Top Stories December 15th

Cold Temps Hit Wisconsin

12/15/08 - Wisconsinites got a rude awakening this Monday morning, as the Badger State plunged into the deep freeze. The temperature in Beaver Dam has dropped more than 40-degrees from yesterdays high of 44 to just one degree this morning. Many other places in Wisconsin were in the low teens overnight, after a strong cold front moved in and made a balmy winter weekend a distant memory. Weekend rains froze on many area roads, so officials are reminding motorists to watch for ice this morning. And far northern Wisconsin was hit with another blast of snow – up to eight-and-a-half inches in Superior. The rest of us will shiver, meanwhile. The National Weather Service says most parts of the state will have gusty west winds, driving wind chills down to 20-to-30 below today. Tonight’s actual readings will drop to minus-20 in the far northwest, and around zero in the southeast. A band of light snow is expected tomorrow, with temperatures to rise a few degrees.

Cold Weather Advisories

12/15/08 - With the extremely cold weather we have this morning the Dodge County Office of Emergency Management is asking residents to take precautions when going outside. A wind chill of minus 15-degrees can cause frostbite in just 15 minutes or less so make sure to keep your skin covered at all times. Officials also say overexertion can be dangerous. Cold weather puts an added strain on the heart, so people unaccustomed to exercise such as shoveling snow or pushing a car are at risk for a heart attack or possibly making an existing medical condition worse. Officials also say pets are at risk in these types of temperatures and should not be left outside for extended amounts of time.

Minimal Damage in Columbus High School Fire

12/15/08 - An electrical fire on the roof of the Columbus High School Saturday night could have been much worse if it wasn’t for a person who lives across the street from the school. That’s according to Columbus Fire Lieutenant Jarod Fox, who says the resident called in the fire at 8:10pm. Upon arriving Fox says a flame could be seen on the roof the building. He says they cut the gas and power to the roof and the fire essentially put itself out. Officials say the cause of the fire was a motor for the ventilation system malfunctioning. There was no structural damage though, because the fire involved the ventilation system, Fox says the building did have a lot of smoke in it. Traffic was shutdown for about an hour and half in front of the high school while the fire department was on the scene.

Portage Man Killed in Weekend Accident

12/15/08 - A 72-year-old Portage man was killed Saturday afternoon in a two-vehicle accident in the Town of Fort Winnebago. The Columbia County Sheriff’s Department says Vilo Bessac was driving on County Highway F around 4pm when he crossed the centerline hitting a vehicle driven by 21-year-old Dylan Hayes. Bessac was taken by Medflight to UW-Hospital in Madison where he was pronounced dead. Hayes was taken to Divine Savior Hospital in Portage for his injuries. The Sheriff’s Department is still investigating but alcohol is believed to be a factor in the crash.

GAB Reveal Election Findings

12/15/08 - About 11-percent of Wisconsin’s voters last month had names or I-D numbers that did not match the state’s computerized voter list. The Government Accountability Board says that’s about half the mis-matches found in August, when 22-percent of voters had discrepancies. Board director Kevin Kennedy said 275-thousand new voters, and those who re-registered, had their records checked against the state list. And about 31-thousand people did not pass those checks. Board officials say most discrepancies are minor. They’ll have typing mistakes, or name variations in which a Rebecca on one form is Becky on another. But Republicans insist that voter fraud is also a possibility. Before the election, state Attorney General J-B Van Hollen tried but failed to make local election clerks double-check all new registrations dating back to 2006, when the federal Help America Vote Act took effect. Last fall, the board said those checks were only required for those signing up since last August – when the computerized voter list went fully on-line. Now, though, the accountability board says clerks will have to check all new sign-ups dating back to ’06. The panel is expected to adopt guidelines when it meets on Wednesday.

DNR on VHS Virus

12/15/08 - As ice fishing begins in Wisconsin, the D-N-R reminds anglers to follow the rules to stop the spread of the fish-killing V-H-S virus. It’s been about a year-and-a-half since the state first banned the transfers of live fish from one waterway to another. But according to a U-W Madison Badger Poll from October, just 42-percent said they obeyed the rule against fish movements. The D-N-R’s Mike Staggs says anglers must do better, to make sure V-H-S does not spread to other state waters. And that’s especially important in the winter, since V-H-S is most active when the water’s cold. The virus has spread from the east. The first Wisconsin discovery was in early 2007 in the Lake Winnebago system. It was found in Lake Michigan a short time later. V-H-S can kill up to three-dozen species of fish. And officials say it poses a serious threat to Wisconsin’s multi-million-dollar fishing industry.

WI Looking at Making Sex-Offenders Pay for Tracking Bracelets

12/15/08 - The state Corrections Department wants to make sex offenders help pay for the G-P-S tracking devices they're supposed to wear. About 145 of the most serious offenders are being tracked now. But officials expect 330 to wear the bracelets by the end of next year, at an extra cost of a million dollars. The corrections' agency is seeking an emergency rule to charge the offenders 4-to-8-dollars a day, which amounts to a maximum of 240-dollars a month. Only two people spoke about the fee at a recent hearing in Madison. Sex offender Grover Maass says there's no way he can afford it -- because when employers learn about the bracelet, they generally refuse to hire him. And even if they did, Maass said he'd have to go outside every half-hour to send his G-P-S signal -- something few employers would tolerate. But Madison attorney and former legislator Peter Bear says he hopes G-P-S bracelets can be cost-effective for non-violent non-sex offenders to wear after an early release from prison. He says it would help those people become productive members of society, at a lower cost for taxpayers. Bear says he's working with lawmakers on a plan to use more bracelets if they're cost-effective.

Brandon Woman Injured in Accident

12/15/08 – The jaws-of-life were used for a two-car accident in downtown Beaver Dam Friday morning. Authorities responded to the intersection of North Spring Street and Front Street at 10:34am. Fire Department Captain Don Wellnitz says a 36-year-old Brandon woman was transported to the Beaver Dam Community Hospital, for treatment of minor injuries. According to the Beaver Dam Police Department, a 36-year-old Beaver Dam man pulled into the path of her vehicle; he was cited for inattentive driving.

Away In A Manger

12/15/08 - The camel couldn’t make it but the First Lutheran Church of Beaver Dam held their annual live nativity scene Saturday night with a sheep, a donkey and a real-life baby Jesus. With temperatures well above freezing, several people bore witness to the 20 minute play, written by Pastor Mark Jensen and his wife, Karla. The scene itself featured adult Jesus recounting the details of his birth, prompting Karla Jensen to jokingly tell us that she “took some poetic license.” Organizer Dorothy Ebert says they have already made plans to have a camel in next years live nativity, adding “who knew there’d be a three month waiting list for a camel?”