Top Stories, November 26th

Man Arrested For Wielding Shotgun in Downtown Mayville

11/26/10 - A 30-year-old man was arrested this morning for allegedly brandishing a shotgun during an altercation in downtown Mayville. Police Captain Chris MacNeill says Troy Meier of Mayville was intoxicated when he exited a tavern and approached two men outside and accused them of stealing his coat. When they denied the allegation, MacNeill says Meier pulled a small knife threatening to kill them. The two men disarmed him and Meier reportedly retrieved a shotgun from his vehicle and began to walk to the tavern. At that point the men fled to another tavern and locked themselves inside until police arrived. No shots were ever fired, no one was injured and Meier was taken into custody without incident. Charges are being forwarded to the Dodge County District Attorney’s office.

Standoff in Waukesha Ends

11/26/10 - A 51-year-old Waukesha man faces at least two criminal charges, after he held police at bay for almost five hours at his apartment on Thanksgiving. Police said they wanted to question the man for a robbery on Wednesday. His wife told officers he was home yesterday morning, and he was armed with a knife. She left, and a police SWAT team circled the home to try and get the man to surrender. They finally shot chemical munitions into the apartment a little before three yesterday afternoon. The suspect came out a few minutes later, and he was arrested without further incident. Officers said the man could be charged with domestic abuse and resisting arrest.

Meredith Waives Prelim In 2005 Budglary

11/26/10 - Beaver Dam man, implicated in a burglary from 2005, has waived his right to a preliminary hearing. Blood found at the scene of the Elm Street break-in was connected to Kodey B. Meredith after a routine search of the DNA Data Bank at the State Crime Lab. His DNA was collected following a recent felony conviction for Fleeing and Eluding Police. According to the criminal complaint, the 20-year-old broke into the garage of the home in Beaver Dam and stole a wallet with cash and credit cards. Meredith is charged with a felony count of Burglary and misdemeanor Theft and Criminal Damage To Property. If convicted, the charges carry a maximum 14-year prison term. An arraignment hearing is scheduled for next month.

One Year In Prison For Police Chase

11/26/10 - A Burnett man will spend one year in prison for running from police. Curtis Alexander was also sentenced to one year of extended supervision for the incident this past May. Authorities say the 28-year-old fled when deputies attempted a 4am traffic stop in Fox Lake. The chase wound through several city streets before Alexander drove between houses and left on foot. He was driving his girlfriends vehicle but he was tied to the incident because he left his court documents in the car before running. Alexander was later tracked down at his apartment.

Jail Time For OWI Causing Injury

11/26/10 - A Hartford woman will spend 150 days in jail for a drunken driving accident that injured one person. Emma Flores pleaded “guilty” this week to a single charge of OWI Causing Injury. The two-car wreck occurred June 22 in the Town of Rubicon and resulted in injuries to the driver of the other car. The 30-year-old Flores had a blood alcohol level over three times the legal limit. Flores also had her license suspended for two years.

Lake Shore Drive Meeting Details

11/26/10 - The details of a planned Public Informational Meeting for Beaver Dam’s Lake Shore Drive reconstruction project have been released. The sessions next week are meant to give residents an opportunity to better understand the proposed project in advance of an official public hearing the following week. The reconstruction from Oneida to Denning would include curb and gutter, decorative street lighting and sidewalk installation on both sides of the street. This is the first time the city is hosting such a meeting in advance of a public hearing. At this week’s Operations Committee meeting, Alderman Robert Butler said it’s important that all projects from this point on have as much opportunity for citizen input as possible. Committee Chair Laine Meyer said he was reluctant to all the sudden start holding the informational meetings because it looks like the city is playing favorites with certain residents. The committee this week also approved a design plan that includes a nine foot terrace, that’s the area between a sidewalk and the street. Having a nine-foot terrace would require the removal of 76 trees. The committee also considered the possibility of installing a five foot terrace, which would require the removal of 54 trees. The Public Informational Meetings will be held at the Community Library next Thursday, December 2, from 3pm to 4:30pm and again from 5:30pm to 7pm. On Wednesday, December 8, a formal public hearing will be held in the library at 6:30pm.

Unemployment Holds Steady in Dodge County

11/26/10 - Unemployment in the region held steady for the most part from September to October. The jobless rate in Dodge County remained at 7.2% over the two months period. That’s a full point-and-a-half lower than at the same time one year ago. Jefferson County was unchanged at 7.4% while Fond du Lac County stayed at 6.7%. Washington County increased one-tenth of a percent to 6.5%. There was a slight increase in Columbia County from 6.5% to 6.8%. Green Lake County is also up three-tenths to 7.4%. Eighteen counties remained unchanged from September while 14 saw decreases over the two-month period. Compared to a year ago, unemployment rates were down in every metro area, all but five counties and nearly every city. Beloit's unemployment rate was just over 14% for October, down from September - but still the highest in the state. Racine was second-highest at 12.9%. Wausau was ranked third at 10.5%. The overall unemployment rate for Wisconsin last month was 7%. Menominee County had the highest unemployment rate in the state, 14%, while Dane County had the lowest at 5%.Workforce Development Secretary Roberta Gassman says she is “encouraged by positive signs of recovery” but she says “more work needs to be done to help job seekers across the state find employment.”

Minnesota Study Outlines High Speed Options

11/26/10 - A new study in Minnesota includes 14 alternatives for running a high-speed rail line from Chicago to the Twin Cities. And even if Wisconsin’s new governor kills the Milwaukee-to-Madison line, the study mentions other possible routes through the Badger State. Federal-and-state dollars paid for the study. Minnesota’s passenger rail director, Dan Krom, says none of the proposed routes have been ruled out. One would follow Amtrak’s current Empire Builder, which currently has several stops from Milwaukee-to-La Crosse but goes well north of Madison. Walker has said he would be open to that idea – but Congress would have to approve all the facilities on the line to accommodate a much-higher speed to 110-miles-an-hour. Other options in the Minnesota study would run the high-speed train to Fond du Lac, Neenah, and Stevens Point before heading west to the Gopher State. Or the line could bypass Wisconsin altogether, heading from Chicago through northern Illinois and into Iowa before heading up to Minnesota. But that would be a “nightmare scenario” according to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who lost the governor’s election. Barrett favored the Milwaukee-to-Madison route. And Cari Anne Renlund of Wisconsin’s D-O-T says it’s the only one which has had the required environmental studies. She said the Minnesota study had to look at all possible options, even though Wisconsin’s current transportation officials are not interested in giving up the Madison stop.

Monday Tornado’s Scrutinized

11/26/10 - Had Monday’s severe storms arrived six hours later, Walworth and Racine counties might not have had tornadoes. That’s according to National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Kuhlman, who said a strong low pressure system collided with unusually warm temperatures on Monday afternoon. Madison tied a record-high for the date of 64 degrees. Kuhlman said it was a perfect mix of conditions to spawn tornadoes – and had the storms occurred late Monday night when it was cooler, the twisters might not have formed. But as it was, they brought the total number of tornadoes in Wisconsin this year to 46. It’s the second-highest on record behind 2005 which had 62 tornadoes – including 27 in one day. This week’s twisters were both “E-F Ones,” the second-weakest category on the Weather Service scale. “E-F-Five” is the strongest. And Wisconsin has only had two of those in the last 30 years. They were in Barneveld in 1984, and Oakfield in 1996.