Top Stories january 22nd

Hoeft States Case on Community Comment

1/22/09 - On Community Comment yesterday, the owner of the Fountain Inn Tavern in Beaver Dam criticized city officials for seeking to demolish his property after he spent $35,000 to reopen his business following the June floods. The city is seeking to acquire and demolish eleven downtown buildings located in a floodplain over the river. Jay Hoeft – the lone hold out - also said the city sacrificed the eleven buildings so the DNR would loosen improvement restrictions for the Weyco development, which is located in the flood fringe. He says it’s a matter of principal and while he “may wind up having to sell his building to the city, he would love to see the building stay” because it is a piece of history. Hoeft’s building was recently placed on the state Historic Registry. While that may not save him from DNR demolition orders, Hoeft contends he will no longer be held to a floodplain restriction that limits him to spending no more than 50% of the assessed value of his building on improvements.

Fox Lake Overhauling Garbage Pickup System

1/22/09 - Fox Lake residents could start seeing a garbage pickup charge on their water and sewer bill as early as this May. That’s after the Common Council discussed an ordinance that would abandon the current system which makes residents buy $1 dollar stickers and place them on every bag they want picked up. With the new system residents would pay five-dollars more on their water and sewer bill each month. The council is expected to vote on the new ordinance later this spring.

Call to Dispatchers Released

1/22/09 - Records and audio released by the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Department confirm that a recent murder-suicide in the Town of Eldorado unfolded much too quickly for deputies to prevent. The tapes reveal an off-duty deputy got a call from another man about a text message he'd gotten from Julie Hinkley. Her husband, Kurt, was holding a gun on her and wouldn't let her leave their home. Shortly after, Kurt and Julie Hinkley wrestled inside the home before she was able to break away and get outside, but he was on her heels and fatally shot her and himself before deputies could do anything about it. The couple left behind a 3-year-old and an 8-year-old daughter.

Hron Goes to Prison for Speeding

1/22/09 - A Randolph man -- whose speeding six years ago caused a wreck that killed 16-year-old girl – is going back to prison for leading authorities on a high speed chase. Brian Hron had his extended supervision revoked for leading Columbia County authorities on a pursuit in September that reached speeds in excess of 120mph. The 24-year-old was arrested at least two other times since the fatal crash in 2002. He was sentenced to the maximum of three years in prison during a reconfinement hearing Tuesday. Hron is still facing charges in Columbia County for the chase and could have another four years added to his sentence.

Plank Arraigned

1/22/09 - An Iron Ridge man has entered a “not guilty” plea to charges that he molested a young teenage girl. Mark Plank was in Dodge County court yesterday on a felony count of Sexual Assault of Child Under the Age of 16 related to offenses that allegedly occurred last June. The 47-year-old Plank was convicted in 1994 on charges of First Degree Sexual Assault of a Child and was sentenced to 10 years probation. In 1999, Plank was ordered to serve an eight year prison sentence after his probation was revoked. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted on the most recent charges. A jury trial is scheduled for March 23.

Sussex Man Convicted of Negligent Homicide

1/22/09 - A driver from Sussex has been convicted in the death of a friend who was surfing on his car when it hit a tree. 18-year-old Michael Hollnagel pleaded no contest yesterday in Waukesha County to a charge of negligent homicide. He’s scheduled to be sentenced March 27th. Authorities said 19-year-old Brian Jackson of Menomonee Falls was riding on the hood when Hollnagel lost control of the car as he was passing a parked vehicle. Jackson was thrown when the car crossed a median and hit the tree. He died in a helicopter that was heading to a Milwaukee area hospital. The crash happened last June 19th.

Aerators On Lakes

1/22/09 - A third aeration system has been added to Beaver Dam Lake. Doug Sackett with the Beaver Dam Lake Improvement Association says there is now an aerator located on the south end of the lake near Skunk Island. Earlier this month, the association placed aeration units in the mid-lake at Minders Island and in the northwest portion at Rasmussen Point. Sackett says oxygen levels are still low and it could be a month or two before a benefit is seen. There is also an aerator on Fox Lake. Officials there tell us it was set up near Maple Point on Monday. There has been one at Lake Emily for the past couple weeks as well. The area around an aeration system is roped off with reflectors.

DNR Holding Meeting in Ripon on Proposed Mega-Dairy

1/22/09 - The state D-N-R will hold a public hearing in Ripon tonight on a proposed mega-dairy in the nearby town of Rosendale. The D-N-R is being asked to approve a waste-water discharge permit and an environmental impact statement. The proposed dairy would have up to four-thousand cows and 150 beef cattle. Under its current plans, the operation would generate about 46-million gallons of liquid waste – most of it manure. It would be stored on the site, and applied to over 56-hundred acres of croplands each year. A second phase of a similar size would be possible in the future. The D-N-R is taking written comments about the project through February fourth.

Wisconsin Loses Authority to Control Grey Wolves

1/22/09 - Wisconsin has again lost its authority to control grey wolves. The Interior Department restored that power last week. But President Obama has signed an executive order which gives his new administration time to review the last-minute decisions the Bush bureaucrats made just before they left. It means that Washington will control Wisconsin’s nearly 600 wolves under the Endangered Species Act. But Laura Ragan of the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service says it should only be temporary, while the new administration gets up to speed. The state’s management plan – which the federal courts struck down twice in recent years – gives farmers more control in killing wolves that destroy livestock and pets.

Leopold Honored with National Historic Landmark

1/22/09 - The Wisconsin place where Aldo Leopold was inspired to write “A Sand County Almanac” has just been named a National Historic Landmark. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced nine historic designations just before he left office on Tuesday. One was the humble shack and farm near Baraboo where Leopold – who’s considered the father of modern ecology – wrote his classic collection of essays. They called for a new land ethic to guide people in their dealings with nature. And they described his observations of nature as the seasons changed in southern Wisconsin. The shack is now maintained by the Leopold Foundation, which his children started 27 years ago to continue his legacy.

Coke Dealer to be Resentenced

1/22/09 - In an apparent first in Wisconsin, a cocaine dealer from Milwaukee will get a new sentencing, because of alleged racial remarks a judge made in his original sentencing. A state appeals court criticized what former Circuit Judge Joseph Wall said when he sentenced Landray Harris. Wall, who’s now a federal prosecutor, gave the black Harris two years in prison in August of 2007. Harris told the judge he stayed home with his two-year-old daughter, while the mother went to college and worked. And the white judge replied, “Where do you guys find these women?” Wall later said quote, “Mr. Harris sits at home, gets high while his baby-mama works and goes to school. I swear there’s a club where these women get together and congregate.” The 22-year-old Harris asked for a new sentence, saying Wall made sarcastic, stereotypical, and racially-offensive remarks. Circuit Judge Kevin Martens rejected a new sentence. He said the remarks were about Harris’s character, and not his race. Appeals’ Judge Joan Kessler said there’s no proof that Wall harbored a racial bias. But she said the phrases “baby mama,” “you guys” and “these women” were troubling – because it’s a step toward saying “you people,” which has been known to be a racial insult.

Unemployment Soaring

1/22/09 - The recession still has growing numbers of Wisconsinites filing for unemployment benefits. State officials say new jobless claims for the first three weeks of the New Year are up 62-percent from the same time a year ago. The workforce development agency said almost 82-thousand laid-off workers filed their first benefit claims through last Saturday. Last year, the total was just over 50-thousand. Continued benefit claims for the long-term unemployed are up 53-percent in 2009, from the first weeks of ’08.


MADD Scales Back

1/22/09 - Mothers Against Drunk Driving will cut its Wisconsin staff from three people to one by the end of January. A spokeswoman for the national group says state director Kari Kinnard will be leaving, along with MADD’s development director Michelle Puetz. That leaves victim assistance worker Lindsay Desormier as the only remaining Wisconsin staff member. The national group said the Badger State chapter does not bring in enough donations to cover its budget – even though contributions have risen lately. MADD has been very vocal about wanting to make first-time drunk driving a criminal offense in Wisconsin – the need for more ignition inter-locks for repeat offenders – and the approval for sobriety checkpoints. All those issues and others are expected to be considered in the new session of the state Legislature. But Assembly Democrat Tony Staskunas of West Allis says the timing of MADD’s cutbacks is unfortunate. The group is cutting staff in six other states besides Wisconsin.