The first jail was built in La Crosse County in 1858, with countless transitions taking place since then.
In November of 2008, ground was broken for a 29.5 million dollar addition to the 1997 Law Enforcement Center. Jail expansion included a new kitchen, jail garage, booking, master control, two 57-bed direct supervision blocks, increased program space and remodeling of three existing housing blocks along with the medical and receiving holding cell area of the existing jail. The current Law Enforcement Center has a bed capacity of 244 plus 44 receiving/medical and close supervision cells.
In addition to the change of location and size of the jail, support services and programming have improved drastically and include offerings such as:
Mental health services,
High school study and completion,
Higher education,
Cognitive behavioral intervention groups,
Religious services,
Life skills (such as parenting and personal finance),
Exercise/recreation,
Project Proven, and
Voting While Incarcerated (recently named a model program by the League of Women Voters).
Jail Program Coordinator Mike Kiefer and Clinical Therapist Ben Pfiffner will highlight a number of the individual and group programs currently provided in the La Crosse County Jail.
For more information on the La Crosse County Jail, click the link below.
Joe Ruskey is the owner of Dependable Solutions, Inc., an MSSP firm specializing in providing Secure Technology Solutions to organizations throughout WI, IA, and MN. Joe is known for working with partners and finding the tools that are needed in today’s ever changing technology arena. Joe, and the Dependable Family, have a passion for and are committed to building trusted lifelong relationships with their partners and their staff. They want to maximize the value of technology in an organization and mitigate their risk with the ever increasing cyber-attacks plaguing us all today.
Joe lives in La Crosse with his wife, Tina. He has served as a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador in both Prairie du Chien and La Crosse, WI. Joe has served a 5-year term on the city council and has served on multiple boards, including the Prairie du Chien Mainstreet organization in which he was president.
Joe joined Rotary in 2003. He has held many positions throughout his tenure, and in 2017-18, Joe had the privilege to serve as District Governor for District 6250 of Rotary International. He understands Service Above Self and he also feels we are put on this earth to serve and help others. Joe joined the downtown club in January of this year, 2023. He now serves as the club foundation chair!
In his spare time, Joe enjoys diving, grilling, and traveling with his wife and kids. His favorite adventures usually include a dinner, a winery, and his wife!
Purchase through the Rotary office or purchase at club meetings for $20. Sizes range from S, M. L, XL, and 2XL.
FREE T-shirt when you volunteer for a club sponsored event.
Rotary 6250 Volunteers Also Needed
We take pride and value being Rotary Volunteers. Our district currently has a shortage of leadership, and we would love for you to get involved. Take a look to see where you can make a difference! Check the link here: https://rotary6250.org/page/leadership-opportunities
Welcome aboard and together we bring hope to each other and the people that we serve.
FOUNDATION MINUTE: August 28, 2023
Welcome to the Last Week of RI’s Membership & Extension Month!
It’s the beginning of a new academic year for all categories of students; from kindergarten through graduate programs. In the Rotary Foundation world, it is also that time when prospective candidates for The Rotary Foundation Peace Fellowship are being screened, culminating in the selection of finalists and notification notices by email in November. The Rotary Foundation offers scholarships worth more than $7.5 million annually to develop leaders of the next generation and assist their philanthropic objectives. The Rotary Peace Fellowship develops the capacity of peace and development professionals to become effective catalysts for peace. The fellowships cover tuition and fees, room and board, round-trip transportation, internship and between two and three-month field-study expenses. It is awarded to 50 fellowships for master’s degrees and up to 40 for certificate studies at
selected universities across the continents. The grant is offered to professionals and graduates studying abroad in one of Rotary’s seven areas of focus - the promotion of peace, providing sanitation, hygiene and clean water, saving children and mothers, fighting disease, growing local economies and supporting education and protecting the environment. In his message published in the current issue of Rotary Magazine (September, 2023), RI President, Gordon R. McInally, cautions that it is not enough, “as people of action, to simply avoid making war. If we are to create Hope in the World, we must aggressively wage peace.” Graduates of the Rotary Foundation Fellowship work in diverse institutions and non-governmental organizations
concerned with fighting for peace.
Let's Celebrate!
Active Rotarians
182
Honorary Rotarians
12
Rotary Attendance
101 between in person, guests, and Zoom
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