it too much. Your efforts to build a memorial to Wisconsin's Vietnam veterans really is part of that same effort. Oil it's putting a little bit a little bit heavy but we like to think that we're going are going to do a job to help veterans Yes we there are so many memorials there. There is the one of course the most famous of all to the Vietnam veterans in Washington why build another then why why build one in north central Wisconsin. The veteran of Wisconsin is about a thousand a little over a thousand miles away from Washington D.C. on the average to get to Washington D.C. is sometimes a financial burden for him so we want to make it more convenient. And what do you help. If I go up to the near Neil's Ville Wisconsin some years from now and look at this memorial that you're now trying to raise the funds to build. What do you hope happens to me happens to the guy next door happens to anyone who

sees that. I hope you bring your children for one thing because that will be something that the project is something we consider the child very deeply and we hope to have it as an educational tool where we will show what the veteran did in Vietnam or the horrors of Vietnam and get them out of the glorious job that people think it was that wasn't glorious it was very very death. Death taking were there as a veteran and for most Vietnam veterans it still seems an experience that's very current you know that's that's right here. Is that true for you in. Is it something that is still so much a part of your own life. Well it's that it always will be. It's probably your most important time in your life. You're shooting the people people are shooting at you it's death in your hand or if you stick your head up it's death to you. So it is very important. Yes. One thing that often comes up about when talking about Vietnam veterans in particular is the hard

time that many have have or at least that the media makes out that many veterans have had is part of your message an attempt to to also. I don't know provide a realistic way to view Vietnam veterans to realize the contributions that they made and what they went through and to realize that they're not all necessarily having traumatic problems Year problems that the veterans have it's probably only with about 5 percent of the veterans if that. The other 95 percent of the veterans 90 percent of them you don't even know they are veterans. Five percent similar to myself Let it be known that we are active and we are trying to help all the veterans I'm told but it's only about five percent that are having problems maybe a little bit more for those who would like to contribute to your efforts to build a Wisconsin Vietnam Veterans Memorial how can they participate what they did. We'd appreciate it for them and their children and their grandchildren. They can send their donations to the bank Prosek Wisconsin.

I believe it's 5 3 5 8 3 and just earmarked as a contribution to the GMP. OK. Tom Miller thank you. Good like you and Happy Veterans Day look forward to doing it again. All right. That is our report for this first week in November. Now here's a look at what we will have a week from tonight on the Wisconsin magazine. I'm Dave Iverson. Have a goodly time in the Wisconsin magazine producer jointure travels back in time to the beginning of the interstate which is 30 years old this year. Today we're dedicating what to me appeared to be an isolated section. Of the greatest this great interstate. And we're looking forward to. Next year when we win the section will be a link to drink and of course to Chicago. And on that same program we feel that the public attempts to fix this within that area should be very well informed. The force is very heavy and rough for me. Producer Rick Rockwell it's a tough subject being a tough problem. We see the

rock n roll crowd at Alpine Valley next time on the Wisconsin magazine.