Michael Fellner came to Madison from Philadelphia in 1968 to attend the University of Wisconsin. In 1971 he was recruited by Mark Knops to work on Take Over, the latest in a succession of local alternative newspapers. A split on the staff of Knops' previous paper Kaleidoscope had led him to start Take Over in November 1971. (The other biweekly newspaper formed as a result of the split, The King Street Trolley, shared office space with Take Over and went to press on alternate weeks.)
Although collectively edited and published, Take Over was effectively run by only a few people. Fellner eventually dropped out of college, and became editor of the small staff when Knops ceased active participation in May 1972. Published on a fairly regular basis, the paper's last issue was November 1979. A member of the Underground Press Syndicate (later the Alternative Press Syndicate), its peak circulation is estimated at 7000 copies.
By the early 1970s the anti-war protest movement, a primary focus of many underground papers, was abating. However, two events in Madison provided much news value for the new paper. One of these events was the August 1970 bombing of the University of Wisconsin's Army Math Research Center (AMRC) and the subsequent capture, trial, and imprisonment of the conspirators Karleton and Dwight Armstrong and David Fine. (A fourth, Leo Burt, was never found.) The other event was the 1973 election of Paul Soglin, former student radical and city councilman, as mayor of Madison. Take Over's attacks on his opponent Nino Amato helped elect Soglin, and his election seemed to give the New Left its first legitimate role in local politics. The end of Soglin's tenure and Karleton Armstrong's release from jail coincided with the end of Take Over.
Unlike many underground newspapers, Take Over was not aligned with any particular segment of the New Left. Take Over criticized the establishment and the established media, supported the counterculture, and concentrated on local personalities. However, it was also the local vehicle for underground news not appearing in the mainstream press. Its diverse contents--articles, editorials, investigations, columns, gossip, photographs, cartoons, and graphics--have been variously described as satirical, ridiculing, sensationalist, humorous, entertaining, scandalous, absurd, irreverent, militant, creative, outrageous, and amusing.
The paper sponsored a number of events and demonstrations, such as a re-enactment of the Kennedy assassination, parodies of Madison's two daily newspapers, and Mifflin Street block parties (revived in 1973 after Soglin's first victory). Take Over's content and activities also precipitated a number of lawsuits.
It was discovered that during the early 1970s the Madison Police Department had formed a secret Affinity Squad of undercover and surveillance activities and kept files, called Affinity Files. This resulted in an official investigation of the squad and of the contents and disposition of its files. Fellner was able to obtain copies of these files under the Freedom of Information Act. Wishing to discover any local abuse of civil rights, in 1975 Fellner also attempted to obtain FBI records concerning local people, organizations, and events related to anti-war protests. His efforts resulted in an ultimately successful lawsuit against the FBI for timely release of documents.
Fellner left Madison and later became a private investigator in the Washington, D.C. area.
