Wisconsin Public Radio
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06/13/2026
The new Ho-Chunk Garden in Riverside Park features a bronze sculpture of celebrated Ho-Chunk healer Betsy Thunder.
New La Crosse statue celebrates Ho-Chunk healer, replacing controversial sculpture The bronze sculpture of Betsy Thunder was installed in May as part of a new section of the Riverside International Friendship Gardens in La Crosse's Riverside Park.
When Rodney Esser started working at Park Elementary School in Cross Plains, a carton of school milk cost about 3 cents. It was 1965 and the school building was still under construction.
Esser, better known around Park Elementary as Mr. Peanuts, has been cleaning the classrooms and mentoring students ever since. Over his long career, he has worked with seven different principals and about 15,000 students.
He’s done everything from filling the bathrooms with paper towels to teaching struggling students how to use the large mechanical floor sweep to help boost their mood and confidence. He averages around 11,000 steps a day and has never taken a sick day.
Esser’s family farmed the land Park Elementary School is built on. When the land was sold to the district, the school offered Esser a job.
https://www.wpr.org/news/mr-peanuts-beloved-cross-plains-custodian-retires
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