Libecki Bound Over
10/02/09 - The Dodge County man charged with the 1999 murder of a co-worker in Germantown was bound over for trial this week in Washington County Court. 49-year-old Mark Libecki of Theresa is accused of killing 22-year-old Theresa Wesolowski of Milwaukee. Her body was found near her car about a block from the Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation, where the two worked. She had 46 stab wounds, including two to the heart. In 2003, the F-B-I concluded that Wesolowski’s killer knew her, and police were confident that D-N-A evidence would help crack the case. In 2006, authorities said they discovered that Libecki’s D-N-A was on the victim’s hands. Investigators then found an S-U-V that Libecki owned at the time – and a blood stain in a seat cushion had Wesolowski’s D-N-A. The victim’s husband Frank said his wife and Libecki worked the same shift at Smurfit-Stone, but he didn’t know of any closer relationship than that. He said it was hard to believe that Libecki kept working at the same place for 10 years before he was arrested.
Appeals Court Upholds Watertown Homicide Conviction
10/02/09 - A former Watertown man failed Thursday to get out of a murder conviction for the bludgeoning of a woman in 1987. The state’s Fourth District Appeals Court did not buy Matthew Knapp’s claim that the prosecution had insufficient evidence to convict him in 2006 – 19 years after the slaying of 38-year-old Reba Scobie Brunner. Knapp was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing Scobie Brunner with a baseball bat. The case was held up while Knapp challenged the way authorities obtained a sweat-shirt with the victim’s blood on it. The State Supreme Court twice ruled that police obtained the shirt illegally – and the second ruling came after the U-S Supreme Court asked the state justices to reconsider their first ruling. But investigators presented other evidence, and the appeals court said yesterday the evidence was valid and sufficient. The court also said it was okay for the jury to hear an incriminating comment Knapp made a number of years after the killing. He had beaten a girlfriend and said quote, “I’ll do to you what I did to her.”
Marshland Pharmacy Burglary Suspect Bound Over
10/02/09 - One of the two men accused of breaking into a Horicon pharmacy late last month was in Dodge County court for a preliminary hearing yesterday (Th). 22-year-old Andrew W. Stockwell of Milwaukee was bound over for trial on charges of felony Burglary and misdemeanor Criminal Damage to Property. His alleged accomplice, 33-year-old Nathan G. Davis of Beaver Dam, has a preliminary hearing scheduled for next week. Officers responded to an alarm at the Marshland Pharmacy just after 3am on September 23. Davis was allegedly seen running from the scene with a hammer and was taken into custody after a brief foot chase. Stockwell was allegedly in possession of a large duffel bag filled with stolen prescription narcotics and was taken into custody without incident. Davis is being held on a $50,000 cash bond; Stockwell is being held on a $5000 cash bond and will be back in court for an arraignment hearing November 4.
Outhouse Bomber Enters Plea
10/02/09 - One of the three Beaver Dam men connected to a pair of area bombings entered a “no contest” plea during a hearing Thursday. Kyle Livingston pled to two felony charges of being a Party To A Crime of Possessing Explosives For Unlawful Purposes. The 20-year-old was caught on film with two others at a Beaver Dam business buying the bomb making components. 19-year-old Stephen Peterson, the purported ringleader, and 21-year-old Michael Peters both recently entered “not guilty” pleas at arraignment and are awaiting trial. Authorities say in April, the trio blew up a mailbox in Burnett and a port-a-potty at Lost Lake Park in the Town of Calamus. Pipe bombs were used but liquefied gas was also used to blow up the port-a-potty. If convicted, Livingston and Peters face up to 25 years in prison while Peterson faces a total of 105 years.
Columbus School Board Gets Vaccination Clinic Update
10/02/09 - Columbus Public and Parochial Schools will become temporary vaccination Clinic sites when the H1N1 vaccine supply is delivered. Superintendent Mark Jansen told the School Board this week that the Clinics would be open during regular school hours. The H1N1 Flu Clinics are being set up in schools to allow over eleven hundred 5K through 12th students a chance to get their shots without having to be pulled out of class and driven to a clinic. No definite date has been set for the in-school Clinics, but the vaccine shipment is expected this month. Priorities for those getting shots include children, ages 6 months to 24 years, pregnant women, healthcare providers and seniors who are high risk for health complications.
H1N1 Vaccines Could Be Given Early
10/02/09 - The first vaccinations against the H-1-N-1 swine flu will be given early next week in parts of the country. In Milwaukee, the first doses are going to health care employees. And school-children will be next. By late October, Paul Biedrzycki of the Milwaukee health department says anyone who wants the vaccine should be able to get it. He expects the demand for the H-1-N-1 vaccine to be two-to-three times the demand for seasonal flu shots. The first 600-thousand doses of the nasal spray Flu-Mist will be shared by 21 states and four major cities by next Tuesday. More states will get their shipments later in the week. The federal government bought the nation’s entire supply. And as it arrives, it’s being divided among states according to their populations. Most people will need two shots – one for the seasonal flu and one for the H-1-N-1 strain. And kids under 10 will need two doses of the latter.
Wisconsin Nets $70 Million in Clunker Cash
10/02/09 - Cash-for-Clunkers put 15-thousand new vehicles in Wisconsin driveways – and their owners got 70-million-dollars in federal discounts for their old junkers. That’s according to the Wisconsin State Journal. The Madison paper says D-O-T officials are still keeping an eye on the old vehicles, to make sure they get to their proper homes in Wisconsin’s authorized salvage yards. They have six months to make the engines useless – but they can sell whatever other parts they like. The state D-O-T was not directly involved in Cash for Clunkers, but the program kept its workers busy anyway with things like new title registrations. The D-O-T’s Megan Shotliff said most dealers appeared to be satisfied, even though there was chaos at the start. Her agency has no pending complaints about the program. The federal government will audit the program to make sure everything was on the up-and-up.
CCAP Under Scrutiny
10/02/09 - Wisconsin’s on-line court records would be reduced, and most people would have to pay to get what’s left under a bill that had a public hearing yesterday. The Assembly’s Criminal Justice Committee heard testimony on a proposal to remove current court cases from the popular Web site – plus those in which people were found not guilty or had their charges dropped. The bill’s author, Wisconsin Rapids Democrat Marlin Schneider, has long said that people are wrongly accused of crimes and kept from getting jobs because court information is too easy to get on-line. But Portage Daily Register publisher George Althoff told the panel that people want the full story about their court system – and not just the endings. Also, Amy Bliss of the Wisconsin Housing Alliance says landlords would not be able to fully evaluate prospective tenants. All current information would still be available at courthouses. Three million pages are viewed each weekday on the state court Web site – and Schneider’s bill would make users register to see what’s not deleted. Court officials, attorneys, law enforcement, and journalists would still get the service free. Everybody else would have to pay 10-dollars a year. If a user later denies a job or housing to someone with a court record, that person would have to be notified – or the site users could be fined a-thousand-dollars. State courts director John Voelker said it would be expensive and tedious to record who gets free access and who pays.
GOP/ Dems Split On Butler Nomination
10/02/09 - President Obama is defending his nomination of former State Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler to a federal judgeship. That’s after some Republicans criticized it yesterday. Menomonee Falls Congressman Jim Sensenbenner said Butler was voted off the bench in a statewide election last year – and yet Obama gave him quote, “a promotion, a lifetime appointment, and a pay raise.” Butler lost his Supreme Court seat to Michael Gableman. State Assembly Judiciary panel member Mark Gundrum of New Berlin called the appointment a “slap in the face” to voters who quote, “rejected that level of liberal activism on the bench.” But Obama praised Butler for quote, “unwavering integrity and an unyielding commitment to justice.” And U-S Senate Democrats Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin also praised Obama’s choice. The senators nominated Butler and Madison attorney William Conley to the federal judgeship for the western half of Wisconsin, after Judge John Shabaz retired this year. Sensenbrenner used to help the senators nominate Wisconsin judicial candidates – but he lost that authority when Democrats took over the White House. Kohl and Feingold said they’ve used a nominating commission for years in which law professors, judges, and other experts recommend judicial candidates. Feingold says the commission follows the same rules they’ve used for decades.
10/02/09 - The Dodge County man charged with the 1999 murder of a co-worker in Germantown was bound over for trial this week in Washington County Court. 49-year-old Mark Libecki of Theresa is accused of killing 22-year-old Theresa Wesolowski of Milwaukee. Her body was found near her car about a block from the Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation, where the two worked. She had 46 stab wounds, including two to the heart. In 2003, the F-B-I concluded that Wesolowski’s killer knew her, and police were confident that D-N-A evidence would help crack the case. In 2006, authorities said they discovered that Libecki’s D-N-A was on the victim’s hands. Investigators then found an S-U-V that Libecki owned at the time – and a blood stain in a seat cushion had Wesolowski’s D-N-A. The victim’s husband Frank said his wife and Libecki worked the same shift at Smurfit-Stone, but he didn’t know of any closer relationship than that. He said it was hard to believe that Libecki kept working at the same place for 10 years before he was arrested.
Appeals Court Upholds Watertown Homicide Conviction
10/02/09 - A former Watertown man failed Thursday to get out of a murder conviction for the bludgeoning of a woman in 1987. The state’s Fourth District Appeals Court did not buy Matthew Knapp’s claim that the prosecution had insufficient evidence to convict him in 2006 – 19 years after the slaying of 38-year-old Reba Scobie Brunner. Knapp was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing Scobie Brunner with a baseball bat. The case was held up while Knapp challenged the way authorities obtained a sweat-shirt with the victim’s blood on it. The State Supreme Court twice ruled that police obtained the shirt illegally – and the second ruling came after the U-S Supreme Court asked the state justices to reconsider their first ruling. But investigators presented other evidence, and the appeals court said yesterday the evidence was valid and sufficient. The court also said it was okay for the jury to hear an incriminating comment Knapp made a number of years after the killing. He had beaten a girlfriend and said quote, “I’ll do to you what I did to her.”
Marshland Pharmacy Burglary Suspect Bound Over
10/02/09 - One of the two men accused of breaking into a Horicon pharmacy late last month was in Dodge County court for a preliminary hearing yesterday (Th). 22-year-old Andrew W. Stockwell of Milwaukee was bound over for trial on charges of felony Burglary and misdemeanor Criminal Damage to Property. His alleged accomplice, 33-year-old Nathan G. Davis of Beaver Dam, has a preliminary hearing scheduled for next week. Officers responded to an alarm at the Marshland Pharmacy just after 3am on September 23. Davis was allegedly seen running from the scene with a hammer and was taken into custody after a brief foot chase. Stockwell was allegedly in possession of a large duffel bag filled with stolen prescription narcotics and was taken into custody without incident. Davis is being held on a $50,000 cash bond; Stockwell is being held on a $5000 cash bond and will be back in court for an arraignment hearing November 4.
Outhouse Bomber Enters Plea
10/02/09 - One of the three Beaver Dam men connected to a pair of area bombings entered a “no contest” plea during a hearing Thursday. Kyle Livingston pled to two felony charges of being a Party To A Crime of Possessing Explosives For Unlawful Purposes. The 20-year-old was caught on film with two others at a Beaver Dam business buying the bomb making components. 19-year-old Stephen Peterson, the purported ringleader, and 21-year-old Michael Peters both recently entered “not guilty” pleas at arraignment and are awaiting trial. Authorities say in April, the trio blew up a mailbox in Burnett and a port-a-potty at Lost Lake Park in the Town of Calamus. Pipe bombs were used but liquefied gas was also used to blow up the port-a-potty. If convicted, Livingston and Peters face up to 25 years in prison while Peterson faces a total of 105 years.
Columbus School Board Gets Vaccination Clinic Update
10/02/09 - Columbus Public and Parochial Schools will become temporary vaccination Clinic sites when the H1N1 vaccine supply is delivered. Superintendent Mark Jansen told the School Board this week that the Clinics would be open during regular school hours. The H1N1 Flu Clinics are being set up in schools to allow over eleven hundred 5K through 12th students a chance to get their shots without having to be pulled out of class and driven to a clinic. No definite date has been set for the in-school Clinics, but the vaccine shipment is expected this month. Priorities for those getting shots include children, ages 6 months to 24 years, pregnant women, healthcare providers and seniors who are high risk for health complications.
H1N1 Vaccines Could Be Given Early
10/02/09 - The first vaccinations against the H-1-N-1 swine flu will be given early next week in parts of the country. In Milwaukee, the first doses are going to health care employees. And school-children will be next. By late October, Paul Biedrzycki of the Milwaukee health department says anyone who wants the vaccine should be able to get it. He expects the demand for the H-1-N-1 vaccine to be two-to-three times the demand for seasonal flu shots. The first 600-thousand doses of the nasal spray Flu-Mist will be shared by 21 states and four major cities by next Tuesday. More states will get their shipments later in the week. The federal government bought the nation’s entire supply. And as it arrives, it’s being divided among states according to their populations. Most people will need two shots – one for the seasonal flu and one for the H-1-N-1 strain. And kids under 10 will need two doses of the latter.
Wisconsin Nets $70 Million in Clunker Cash
10/02/09 - Cash-for-Clunkers put 15-thousand new vehicles in Wisconsin driveways – and their owners got 70-million-dollars in federal discounts for their old junkers. That’s according to the Wisconsin State Journal. The Madison paper says D-O-T officials are still keeping an eye on the old vehicles, to make sure they get to their proper homes in Wisconsin’s authorized salvage yards. They have six months to make the engines useless – but they can sell whatever other parts they like. The state D-O-T was not directly involved in Cash for Clunkers, but the program kept its workers busy anyway with things like new title registrations. The D-O-T’s Megan Shotliff said most dealers appeared to be satisfied, even though there was chaos at the start. Her agency has no pending complaints about the program. The federal government will audit the program to make sure everything was on the up-and-up.
CCAP Under Scrutiny
10/02/09 - Wisconsin’s on-line court records would be reduced, and most people would have to pay to get what’s left under a bill that had a public hearing yesterday. The Assembly’s Criminal Justice Committee heard testimony on a proposal to remove current court cases from the popular Web site – plus those in which people were found not guilty or had their charges dropped. The bill’s author, Wisconsin Rapids Democrat Marlin Schneider, has long said that people are wrongly accused of crimes and kept from getting jobs because court information is too easy to get on-line. But Portage Daily Register publisher George Althoff told the panel that people want the full story about their court system – and not just the endings. Also, Amy Bliss of the Wisconsin Housing Alliance says landlords would not be able to fully evaluate prospective tenants. All current information would still be available at courthouses. Three million pages are viewed each weekday on the state court Web site – and Schneider’s bill would make users register to see what’s not deleted. Court officials, attorneys, law enforcement, and journalists would still get the service free. Everybody else would have to pay 10-dollars a year. If a user later denies a job or housing to someone with a court record, that person would have to be notified – or the site users could be fined a-thousand-dollars. State courts director John Voelker said it would be expensive and tedious to record who gets free access and who pays.
GOP/ Dems Split On Butler Nomination
10/02/09 - President Obama is defending his nomination of former State Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler to a federal judgeship. That’s after some Republicans criticized it yesterday. Menomonee Falls Congressman Jim Sensenbenner said Butler was voted off the bench in a statewide election last year – and yet Obama gave him quote, “a promotion, a lifetime appointment, and a pay raise.” Butler lost his Supreme Court seat to Michael Gableman. State Assembly Judiciary panel member Mark Gundrum of New Berlin called the appointment a “slap in the face” to voters who quote, “rejected that level of liberal activism on the bench.” But Obama praised Butler for quote, “unwavering integrity and an unyielding commitment to justice.” And U-S Senate Democrats Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin also praised Obama’s choice. The senators nominated Butler and Madison attorney William Conley to the federal judgeship for the western half of Wisconsin, after Judge John Shabaz retired this year. Sensenbrenner used to help the senators nominate Wisconsin judicial candidates – but he lost that authority when Democrats took over the White House. Kohl and Feingold said they’ve used a nominating commission for years in which law professors, judges, and other experts recommend judicial candidates. Feingold says the commission follows the same rules they’ve used for decades.
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