In 31 communities, referendums will measure voter sentiment but will carry no legal weight.

(Associated Press in St. Paul Pioneer Press) EVANSVILLE — Judy Hale says President Bush ruined her son's life.

Her boy, 25-year-old Brian Musser Jr., spent a year in Iraq in the Army. He's been back home for nine months, but he's jittery and prone to flashbacks of finding his buddy dead at the hands of a sniper.

"There's times he'll call me and just cry," said Hale, a waitress at the Village Square Family Restaurant in this town of about 4,000 people 20 miles southeast of Madison.

Advisory referendums seek voters' opinions on troop withdrawal
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal

Voters in Whitefish Bay, Shorewood and 29 other Wisconsin communities will be able to weigh in on whether the U.S. should withdraw troops from Iraq when they cast their ballots on April 4.

Milwaukee voters will have a chance to voice their opinions in the November election. In Ozaukee County, the County Board voted to place on the November ballot a referendum that asks voters not about a troop withdrawal but rather whether they support the war on terrorism.

The Associated Press via the Washington Post

KEWAUNEE, Wis. -- Peace activist Jill Bussiere wants the United States to bring its troops home from Iraq immediately, so she went door-to-door in this community in the hopes of getting others to join her cause.

Bussiere helped organize a petition drive that resulted in a referendum on Iraq being put on the ballot during Kewaunee's upcoming spring election. It asks whether the city's leaders should urge the U.S. to begin an immediate withdrawal of its troops, beginning with the National Guard and Reserves.

By DAN BENSON of the Milwaukee Journal

Ozaukee measure to support effort in Iraq, anti-terrorism fails

Port Washington - Saying they were trying to counter "hotbeds of liberalism" and anti-war activists in the state, two Ozaukee County supervisors - one a West Point graduate - decided to draft a resolution in support of the war in Iraq and the war against terrorism.  But their fellow supervisors didn't exactly see eye to eye Wednesday and voted down the resolution, which would have asked voters whether they support the U.S. war on terror "throughout the world."

The resolution authored by supervisors Warren Stumpe and Joseph Sopko was defeated 14-9. Stumpe said the resolution was proposed in reaction to referendums being placed on ballots in other parts of the state.