Your honor

Rettler Corp., a landscape-architecture and civil-engineering firm with offices in Stevens Point and Middleton, won two awards from the American Sports Builders Association. The company won an Outstanding Outdoor Track Award and an Outstanding Sports Field Award for its work on the Titan Stadium project at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. … Tweet/Garot Mechanical Inc., Green Bay, received a Certificate of Commendation from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. … Richard Smith, president of R.A. Smith & Associates Inc., Brookfield, won the 2006 Distinguished Service Award from the Wisconsin Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers for his work in the engineering profession. … Lakeside Development Co., Mequon, won the 2006 Business of the Year Award from the Mequon/Thiensville Chamber of Commerce.

On the move

The Fox Valley Builders Exchange moved to a new office at W2518 County Road JJ in Appleton. The organization’s phone number remains 920-738-6887.

Peer Review

Camera eye

Hertzberg catalogs Wright’s history

In a way, Mark Hertzberg can credit his career as a photojournalist to Mickey Mouse.

“When I was a kid, about 8 or 9, I used to watch the ‘Mickey Mouse Club,’ and they had a movie on one day about a newspaper reporter,” he said. “I decided then that I was going to work for a newspaper.”
It’s a little

harder for Hertzberg to pinpoint the inspiration for his decision to marry his career with the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. But whatever the reason, Hertzberg is using his many years of photojournalism experience to write books on the famous architect.

“I think my initial attraction to Frank Lloyd Wright was a visual attraction because I knew nothing about the man until relatively recently,” said Hertzberg, director of photography for The Journal Times newspaper in Racine. “When I came to Racine, I had assignments in the S.C. Johnson Administration Building and the Wingspread [Conference Center], which Wright designed, and was fascinated by the buildings.”

Hertzberg’s second book about Wright, called “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hardy House,” came out in September. It charts the history of an avant-garde, 1906 Wright-designed house on a Lake Michigan bluff and the different owners of the home throughout the 20th century.

“The house is well-known because of some iconographic drawings that were published of it around 1910, but very little had been written about it,” said Hertzberg. “I worked on the book for two years and was able to find every owner of the house or their closest descendant.”

Hertzberg released his first book, “Wright in Racine,” in 2004 after writing several newspaper stories on Wright’s work.

“I came to the realization that Racine is important in Wright’s career because his built and unbuilt work here represents almost every stage of his career after 1900,” he said.

Hertzberg was born in 1950 in New York City and attended a boarding school in New Jersey. There was no shortage of photo opportunities for someone growing up in the city that never sleeps.

“The first news photo I ever took was when I was 11,” said Hertzberg. “President Kennedy used to stay in a hotel a couple blocks from our apartment when he came to New York. So I decided to go over there with my [Kodak] Browning one morning and take his picture, which I still have.”

Hertzberg left the East Coast for the Chicago suburbs to attend Lake Forest College. But despite his predilection toward journalism, he majored in international relations.

He used his interest in both subjects to get his feet wet covering news events.

“I would shoot antiwar protests in Chicago and try to sell the pictures,” he said. “When the Chicago Seven trial ended, Time Magazine used head shots I had taken of three of the five defendants who were convicted. I look back now and think they were not particularly good photographs, but I was glad they liked them and used them.”

Because he graduated without a journalism degree, it took Hertzberg two years to land his first newspaper job at the Beloit Daily News. Eventually, he arrived at his current position at The Journal Times.

“The Journal Times has been a good place to work,” said Hertzberg, who started at the paper in 1978. “I worked for editors who I respected, and they respected me. They’ve given me a lot of latitude. The books were personal projects, but they encouraged me.”

And Hertzberg is considering writing another historical book. This time, he’s focusing on Wisconsin court cases, a subject for which he has won numerous national photography contests.

“I’ve wondered if my interest in 20th century American history — as opposed to 18th or 19th century — is because that’s when they started having photo-graphs of events in textbooks rather than illustrations,” he said.

- Joe Grundle

On the horizon

HGA Inc., Milwaukee, is working with the state on plans for an estimated $7.14 million warehouse remodeling project for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arts Department. … Workshop Architects Inc., Milwaukee, is consulting on an estimated $16.58 million replacement of the Rothwell Student Center on the University of Wisconsin-Superior campus. … River Architects Inc., La Crosse, is helping to design an estimated $5.92 million renovation of the Jim Dan Hall Library on the UW-Superior campus. … The village and town of Fredonia are planning construction of a joint Village-Town Hall. … Berners-Schober Associates Inc., Green Bay, is designing an office addition and remodeling project for Kaukauna Utilities in Kaukauna. … Uihlein Wilson Architects in association with Ballinger (Philadelphia), Milwaukee, is consulting on the estimated $120 million Wisconsin Institute for Discovery/Morgridge Institute for Research project on the UW-Madison campus. … SABMiller PLC, London, is planning a $46 million to $79 million upgrade and renovation project for its Miller Brewery buildings in the Miller Valley in Milwaukee. … Mark Alan Kraft AIA Inc., Madison, is designing a remodel of a nature and conference center in Kettle Moraine State Forest in Delafield. … Marshall Erdman & Associates Inc., Madison, is developing a hospital building plan for Upland Hills Health in Dodgeville. … DaimlerChrysler Corp., Auburn Hills, Mich., is planning construction of an estimated $500 million engine plant in Kenosha County. … Ruekert/Mielke, Waukesha, is helping the village of Kewaskum plan for an estimated $10.2 million wastewater-treatment plant. … Asphalt Contractors Inc., Union Grove, is developing plans for an estimated $70 million ethanol plant on a 100-acre site in Dover. … Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church, Wauwatosa, has approval to build a 57,000-square-foot worship facility on Cleveland Avenue in New Berlin.

Dotted Line

Wondra Excavating Inc., Iron Ridge, landed a $3.65 million contract for construction work in the Westside Industrial Park in Watertown. … Wanasek Corp., Burlington, won a $2.09 million contract to construct the Kilbourn Reservoir project in Milwaukee. … McCabe Construction Inc., Eau Claire, landed a $1.59 million contract to construct utilities and streets in Ellsworth. … Maas Bros. Construction Inc., Watertown, will renovate the third floor of the Dodge County Justice Facility in Juneau after winning a $1.48 million contract for the job. … Alliance Construction Inc., Superior, won a $1.42 million contract to remodel several military buildings in Fort McCoy. … Vinton Construction Co., Manitowoc, will construct parking lots, sidewalks and a promenade walkway in Sheboygan after winning a $1.19 million contract for the job. … Mathy Construction Co., Onalaska, won a $1.18 million contract to perform asphalt-paving work in Fort McCoy. … R.J. Jurowski Construction, Whitehall, took home a $1.16 million contract to expand and renovate a municipal building in Blair. … Platt Construction Inc., Tomah, will construct interior renovations and expansions in the U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Milwaukee after winning a $1.05 million contract for the job.

Top dollar

Rasch Construction & Engineering Inc., Kenosha, took home a $4.78 million contract to construct the Bartlett Commuter Station in Bartlett, Ill.

By design

The Forest County Potawatomi wants a fresh look and more space for its cultural center in Crandon. Barrientos Design & Consulting Inc., Milwaukee, is planning to fulfill that request. The architectural firm is designing a bi-level, 10,000-square-foot Potawatomi Cultural Center and Museum expansion for the Potawatomi. The expansion and renovation will provide space for a library, storage area, gift shop, classroom, meeting space, a climate-controlled archive area and workrooms. Barrientos is planning to kick off the $2.5 million project in November, and the firm is targeting a fall 2007 completion.

Off the clock

Andy Inman was used to working in front of a rough crowd.

Andy Inman (center) pauses for a moment with his Bear Den at a September meeting of Pack 240 in Middleton. Photos courtesy of Andy Inman

But when he stepped into the room as the group leader in January, it quickly became apparent that he was facing a tougher challenge than he expected. These weren’t city planners, civic leaders or company presidents waiting for him to make his first move.

This was the Bear Den, and this group of 7-year-old Cub Scouts in Middleton’s Pack 240 was looking to Inman to pick up where the previous den leader left off.

“Keeping [10] boys entertained and engaged was far more challenging than any plan commission I’ve been to before,” said Inman, the Madison office manager for Vierbicher Associates Inc. “To walk in there, the basic format I had an understanding of, but in terms of engaging the kids and keeping them focused, it was a wake-up call. It was harder than I expected.”

Inman fell just shy of the “Be Prepared” Boy Scout motto, but it’s hard to blame someone who was away from scouting since he left the Webelos as a boy growing up in northern Wisconsin.

Inman’s return to the pack coincided with his oldest son’s entry into Cub Scouts. Inman served as an assistant leader until the leader moved away and left Inman in charge.

“We have three boys, and we wanted to make sure our kids are exposed to the same sorts of values and opportunities I was exposed to, and Scouts is a big part of that,” he said. “In terms of picking what thing I was going to sink my teeth into, scouting was a natural fit.”

Inman and his 8-year-old son, Sam, gather firewood for a campfire.

As someone who works in the engineering field, he said he sees a lot of ties between the Boy Scouts of America and construction.

“It’s funny how many engineers or technical people have children in scouting,” he said. “There are similar principles of hard work, ethics, honesty, integrity and teaching children not only about nature but how to build things.

“Kids aren’t learning how to build things, and I wonder if those sorts of things will be lost. Scouting brings it back.”

And with two more sons ready to join the Cub Scout ranks, Inman figures he’ll be around for a while helping kids learn the value of scouting.

“The other two aren’t in scouting, but they will be,” he said. “I will be doing this for many more years.

“I think the most enjoyable experience I’ve had is seeing the boys grow up from year to year.”

— Chris Thompson