It’s a feud that goes back to the dawn of man--or at least to the old country of Ireland.  Two clans of Kanes have carried on a rivalry that will once again surface at the Sting Cancer walk this Saturday at the Denmark High School track.

The Sting Cancer fundraising trophy, now in the possession of the Kane Realty group, will be up for grabs at the annual event benefitting local families dealing with cancer.  The other Kane Clan, headed by Kelly and Tammy Kane, have thrown down the gauntlet, and plan to capture the prize.

Both sides of the long standing feud agree that it is for a good cause.

So far, sixteen teams, totaling nearly 300 people have registered for the walk, and event organizer Karen Bloom says that represents nearly twice the number of participants as last year.  Last year’s walk generated roughly $8,000, which has been and continues to be used entirely for the benefit of local people.

One of the people who benefitted from the efforts of the Sting Cancer group is Diane Schleis.  Schleis was diagnosed in June of last year with ovarian cancer, and subsequently underwent surgery to remove a tumor in her abdomen.  The tumor turned out to be cancerous, and Schleis then endured nearly six months of chemotherapy.

On December first of last year, Diane was pronounced cancer free, and she returned to work a month later.  Diane will be the guest speaker at the Sting Cancer Walk this year.  Not only will she describe her ordeal, but she will convey firsthand how the efforts of the students, faculty and staff, and the community helped her overcome cancer.

Not one to rest on her laurels, Diane Schleis is bringing a team of nearly thirty—called the butterflies—to help raise money at the walk.  Whether Schleis and her group can enter the fray with the Kanes remains to be seen.

The Sting Cancer Walk will start with registration at 8am, (Sting Cancer encourages anyone interested to show up and register the day of the walk) followed by Schleis’ presentation and then the walk itself.

WBAY Action 2 News anchor Bill Jartz will be on hand to emcee the event, which includes free food, including brats donated by Salm Partners, a silent auction full of goodies from local people and businesses, a 50-50 raffle, a petting zoo put on by the Demark FFA, and hopefully plenty of camaraderie and sunshine.

Bloom says this year’s Sting Cancer Walk represents the hard work of her students, who have truly championed the cause of organizing a successful event.  One of her students, whose sister was diagnosed with cancer, designed this year’s Sting Cancer t-shirt, in a lovely shade of lime green.

Whether you are a Kane, a butterfly, a friend or relative of someone with cancer, or just someone who cares, come out and support a truly worthwhile cause.

Denmark Land Oo Lakes recently completed their annual employee food drive to benefit the Denmark Community Cupboard.  Project organizer Lori Knuth says this is the ninth year of the drive, which has become the single largest donation received by the pantry.

Pantry coordinator Russ Gajeski’s minivan was nearly dragging the ground after loading up boxes and bags of groceries, canned goods, juices and any number of other types of goods.  Gajeski estimated the load to weigh in around 1800 or 1900 pounds, but when he weighed the load on the trucking scale he realized the 2800 pound load was about as much as his trusty steed would bear.

Knuth was ecstatic when she heard the total, as her goal had been to donate 4000 pounds of goods.  Why would she be so happy to fall short of her goal you may ask?  Because the load Gajeski picked up did not include the 1200 pounds of potatoes and onions donated through Kellner Backacre Garden.

Not only will the shelves at the Community Cupboard once again be full of things to help struggling area families, but the good people at Land O’ Lakes corporate match the donations with cash.  For every pound of food donated by its 110-115 employees, the company donates one dollar to the pantry.  With 4000 pounds of food donations, that means a $4000 check to support the pantry’s operations as well.

In 2009 the efforts of the Denmark branch of Land O’ Lakes earned the company’s growing together Community Award for Best Hunger Response.  This award brought another $2500 donation to the pantry.  It remains to be seen if Denmark wins this year’s award.

Plant Operations Manager Bill Schaetzel said, “It’s really special to be a part of this project.  A lot of people here work hard to make this happen, and just about everyone gets into it.  It’s a worthwhile cause, and shows how much the people who work here care about the community and the less fortunate.”

Several disturbing videos of an unlicensed in home daycare provider appeared recently on the popular video posting website youtube.com earlier this week. The videos, posted by username wikedwanda10, show two ladies, running childcare service in the common area of a Denmark apartment building.

In the videos, the women appear to strike some of the children, yell at them, and in one video an infant is left alone in the room, a community area in the secured apartment building, for several minutes.

According to Denmark Police Chief Ron Towns, the matter was originally reported earlier this year. Officer Scot Knutson was assigned to the investigation, and the matter was referred to Manitowoc County Social Services for evaluation because that is where the children reside. MCSS and the Denmark police followed the matter for some time as new videos were obtained and turned over.

Towns says that MCSS made the determination that the actions of the two ladies, while inappropriate, do not rise to the level of criminal activity. “None of the children were injured, and all but one of the parents of the children involved declined to press charges,” said Towns.

Towns said the matter was also referred to the Wisconsin Department of Children & Families, which licenses daycare providers. WDCF ordered the women to discontinue their service, and it appears the pair have complied. Under Wisconsin law, no person may provide care and supervision for four or more children under the age of seven for less than twenty-four hours a day unless that person obtains a license to operate a child care center from WDCF.

Towns says several of the parents responded to the videos nonchalantly, but at least one of the parents was upset that charges were not being filed.That, presumably, is what led to the posting of the videos.

Unfortunately, that particular step may prolong the issue. Posting pictures of children on the internet or publishing in print without parental permission is actionable under civil law, meaning parents could sue the poster. Whether that happens remains to be seen.

“None of the children were injured, and the women are no longer running a daycare service,” said Police Chief Towns, “[We] hope that this is the end of it. I’d like to see the videos taken down, because we’ve taken the case as far as we can, and unless something changes there will not be any criminal charges filed.”