Sussex — The Village Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to keep the once-controversial pedestrian crossing "bumpouts" on Main Street, and to keep them as they are, without adding new warning signs.

Public Works Committee Chairman Steve Berger said his committee voted 2-1 to maintain the status quo because it would be too expensive to remove the bumpouts or add new signs.

A study commissioned by the village also confirmed that the structure made it safer to cross Main Street at that spot between the Pauline Haass Public Library and the Piggly Wiggly parking lot.

"It is functional," Village President Tony Lapcinski said.

The study also recommended against planting tall grasses or colorful flowers that might obstruct a driver's view of a child crossing there, and in favor of installing "pavers" instead.

Lapcinski and Berger organized and led a slate of challengers who roundly criticized the bumpouts in their successful bid for Village Board seats in the 2007 elections.

Sussex — The Minnesota Crime Wave will hit the Pauline Haass Public Library next Monday. This mystery writers group will lead a fast-paced, humor-laden discussion at 7 p.m. April 21 in the Quad/Graphics Room.

Mystery writers William Kent Krueger, Ellen Hart and Carrl Brookins — who collectively have written 30 novels and won more than 16 national and regional awards — will explain how they've developed their own individual writing styles.

For more information, call (262) 246-5181, visit the library's website at www.wcfls.lib.wi.us/phpl or the library itself at N64 W23820 Main Street.