Top Stores July 27th

Lowell Post Office Among Possible Closures

7/27/11 - Twelve post offices in southern Wisconsin were on the initial list of possible closures disseminated by the U.S. Postal Service yesterday, including the office in Lowell. The USPS is looking to close 3,600 local offices nationwide in the largest downsizing in the history of the money-losing agency. According to officials, the postal service lost $8-billion last year alone. The first closings won’t start until January.

Kozlowski Seeks Release From Winnebago

7/27/11 - A Milwaukee man, who was involved in a murder in Horicon 29 years ago, will be asking a Dodge County judge for conditional release during a court trial scheduled for next month. Gregory Kozlowski is currently incarcerated at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. The 60-year-old has been committed since 1973 after being found “Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity” for the June 1972 killing of 21-year-old Kenneth Glasse of Milwaukee. Because the murder took place in Horicon, the Dodge County District Attorneys office has followed the case for decades. Managing Attorney Bob Barrington says Kozlowski is covered under a law that allows him to return to Dodge County on an annual basis to plead his case for release to either a judge or jury. His request for conditional release was granted a couple years ago. Kozlowski was placed in a group home in January 2008, but it did not work out and he returned to Winnebago four months later. Barrington says Kozlowski is now seeking conditional release with hopes of returning to his home in Milwaukee – which he has managed to keep all these years – and start a business. Kozlowski has a half-day court trial scheduled before Judge Andrew Bissonnette on August 16.

On a side note, shortly after his 1972 homicide arrest in Dodge County, Kozlowski reportedly confessed to the murder of a Red Cross volunteer while he was stationed in Vietnam. Warstories.com says Kozlowski told then-Sheriff Edwin Nehls that he stabbed the 21-year girl in her sleeping quarters in August of 1970. Indeed, Kozlowski had been a suspect in the murder but no one had been convicted. After the sheriff informed the military of the confession, officials closed the case. Two months later, Edwin Nehls told the victim’s family about the confession.

http://www.war-stories.com/aspprotect/death-of-a-donut-dollie-murder-of-ginny-kirsch-1970.asp

John Deere to Celebrate 100-Years in Horicon

7/27/11 - Horicon Mayor Jim Grigg says without the John Deere plant his city would be a shell of its current self. And it’s for that reason, and many others, that he’s so excited to celebrate the company’s 100-years of production in the community next month. The city and John Deere have been planning a celebration that will include a parade and other acknowledgments of the company’s impact. Grigg says the tax base provided by the plant is important but he also believes the company’s employees have played, and continue to play, integral roles in the city, including on the school board and city council. The celebration is planned for Saturday August 27th and Grigg says John Deere will be reimbursing the city for any expenses. A completed schedule of events is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

McNicol Jailed In Ice Fishing Shanty Thefts

7/27/11 - A Waterloo man who broke into several ice fishing shanties on Beaver Dam Lake will spend five days in jail. Cody McNicol burglarized the make-shift structures in early January and stole hundreds of dollars worth of fishing gear and related equipment. Authorities obtained video footage of McNicol with the stolen stuff. The 24-year-old pleaded “no contest” yesterday to three amended charges of misdemeanor Theft and had two other misdemeanors and a pair of felony charges dismissed but read into the record. He was also ordered to perform community service. A restitution hearing will be held at a later date.

Search Comes Up Empty

7/27/11 - Despite a three-hour search effort that covered over a thousand acres of woods and marsh, Fond du Lac County authorities were unable to find a plane a farmer thought he saw go down in the Mt. Calvary area yesterday afternoon. Fire department off road vehicles and a Flight for Life helicopter were used to search the rough terrain. Nothing was found and the FAA reported no overdue aircraft. Sheriff Mick Fink says they had a similar incident in the Town of Osceola a few years ago when someone also thought they saw a plane go down and that search also turned up nothing. (KFIZ, Fond du Lac)

Investigation Continues Into EAA Plane Crash

7/27/11 - Two people killed when a small plane crashed into Lake Winnebago were identified as 47-year-old Steven Staples of Illinois and 36-year-old Michelle Palermo of Kimberly. Staples was the pilot. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities said they were in a 1940 yellow Piper Cub craft that had just left the E-A-A Air-Venture show in Oshkosh, when it crashed a quarter-to-a-half-mile off Lake Winnebago’s western shore about 10 miles from both Oshkosh and Fond du Lac. It happened just before noon yesterday. Boaters said they saw Palermo’s face in a window of the submerged aircraft – but there was nothing they could do to help her before rescuers arrived. Fond du Lac County sheriff’s deputies are investigating, along with the F-A-A and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Poberezny Stepping Down As EAA Chairman

7/27/11 - For the first time in nearly 60 years, the chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association and AirVenture Oshkosh won’t be named Poberezny (poh bur EZ nee). Current EAA president and CEO Rod Hightower is taking over August 1. Tom Poberezny announced yesterday (Tue) that he is retiring. He has headed the EAA since 1989, taking over then from his father, Paul Poberezny. The elder Poberezny had headed the organization since it was founded in 1953. This year’s EAA AirVenture runs through Sunday in Oshkosh. Then, Tom Poberezny will become chairman emeritus the next day.

Columbus Ag Community Seeks To Fund Husbandry Class

7/27/11 - The Columbus area Ag Community would like to see the bi-annual scheduling of the High School class in Large Animal Care continued. The FFA has approached the School Board with a proposal to fund the class for the 2011-2012 School year with donations from local agribusiness leaders. While fundraising for school events is not unusual, private funding of specific school courses is another matter. School officials and a dozen members of the Ag community continue to meet. The School Board will be getting an update on the discussions at their August meeting.

Titletown Businesses Grateful For Football Season

7/27/11 - What would 25-million dollars mean to the place where you live? That’s how much Green Bay could have lost next month alone, had the pro football owners’ lockout dragged on. Yes, the fans would have survived – and the players are so rich-and-famous, they could have easily found another way to make a living. But the same cannot be said for the hotels, restaurants, bars, and other tourist places that count on the Packers for their survival. The Greater Green Bay Visitors-and-Convention Bureau estimates that the August training camp, the Family Night scrimmage, and the two exhibition games bring in 20-to-25 million dollars for the area’s economy. About 40-to-60-thousand attend the Family Night scrimmage, which is set for August sixth. Around 34-thousand fans attend other training camp activities – and four-of-every-five of those people are from outside Brown County. The city-and-county stadium district estimates that the Packers bring in 281-million-dollars for the economy each year. Jerry Watson says a third of his annual revenues at the Stadium View Bar-and-Grille are connected to the Packers. Fans will start showing up en-masse on Thursday for the team’s annual stockholders’ meeting. The first public practice at training camp is on Saturday night.

Property Tax Deadline Looms

7/27/11 - Dodge County Treasurer Patti Hilker is reminding taxpayers who postponed the second installment of their property taxes that the bill is due July 31. However, because the deadline falls on a Sunday this year, Hilker says her office will accept payments on Monday, August 1 without penalty. Letters should also be postmarked no later than August 1. She also says to make sure you check the balance of your first installment receipt to ensure proper payment because your second payment is not the same as your first payment…as the first payment may have been reduced by lottery credit. Payments can be made online with a credit card or electronic check at www.witreasurers.org, by telephone at 800-272-9829 or at the treasurers office, 127 East Oak Street in Juneau. Taxpayers mailing after the deadline are subject to interest and a penalty of ten point five percent (10.5%)… and for the second installment that is retroactive to February 1.