A small Wisconsin museum is facing a fiscal crisis. Allie Karls is executive director of the Deke Slayton Space and Bicycle Museum in Sparta, which has an annual budget of about $72,000. “A good portion of that budget is funded by the city of Sparta,” says Karls. “We receive $40,000 from them annually.” Karls says the city is considering a cut in funding. If that happens, she says the museum would most likely be forced to shut down. She’s urging people to contact the city in hopes that officials will decide not to make the cut. Slayton was a Sparta native and one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts. He flew in space as part of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission.
Brian Brawner, WWIS
