Funky Winkerbean is a long-running comic strip by Tom Batiuk. Distributed by North America Syndicate, a division of King Features Syndicate, it appears in more than 400 newspapers worldwide. While Batiuk was a 23-year-old middle school art teacher in Elyria, Ohio, he began drawing cartoons while supervising study hall. In 1970, his characters first appeared as a weekly panel, Rapping Around, on the teenage page of the Elyria Chronicle Telegram. In 1972, Batiuk reworked some of the characters into a daily strip, which he sold to Publishers-Hall Syndicate. Since its inception on March 27, 1972, the strip has gone through several format changes. For the first 20 years of its run, the characters did not age, the strip was nominally episodic as opposed to a serial, with humor derived from visual gags and the eccentricity of the characters. In 1992, Batiuk rebooted the strip, establishing that the characters had graduated from high school in 1988, the series began progressing in real time. In 2007, a second "time warp" occurred, this time taking the strip ten years into the future, ostensibly to 2017, although the events of the strip still reflect a contemporary setting.

Since the 1992 reboot and since the 2007 time jump, the strip has been recast as a serialized drama, though most strips still feature some humor based on wordplay. The more drama-oriented Funky Winkerbean has featured story arcs revolving around such topics as terminal cancer, prisoners of war, drug abuse, post-traumatic stress, same-sex couples attending the senior prom, interracial marriage. Centered at Westview High School, the strip focused on several students: Funky Winkerbean, Crazy Harry Klinghorn, Barry Balderman, "Bull" Bushka, Cindy Summers, Roland, Leslie P. "Les" Moore, majorette Holly Budd, Lisa Crawford. From 1972 to 1992, the strip was gag-oriented, with humor coming from physical and prop comedy and surreal situations: running gags included the school's computer having become sentient and subjecting the students to its obsession with Star Trek. Though the titular everyman Funky Winkerbean was the ostensible main character, nerds Les Moore and Lisa Crawford became breakout characters and the strip's primary focus.

Supporting characters included obsessive majorette Holly, "Crazy" Harry, Jerome T. "Bull" Bushka, popular girl Cindy. Rounding out the cast was the Westview High staff, including Principal Burch, counselor Fred Fairgood, secretary Betty Reynolds, football coach John "Jack" Stropp and Dinkle. In 1992, Batiuk changed the strip's format, it was established that Funky, Les and all the rest of the previous cast had graduated from Westview in 1988. Subsequently, the characters underwent significant life changes. Funky married Cindy in 1998. Les and Lisa married in a Halloween-themed 1996 story that saw them dressed as Robin. Funky now co-owned the local pizza parlor with Tony Montoni, Les taught English at Westview, Crazy Harry was the local mailman, Bull the Scapegoats' coach, Cindy a national-level television newscaster; the strip followed their stories as well as those of a new generation at Westview, including Wally, Becky and Monroe. Overtly whimsical elements were now downplayed in favor of more grounded real-life incidents and stories, some of the series' running gags from the 1972–92 years were recast in a more serious light.

For instance, Bull's hectoring of Les became the focus of a storyline on domestic violence and child abuse when it was revealed that Bull abused Les to cope with being abused by his own father. Though humorous storylines remained mainstay, Batiuk examined real-life contemporary issues not seen on the comics page, such as: Teenage pregnancy: Lisa became pregnant as a teenager, her son was, unknown to her, adopted by the Fairgoods, was named Darin, is a current character in the strip. In July 2007, the two filed paperwork in an attempt to contact one another, they meet shortly before Lisa's death. Suicide: A student named Susan Smith becomes enamored with Les, but the crush on her teacher is unrequited due to his commitment to Lisa. Susan attempts suicide, but gets medical attention in time. Susan—apparently accepting that Les was unavailable—helps him get his marriage license when he fails to obtain it in time. Teen dating violence: After her appearance in the suicide storyline, Susan begins dating Westview High star quarterback and "big man on campus" Matt Miller, abusive and possessive with her.

Les and Lisa empower Susan to end the relationship. It is revealed that Lisa's ex-boyfriend, had abused teen-aged Lisa during their relationship before he got her pregnant. Censorship: John Howard, owner of the Comic Book Emporium, is persecuted by moralizers who accused him of corrupting children. Lisa defends John in court. Dyslexia: Westview's top student, Barry Balderman, fails to take his exams, thus to graduate, he is required to enroll in summer school, where he realizes one of his classmates is having trouble. Being dyslexic himself, Barry is able to diagnose the problem correctly. Gun violence: A student brings a gun to sch

Independence is a city in Trempealeau County, United States. The population was 1,336 at the 2010 census, it is located at the confluence of the Trempealeau River. Unless otherwise noted, the history below is taken from Gamroth. Independence is in the Town of Burnside, which corresponds with one of the townships created under the Land Ordinance of 1785. Shortly after the naming of Burnside in 1863, settlers from Europe and the Eastern United States began arriving in significant numbers; the city of Independence owes its existence to a man named David M. Kelly. Running parallel to the Trempealeau River is the Green Bay and Western Railroad, part of a line intended to run from Green Bay, Wisconsin to Wabasha, Minnesota. Kelly was an enthusiastic promoter of building a depot for the new line in Burnside. After much disagreement and dispute over its location, Green Bay and Lake Pepin agreed to build a depot if $5,000 could be raised by the residents to finance construction; the money was raised, Kelly bought the land for the depot in 1876.

He founded a village on the land and named it Independence in honor of the nation’s centennial of independence. The village was incorporated in 1885 and became a city in 1942. Independence has outlived the depot, once at its heart; the line began at Green Bay but reached Winona, Minnesota instead of Wabasha. Passenger service was never profitable. Under the inexorable pressure of the automobile, passenger service ended in 1949, but freight trains still use the line today. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.31 square miles, of which, 1.27 square miles is land and 0.04 square miles is water. It is within the Driftless Zone of the Midwest. Just upstream from the intersection between Elk Creek and the Trempealeau is the dam impounding Bugle Lake; the present dam was built in 1935 as part of the Works Progress Administration. It replaced an earlier dam, built by a resident named W. S. Newton, it broke and flooded all of Arcadia, Wisconsin in 2011. Bugle Lake has peaceful canoeing, a small park covers the island in the lake.

As of the census of 2010, there were 1,336 people, 606 households, 352 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,052.0 inhabitants per square mile. There were 676 housing units at an average density of 532.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 88.6% White, 0.1% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 9.9% from other races, 1.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.9% of the population. There were 606 households of which 29.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.8% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 8.4% had a male householder with no wife present, 41.9% were non-families. 34.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.3% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.74. The median age in the city was 37.7 years. 22.3% of residents were under the age of 18. The gender makeup of the city was 48.1 % female.

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,244 people, 581 households, 317 families residing in the city. The population density was 978.8 people per square mile. There were 619 housing units at an average density of 487.0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 98.47% White, 0.16% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.88% from other races, 0.32% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.61% of the population. There were 581 households out of which 26.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.2% were married couples living together, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 45.4% were non-families. 38.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.1% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.13 and the average family size was 2.86. In the city, the population was spread out with 21.9% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, 22.4% who were 65 years of age or older.

The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $27,389, the median income for a family was $41,691. Males had a median income of $26,389 versus $21,065 for females; the per capita income for the city was $15,977. About 6.2% of families and 9.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.2% of those under age 18 and 18.5% of those age 65 or over. Grover L. Broadfoot, chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court Leo Ferdinand Dworschak, Roman Catholic Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fargo George H. Markham, Wisconsin State Representative William H. Markham, Wisconsin State Senator Gamroth, Clarence J.. Historical Album, 100 Years, Wisc. Independence, WI: City of Independence. CS1 maint: extra text: authors list Independence, Wisconsin website Sanborn fire insurance maps: 1894 1914