Top Stories, September 20th

Burnett Man Accused of Sparking Chase

9/20/10 - A Burnett man faces a variety of charges after allegedly running from police and crashing into a parked car. Beaver Dam Police Lt. Brandon Stommel tells us it started just before 9pm Saturday night with an alleged traffic violation near the intersection of North Spring and Main streets. The chase proceeded to North Center then South Center Street. The driver lost control while going around the curve near the Kraft Foods plant, struck a no parking sign and then a parked car on the 600 block of South Center Street. The 23-year-old reportedly ran from accident scene but was apprehended after one block. There was no one inside the parked car. The suspect, and a 19-year-old Beaver Dam female in his vehicle, both sustained minor injuries. The Wisconsin State Patrol is also investigating.

Columbus Council Considers Wastewater Plan

9/20/10 - The Columbus Council will be voting Tuesday on acceptance of the first two stages of a 7-year, $10 million dollar wastewater improvement program. Aging collection and treatment facilities, DNR improvement mandates and a plan to regionalize the system with the Village of Fall River drove the City to develop a multi-year replacement and construction plan for the system. The first two stages will be replacement of downtown James Street water mains and initial upgrades on the River Road Treatment Plant. Ruekert-Mielke Engineer Doug Nelson design and planning for these two projects would be done this year and construction completed in 2011. The City will be working from a plan that should produce a “DNR approved” wastewater system for Columbus and Fall River over the next 20 years. According to City Engineer Jason Lietha the plan gives the City a “road map” listing the stages and costs for all required upgrades in the next 7 years. The Council vote Tuesday is on approval of the $312 thousand dollars to begin the first two stages of the wastewater plan.

Parkhurst To Talk Tanzania On Community Comment

9/20/10 - The volunteers with the Tanzanian Education Project are back home. Beaver Dam-native Cassie Parkhurst returned last week from the impoverished East African County earlier than planned after illness took its toll on the group. In her latest blog entry, Parkhurst writes, “The flight went well as all persons and luggage arrived safely.” Her colleague contracted Malaria, had a bad reaction to medication and is currently at home and is taking time to recover but is said to be doing well. They were able to finish work on the last of three libraries before leaving. Also plans were set for future projects were ironed out, including the building of a chicken coup, starting a water catch system for clean drinking water and finishing the computer lab. With the help of her home community of Beaver Dam, Parkhurst packed a crate the size of a Buick with books, sports equipment and school supplies and sent it overseas. We’ll get all the details on the library and the overall trip when Parkhurst joins us this week on WBEV’s Community Comment.

Alice In Sorghum Fest

9/20/10 - Alice in Dairyland, Christine Lindner, was a guest at Saturday’s annual “Sorghum Fest” in Fall River. Lindner was on hand representing Wisconsin’s $59 billion dollar Ag Industry. In her first year as the state’s Ag Ambassador, the Beaver Dam area native joined the crowd that braved the on again / off again rain at the Savanna Oaks festival. Many residents joined “Alice” in seeing sorghum being made, enjoying the entertainment, visiting the civil war encampment, taking in craft demonstrations and feasting on home-made pies.

Meet Mayor Tom Tuesday

9/20/10 - Beaver Dam Mayor Tom Kennedy will hold another one of his listening sessions Tuesday morning. Kennedy says city residents are invited to meet with him, one-on-one, without appointment on the first and third Tuesday of every month. He says it is important that constituents have the opportunity to speak with him the day after each regular meeting of the common council. The meetings are held in Room 109 on the first floor of City Hall from 10am until noon. Kennedy also makes himself available for private meetings by appointment by contacting the mayor office.