Top Stories November 29th

Horicon Man Dies in Apparent Chemical Mishap

11/29/11 - One employee was killed and another was critically injured after being overcome by chemical fumes at a plant near Theresa. The two were found by the survivor's wife late yesterday afternoon at Vivid Image, a plant that makes household audio-video equipment. No one else was in the building at the time. Sheriff Todd Nehls said the two were mixing two-or-three compounds when they were overcome by chemicals from either glue or another adhesive. Nehls said the substance was found on the floor, and the work process apparently created a ventilation hazard. A 55-year-old man died at the scene. A 65-year-old man was in critical condition at last word, but Nehls said he was breathing-and-progressing well. Nehls said a haz-mat team decontaminated about 20 first-responders who arrived at the plant. An autopsy on the fatal victim is scheduled for today. The workers' names were not immediately released.

BDFD Live Fire Training In Apartment Unit

11/29/11 - The Beaver Dam Fire Department will be conducting a live fire drill on Saturday. The training will be held in the apartment building located directly behind Culvers on North Spring Street and is scheduled to begin at 9am and last until around 4pm. There will be actual fire contained inside certain rooms that will be extinguished by department personnel. Captain Lee Smith says there may be some smoke visible at times. Those in the area are advised to use extra caution as there may be increased traffic. The department will have an area for spectators to observe the training exercise but no one should park in the Culvers parking lot, unless they are eating there. The structure was donated for use to the department by S& L Properties of Beaver Dam.

Nehls Urges Public To Use 9-1-1 Responsibly

11/29/11 - You're not supposed to call 9-1-1 except for a real emergency. But early Sunday morning in Dodge County, a woman called for help because her husband left a tavern without giving her money she claimed was hers. And it prompted Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls to remind people what 9-1-1 is supposed to be used for. Nehls said his department gets over 15-thousand emergency calls a year -- and the unnecessary calls quote, "put a drain on resources, and could slow an emergency response to those who are really in need." He said the Dodge County 9-1-1 center has received calls this year from people asking about trick-or-treating hours and when the local dump is open. Nehls also said a man called to complain that his grandfather was cheating in a card game. A person can be fined 300-dollars for making an inappropriate 9-1-1 call.

Hustisford Teen Accused of Sexual Assault

1/29/11 - A Hustisford teen faces felony charges of Second Degree Sexual Assault of a Child for having a relationship with a 14-year-old girl. Authorities say 19-year-old Eric Bricco told the victims parents he was 16-years-old and homeschooled. The offenses are said to have occurred on two separate occasions in October. During the most recent incident, the two fell asleep in a car in rural Hustisford and were awoken by Dodge County Sheriffs Deputies who alerted the girl’s parents to her boyfriend’s actual age. Bricco faces up to 80 years in prison, if he is convicted on both charges.

2011 Gun Deer Season Among the Safest

11/29/11 - No deer hunters were shot-to-death, and only six were wounded during Wisconsin's nine-day gun season which ended Sunday. That's according to preliminary figures released by the D-N-R. It was the second straight year there were no shooting deaths -- and the D-N-R said only three November gun seasons were held in the last 160 years without a fatal shooting. D-N-R enforcement administrator Tim Lawhern said the early numbers reflect a quote, "phenomenal season from a safety perspective," even though the agency would like to see no incidents at all. The preliminary total were four fewer than last year's total of 10 shootings. And it would be the second-lowest total since 2004, when four shootings occurred and two hunters died. At least four hunters died from natural causes from last Saturday through Tuesday of last week. The D-N-R has not said how many deer were taken in this year's gun season. Preliminary harvest figures from the opening weekend were six-percent higher than the year before.

Deer Slaughter Suspect Expected To Enter Plea

11/29/11 - A Waupaca County man accused of joining two others in killing a half-dozen deer with their snowmobiles is scheduled to enter pleas Tuesday to avoid a trial. 27-year-old Rori Kuenzi of Weyauwega is expected to settle his deer slaughtering case about a year after he was found guilty of a hit-and-run drunk driving death. The deer-slaughtering case attracted national publicity soon after it occurred in early 2009. While that was happening, state Justice officials picked up a dormant investigation into the hit-and-run death of Kevin McCoy five years earlier in Waupaca County. And Kuenzi was eventually convicted by a jury of killing McCoy with his pick-up truck after leaving a drinking party, and dumping the victim's body in a roadside ditch.

DOJ Swamped With Concealed Carry Applications

11/29/11 - The Wisconsin Department of Justice reports it has been swamped with concealed carry permits since the new law went into effect on November 1. According to the most recent figures, the number of applications is close to 45-thousand. Gun sales are also up statewide, in addition to calls to the Wisconsin background-check hotline.

Some Overseas Troops Allowed To Sign Recalls

11/29/11 - Wisconsin troops stationed outside the U-S are allowed to sign recall petitions if they’re home for the holidays. A spokesman for the Government Accountability Board said Monday that military personnel can sign petitions if they are eligible voters in Wisconsin, and they list their most recent addresses before they went overseas. State law says that no one can lose Wisconsin resident status when leaving the state to serve their country. Recall efforts are expected to continue over the holidays against Republican Governor Scott Walker, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, and four G-O-P state senators, including Senator Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau.

No Pardons For Walker Yet

11/29/11 - Governor Scott Walker says he has no plans to grant any pardons -- but that doesn't mean convicts can stop trying. Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie says the governor's legal team will review pardon requests to see if there are extenuating circumstances. Otherwise, Werwie has told the Appleton Post-Crescent that Walker believes pardoning decisions are quote, "best left up to the courts." Walker has not pardoned anyone in his first year in office. Democrat Jim Doyle pardoned 10 criminals in his first year in 2003, and Doyle's four predecessors of both parties pardoned 79 people in their inaugural years. Doyle pardoned dozens of people on his way out of the door last year -- 75 in his final two weeks in office, and 177 in all in 2010. The Post-Crescent said almost a-thousand people have been pardoned by governors of both parties since 1977. It does not overturn their convictions. But it does let them possess firearms and hold state licenses, among other things. Walker's office says it's not closing the door to pardons. Application materials are still on his Web site. And in March, Walker signed an order that lets him create a Pardon Advisory Board -- even though he has not appointed any members to that panel.

Stalin’s Daughter Dies in Wisconsin

11/29/11 - The only daughter of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin has died in Wisconsin. Richland County Coroner Mary Turner told the A-P that 85-year-old Lana Peters died last Tuesday from colon cancer. Her daughter, Chrese Evans, chose not to comment. Peters defected to the West from the former Soviet Union in 1967. That was a major embarrassment to the ruling Communists at the time, and the Soviet premier had called her "morally unstable." Once in the U-S, she wrote a memoir that became a best-seller, entitled "Twenty Letters to a Friend." She later married architect William Wesley Peters, and they divorced in 1973 after having a daughter. Lana Peters moved back to the Soviet Union for a short time in the 1980's, but she returned to the West. Her father died in 1953.

Ocean Spray Recalling Craisins

11/29/11 - Ocean Spray is voluntarily recalling its Original Flavor Craisins Dried Cranberries. The Wisconsin-based company says the product could contain what it calls “hair-like metal fragments.” This is being called a precaution and there have been no reports of complaints. The products recalled are in five-ounce, 10-ounce and 48-ounce packages. The Craisins would have Best By dates of October 27th through November 11th, followed by the letter “M.” If you bought the product, you should destroy it, but save the UPC label and contact the company’s consumer hotline (800-662-3263), the phone number can be found on our website.