Top Stories May 11th

Disagreements in Columbus of Fees Continues

5/11/12 - The Columbus School Board and city officials are searching for resolution to money disagreements. The school district is not willing to pay for use of city-owned ball fields and the cost of furnishing crossing guards for students. Historically, the city has been paying for field maintenance and crossing guards but is attempting to set up a fee schedule for both.  City Administrator Boyd Kraemer told the council this week that the two sides are at a stalemate and more negotiations need to be scheduled.  The city is recommending the fees based on a Research Lab public survey.  One response indicated the majority of citizens believe that “those who play on city fields should help pay for maintenance costs.” 

Mother and Boyfriend Facing More Charges in Child’s Death

5/11/12 - A Washington County woman and her boyfriend each face eight new criminal charges for allowing the woman’s toddler to die from a massive infection, and running a drug house. 25-year-old Leann Leszynski and 24-year-old Justin Streicher appeared in court yesterday on counts child neglect and drug charges that include possessing cocaine, heroin, and Oxycodone. Prosecutors said Leszynski allowed her three-year-old daughter Haley to die from a strepto-coccus infection throughout her body last month, because she was afraid she’d be charged with child abuse. And officials said her boyfriend ignored symptoms in the girl that kept getting worse. An autopsy showed that the infection spread from a cut in Haley’s finger. Prosecutors also said the two sold numerous drugs from their apartment.

Graham in Court

5/11/12 - A 44-year-old Sheboygan man waived his right to a preliminary hearing yesterday on charges that he burglarizes the Aurora Pharmacy in Lomira. Randall Graham is charged with felony Burglary, Possession with Intent to Deliver Non-Narcotics and criminal damage to property. According to the criminal complaint, deputies responded last June to a burglary alarm that started at the pharmacy around 4am. A similar burglary had occurred earlier in the night at another Aurora Pharmacy in Kewaskum. During that incident, an officer confronted the suspect who fled the in a tan mini-van. In Lomira, deputies discovered the front door had been smashed with a rock, the cash register was cleaned out and shelves were emptied of drugs. Around $580 worth of drugs was stolen and damage in Lomira topped $6000. Graham was later transported to the Sheboygan Police Department for questioning but escaped in a stolen highway truck. A search of his home reportedly turned up 2000 prescription medications and a shirt that matched the one the suspect wore in the burglary in Lomira. If convicted, Graham could face up to 22 years in prison for the Dodge County offense not counting additional charges related to other burglaries in Kewaunee, Washington, Manitowoc and Ozaukee counties.

Carol Tour’s Trial Will Stay in Dodge County

5/11/12 - A Dodge County judge on Thursday denied a motion by attorneys for former Carol’s Tour’s owner Deb Paul to move the trial outside the county. Paul closed the doors of the Beaver Dam travel agency four years ago, leaving as many as 200 paying customers without vacations.  The 56-year-old faces felony charges of Theft in a Business Setting. Paul is accused of paying her own personal bills with company cash and (quote) “robbing Peter to pay Paul” when it came to paying for customer vacations. Her office manager has already been sentenced to 18 months in prison.  Paul has court activity on the calendar again next month.

Ellis Gets 90-Days in Jail

5/11/12 - Ninety days in jail for a North Carolina man who tried to break into a coin box at a Beaver Dam car wash. 30-year-old Steven Ellis entered a “no contest” plea yesterday and was also placed on probation for two years. His alleged co-conspirator Tommy Holden entered a “not guilty” plea at arraignment on Wednesday. The 30-year-olds were found in possession of burglary tools and hundreds of dollars in change at the Shell Travel Mart last month after the clerk witnessed two trying to pry open the cash box.

Benning Sentenced to Jail Time

5/11/12 - An Oconomowoc woman was sentenced Thursday to 90 days in jail for stealing over $5000 from the gas station where she worked. Jessica Benning had previously pled “no contest” to reduced misdemeanor Theft charges. The 21-year-old took cash, cigarettes and other items from the Ashippun BP over a nine-month period ending last September. Management was tipped-off to the theft from an anonymous tip. She admitted the thefts to investigators and said she learned a trick with the cash register to cover her tracks from a former employee. Benning was also placed on probation for one year.

State Budget Now at a Surplus

5/11/12 - Governor Scott Walker’s administration said yesterday that the current state budget is no longer in the red – and the state will have a 154-million-dollar surplus when the budget expires next June. Republican legislative finance co-chair Robin Vos said the surplus shows how honest budgeting pays off. But Democratic Assembly leader Peter Barca said the timing of the news is quote, “highly suspect” with Walker’s recall election just 25 days away. Barca also said the Legislative Fiscal Bureau probably won’t put out new budget projections until early next year. But the administration said it was using April’s tax collection figures from the Revenue Department. Revenue Secretary Rick Chandler said the final job numbers from last fall were higher than originally reported – and his department revised its income tax revenues accordingly. Also, the state took in 78-million-dollars by refinancing debt. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau said most of it came from delaying state payments, causing long-term interest payments to rise. Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch said 45-million of the new surplus will go into the state’s Rainy Day Fund for future emergencies. Tom Barrett, the Democratic finalist in the Walker recall election, says he would use some of the money to help foreclosure victims. Barrett said he would also wipe out tax hikes for low-income workers hit by a reduction in the earned income tax credit.

WI 8^th Graders Scored Higher than National Average

5/11/12 - Wisconsin eighth-graders scored higher than the national average on a science test – but both scores were only up slightly from two years before. Wisconsin youngsters had an average score of 159-out-of-a-possible-300 last year in the science part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. That’s eight points higher than the national average – but both the state and national scores were up by just two points from 2009. About 21-hundred Wisconsin eighth graders took the exam just over a year ago. And the difference in scores between black-and-white students was larger in Wisconsin than the 38 other states in which similar data was available. White students scored 166 on the national science test, and blacks scored 45 points lower. Blacks and Asians in Wisconsin had lower scores than the nation. Hispanics scored about the same as their U-S counterparts. And low-income students and those with disabilities scored higher than elsewhere.

Quarterly Profits Down for Kohl’s

5/11/12 - The Wisconsin-based Kohl’s department store chain reports a 23-percent drop in its quarterly profits from a year ago. That’s after Kohl’s cut prices in an effort to prop up its sales. The Menomonee Falls chain did report slightly higher revenues four almost four-and-a-quarter billion dollars from January through March. That’s up by about 80-million from the same time a year ago. But Kohl’s profits fell from 201-million-dollars in the first quarter of 2011 to 154-million this year. Earnings totaled 63-cents a share. That’s six-cents less than a year ago, but two-cents more than what outside analysts projected. Kohl’s operates stores throughout the state and country including in Beaver Dam, West Bend and Fond du Lac. 

Party Convention Numbers Expected to be Up

5/11/12 - Controversy, recall elections and a super-heated political climate are expected to generate bigger-than-usual crowds at this year’s Wisconsin state party conventions.  Green Bay is getting ready for a convergence of Republicans this weekend, with a spokesman saying this year’s attendance should top the 13 hundred who showed up last year in Wisconsin Dells.  That figured represented the biggest Republican turnout in 40 years.  Democrats meet next month in Appleton.  A party spokesperson says the historic recall election, this November’s presidential vote and an open U.S. Senate seat in Wisconsin can be expected to mean huge crowds for the Democratic state party convention June 8th and 9th.

Chamber Having Beaver Carved

5/11/12 - There’s a new beaver in Beaver Dam. Bob Younger is a chainsaw artist with Younger’s Woodery of Eagle, Wisconsin. Younger specializes in tree stump animal carvings and while he’s only carved six beaver’s this is his second beaver in Beaver Dam. He is the man responsible for carving the beaver on Park Avenue and University that can often times be seen dressed as everything from a Packers fan to Harry Potter. It was that carving that drew the attention of the local Chamber of Commerce. Executive Director Phil Fritsche hired a Younger to transform the stump of a blue spruce in front of the chamber building into the city’s new mascot. Younger says the customer often has a good idea of what they are looking for but the wood can also dictate the finished product.  He says the beaver in front of the Beaver Dam Chamber has its own unique style – part realistic and part caricature -- and is very different from the one on Park Avenue.  It took Younger around four hours on Thursday to carve the beaver. He’ll be back today to put on the finishing touches before officials with the Chamber stain the wood.

Driver’s Dancing Causing More Calls to a Door County Home

5/11/12 - Donald Driver’s success on “Dancing With the Stars” has a Door County plumber dancing to-and-from his phone. Jeff Paschke has the same number as the one viewers use to vote for Driver on the show – minus the 800-prefix. That didn’t matter much when Kirstie Alley had the number a while back. But as you might expect, loyal Packer fans jam the lines to vote for Driver – and some of them call Paschke by mistake. When the show started two months ago, nobody called Paschke. But the next Monday night, he got 54 calls from Driver’s voters. And as usual with viewer voting, the calls increase as the numbers of finalists narrow down. Paschke got 150 calls this past Monday night, when Driver made the Final Four in the competition. He says he normally answers, and tells people to call back and use the 800-prefix. Driver is beloved by Packer fans statewide – but apparently, folks in northeast Wisconsin are most rabid about voting for him. Paschke says all his calls have come from the 9-2-0 area code.