Mayor’s Column May 10, 2025
Rohn Bishop, Mayor of Waupun
Hello Waupun!
Something unique about Waupun is that we have three prisons here. I don’t think there’s any other mayor in America who has three prisons in their city’s limits, and working with the prisons gives me a special appreciation for the correctional employees we have here.
This past week was Correctional Officers’ Appreciation Week, a week to honor correctional officers, and correctional employees, was created by President Ronald Reagan back in 1984. As the Mayor of Wisconsin’s Prison City I wanted to make sure I took the opportunity to thank all the hard-working men and women at Waupun’s three prisons. Correctional employees are an essential, if often unseen, part of public safety. After all, they keep the bad guys locked up so we can be safer. Much of the work of correctional employees goes unseen because they work on the other side of the walls. We see police officers, EMTs, and firefighters working daily, we don’t see correctional staff, and corrections can be a very high stress and at times a thankless job.
Just this past week the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department arrested and charged a lady with harassment, stalking, and threatening the life of correctional staff. The Waupun Police Department assisted with increased patrols at both the prison and at the correctional officer’s home. I’m glad the lady has been arrested and charged.
As Waupunities, we have a special appreciation for correctional officers and the work they do, because almost all of us know someone who works at one of the prisons, but it’s still important to thank all the good people who work at our prisons and help keep Waupun and Wisconsin safer! Thank you all for your service!
There’s a saying that goes, “This is why we can’t have nice things.” Well, Waupun does have nice things, but there’s always someone trying to ruin it. This past week some punk vandalized the boardwalk. Thankfully the Public Works team was able to remove the graffiti. The boardwalk and our parks are such nice amenities for Waupun, but unfortunately, every year we have to clean up vandalism at our parks. Why people want to destroy and deface what makes Waupun such a nice community, I’ll never know. But it’s up to us as a community to take care of what we have, so if you ever see something suspicious at our parks, please call the Waupun Police. It’s not right that our public works crew spend so much time repairing park bathrooms or removing graffiti from the boardwalk.
Finally, Happy Mother’s Day to all you wonderful moms out there! Enjoy your day!
Keep calm and Waup-on!
Mayor Rohn
