Milwaukee's newest tourist attraction arrived today. During a ceremony that was attended by hundreds of people, a statue of the "Happy Days" television character Arthur Fonzarelli was unveiled along the city's riverwalk downtown. Actor Henry Winkler, who played the leather jacket-clad Fonzie, attended the ceremony. Most of the cast of television show also attended. The Bronze Fonz is the brainchild of David Fantle, vice president of public relations for Visit Milwaukee, and was paid for with private donations. The festivities will continue this afternoon with a parade down Wisconsin Avenue, followed by ceremonies at Miller Park before tonight's Milwaukee Brewers game. Actor Anson Williams, who played Potsie in the TV show, will sing the National Anthem at tonight's game. To view a slideshow of photographs from today's statue ceremony, visit the latest edition of SBT Around Town.

The majority of Milwaukee County residents have a favorable view of the services provided by the Milwaukee County government, but many also believe the government should be restructured, according to a new public opinion survey conducted for the Wisconsin Public Policy Forum.
Meanwhile, two-thirds of the respondents in the new survey are in favor of creating a regional transit authority.
An executive summary for the report, issued today, stated, "'Milwaukee County ain't broke, but it does need fixing,' concluded a 1996 report by Milwaukee County's Commission for the 21st Century. Twelve years later, in a comprehensive survey of
residents' views on county government, the citizens of Milwaukee County are saying essentially the same thing."
The new survey marks the first comprehensive measure of public opinion on county government since the eruption of the pension scandal in 2002.
The survey also comes on the heels of business executive Sheldon Lubar's call for the elimination of the county government.
According to the survey, African-American residents, as well as low-income respondents, are less positive about the county, and a higher proportion of them support county government restructuring.
Key findings from the survey included:

• Perceptions about Milwaukee County in general - Most respondents say the county is a
  good or excellent place to live, a good place to raise a family, and a place with good
  government and good elected leadership.
• Views on county services - A solid majority say county government provides good service overall. In regard to specific services, highest-rated were the zoo, airport, expressway patrol and parks, while the lowest rated were mental health, food stamp/Medicaid eligibility and long-term care for the elderly and disabled.
• Minor vs. major change - One third of respondents say county government needs major
  restructuring and another half support minor restructuring; less than a fifth say it is fine the way it is.
• Changes in governance of county programs – Despite general satisfaction with county
  government and general opposition to the notion of eliminating it entirely, roughly half of
  respondents are open to various options for governance change, such as a regional parks
  authority, a state takeover of social services and creation of a governor-appointed fiscal
  oversight board. Meanwhile, close to two-thirds support a regional transit authority.
• Layers of government – More than half of respondents feel there are too many layers of
  local government and slightly less than half say their ability to access government would
  suffer if some of those layers were eliminated. Close to three quarters say it doesn't matter which level of government is providing critical services such as fire, police and social services, as long as those services are provided efficiently.

The Milwaukee-based Public Policy Forum, established in 1913 as a local government watchdog, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the effectiveness of government and the development of southeastern Wisconsin through objective research of regional public policy issues. Funding for the survey was provided by the Argosy Foundation.

As a fallout from the MillerCoors LLC merger, the beer distribution industry in southeastern Wisconsin is consolidating, with Pewaukee-based Beer Capitol Distributing Inc. acquiring Miller Brands-Milwaukee LLC of Wauwatosa.
Beer Capitol, which sells Pabst and other brands in Milwaukee County, has agreed to buy Miller Brands, which has sold Miller Brewing Co. products throughout Milwaukee County for many years, for an undisclosed amount.
The sale is set close by Oct. 31.
The consolidation will create one distributor for all Miller, Coors, Pabst and the newly relaunched Schlitz products throughout southeastern Wisconsin, with 250 employees and 2,000 sales accounts.
Beer Capitol is owned by Aldo Madrigrano and his family, which also operates W.O.W. Distributing Co. of Sussex and CJW Inc. of Racine.
W.O.W. Distributing sells MillerCoors products in Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties. CJW Inc. sells MillerCoors products in Kenosha, Racine and Walworth counties.
The acquisition of Miller Brands will bring MillerCoors' Milwaukee County accounts, including Summerfest, downtown Milwaukee and Miller Park, under the Madrigrano corporate umbrella.
"The joining of these two great companies represents a strategic move that better aligns both organizations with the newly formed Miller-Coors joint venture, building upon each companies' recognized strengths in delivering exemplary customer service and developing long-standing relationships within local operating communities," said Aldo Madrigrano, who will serve as chairman of the Beer Capitol after the sale.
Mike Merriman, president of Beer Capitol, will continue in that role, and Dave Neville, currently the vice president of sales for Miller Brands, will lead sales efforts.
"This is a joining of two great organizations and we fully intend to build on the strong consumer loyalty to the Miller brands in Milwaukee County," Madrigrano said. "This deal gives us long-term continuity and combines the forces of a bigger, better and stronger service organization to serve our customers and offer consumers an expanded array of top-flight brands."
Miller Brands president Steve Johnson and vice president Mike Gallagher will not be part of the leadership team of the merged company, a Beer Capitol spokeswoman said.
Miller Brands has about 150 employees in Wauwatosa. When asked about the status of those jobs, Beer Capitol spokeswoman Mary Brophy said, "There are no other changes planned at this time."
Madrigrano, who is the chairman of the board of the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA), was the winner of the Small Business Times Bravo! Entrepreneur Regional Spirit Award in 2006.
In its most recent issue, Small Business Times published a report that predicted the pending consolidation of the beer distribution industry in southeastern Wisconsin.

Milwaukee drivers can now return to the Marquette Interchange, which has been completely redesigned with all right-hand exit ramps.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle today announced that all freeway lanes and ramps on the Marquette Interchange are open, months earlier than scheduled and under budget.
The project, which has been causing commuters to find new routes to downtown since October 2004, is the largest transportation construction project in state history.
The total cost of the project from design through construction was slated to be $810 million. In the end, the state will save about $15 million though management practices, design choices and by using local materials, Doyle said.
About 19 percent of all consultant and contracting dollars - more than $120 million in all - has gone to minority and women-owned firms, with the vast majority from southeast Wisconsin.
There were no fatalities for any of the more than 4,000 workers involved on the project, nor for the thousands of motorists who continued to use the interchange during construction, Doyle said.
Every day, more than 300,000 cars and trucks use the interchange of Interstates 43, 94 and 794.

Tushaus Computer Services, a Milwaukee-based provider of IT solutions and services, announced today that it has acquired Bedrock Managed Services of Madison.
Tushaus will hire 14 Bedrock employees and will establish a Madison office at Bedrock's 2800 Royal Ave. location.
"Bedrock has a loyal employee and customer base in the Madison area, and we are excited about entering the Madison market to build off of Bedrock's success," said Gregg Tushaus, founder and chief executive officer of Tushaus. "Tushaus has a 15-year history of building long-term customer and employee relationships and we are looking forward to developing mutually rewarding partnerships with our new associates and customers in the Madison area."
Mark Bakken, founder and CEO of Bedrock, will spearhead Tushaus' growth in the Madison metropolitan area by moving into a business development role with the acquired company.
"I'm excited for our employees and customers to be part of a tremendous company like Tushaus," Bakken said. "The value we can deliver goes up exponentially as a result of this acquisition."
Tushaus employs more than 135 professionals with a variety of technical skills in its offices in Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Green Bay and Madison, with annual revenues of more than $28 million.

Michael Ball is the new president of Datastore, a Cudahy-based subsidiary of Coakley Bros. Co.
Ball is succeeding Greg Jeske, who recently announced his retirement. Jeske will remain as a consultant at Datastore and to Ball through the end of the year to ensure business continuity.
Datstore is southern Wisconsin's largest records storage and imaging scan services company.
Ball is a 17-year veteran of the enterprise content management industry and has served as the senior vice president of marketing and product strategy at Clearview Software since 2006.
"We are very fortunate to have Mike lead Datastore as we continue our leadership position as Wisconsin's trusted records management and scan services provider, while we begin the natural extension of our service offerings into the rapidly-growing Enterprise Content Management market," said Peggy Coakley, chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based Coakley Bros.
Datastore provides state of the art, off-site records storage, digital imaging and vault storage of computer back-up tapes and media and the latest in e-vaulting technology. Datastore has operations and facilities in Cudahy and Madison. Datastore will move its Madison operations into a newly built records facility later this year.

Chrysler LLC has filed a lawsuit in a Michigan court alleging that Glendale-based Johnson Controls Inc. charged inflated prices for batteries, according to a report today by The Wall Street Journal.
The suit was filed Aug. 14 in the Oakland County Circuit Court, the WSJ reported, and is the latest sign of rising tensions between Chrysler and its parts suppliers since the automaker was acquired by Cerberus Capital Management LP, a private investment firm, last year.
Chrysler seeks more than $15 million in damages from the suit, in which Chrysler alleges that Johnson Controls charged for more lead that it actually put into its batteries. The suit claims Johnson Controls' actions were "systematic and deliberate."
A Johnson Controls spokeswoman said the company does not comment on pending lawsuits.

The minimum markup law adds to the cost of every gallon of gas sold in Wisconsin. Is this Depression-era law still necessary? Or would its repeal be disastrous for some businesses? State Rep. Bill Kramer and Brandon Scholz of the Wisconsin Grocers Assiciation debate the merits of minimum in the latest online edition of Upfront with Mike Gousha, a joint project of Channel 12 and WisPolitics.com, which are media partners of Small Business Times.

We Energies wants to build a wind farm with 90 turbines and a capacity of up to 234 megawatts in Columbia County near Randolph, according to an application filed with the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com/#news.

Although many private banks have been besieged by the credit crisis, subprime loans and mortgage foreclosures, Wisconsin's credit unions appear to be charging ahead with few problems. According to the mid-year bulletin of the Wisconsin Department of Institutions Office of Credit Unions, the total assets of credit unions in the state grew to $17.8 billion as of June 30, up 7.4 percent, or $1.2 billion, from the beginning of the year. Read more in the latest edition of the BizTimes Money bulletin.

The BizTimes Stock Index fell 1.91 points to close at 145.34 Monday, but the stock market dipped sharply this morning on the news of more weak housing data, rising wholesale prices and falling sales and profits by major retailers. The Dow Jones Industrials Average fell by more than 130 points this morning. The largest local decliners this morning were Kohl's Corp. (down $1.65 to $49.07), A.O. Smith Corp. (down $1.33 to $39.96) and Rockwell Automation Inc. (down $1.19 to $47.15). A handful of local stocks posted gains this morning, led by Joy Global Inc. (up $1.08 to $66.89) and Badger Meter Inc. (up 24 cents to $51.00). The BizTimes Stock Index was created by Small Business Times and is monitored by North Shore Bank. The index, which measures the stock values of publicly held companies based in southeastern Wisconsin, is updated daily and can be viewed at www.biztimes.com.

Jospeh Cardamone, president of the United States Federal of Small Businesses, provides a recession survival kit for small businesses in today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.