Call it nepotism, but I'm pleased to do a little advertising here for my son, Benjamin Lindsay. Benjamin is part of Eastside Classics, an experienced string quartet composed of talented high school students. They can provide background or foreground music for occasions such as weddings, socials, parties, dinners, concerts, and so forth. Their rates are negotiable, but $50 per person per hour is typical ($200/hr for the group). They have a large repertoire, but you can request specific music three weeks in advance, or two weeks in advance if you provide the music.

The members of Eastside Classics are Tiffany Hu (violin), Gabi Valenti-Hein (violin), Julia Jordan (viola), and Ben Lindsay (cello).

To reserve Eastside Classics, call 920-730-1035 (preferably between about 5 pm and 9 pm if you call on a weekday).

Appleton has a healthy portion of Chinese heritage among its residents. The Chinese community this year put on a tremendous New Years celebration at Appleton's premiere entertainment venue, the Performing Arts Center. The main floor appeared to be filled, and much of the first balcony - probably about 1500 people attending the show. It featured some excellent singing and dance groups from the Appleton area, a kung-fu group from Door County performing a lion dance, a variety of other musical performances, and a remarkably well done Chinese fashion show. Very impressive! I plan on going again next year.

Here are a few scenes from today's performance:

The Fox Cities area of Wisconsin have been recognized by America’s Promise - The Alliance for Youth as one of the 100 best communities for youths, an honor that has been discussed by both the Green Bay Press Gazette and Appleton's Post-Crescent.

Given the quality of life here, including the education, the safety, the wholesomeness of the community, and the many opportunities of all kinds, I certainly agree with the award. I think the Fox Cities must be among the top 20 communities of its size. It's a fabulous place to raise a family.

James Nichols has been charged with murder in the slaying of the Hmong hunter, Cha Vang of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Marinette County District Attorney Brent DeBord said at a news conference in Marinette this week that James A. Nichols shot Cha Vang once and stabbed him several times.

The Hmong community generally views the crime as racially motivated, perhaps as vengeance for the Chai Vang killings in 2004.

In light of another recent confrontation between a Hmong hunter and a property owner, I think it would be wise for Hmong hunters to take a break from hunting for a season or two. I know that's unfair to them, but it might be the safe thing to right now.

Appleton is in the national spotlight this week because of some puzzling comments and actions from Representative Steven Kagen of the 8th District. Steven Kagen, a Democrat, is a medical doctor who replaced Republican Mark Green after the latter left Congress to run for Governor in 2006, losing to the incumbent, Jim Doyle. Now, in his first weeks in Congress, Kagen has gained national publicity for alleged rudeness to President Bush, Laura Bush, and Karl Rove at a White House reception.

In an interesting twist, the contested allegations came from Kagen himself, who boasted of his antics to a group of peace activists in Appleton in January 2007. He told the activists how he snubbed Karl Rove and the Bushes. But the White House denies that Steven Kagen did these things and calls his story ridiculous. Now he's backtracking from his comments. Rush Limbaugh and other talk show hosts picked up on the story.

While you can read about the story in The Post-Crescent or in news from WBAY, I suggest you go to the origin of the story, The Scene, a local publication that first reported Kagen's comments. Here's an excerpt from the article:

Kagen introduces a little levity to the White House

While meeting last month with a group of area peace activists, then Congressman-elect Steve Kagen told a story of his first visit to the White House that shows a feisty and humorous side to our new man in Congress. . . .

Upon arrival, he asks a Marine where he can find a rest room, and is sent down a long flight of stairs, to another Marine, who directs him to a rest room.

"It's a small room -- two spots on the wall, one stall one sink. I see in the mirror the door opens, and who walks in, Karl Rove (Bush's deputy chief of staff who was charged with orchestrating strategies for the 2006 general election)."

After Rove washed his hands ("At least he's a hand washer," Kagen said), he attempted to leave, but Kagen prevented his departure by holding the door closed and said, "You're in the White House and you think your safe, huh? You recognize me? My name's Dr. Multimillionaire and I kicked your a**." . . .

We get to the top of the steps and there's Vice President Cheney with a glass of white wine and a hand in his pocket. So I wasn't going to miss this opportunity. Gail wasn't there to hold me back. 'Mr. Vice President, thank you for your service to the nation, and thank you so much for coming to Green Bay and campaigning against me. I couldn't have won without your help.' . . .

Then we had an opportunity to take a picture with the president and his wife. I was feeling real good at this point.

"I said to my wife, 'Honey, just follow my lead.' She said, 'Steven, it's the president.' I said, 'Yeah, but he'’s not any taller than I am.' So the cameraman's here. We're introduced by a Marine. I said, 'Mr. President, thank you for coming to Green Bay. My name is Dr. Multimillionaire. That was before the race. Now they call me Doctor Thousandaire. I couldn't have won without you coming.'"

He said Bush gave one of his smiles and said, 'I've lost a lot of money in my life, too.' Then I go to his wife, 'Hi Barbara, how are ya?' I did that because I learned on the campaign that the meanest thing you can say to another gentlemen is, 'he's a fine fellow,' and you then refer to his spouse by a different name."

The White House has vigorously denied Kagen's story. They have said that there was no threat made in a restroom, no blocking of the restroom door, no calling Laura Bush by the wrong name.

Without wishing to be political here, let me say that as a supporter of civility and politeness, the story troubles me. It's bad enough for politicians to be rude to their opponents - understandable, yes, but unfortunate. It's worse to physically threaten opponents or to be rude to their spouses. But to think that someone would boast about such rudeness, or fabricate it and then boast about it - well, something's pretty wrong there. Dr. Kagen, a lot of fine people voted for you and are hoping that you'll represent Appleton and Wisconsin well. I hope you can make the appropriate apologies and move forward.

A terrible tragedy has befallen northeastern Wisconsin with the murder of a Hmong hunter. Vang of Green Bay, a young father of five children, was found dead near Peshtigo while hunting. Police are holding back much of the information, but are ruling it as a homicide. However, statements from a suspect's fiancee reported in the Post-Crescent suggest that Vang was stabbed to death. She says it was in self-defense.

In light of the other hunter troubles in the past couple years here, this is a particularly troubling development and tragedy.

Tonight my wife and I tried to go to Pullman's, the wildly popular new restaurant in the new Trolley Square building on Olde Oneida in the Oneida Flats area, on the south bank of the Fox River. Looks like a great and not too pricey menu of classic American items (steak, seafood, burgers, sandwiches, soups and salads, including lobster bisque, one of my favorite items). Unfortunately, the place has become so popular in its mere four weeks of existence that the wait to get in was 1 hour when we got there are 5:45 PM. Quite a few people besides us were discouraged and went elsewhere - but what a great sign that is for the success of this new restaurant. I hear that it's been filling up quickly every night and also for lunches. And this seems to have happened without an expensive advertising campaign - I think it's all word of mouth. Wow.

Unwilling to wait an hour to get in, we went a couple blocks south to the "Between the Locks" building which hosts the Skyline Comedy Club, Appleton Map, and several other businesses, including our new destination tonight: the Stone Cellar. We've never been there in all our years here, partly because we're not drinkers and don't like the cigarette smoke of bars and pubs. But that's changed now with Appleton's smoking ban, and even though I voted against it (I've got this thing about property rights and trouble with changing the rules on people midstream), tonight it was nice to enjoy a wonderful smoke-free environment at the Stone Cellar. (And maybe it wasn't much of a problem there before the ban.)

So how was it? Outstanding, for me at least. First, I was quite happy to be seated immediately and to have the assistance of a fine waiter. We started with an appetizer, a cheese-rich artichoke heart and spinach dip served with some of the finest tortilla chips I've had. It was the best such dip that I can remember. My wife tried their home-brewed alcohol-free root beer, a lightly colored and pleasant drink. Nice.

I had the corn chowder, which was nicely flavored with a great texture. My main dish followed, a vegetarian lasagna with a great tomato base with zucchini, cheese, and good pasta. The spicing was excellent, slightly on the hot and spicy side. Extremely satisfying and a large portion, too. My wife had the fried whitefish. It was so-so. Not bad, but looked a little off-color and gray. Her fries were good, though.

Overall, I was very happy. My wife was generally pleased with the meal, though she liked my dish better. And we enjoyed the interesting stone cellar setting - very rustic and interesting. Service was excellent, and delivery of food was rapid. Wouldn't mind going back at all.

While we were seated quickly, there were plenty of people there, but the atmosphere wasn't rowdy. Easy to have a pleasant conversation. A family with a young daughter was seated close to us - seemed like a comfortable place for families.

Best of luck to the Stone Cellar.

They are at 1004 S Olde Oneida Street, Appleton, Wisconsin. Phone
(920) 731-3322.

Yesterday I had lunch with Ivan Schrodt, the new CEO of IPS. Formerly known as Integrated Paper Service, IPS has moved beyond its roots in the paper industry and now provides technical services, testing, and quality assurance work for a wider industrial cross-section. Manufacturers of nonwovens materials, consumer products goods, fibers, paper, board, and other products can benefit from the technical expertise offered by IPS. For example, they have world-class expertise in fiber analysis (they've even helped the FBI and other agencies in assessing authenticity of documents based on fiber analysis), microscopy, and material property testing.

Under Ivan's leadership, the future looks especially bright as they move out of their old facilities in the Oneida Flats area into a completely new facility with 17,500 square feet of space designed for their testing and analytical needs. It's under construction right now in a new building in the northeast corner of Appleton, with an open house celebration planned in February. I had a tour of the new facility and came away really impressed with the vision that IPS is pursuing and the opportunities they will have as they expand their scope and customer base. They have a great reputation as it is, but the future looks especially bright with the many positive changes they are going through.

Good luck, IPS!

Yesterday concluded the legal actions that were raised Toua Lor, the Hmong man who was accused of pointing a gun at a property owner in late 2005. Toua accepted a plea bargain agreement in which the felony charges were dismissed in exchange for a "no contest" plea for a misdemeanor offense of disorderly conduct. Toua will refrain from hunting for a year and doing 25 hours of community service. They were tempted to fight to the end to be completely exonerated, but I think it was wise to accept the deal and put the matter to rest.

From what I know of the case, I think both the property owner and the hunter were acting in good faith, but had a terrible misunderstanding. A lengthy court trial would have been a painful way to resolve the matter.

Thus ends a case that was blown way out of proportion by hysteria from the 2004 Chai Vang murders.