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Hello and welcome to In Wisconsin.
I'm Patty Low.
Tonight we have a show full of people and their passions.
We'll introduce you to a man whose passion is
pasta, lots of pasta.
We'll visit a woman in Door County who gives safe
haven to hundreds of injured and abandoned animals.
And in Chateque, the music of Babe McCarty, who has
been tickling the Iveries for nearly eight decades.
But first, the political fire continues to rage at the
state capital over the right to carry concealed weapons.
For one Milwaukee doctor, however, guns aren't a
political issue.
They're a public health issue.
Dr. Steve Hargarden is working passionately to reduce
the number of gun-related injuries he has to patch
up in the emergency room.
Jerry Huffman first caught up with Dr.
Hargarden a few months ago.
Pulling a trigger sets off a collision force between
technology and physics.
In a split second, the gunpowder explodes and a
bullet slams into the target.
A slow motion blink of an eye that doesn't do justice to a
single shot's devastating power.
It has velocity, it has a mass, and that translates into force.
Dr. Steve Hargarden has fought hundreds of times as the
chief of emergency medicine at a Milwaukee hospital.
They just held up his crash to pilot only.
Hargarden's also on the front line of a fundamental
change in American medicine.
He wants a national reporting system for gun injuries.
So the natural question is, what kind of a gun?
Where did the gun come from?
How is it distributed?
Is that helpful to know that
could conceivably help us address this problem?
The problem is the estimated 30,000 gun deaths according
to the Medical College of Wisconsin that occur
in the US every year.
Currently, many agencies track gun injuries, but
from a narrow perspective.
The police investigate crimes that involve a shooting, but
if you get shot in a hunting accident, it's a DNR issue.
The end result?
A patchwork of reports that are
difficult to piece together.
All these are operating in occurring in these
segments. It's fragmented.
We want to pull it together.
In public health tools help you pull it together
so that we can learn by comparisons and contrasts.
We can learn by combining and looking at high risk groups.
Great, why don't you sit up?
And once the information is collected, hard-garden
argues it can be translated into smarter public policy.
The better our understanding of firearm-related deaths and
intentional injuries, the better the multitude of agencies
and community groups are able to think through strategies
to reduce these events.
That's right.
Why don't you lie down now?
Listen to your heart.
Collecting information is not particularly controversial, but
what does lead to controversy is how the information is used.
Some pro-gun supporters argue hard-garden is really on a
campaign to get rid of guns.
I'm anti-death.
I'm anti-injury.
To say I'm anti-gun.
It's like I'm against car crashes.
I want to see fewer car crashes.
I mean I'm anti-car.
That doesn't make any sense.
Your heart's pretty good?
Yeah. I'm all heart.
But there are few more politically explosive
issues than gun control.
Representative Dwayne John's Rudav Eastman is an avid
sportsman and worries the line between research and
politics is getting blurry.
I just think that the knowledge is there.
The dad is there.
If somebody wants to put it in a useful
fashion, they can do that.
But I know the reach out there is to just practically
get rid of handguns because let's face that.
Most of the injuries are with handguns.
John's Rudav is right.
Our Gartons research at the Fire
Arm Injury Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin
points to a dangerous trend in handgun injuries.
Handguns are the most common weapon in all
Wisconsin homicides.
94% of all juvenile homicides are with a handgun and Fire
Arm injuries are expensive.
$22,000 on average per shooting.
If you drop the gun it's loaded.
You don't want it to go off.
Hargarton works with a small team of lawyers and analysts
and is already tracking what information they can obtain.
One conclusion, you can cut the number of gun injuries
by making a smarter gun.
If you don't have this grip safety down, you
can't pull the trigger.
Grip safeties aren't new, but Hargarton argues they could
be added to every weapon.
Same for gun locks, without the combination, this
rifle can't be fired.
When you talk about high tech, you're talking about
relatively low tech high-tech.
This is very, very simple mechanical safety
features that I said had been around for decades.
Around, but not always used, and that frustrates Hargarton.
It's predictable that criminals will steal firearms.
If we can affect the design of that product to reduce
the criminals' usage of that product for a bad thing,
that would be in a step in the right direction that
everyone would agree is a good thing to have happen.
Well, not everyone.
For target shooting, I'd like to have all of the bullets
in this tendering at 25 yards.
Jim Fendryt is the head of a pro-gun lobbying group.
He says smart guns are little more than an illusion of safety.
But the one thing to remember is that this firearm, after
they finally developed some type of smart gun technology,
will first be this firearm.
The technology will then be added on, which means
that it could be removed.
A kid with a few small tools would be able to take the
technology out of the gun, and then you'd still have the basic
firearm, which would work.
Fendry fears what he calls the inevitable politicizing
of Hargarton's data.
Instead of drafting another gun control law, Fendry
says, try a new approach.
Maybe it has to start with the families.
Maybe it has to start with society saying,
we've had enough of this, and we're not going to allow
this to happen in our community anymore, and we're going to
take care of it right locally.
Hargarton would probably agree gun injuries are a family issue,
since most shootings involve people who know each other,
and the ultimate tab, society, not families, will pay.
We're talking of thousands and thousands of dollars
for the medical care.
You talk about the time and effort that the law
enforcement agency makes to investigate this event.
Thousands of dollars to bring that, that case to
some reasonable closure, then you're talking about
the criminal justice system affecting the prosecution,
and you've got tens of thousands of dollars invested in that.
We prosecute the perpetrator in the case of a homicide,
and they're sent to prison, and we know the costs of
that are rising considerably.
Costs that would be lower, Hargarton argues, with a
national gun injury database.
Information that could be used to develop better gun policies,
and that policy eventually could mean fewer injuries.
A theory that will be tested this year, as part of a national
pilot program.
A program started in part by one ER doctor
at one hospital in Wisconsin.
The work of Dr.
Steve Hargarton and the firearm injury center
has led in part to the CDC creating a national violent
death reporting system.
The system is now fully implemented in 13 states,
including Wisconsin.
Hargarton and his colleagues hope the
system will eventually receive enough federal funding to extend
to the rest of the country.
One of the nice things about working on in Wisconsin is that
we get to meet all sorts of different people from all over
the state, and it's our pleasure to introduce them to each week.
This week, our introductions include Peter Robertson
of Madison.
Reporter Andy Seltz discovered
Peter's passion is pasta.
Inside, Peter Robertson's pasta shop on Madison's release sheet,
Tortellini is gently folded, Roteini is doing the twist, and
LaZania is carefully layered.
This is a Feb.
Cheney Day.
Remember those little playdoll cranking where
the hair comes out the top of the same principle.
But the big project today is a favorite.
Yukon Gold Potato, Gorgonzola's
stuffed red pepper ravioli.
The company is called RP's pasta after Peter Robertson's
initials reversed, because PR's pasta didn't sound quite right.
Not that he doesn't appreciate public relations, after
all, his rooftop fork is a neighborhood icon.
The fork is a motif.
It's been on the roof of the building
here for many, many years.
It may all seem a bit theatrical, but Robertson's
love of pasta came while working as a stage carpenter on a
dance company tour of Italy.
I was the American who come walking in and always had at
least two pasta dishes with every meal, including the any
pasta and then the second plate.
I just love pasta, and that stuck with me.
It stuck with him when he landed a job here at Electronic
Theater Controls in Middleton.
Pasta became his passionate hobby, and when a local
restaurant owner tried it, he wanted a whole bunch.
I used the classic process, a little clamp down, you know,
atlas roller on the table, and so I went to his kitchen,
and I clamped it on the table.
He needed 80 pounds that week, and I started rolling it out,
and I got 20 pounds into it, and I said, "I can't do this.
I need a real machine that will actually make pasta for you."
He found this one for 6,000 bucks.
Since his workplace had a forklift and 220 amp service,
he had it shipped there.
I would make pasta during lunch break just to practice.
Didn't people think that was sort of odd?
Oh yeah, everybody thought it was odd.
I thought it was odd.
It was kind of like, "What are you doing?"
That machine now decorates R.P.'s retail space,
since Robertson quit his job to realize his dream
of running a pasta shop.
I just kept on envisioning the other fresh pasta shops that
I had seen in Italy, and they make it, and they sell it.
Right there out of the storefront.
It's one of the best parts of this whole job.
Getting to see people.
The retail space doesn't really do much business, so
Robertson delivers his fresh pasta to the groceries,
and he also makes a lot of special orders for restaurants.
Like his favorite, Yukon Gold Potato and Gorgonzola that Yola.
I love that stuff.
But we'll soon learn that love alone does not make a ravioli.
The jumbo ravioli is probably the most temperamental
thing that we make.
It's an awful lot of filling for a smaller amount of pasta.
When I started a business, I enjoyed making pasta.
Everything needs a little adjustment.
What I didn't know was that my mechanical engineering
background was going to completely come into play
in fixing all the equipment.
I got a little bit temperamental, and then
I got a little bit messy.
Once it gets messy and temperamental, you got to
go back to the beginning.
Clean it off, start again.
It's really, it's ugly head at this moment.
So how do you feel about owning your own business in time?
One of the things that I really learned in theater
is that, you know, the show must go on, and that is true.
And the same is with running a business.
And so it's on the show.
At last, the ravioli is ready for its close-up.
Just another workday for Peter Robertson, the
Impressario of Pasta.
From the Impressario of Pasta, we move now to a woman
who estimates she spends $65,000 a year on groceries.
And that's just for her animals.
Rory Walter runs all creatures home for animals in Door County.
It's a place where unwanted and abandoned
animals are given refuge.
It's just another day for Rory Walter.
First, she fills her aging suburban with dogs.
Then, she stops by the grocery store for their breakfast.
Then, after throwing the food on top of the van, she heads
home to feed her animals.
About 300 of them.
Okay, you guys, we need you right here.
Of course, ponies, dockies, mules, llamas, pigs, sheep
goats, a cow, cats and dogs.
Unwanted and abandoned animals began to appear at Walter's
door about 20 years ago, when word got out that
she never turns one away.
The most common animal I get is, say, an eight-year-old
dog or an older cat.
And they say things like, "We just don't have time."
Some of the animals had been mistreated.
One of the safer narratives kept in a basement in Chicago
because the guy got a girlfriend and the girlfriend
didn't like the dogs.
Others had simply been abandoned.
But that's the most common is older animals.
When I've found the master's or they've been brought
to the streets and they might have a growth on them.
So people think, "Oh, that's money.
You know, it'll help the problem.
It'll help the decisions coming up."
"Mommy!" Today, dogs outnumber the other
animals in her clan of castoffs.
There are so many dogs it seems impossible to
keep an accurate count.
129. I usually have, you know, I
do worm them every six months and then when I go, "Oops, I
got a few more than I thought."
She named her place "All Creatures Home" because she
says it's like a retirement home for these animals.
Animals the humane society is unlikely to adopt out,
the sick and the elderly.
Everybody's still welcome, you know, but it's like
animals with special needs that can make it happily.
They get all their health needs met.
But it's kind of nice because people know that they're
here to live their lives out.
Unless somebody who can continue the healing
process wants to adopt them.
The biggest challenge for Walter is money.
She relies on donations to cover all her costs.
She estimates that her food bill costs $65,000 a year.
And with elderly animals, the medical fees are staggering.
One dog had $2,500 for the first three months of
treatment for lung infection.
The researchers this winter that were over 3,000 for
dogs alone, there were 2,000 over 2,000 for cats.
She has such a way with that.
We think she's a modern doctor, do little.
Dr. Jennifer Jasper is one of Walter's many supporters.
She stopped by on her day off.
She's always amazed us.
She knows everything about every animal and she has so
many dogs and other animals too.
She knows exactly what's going on with every animal.
You know, it seems to be kind of divided.
There are those people who love her and are very
impressed with what she does.
We're included in that group.
And then there's another group that has a lot of
misperceptions about her.
They think maybe she's crazy to live up here with
all these animals away from the rest of the world.
And I think they don't understand how much
she cares for them.
By some people's measure, Rory Walter could be
counted among the crazy.
She lives in an insulated room in the barn, partly
to save money and partly to be close to the animals.
And because she's their sole caretaker, she never leaves
home without a van full of dogs.
Animals she feels are too new to the home or too
needy to be left behind.
People say, "Boy, you've given this up and I can't
think of what I've given up.
I really don't."
It's just wonderful.
I live in the barn with
her entered animals.
I have to remember that that's not your average American home.
But every day is just great.
Very few people would be willing to dedicate
their lives to animals.
But Walter says there's plenty of payback.
There's so many neat things that happen here where you see them
grow and get better and heal.
And their coats come back and they start to trust again.
You might have them for six months and all of a sudden
they're wonderful again.
You see something that you didn't think you'd
see or miracles are just what you don't expect.
They happen all the time and I started realizing that I was
so much more drawn to that than being drawn to something
out there in the world.
But it's the outside world Walter must turn to for help,
especially financial help.
Money comes in from a number of sources.
A few grocery stores collect food for the animals.
Some local businesses have donation jars.
A friend created a newsletter.
And last year her veterinarian staff held a fund raising.
Recently another friend created a line of chocolates to
benefit all creatures home.
It's really a small part, you know, but if everyone did a
little bit I think we could raise a lot of money for it.
Sometimes when you think it's very desolate, all these
wonderful things happen.
It was at Mean Street Market a couple days ago and somebody
just gave them give me $50.
And I said, "Are you sure?"
I was in and he said, "You bet I am.
You better believe it and walk."
And it was just things like that happen.
It's really great.
Walter's upbeat attitude and faith in fellow humans is the
key to the survival of her ever increasing animal family.
Because no matter how tough times are, she's dedicated
to finding a way to feed and care for all of them.
365 days a year.
For Walter, today is just another day.
I guess I keep getting really good feelings just
from the universe saying, you know, you'll find a way
it will happen absolutely.
The sheer number of animals that all creatures home
makes it clear pet owners who love animals should
spay or neuter their pets.
And because nationwide there are so many abandoned or
unwanted animals, there's a national debate about how
to care for them long term.
If you'd like to explore this controversy further,
log on to our website at www.org/inwisconsin.
We told you earlier that our show denied is all about
people and their passions.
Nowhere is that more true than in our next story.
It's about a woman who has been following her musical
passion for more than 80 years.
If you live in the Chateque area, you've probably already
heard of Babe McCarty.
And if you haven't, well, sit back and enjoy.
If it's noon on Monday, chances are the senior league
will be knocking down the pins that Chateque laying.
A pesky eye ailment doesn't keep one spirited boulder,
Babe McCarty from having fun.
It's about 88 years old.
It's amazing Babe bulls it all.
The eye is worn out.
I have macular degeneration
and I cannot see the read.
I see the pins down there, but not distinctly.
I just guess it's some of them.
But Babe isn't even the oldest boulder here.
Meet Alice Gotho.
At 93, Alice claims to be the oldest
league boulder in Wisconsin.
I had a double strike.
But whether it's Alice or Babe getting strikes isn't the only
way to keep the blood pumping in this small northern community.
Oh! See, all the natives are camera.
Babe is best known for a talent she loves to share with others.
Music is my big thing.
I like the bowl.
I like the sociability and the thing.
My main thing is music.
Babe, let's do sailor.
Today, like most weeks, Babe and her longtime music partner,
the Norberg have a gig.
We feel music together.
We both play by ear and we
just seem to, when one makes a mistake, the other one.
Likely will make a mistake.
We just have that same feeling for music.
We never cover up for each other because we both make
this mistake in the same place.
Whether it's a wedding or a funeral or some event that
needs live music for gospel, pop tunes from the 30s, 40s and
50s, or old-time dance music in the greater Shatech area,
chances are you'll get this dynamic duo.
There's not a lot of people around today that
plays the old songs.
These two women know more song titles than they can count.
We could play forever.
I noticed, would you say, over 100?
Talk about staying power.
The Rolling Stones have nothing over these ladies.
Lenore and Babe had a steady gig at the Coachman's
Supper Club in Baldwin every Friday night for 15 years.
But don't confuse this hard-driving style
with rock and roll.
She has her own style and a lot of people
think it's hunky-tongued, but I don't think so.
I don't, it's just an intro like I can tell you what it is.
I guess I wouldn't know what to say.
Don't tell me it's rock.
I didn't tell you that.
Oh no.
What would be so terrible about rock and roll?
Well, it's not her.
It's not her.
Some of Babe's favorite memories are accompanying
the singing group from Bloomer, The Combinations,
a labor she loved for more than 20 years.
We played in all the towns around here,
O'Kare, Bloomer, Stanley, Rice Lake, Barron, Hudson,
Thorpe, all the place of Barron, we played Barron, Rice Lake.
And they were truly wonderful bunch of girls.
What does Babe, the woman whose music is entertained,
consoled and celebrated, the lives and times
of generations want for her memorial?
My plans are that they will play my tape.
The special music will be from the tape of the Combinations.
There will be no active or live music.
And we have good times playing.
It makes you feel good.
It really does.
If I want something to really relax me, then I
just sit down and play.
That's our show for this evening.
We hope you enjoyed meeting some of your fellow Wisconsinites.
If you know of someone you think we ought to
meet, send us a note.
You can find our address on our website at
www.wpt.org/inwisconsin. Next week, we begin a
special series of reports on the positions of the
presidential candidates, on issues of particular
importance to Wisconsin.
That series will lead us up to Wisconsin's presidential
preference primary in February.
We leave you tonight with a scenic look at Frog Lake
and Pine State Natural Area in Iron County.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Good night.
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