By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel
Waukesha - Waukesha County Board leaders Monday unanimously endorsed a policy that would restrict those entering certain county buildings from carrying concealed weapons.
The policy, with a 7-0 recommendation from the Executive Committee, goes to the County Board for action at its 7 p.m. meeting Nov. 22.
The policy would impose the weapons ban at the Human Services and Public Health Centers, at the mental Health Center, the Juvenile Center and the Waukesha County Communications Center. In addition, those renting or leasing county facilities, such as a golf course or the Expo Center, can determine whether they want to impose a ban or not. Weapons are already banned at the Courthouse and Administration Center.
The Waukesha Common Council, at its 7:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday, is scheduled to debate a Public Works Board recommendation that would allow concealed carrying of weapons, as permitted by a new state law that took effect Nov. 1, in any municipal building except municipal court.
About Laurel Walker
Laurel Walker covered local, school and county government for 20 years -- the last half of that at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- before she was named Waukesha County columnist in 1997. Today she writes about the people, places and events around metropolitan Milwaukee with a broad suburban focus.
She was the youngest of nine children raised on a central Wisconsin farm before leaving the nest for journalism studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a masters degree at the University of Oregon.
She has spent the last half of her life in Waukesha County, where she and her husband raised two sons. Though she has a fondness for life in Waukesha, she eagerly partakes in the culture of the big city to the east and the recreation of the forests to the west. With sons in the arts, she has a special fondness for symphonic music concerts and art museums. She finds peace in a good book at a Northwoods getaway weekend, adventure in family visits to the east and west coasts, and satisfaction in a column well-written that reaches readers.
