Top Stories, March 22nd

Doctor: ‘Miracle Officer Is Still Alive’

3/22/11 - The Medical Director for Theda Clark Regional Medical Center said it’s miraculous a Fond du Lac Police Officer survived being shot twice in the chest during an incident Sunday morning. Dr. Ray Georgen says the tactical vest 33-year-old Officer Ryan Williams was wearing slowed down the high-velocity rounds that struck him. Both bullets penetrated the vest, but lost so much energy Williams was able to survive. Georgen said Williams is on a ventilator and remains in critical condition, but they are encouraged by his progress. Officer Craig Birkholz wasn’t as fortunate. He died at the scene. Dr. Georgen says they had three operating rooms prepared because they were initially expecting more shooting victims. The shooter, 30-year-old James Cruckson, took his own life.

Place Crash Victims IDed

3/22/11 - Two people killed in a plane crash in Sauk County were identified Monday as a couple from Hillsboro – 58-year-old Robert Eigner and his 55-year-old wife Elaine. Authorities said their single-engine plane crashed in the Baraboo Bluffs around 6:30 Sunday night. Rescuers from at least a half-dozen agencies spent several hours looking for the craft in heavy fog and rough terrain – and they finally found it around 10:30 p-m in a wooded area in the town of Honey Creek. Officials said the Eigners were flying from an airport in the northwest Chicago suburb of Crystal Lake to Reedsburg – and it went down about 50 miles from their home. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause.

Officials Planning To Renovate Vacant PD Space

3/22/11 - City officials in Beaver Dam are turning their attention to the space that will open up after the police department moves out of the municipal building. The Operations Committee last night approved plans to advertise for an architect to draw up designs. City Engineering Coordinator Ritchie Piltz says the front portion of current the police department would be turned into a large meeting room and a new office for the mayor while the remaining square footage – the majority – would be turned over to the fire department. Mayor Tom Kennedy told the committee that a planning team comprised of city officials along with police and fire representatives will be assembled to shape the direction of the project. The city budgeted roughly $35,000 to draw up the designs. Another half million dollars was included as part of this year’s Capital Improvement Plan for the renovation but the borrowing has yet to be approved. The CIP was shelved when the controversial Lake Shore Drive project was scrapped in December. Operations Committee Chair Laine Meyer says it’s possible the designs are drawn-up and sit on a shelf until funding is available. Kennedy says it’s important to move ahead in a timely fashion. The move into the new $5.1 million dollar police station is expected to be completed by Labor Day.

Council Approves Demolition Assessment

3/22/11 - The Beaver Dam Common Council last night signed-off on assessment plans in the demolition of a dilapidated house. Earlier this month, a Dodge County judge issued a raze order for 400 North Center Street, a residence heavily damaged by fire in November of 2009 and left in a state of disrepair. The owners are involved in a lawsuit against their insurance company over the claim and are also facing foreclosure. In addition, they chose not to respond to a lawsuit filed against them by the city. That allowed officials to secure a default judgment and have the structure ordered down. Last night’s action allowed the city to proceed with advertising for bids for the removal. It will cost an estimated $24,600 to take down; those costs will be assessed against the property. The owners waived their right to a public hearing, which will streamline the process some. The Operations Committee hopes to award a contract for demolition by the middle of next month and Mayor Kennedy says the structure should be down around by summer.

Panel Considering Earlier Fall Primary

3/22/11 - The state elections panel is about to consider moving the congressional, state, and county office primaries back from their current date of mid-September. That’s because of a problem last year that involved ballots which had to be sent overseas to troops and other far-flung Wisconsinites. A new federal law required states to mail the fall ballots to overseas residents within 45 days of the November elections. And Wisconsin’s primary on the second Tuesday of September made it impossible to comply with that law. The state sought a military waiver from the law, but it was denied. So Government Accountability Board director Kevin Kennedy is asking the panel to move the fall primaries back starting in 2012. And he said the second week in August could still be too late to comply with all parts of the law. He did not suggest a specific date. The board will talk about it tomorrow.

Crane Counters Needed

3/22/11 - Organizers with the Annual Midwest Crane Count are seeking volunteers. The International Crane Foundation of Baraboo needs help monitoring the general population trends of Sandhill Cranes in the upper Midwest. The count is part of the group’s effort to preserve and study the world’s 15 species of cranes in their natural environment. The crane count will be conducted throughout Dodge County on Saturday, April 16. New volunteers are encouraged to attend an organizational meeting on April 2 at the Horicon Marsh International Education Center. The Dodge County coordinator is Weldon Kunzeman, wkunezman@yahoo.com or call 344-2270.

Fish Virus Research Underway In Great Lakes

3/22/11 - Researchers found more cases of the fish-killing V-H-S virus in the Great Lakes last year. But they did not discover any large fish-kills because of it. Scientists from Cornell University said they found V-H-S in several locations in Lakes Michigan and Superior, and a variety of fish were infected. But aquatics professor Paul Bowser said he could not give more details and locations until the findings are published in research journals. He said viral hemorrhagic septicemia is still out there, but it has not caused any major fish kills in the Great Lakes since 2008. Steve Dahl, a commercial fisherman on Lake Superior, says his group remains concerned. Bowser says experts need to keep a guarded watch to see how V-H-S evolves in the Great Lakes. Wisconsin took steps a few years ago to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. They included a ban on transferring live fish from one waterway to another – and making boaters dump their water before they leave a lake-or-river.