Top Stories March 25th

Randolph Man Arrested for 1980 Murder

3/25/09 - The Columbus Council chambers broke into a round of applause last night when Mayor Nancy Osterhaus and Police Chief Dennis Weiner announced the arrest of a suspect in a 29-year-old unsolved murder. A 51-year-old Randolph man, Curtis Forbes is in custody in Columbia County jail as a result of the Columbus “cold case” investigation. Forbes was arrested yesterday and is facing charges in the murder of a Columbus woman, Marilyn McIntyre, back in 1980. The cold case was reopened in 2007 when Osterhaus received an email request from McIntyre’s family to take another look into the murder investigation to give their family some peace of mind. Chief Weiner said that the case looked “pretty solid” and this could close the case of a 29-year-old unsolved murder.

Storm Cleanup Begins

3/25/09 - Beaver Dam received about two-point-two inches of rain during a 24-hour period starting at 8 a.m. Tuesday. That’s according to workers at the waste water treatment plant on the south side of the city. Even with all that rain the Beaver Dam River is still more than a foot below flood stage. Meanwhile, the Rock River is just below its flood stage in Watertown and it’s the same story for the Crawfish River at Milford. Other towns have not been as fortunate as the Rock was almost two-feet over its banks in the town of Afton this morning. There have been no reports of significant house flooding, but flood warnings continue. There was also some severe weather in far southern Wisconsin. Authorities said a barn with 30 cows inside blew down near Janesville late last night. Numerous trees and power lines went down in Rock County. Kenosha Police said large trees were uprooted, and street signs fell. Winds hit 57-miles-an-hour at Brooklyn in Dane County.

John Doe Law Advances

3/25/09 - Wisconsin senators voted Tuesday to let judges decide on their own whether to pursue criminal investigations. The John Doe law – which is more than a century old – requires judges to investigate cases brought to them by people like prisoners, who say prosecutors would never give them a fair shake. In the last session, a Waupun prison guard was the target of an assault charge that was never proven. Others complained that prisoners were abusing the system and using the hearings to get out their jail cell. Republicans then went to bat for the guards, voting to require that prosecutors review their cases. The final bill is a compromise. It requires a review by prosecutors – but if they do nothing, a judge can still file a charge if he-or-she chooses.

Man Picks Up 5th OWI

3/25/09 - A traffic stop yesterday afternoon resulted in a man being arrested for his 5th OWI. 58-year-old Richard A. Hoffman was pulled over on Highway B in the Town of Beaver Dam just after 3pm. The Sheriff’s Department arrested Hoffman for allegedly being intoxicated and took him to jail. He was cited for 5th OWI and Operating after Revocation.

Horicon Applying for Grants to Upgrade City Parks

3/25/09 - The Horicon City Council approved a motion that allows for MSA Professional Services to apply for grants to improve a number of parks in the city. Horicon will pay MSA no more than $3,000 to apply for the grants, with the biggest being $290,000 which would be used at River Bend Park. If they are approved for that grant the city would have 18-months to use it or return it to the DNR.

Toxicology Tests Ordered in West Bend Fatality

3/25/09 - Washington County authorities have ordered toxicology tests to see if a West Bend woman had alcohol in her system when she died from a one-car crash. Investigators said 27-year-old Loraine Chapman had just dropped off three people before her crash early Monday – and one of them said she was drinking earlier. Officials said her vehicle was apparently going too fast when she lost control on a curve and hit a tree. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Autopsy results are pending.

WPD Joins WICAC

3/25/09 - The Watertown Police Department is the latest to join the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says there has been an increase in crimes against children on the internet and membership in the task force will help keep the children of Watertown safe. As part of this affiliation, the Watertown Police Department is eligible for: reimbursement to help fund computer hardware and software; priority for training investigative assistance and access to forensic computer analysts throughout the state. The Watertown Police Department will have a detective specially trained in investigating internet crimes involving children. The Task Force has been in existence for 10 years and Van Hollen says in that time, members have arrested 540 suspects, executed 647 search warrants, and rescued countless numbers of children throughout the state. According to Van Hollen, there are over 22,000 internet protocol addresses in Wisconsin containing and offering to distribute known images of child pornography. One in seven children are asked online to engage in sexual activities, sexual talk, or provide personal sexual information. The number of local law enforcement partners to the Department of Justice’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force has more than doubled - to 74 - in the past year. Watertown is the first Dodge County department to join. Anyone with information on a crime involving a child or a child predator is asked to contact the police department at 920-261-6660. For more information on how your community can become an affiliate of the Wisconsin ICAC Task Force contact Craig Klyve at (608) 266-1221, klyvecs@doj.state.wi.us or Kris Midthun at (715) 839-3831, midthunkm@doj.state.wi.us.

Horicon Extends Current School Year

3/25/09 - Students in the Horicon School District have lost two days of summer vacation. The school board this week voted to extend the current school year by two days to make up for the snow days used this past winter. The school year was originally set to end with a half-day on Tuesday, June 9. The last day – is still a half day – but it will instead be on Thursday, June 11.

Candidate Focus - Waupun School Board: Harper Vs. Paul

3/25/09 - In the race for the one contested seat on the Waupun School Board both candidates are against the closing of the three elementary schools. The April 7 election comes on the heels of a failed school funding referendum that led to a 6 to 1 school board decision to close the schools. Ron Paul says it was wrong for incumbent Percy Harper to vote in favor of going to referendum in the first place. He says the money to keep the school open should have come from the general fund. Incumbent Percy Harper says going to referendum was the right thing to do for the kids in the district. Harper says the district can’t afford to take any more money from the general fund without affecting its ability to borrow money.

Phosphorus Ban Moves Forward

3/25/09 - Wisconsin senators voted unanimously yesterday (Tue) to ban phosphorus from most lawn fertilizers. The Assembly approved the ban earlier – but the Senate made a technical change, so it has to go back to the Assembly before it can go to the governor for his signature. Governor Doyle is expected to approve the measure. It would bar phosphorus from lawn fertilizers except on new lawns, and if soil tests show there’s too little of the chemical that’s made naturally. The goal is to keep phosphorus out of lakes-and-streams, where it’s been known to create damaging algae. The ban does not apply to farm-land.

Attorney’s Support Abrahamson

3/25/09 - Attorneys in Waukesha County say Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson is more qualified than her opponent in next month’s election. Just over 175 members of the county bar association answered a poll-by-mail. And 127 of them rated Abrahamson as highly qualified – and 29 gave her a slightly lower rating of qualified. Only 13 attorneys, or less than 10-percent, said Abrahamson was not qualified. Her challenger, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Randy Koschnick, was rated as highly qualified by 33 bar members. Forty-one others said he was qualified, and 43 said he was not qualified. Abrahamson has been on the Supreme Court for 32 years, and has been the chief justice for the last 13. Koschnick has been on the Jefferson County bench for a decade. About a-third of the Waukesha County bar members responded to the survey.