River Levels At Portage Dropping
9/30/10 - The Wisconsin River keeps dropping in Portage – and officials say it will be back below its flood stage by late Thursday morning. The Columbia County Emergency Management office is taking damage estimates from flooded-out residents. Emergency management officials estimate that 120 homes sustained minor damage in Columbia County, while 10 have major damage. There has been approximately $40,000 in damage to public infrastructure. Columbia County also had five businesses with minor damage and one with major damage. Damage assessments will continue once flood waters recede. The water level of the Wisconsin River at Portage continues to drop at the rate of about one-inch an hour and DNR officials are hoping the worst is over at the Portage Levee. After reaching an all-time recorded high water level on Monday the Wisconsin River water level at Portage had dropped to 18.4 feet, almost a foot above flood stage, as of 3pm Wednesday afternoon. DNR operations crews inspected the 14-mile long sand levee and found it in “relatively good shape.” The DNR will continue to inspect the levee for the next week or so. Flood warnings remain for counties along the Mississippi River and a state of emergency remains in effect for Columbia and seven other counties.
DNR Seeks To Purchase Portage-Area Homes
9/30/10 - The state D-N-R says it will make a second effort to buy out more than 100 homes in Blackhawk Park area, and allow the levy to deteriorate. State officials first talked about a buy-out with local officials after the Floods-of-2008, and the D-N-R’s Steve Miller says the current flood should re-energize those talks. Miller says the 14-mile, 110-year-old sand levee was poorly built, and it’s too dilapidated. But the chairman of the town where the Portage levee is located says it should stay, and the D-N-R should keep maintaining it.
Scott Acquitted On Sexual Assault Charges
9/30/10 - It took a jury less than two hours Wednesday to find a Beaver Dam man not guilty on charges that he sexually assaulted an 8-year-old boy. According to the criminal complaint, the victim was staying at Michael J. Scott’s home last December when the alleged incident is said to have occurred. The 34-year-old faced over 100 years in prison if he had been convicted on the misdemeanor and two felony charges. Scott had been in custody since his arrest and was released from a $50,000 cash bond after the acquittal.
Horicon Bank Buying BD Westbury Branches
9/30/10 - Horicon Bank will be buying out the Beaver Dam branches of Westbury Bank. Horicon Bank Executive Vice President Jay Vanden Boogart says they’ve agreed to assume the deposits of Westbury Bank customers and purchase their loan assets. In addition, Horicon Bank will be purchasing the facility inside the Beaver Dam Piggly Wiggly but they will not be purchasing the brick and mortar facility on Frances Lane, which is expected to remain closed for a minimum of three months. Vanden Boogart says the 2200 Westbury customers who originated their accounts in Beaver Dam will become Horicon Bank customers. Westbury Bank President Jim Podewils says they are shedding a total of six locations, including the Beaver Dam market, leaving them with 14 branches. The new acquisitions would give Horicon Bank 15 locations in 13 Wisconsin communities. In a conference call, Podewils and Vanden Boogert told us there should be no real changes to the way that a customer’s account will be handled. Westbury employees who do not find employment with either bank will be given a severance package. The terms of the agreement are not being made public. The buy-out is contingent on regulatory approval but if all goes according to plan Vanden Boogart says the change will take effect on January 1.
Pfitzinger To Discuss Alcohol Court On WBEV
9/30/10 - Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Brian Pfitzinger will be our guest on WBEV’s Community Comment this afternoon. Pfitzinger will be in to discuss the new alcohol court that started this month in the county. Pfitzinger has been working on starting an alcohol court since campaigning for his circuit court seat in 2008. He says a person who pleads guilty to a second or third OWI can choose to enroll in alcohol court as a condition of their probation. Instead of just having a typical 20-day prison sentence, Pfitzinger says probation agents, alcohol court coordinators and the court itself will monitor the offender’s sobriety throughout the 18 month probation. While offenders in alcohol court may see a lesser jail sentence, the court still has the option to increase those penalties if the offender chooses not to remain sober. Pfitzinger says the goal is to get the offender sober for their own good and for the good of the community. The plan was approved by the county’s judges earlier this month. The county board, however, refused to fund the program, but Pfitzinger says volunteers from the community stepped forward after hearing him discuss the plan on a previous Community Comment. Today’s program starts at 12:35pm on 1430AM.
Horicon Still Looking For New Water Well
9/30/10 - Lower than anticipated water quality levels at a test well is pushing the Horicon City Council to look at a different site for a new well. The council approved a bid of about $93,000 this week to drill a second test well, this time near River Bend Park. City officials said the original site, at the high school, can be used but they would be forced to build a facility to treat the water which would significantly increase the cost of the project. It’s expected that digging on the test well will begin in late October and results from the samples taken should be back early December. Officials are hopeful a final decision on a site can still be made this year.
White Named Packer Coach of the Week
9/30/10 - Beaver Dam football coach Tim White learned yesterday that the Packers had selected him as their Coach of the Week. Each week during the football season the team selects one coach in the state to receive the honor. White says it’s a great honor but that he couldn’t have earned it without the help of the other members of his coaching staff and his players. White will receive several items and privileges according to the Packers website, while the school’s football program will receive a $1,000 donation. White is also scheduled to be enshrined in Beaver Dam’s Athletic Hall of Fame this Friday.
Retired Lodi Teacher Accused of Prostitution
9/30/10 - A teacher from Lodi who was called an “icon” when he retired is now charged with two counts of prostitution. 72-year-old Gerald Hilliker is due in Columbia County Circuit Court October 27th for a pair of misdemeanors. Prosecutors said he solicited sex at a truck stop west of Portage on July 13th. They said he distributed a flyer with a list of acts he was apparently willing to perform. In the spring, Hilliker retired after 48 years as a social studies teacher in Lodi. The Middle school principal called the veteran teacher an “icon” when he was honored at a school assembly earlier this year.
BDPD August Stats
9/30/10 - The Beaver Dam Police Department has released crime statistics for the month of August. According to the activity report, there were 4 burglaries. Two of the burglaries were residential the other two were business-related. There were 36 general thefts reported including 16 incidents of thefts from motor vehicles. All of that resulted in a total of $12,185 in stolen property, of which $5388 was recovered. There were two death investigations last month. Beaver Dam police officers issued 14 tickets for Operating While Intoxicated. There were nine citations for Disorderly Conduct along with eight domestic incidents, two child abuse offenses and two sex offenses reported. There were 94 adults arrested in August along with 25 minors. There were 36 traffic accidents in the city last month resulting in 7 injuries.
School Choice Decision Upheld
9/30/10 - A school district in eastern Wisconsin was told yesterday it cannot limit the number of students who leave under the state’s public school choice program. The Second District Appeals Court said state Superintendent Tony Evers was correct to ban a limit on student departures from the tiny Stockbridge district. The open enrollment program allows students in any public school district to move to another system – including virtual schools – if the receiving district has room. The student’s share of state aid, about 65-hundred-dollars, goes with the youngster to the new district. And Stockbridge called that a financial hardship to them. Under the original law, no school system could lose more than 10-percent of its students. But that provision stopped being written in the law after 2006, and Stockbridge said the Legislature never officially voted to drop it. However, the appellate court said lawmakers didn’t agree to keep it, either – and the school system cannot follow legal language that’s not written in the law. Eight parents in Stockbridge who had their youngsters’ transfers rejected appealed to the state superintendent to reverse the denials. After Evers sided with the parents, the Stockbridge district went to court. A Calumet County circuit judge rejected the school’s position prior to the appellate decision.
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