Top Stories September 7th

American Hero’s Music Festival: The Bands


9/7/10 - Two of the bands performing in this weekend’s American Hero’s Music Festival have family connections to a fallen Beaver Dam-marine. “Joe Cantafio and the 101st Rock Division Band” is headlining Saturday’s free event. Joe Cantafio is the cousin of fallen Beaver Dam marine Ryan Cantafio, who was killed in Iraq on Thanksgiving Day in 2004. The rock band “Alexis” is also performing, featuring Sandy Hautamaki on lead vocals. She is the mother of Ryan Cantafio. The two bands are expected to collaborate again this year after getting together last year for a show-stopping performance of Pink Floyds “Comfortably Numb,” one of Ryan’s favorite songs. Nashville recording artist Joey Glenn and local favorites Crystal Waters will also be performing. The daylong festival is free and will be held this Saturday – September 11 – at Swan City Park in Beaver Dam from 12:30pm to when the park closes at 10:30pm. Food and beverages will also be available all day from the events sponsor, The Exchange Club of Beaver Dam. The day kick-offs off with a parade from downtown to the Swan Park beginning at 10am. Cantafio says the American Hero’s Music Festival is an opportunity to celebrate not only his cousin, but also first responders, gold star mothers and the other Beaver Dam marine who died in Iraq, Kirk Straseskie.

BDPD Applauds D-A Policy Reversal

9/7/10 - Officials with the Beaver Dam Police Department are pleased that Dodge County’s new District Attorney has rescinded a controversial policy enacted by his predecessor. Kurt Klomberg issued a memo to all Dodge County Law Enforcement Agencies that says as of September 1, his office will resume prosecuting small-quantity, first-time, adult drug offenses as well as some Disorderly Conduct and Operating After Revocation offenses. Beaver Dam Police Detective Ryan Klavekoske told us on WBEV’s Community Comment Friday that Klomberg was firm about rescinding the policy before he was sworn-in and he was glad to see that he followed through as his first order of business. Former D-A Bill Bedker had implemented the policy change the shifted the minor offenses from the circuit courts to the municipal courts. As a result, the city of Beaver Dam changed their ordinance to allow their municipal court to handle marijuana possession charges. The money from those fines, which could be in the thousands of dollars per offense, would stay in the municipality. As part of the memo, Klomberg did encourage law enforcement officials to exercise discretion and, if appropriate, continue writing municipal citations for minor offenses rather than referring those charges up to the circuit court level. Klavekoske says some of the charges are more appropriately handled in the circuit court. He says there’s typically no firm right or wrong way in a first offense and it’s important that officers have the leeway to charge those offenses criminally rather than just as a municipal citation. The new policy is not retroactive and only applies to offenses committed on or after September 1.

Nehls Fitzgerald Forum Tonight

9/7/10 - The candidates for Dodge County Sheriff will debate the issues tonight (Tue) during a forum sponsored by the Beaver Dam Chamber of Commerce. Sheriff Todd Nehls is seeking a third term in office. He is being challenged by former Sheriff Steve Fitzgerald in the September 14 partisan primary, which – barring a successful write-in campaign – will determine the winner since there are no democratic challengers. The format will include six segments, including questions and answers between local media and the candidates, a structured debate between the candidates and a segment at the end where the public will have the opportunity to ask questions. The forum will be moderated by our own John Moser. The public is invited to attend the free event which will be held tonight at the Bayside Supper Club in Beaver Dam from 7pm to 8pm. It will be broadcast live on WBEV and our sister station WXRO 95.3FM. Tomorrow on WBEV’s Community Comment both candidates will join us to discuss the issues in more detail beginning at 12:35pm. On election night one week from tonight, make sure you tune into WBEV or WXRO for live updates beginning when the polls close at 8pm.

Columbus Council To Discuss Flooding

9/7/10 - The Columbus Council will be voting tonight on the City Engineer’s plan to study the recurring flooding problems in the Second Ward Creek area. Since a July 22 flash flooding event homeowners have been asking the City to develop preventative measures to reduce flooding dangers. City Engineer, Jason Lietha, has presented the Council with a plan for a comprehensive study of the Second Ward Creek topographical and hydrologic drainage problems. The study would include data already submitted from residents who have been affected. The recommended 2nd Ward Creek high water study is on tonight’s Common Council agenda. The study is likely to be approved, but action to alleviate the conditions may not get underway till next year.

Wind Advisory Today

Hang onto your hat today. The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory from mid-morning into the early evening for central and southern Wisconsin. Gusts could hit 45-miles-an-hour in some places. Forecasters say a strong low pressure system will move across northern Wisconsin. Hail fell throughout the southern half of the state yesterday morning, including in Beaver Dam. The Dodge County Sheriff’s Department reported quarter to half-dollar sized hail fell just north of Beaver Dam while in Oconomowoc hail fell for almost eight minutes. Waukesha had tennis-ball-sized hail – and the white chunks fully covered the ground at Pittsville and Neillsville. We Energies said over two-thousand electric customers in southeast Wisconsin lost power in two waves of storms yesterday.

Obama in Milwaukee

President Obama used his Milwaukee Labor Day appearance to unveil a 50-billion-dollar plan to re-build the country’s aging transportation system. And he kicked off the fall campaign season by blaming Republicans again for the nation’s economic woes. At Milwaukee’s Labor-Fest, Obama had a friendly audience of union members who helped elect him, as he asked for patience in dealing with the continued rough economic waters. He said his infra-structure plan would put people back to work in building 150-thousand miles of roads, four-thousand miles of train tracks, and 150 miles of airport runways over a six-year period. In a briefing, officials said Obama would pay for the program by asking Congress to close tax breaks for oil companies and multi-national corporations. State G-O-P chairman Reince Priebus called the plan “absurd.” Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said Democrats have run out of ideas – and they’re quote, “recycling the same disastrous policies that failed to generate sustainable job growth and resulted in record deficits.”

15% of Midwest Companies Plan to Add Jobs

About 15-percent of Midwest employers plan to add workers from October-through-December. That’s according to a quarterly survey by Milwaukee’s Manpower Incorporated. It says 10-percent of companies expect to lay people off – and 72-percent expect no change. In Metro Milwaukee, Manpower says employers expect to add people at a “solid pace” despite the uncertain economic forecast for the near future. Eighteen-percent of Milwaukee area companies plan to add workers from October through the end of the year. Only seven-percent expect layoffs, and 70-percent say there will be no change. Manpower says Milwaukee has the fifth-best hiring prospects among the nation’s Top-100 metro areas. Jonas Prising, Manpower’s president for the Americas, calls the job outlook stable. Only two of their 13 sectors Manpower surveyed have negative hiring prospects this fall – construction and government.