&

Tenmonths after they first acquiredOshkosh’s downtown hotel, the new ownerssaid the end of the building’s first-ever top-to-bottom renovation is in sight.

OwnersRichBatley,JohnPfefferleandtheUniversityofWisconsin-OshkoshFoundationremainon track toopen thehotel in lateApril followinga$15millionrebuild that has taken longer and cost more than anyone expected.

“We’re over all the crises now,” Batley said. “It’s going very good now. We’re under con-struction and done with deconstruction.”

A room ready for a dry wall. The 176-room former City CenterHotel currently is under an extensive renovation and andexpected for a grand reopening in spring with a new name.SHU-LING ZHOU/OSHKOSH NORTHWESTERN MEDIA

Amodel king room is furnished with a king size bed, armchair,and television. The former City Center Hotel is expected toreopen in spring with a new name. SHU-LING ZHOU/OSHKOSH

NORTHWESTERN MEDIA

BeforeafterWITH RENOVATIONS COMING

TO AN END, OLD HOTELBROUGHT BACK TO GLORY

By Jeff Bollier of Oshkosh Northwestern Media

DOWNTOWNOSHKOSH HOTEL

Two construction workers cover the window before working on the dry wall. The 176-room former City Center Hotel currently isunder an extensive renovation and and expected for a grand reopening in spring with a new name. SHU-LING ZHOU/OSHKOSH

NORTHWESTERN MEDIA

See HOTEL, Page A9

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The possibility of new guncontrol laws in thewakeof theNewtown, Conn. school shoot-ings has prompted panic buy-ing of guns both nationwideand in Oshkosh.

Sales of handguns — par-ticularly those with high-ca-pacity magazines — andAR-15 military-style rifleshave nearly quadrupled andleft two Oshkosh gun dealerswith virtually none of thesefirearms in stock. Ammuni-tion and spare magazines forthem have also flown off theshelves this week.

David Sommerfeldt, busi-ness manager of PrecisionSports Inc., 4717 Highway 44,Oshkosh,saidhesold75AR-15rifles and 100 AR-15 lower re-ceivers in two days, “which isinsane.” He normally sellsthree or four AR-15 rifles aday, since the shopspecializesin military-style precisionfirearms.

Semi-automatic AR-15 ri-fles consist of an upper and alowerreceiver,whichareheldtogetherwith twopins to forma complete rifle. There are 33makers of this semi-automat-ic, civilian version of the M16rifle, a full-auto weapon firstused in Vietnam and still themostpopularriflewithlawen-forcement and themilitary.

“I sell more ARs for tradi-tional deer hunting than any-thing,” Sommerfeldt said. Henoted they are relatively lightweight, have low recoil andare reliable.

Several AR-15 buyersbought two rifles and one per-son bought 10. Sommerfeldtsaid the sales were spurredPresident Barack Obama’spledge for some as yet un-specified gun controls in thewake of the Connecticutshooting rampage that left 26dead, including 20 children.

“It’s mainly him getting ontheTV and saying hewill signanything that comes hisway,”Sommerfeldt said. “We law-abiding gun owners wantthese. There’s nothing wrongwith them.”

Sommerfeldt’s customersalso bought his entire supplyof 30-round AR-15 magazinesaswell ashigh-capacityGlockand Sig Sauer pistol maga-zines. He also sold all 150 ofthe store’s 420-round metalcanisters of the AR-15’s stan-dard .223 ammo.

Handgun sales last week

See SALES, Page A9

Fears ofnew lawsfuelinggun salesHandgunsselling outBy Ross Bielemafor Oshkosh Northwestern Media

RAPID CITY, S.D. — Steve andJanine Hamilton have alwaysfelt deeply connected to theiradopted daughter, but that con-nection was felt even moredeeply this year when the fam-ily discovered that she is, infact, a blood relative.

The Hamiltons adopted Sa-rah, who recently married andtook McBride as her last name,

nine years ago when they livedin Kansas City.

Sarah, now 19, was born inTexas and was being raised inKansas City before she wentinto the foster care system atthe age of 8 with her siblings.

In the meantime, the Hamil-tons had checked into adoptionbut weren’t counting on any-thing happening because theywerebeginningamove toRapidCity.

Instead, just a couplemonths

before the move, they got a callabout Sarah, an 11-year-old whoneededahome. She joined themin August of 2003, and the fam-ily moved to South Dakota thatOctober.

It was good timing, Janinesaid, because it gave Sarah afresh start in a new home thatalso was new to the rest of thefamily. Steve and Janine hadthree biological children at

Family unknowingly adopts distant cousinBy Kayla GahaganAssociated Press

Sarah McBride, 19, hangs Christmas ornaments at her home with herparents, Steve and Janine Hamilton, in Rapid City, S.D. APSee COUSIN, Page A9

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As renovations pro-gress, Batley said every-thing remains on trackfor the 179-room hotel tosecure a Best WesternPremier hotel designa-tion. He said Best West-ern would not give the fi-nal approval to the desig-nation until after it per-forms an inspection oncethe hotel opens, but thegroup has worked withdesigners familiar withthe hotelier’s demandsfor such properties.

“Wehave every reasonto believe we’ll be a BestWestern Premier, but it’snot final yet.We feel goodabout it, think it’s shapingup how we envisioned,”Batley said. “People willbe impressedwith the fin-ished product.”

Prototype rooms thatshowcase new carpetsand furniture, a 42-inchhigh-definition televison,microwave, mini-refrig-erator, safe and otheramenities that will bestandard in all new roomshave been a highlightamong community lead-ers that have toured thehotel in recent weeks.

The finished productprovides a stark contrastwith the conditions Bat-ley, Pfefferle and theUWO Foundation foundwhen it completed thepurchase of the hotelbackonFeb.14andclosedit immediately to beginrenovations. Furniture,carpet, room layouts andother room amenities had

not been updated or reno-vated since the propertywas first built in the1980s.

Oshkosh Conventionand Visitors Bureau Ex-ecutive Director WendyHielsberg said the up-graded and improvedroomswould give the citya full-service hotel.

“It’s updated, renovat-ed, modern and high-quality. It’s modern,”Hielsberg said. “ You cantell the quality of thisproperty: The granitecountertops, the micro-wave and refrigerator ineach room. These areamenities thishotelneveroffered before.”

The samecouldbe saidfor the meeting rooms,

game room, swimmingpool area, lobby, publicspaces and restaurantand bar.

“I’m so excited. I’mjust really excited aboutthe whole project and theoutcome,” Hielsbergsaid. “We can’t wait untilit opens.”

Renovations designedto open up space and din-ing roomviews of the FoxRiverhave started togivethe Ground Round at Wa-ter’s Edge a new atmos-phere, andexecutive chefFoster Deadman has al-ready started to workwith the staff. Batley saidhe expected the restau-rant to open a little aheadof the hotel.

Oblio’sLoungeco-own-

er Mark Schultz said he’slooking forward to thegrand re-opening and theshot in the arm itwill givethe central city region.

“If you get two peopleto a room, you’re talkingabout 400 extra peopledowntown and you knowit’s going to be packedwith Event City’s busy

schedule,” Schultz said.“The hotel has definitelyhelped downtown overthe years and I’m lookingforward to the opening.”

Batley said thenewho-tel ownerspartneredwithlocal manufacturer Con-tinental Girbau to helpfurnish the on-site laun-dry facilities for both the

restaurant and hotel.“We’re doing business

with the community rightaway,” Batley said. “Con-tinental Girbau evenhelped us design theroom, too, as they intendto use it as a showroom.”

Jeff Bollier: (920) 426-6688 orjbollier@thenorthwestern.com.

HotelContinued from Page A1

were “quadruple whatthey are normally,” headded.Eachhandgunpur-chased requires a call tothe state’s Handgun Hot-line, with a confirmationnumber provided for thepaperwork. The last dig-its represent the numberof handguns sold in thestate thatday.Hesaidpri-or to Obama’s comments,thenumberwas200or300a day. Wednesday’s num-ber on the last gun he soldwas 744, and HandgunHotline was still open fora fewmore hours.

At Jon’s Sport Shop onJackson Street, handgunand AR-15 rifle sales alsohave been brisk, ownerJon Gafner said. He didhave a few of the riflesleft, but said the big prob-lem for small dealerswouldnowbegettingnewsupplies of the hot-sellingfirearms.

Gafner, like many oth-er gun dealers, also sellsonline at sites like Gun-broker.com.Henotedthata Springfield ArmoryXD9mm pistol he had listedon there for nine monthssuddenly received about100 emails from interest-ed buyers. And the priceof aColt-brandAR-15 thatwas about $1,200 on thesecondarymarket a shorttime ago is now $2,195 to$2,595 on gunbroker.com.

Gunbroker and otherfirearms websites haveadded about 2,000 buyersandsellers aday in recentweeks, Gafner said. Gunsmust be shipped to a Fed-eral Firearms Licenseholder to order most fire-arms online.

Gaffner fears Con-

gress will approve andpeoplewill support strict-er gun-control measuresbecause they are the easi-est response to a compli-cated issue.

“They’re going to put aBand-Aid on a problemthatgoeswaydeeper.Peo-ple are angry. They wantretribution. They can’thate the kid because hekilled himself. They can’thate the parent becausehe killed her ... People aremad they have nobody topunish or sue. They turntheir anger somewhere. ”

Had the shooter, AdamLanza, used a shotgunwith buckshot, the deathtoll couldhavebeenmuchhigher, he added.

He thinks the long-term solutions to suchmassacres include teach-ing children the reality ofshootings, noting that thetop-selling video gamesall feature “body counts,”and appropriate sen-tences for criminals.

“I think every kidshould be dragged into a

coroner’s office to see adead body,” he said, not-ing that he once workedfor theWisconsinDepart-ment of Natural Re-sources and had to attendautopsies involving acci-dental shootings. And hesaid four armed burglarswith previous felony con-victionshadtaken$53,000worth of guns from hisshop in 2003, but did notget the mandatory 10-year sentence for usingguns in thecommissionofa crime as they were sup-posed to.

Meanwhile, he noted,the TSA has banned suchthings as fingernail clip-pers on airplanes in re-sponse to the 9/11 terrorattacks.

“DoIfeelsafer?No,weoverreacted,” he said.“Criminals and sick peo-ple are not affected bygun laws.”

Ross Bielema is a freelancewriter fromNew London . Hecan be reached atRoss@wolfriverccw.com.

Atlas Tactical co-owner/operator Brooke Stallingshandles an assault rifle that is for sale in her shop nearNewport, Va., Tuesday. Gun stores have reportedincreased sales of semi-atuomatic rifles and handguns inreaction to the possibility of stricter gun-control laws inthe wake of the Dec. 14 shooting in Newton, Conn. AP

SalesContinued from Page A1

home.At that time, Steve

said, “We had no clue,”that their new daughtercould be related to them.

It wasn’t until 1940UnitedStatesCensusdatawas released that a rela-tive started doing someresearch and discoveredthat Sarah is Steve’sfourth cousin once re-moved. That means Sa-rah’s brothers and sistersin the Hamilton familyare her fifth cousins.

The news was unbe-lievable, Steve said.

“Years ago, we jokedthatwemight be related,”Steve said. “Everybody’sbeen having fun with it.Thewholefamily’skindofexcited.”

Sarah, who still keepsin touch with some of herbiological siblings, wasalso surprised by thenews.

“I thought it was verycool,” she said. “I love his-tory.”

The chances, she add-ed, of their paths crossinglike they did are verysmall. “It all happened fora reason,” she said.

Janine said Sarahfaced many of the emo-tional challenges that kidsin foster care face. Be-

cause she was older whenshe entered the system, itwas difficult to leave onefamily and live with an-other.

“The kids always longfor a connection,” Stevesaid, and oftentimes thatconnectionhas tobemadein thewayof support, loveand time.

That’s how it was donewithSarah, and this is justicing on the cake, Stevesaid.

It is nice news to hear,Sarah said, but it doesn’treally change theway shesees her parents.

“I’ve already grown tobe close to them,” shesaid. “I’ve always be-longed to them.”

CousinContinued from Page A1

DES MOINES, Iowa —Several top state officialson Friday said the Nation-al Rifle Association’s pro-posal for all United Statesschools to post armedguards is worth consider-ing.

Jason Glass, directorof theIowaDepartmentofEducation, said theguards should be trainedpolice officers. Manylarger Iowa schools al-ready have officers as-signed at least part time.

Glass said hewouldnotpropose the addition ofarmed officers at all Iowaschools, and neitherwould Gov. Terry Bran-stad. But it’s possible astate lawmaker will,Glass said.

It’s also an idea thatwould need considerablelocal vetting in a state

where school districts arerun by autonomous localboards, Glass added.

“Before we jump onboard for this proposalfromNRAwewould wantto see specifics and talk toschools,” Glass said.

Tom Downs, executivedirector of the IowaAsso-ciation of School Boards,said Friday he has longsupported having policeresource officers in Iowaschools and he would notobject if theywerearmed.

“I think that height-ened security, that com-mand presence, if youwill, that show of forcecan’t be underestimatedat providing a safe envi-ronment,” he said.

Mark Schouten, Iowa’sHomeland Security andEmergency Managementadministrator, agreed, asdid Jon Thompson, super-intendent of the Apling-ton-Parkersburg school

district.Thompson, whose dis-

trict was the scene of theshooting death of a foot-ball coach in 2009, saidhe’d like to see the state’sschool-aid formula ex-pand to help pay forschool resource officers.Districts that have themusually share the costwith the city or county.Federal grants thathelped fundresourceoffi-cers have dried up.

Glass couldn’t offer astatewide estimate ofwhat it would cost to sta-tion officers at all Iowaschools. But if a schoolpaid $60,000 average perfull-time officer, includ-ing benefits, the tab forIowa’s 1,434 buildingswould be $86 million ayear.

“They are expensive,”Schouten said. “Someschools cannot affordthem.”

Iowa officials open to NRA proposalBy Perry BeemanGannett