Top Stories April 4th

Romney Takes Wisconsin

4/4/12 - Mitt Romney continued to pull away in the Republican presidential race yesterday, with a sweep of three primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland, and Washington D-C. According to the latest numbers, Romney took 43-percent of the vote in Wisconsin with Rick Santorum coming in second at 38-percent. Romney now has more than half the available convention delegates so far with 658. The A-P’s national count shows Santorum a distant second at 281. Almost six-of-every-10 delegates are in Romney’s pocket as the primary season just passed the halfway point. And one of Romney’s chief Wisconsin supporters, Janesville House Republican Paul Ryan, said the former Massachusetts governor became the “prohibitive front-runner” last night. Santorum needs a daunting 80-percent of the remaining delegates to win the nomination. And while Santorum told supporters he won’t give up, Ryan says the former Pennsylvania senator is quote, “not viable anymore.”

Local Election Results

The following are the results from contested races in yesterday’s election.

Mayoral and Aldermanic

(Horicon) The city of Horicon has a new mayor as write-in candidate Steve Neitzel was elected to a two-year term yesterday. The District Two Alderman, Council President and Personnel and Finance Committee Chair will succeed Jim Grigg who is running for the Assembly. Neitzel secured 392 write-in votes to defeat ballot candidates Craig Muenchow and Craig Reiger (ry-ger) who garnered a combined 330 votes. Write-in candidate Toby Anfinson received 136 votes while Paul Moxham received two votes.

(Juneau) In the city of Juneau, veteran Alderman and Finance Committee Chair Robert “Mac” Affeld lost his bid for mayor to incumbent Ron Bosak, who got 322 votes compared to 190 for Affeld. Barring a potential recount, Affeld also apparently lost his aldermanic seat to write-in candidate Kendra Hayden by three votes, 55 to 58. In providing us those numbers, Juneau Clerk-Treasurer Gladys McKay said there are no more outstanding absentee or provisional ballots to further affect the outcome. Incumbent Juneau Alderman Daniel Schamberger retained his seat after besting challenger Corey Ronge.

(Waupun) Waupun Mayor Jodi Steger was successfully elected to a fifth two-year term after overcoming challenges from attorney Todd Snow and entrepreneur Jay Graff. Steger received 1049 votes compared to Snow’s 429 and 331 for Graff.

(Watertown) Two incumbents on the Watertown Common Council were unseated. Robert Stocks received 320 votes to defeat District 8 incumbent Norman Bartel by 25 votes. Challenger Fred Smith outpaced District 2 incumbent Daniel Olejniczak two-to-one. On the Watertown School Board, incumbent Jennifer Hepp and board president Dennis Rambo were re-elected while incumbent Kurt Larson was the low vote-getter in the field of five and lost his seat to Mark Putra.

(Columbus) Steven E Davidson, a newcomer to city politics, received 187 votes to become the new District 1 council member. Davidson will be replacing Tyler Walker who did not seek a third term in office.

School Board and Referendums

(Watertown) A school funding referendum in the city of Watertown passed by 128 votes out of over 6200 votes cast. The referendum asked voters to allow the district to borrow $6.2 million to replace roofs at the middle and high school and make a number of energy-efficient improvements throughout the district.

(Fall River) Voters in Fall River split on two school referenda. The first question seeking $2.5 million for various maintenance projects, technology infrastructure and equipment upgrades, HVAC replacement and other improvements passed with 533 “yes” votes and 329 “no” votes. Question two fell short by 46 votes. It sought $1.4 million for a multi-purpose athletic complex.

(Columbus) Columbus School Board incumbents -- Sally Owen received 505 votes and Don Nelson received 451. New to the Board will be Peter Fogarty who polled 461 votes…Fogarty will take the seat vacated by Pamela Larsen.

(Beaver Dam) Two incumbents, Marge Jorgensen and Gary Spielman, retained their spots. It’s unclear who won the third spot on the board. There were more than 1,100 write-in votes but the names on those ballots won’t be known until at least sometime later today. John Kraus Jr was the only declared write-in but it’s believed a second person was also being pushed as a write-in.

County Board

(Dodge County) There were six contested seats on the Dodge County Board, which recently reduced it‘s size from 37 supervisors to 33. That led to a match-up of incumbents for the Watertown area District 20 seat where freshman Supervisor Jeff Berres defeated veteran board member Bill Nass, 363 to 221. In District 3, which covers parts of the town of Beaver Dam, Fox Lake and Trenton, incumbent Del Guenther lost to challenger Mary Bobholz. Incumbent Ernest Borchardt held on to his Town of Ashippun District 11 seat after beating Sheryl Jaeger 360 votes to 212. District 13 incumbent Robert Smith lost his Mayville-area seat to William Muche. In the other district that represents Mayville; longtime incumbent Eugene Wurtz lost to Phillip Gohr, 245-183. In the Hustisford-area, District 17 incumbent Larry Bischoff bested Tom Schmidt Sr.

(Columbia County) Columbia County Supervisor posts in the Columbus area were also decided last night. Tim Zander received 74 votes to become the District 20 Supervisor and Teresa Sumnicht was re-elected getting 234 votes for Supervisor of District 22.

The race for the County District 21 Supervisor’s post was a contest between two “write-in” candidates. The position had been vacant for nearly a year. Former Supervisor Gerald Salzwedel had vacated the post during 2011 due to poor health. The write-in candidates were Brad Basten and City Administrator Boyd Kraemer. ***159 Votes were cast and are being hand counted.

Town and Village Boards

In the Town of Beaver Dam, Town Board Supervisor Three incumbent John Kuzniewicz withstood a challenge from Dean Hughes. Fox Lake Town Board Supervisor Four incumbent Armond Alsteen lost to Dale Paul. In the Village of Clyman, where four candidates were vying for two open trustee seats, the top vote getters were Beth Baehmann and Marty Pint. In the Village of Neosho trustee race, the top vote getters were Leslie Dale and Duwayne Pliner. In the Village of Randolph trustee race, where four candidates were trying for three open seats, Shannon Greeno, David Dobbratz and Jim Boomsma secured the most votes.

Barrett Re-elected

Tom Barrett has been re-elected for a third term as Milwaukee mayor despite also running for governor. Unofficial results show Barrett beat challenger Edward McDonald by about 40-percent of the vote. Just last Friday, Barrett announced he will be running in the recall election against Governor Scott Walker. Barrett supporters have been working on getting signatures for that campaign and are expected to turn them in to the Government Accountability Board early next week. Barrett has planned two news conferences for Wednesday.

Police Investigate Broken Windows

4/4/12 - The Beaver Dam Police Department has fielded ten reports Monday of car windows and mirrors smashed with rocks. One victim told police she heard glass breaking between 2am and 3am Monday morning. The vandals targeted vehicles parked on several streets including Gould, Beaver, Currie, Lakeview, West, East South, Rosendale and Haskell. There were three similar reports over the weekend on Jefferson and Healy streets. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Beaver Dam Police Department.

Mayville Die and Tool Acquired by an Oregon Company

4/4/12 - A long-time Mayville business is now a part of a Fortune 500 company. Mayville Die and Tool was acquired by Precision Castparts Corp of Portland, Oregon for an undisclosed price. The Mayville business had filed for bankruptcy in August of last year due to some issues with their capital infrastructure. However, they still had a positive cash flow and continued to serve customers throughout the bankruptcy process. The company’s assets were sold at auction in December. Mayville Die has been in business since 1935 and employs more than 20-people.