Top Stories April 24th

Community Turns Out for Candlelight Vigil

4/24/12 - Over 150 people attended a candlelight vigil last night for five-year-old Jalyn Schaal of rural Beaver Dam. The kindergartner from South Beaver Dam Elementary was killed Sunday evening after being hit by a truck. A memorial made-up of teddy bears, flowers and candles was assembled alongside the road at 407 Fourth Street. Friends and family of the victim, including a dozen young children, formed a small circle around the memorial as songs like “In the Arms of An Angel” played softly in the background. The rest of the community formed a larger circle from curb-to-curb. Many tears were shed, and a member of the family thanked everyone for coming to remember a special girl. And we’re starting to learn more about the circumstances surrounding Schaal’s death. Beaver Dam police now say Schaal was a passenger in a pick-up truck that had parked on the north side of Fourth Street. The little girl exited the vehicle, apparently walking behind it, before proceeding to cross the street. She was struck by an eastbound vehicle driven by 43-year-old Randall Nehmer of Beaver Dam.

Mayville Police Searching for Man Seen Carrying a Rifle

4/24/12 - Mayville Police are looking for a man who was carrying a rifle down Main Street Saturday night. Police Chief Chris MacNeill says officers responded to reports at 9:50pm but were unable to locate the man. A witness described the suspect as a white male 5’5” and 180 lbs wearing a flannel shirt and carrying a lever-action rifle. Police contacted several people in the downtown area but found no other witnesses. Officers from Horicon and Dodge County also searched the area but were unable to locate anyone. There were no reports of shots fired or any disturbance. Anyone with information should contact the Mayville Police Department.

Home Prices Up in March

4/24/12 - Finally some good news for Wisconsin home sellers. For the first time in since the end of 2010, the average statewide price of existing houses sold by Wisconsin Realtors went up in March from the year before. The Realtors Association said the average selling price was $123,500 last month, up four-tenths-of-a-percent (0.4%) from the same month in 2011. In Dodge County, the median price last month was $106,000 compared to $86,900 last March; that’s an increase of 22%. Columbia, Jefferson and Fond du Lac counties did not fare as well. Jefferson County dropped 15% to $127,000, Fond du Lac County fell 16% to $83,000 and Columbia County plummeted 20% to $108,000. Washington County held steady at $175,000. There were plenty of homes sold in the region with Columbia County selling 50 houses in March compared to 31 a year prior. There were 84 sold in Fond du Lac County up 14. Sixth-nine (69) homes were sold in Jefferson County last month, 21 more than a year ago. Dodge County had 64 home sales compared to 57 in March of last year. The numbers of home sales statewide went up 25-percent from last March to this with almost 48-hundred home sales last month. There were almost 53-thousand unsold homes during the first three months of this year – way down from 72-thousand unsold properties in the same quarter of 2011. State Realtors’ board chairman Rob Keefe says there’s been a pattern of strong sales growth over the past nine months.

Police Hanging Onto More Evidence

4/24/12 - Wisconsin police agencies are required to hang onto a lot more evidence than they used to. A 2005 state law preserves physical evidence in a criminal case until the convict is out of prison and off probation. And then, police need a defense lawyer’s approval to get rid of it. The idea is to help those wrongfully convicted by making it easier to prove that somebody else committed their crimes. Fond du Lac Police say evidence rooms around the country are growing exponentially. Detective Lee Mikulec says a lack of space is a huge issue. His department has 50-thousand items of evidence crammed into three rooms and a caged area. They have everything from electronics to weapons to refrigerated blood and D-N-A. Drugs are handled differently. Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls (nails) said marijuana is burned after a suspect is sentenced. Mikulec says guns used in suicides are kept for a year in the event that the case turns into a homicide. Illegal weapons like knives are often melted down when the holding period expires. Guns either go to the State Crime Lab, or are used by agencies for the street or target practice. Vehicles which are seized can either be auctioned off, or used as trade-ins for the new squad cars. Proceeds from auctioned evidence often go to the State Common School Fund, which benefits public school libraries.

Consolidation Looked at in Columbus and Fall River

4/24/12 - Consolidation of Columbus and Fall River Schools is getting lots of attention. Discussions between District Superintendents have included the possibility of conducting a $10 thousand dollar consolidation “impact study.” The Fall River School Board has asked Superintendent Tortomasi to conduct a community survey to determine whether or not residents want to pursue the impact study. Meanwhile, Columbus will be conducting a mail survey this week with one of the questions being “Should the Columbus School District explore consolidating with the Fall River School District.”

No More Booms in Clintonville

4/24/12 - There’s apparently no longer a need to measure the ground that’s no longer shaking in Clintonville. City Administrator Lisa Kuss said portable seismometers and sound sensors were packed up yesterday (Mon). She said officials are confident that a series of earthquakes caused loud booms and house-shaking about a month ago on Clintonville’s northeast side. But Kuss said there have been no calls to police complaining about the booms lately. And according to Mayor Judith McGee, the only remnants are the T-shirts folks bought which read, “I survived the one-point-five.” A one-point-five magnitude earthquake was registered on March 20th – and a much smaller tremor of point-one turned up nine days later. State geological experts said the booms resulted from what they called “post-glacial rebounding.” Apparently, Clintonville was still adjusting after its last glacier melted over 10-thousand years ago – and as the granite keeps stretching, a crack could have been formed to relieve pressure.

Haley-Davidson Profits Up 25%

4/24/12 - In another sign of an improved economy, Wisconsin’s Harley-Davidson reports a 25-and-a-half percent increase in motorcycle sales from the year before. The Milwaukee headquarters released the data after the Motorcycle Industry Council mentioned the news in its latest report. Sales were a whopping eight-and-a-half percent higher than what was originally estimated for January-through-March. The Council said it was Harley’s biggest growth since the third quarter of 2003. Harley plans to release its full quarterly financial numbers tomorrow (Wednesday).