Top Stories December 23rd

Winter Storm to Make Travel Treacherous Over Next Few Days

12/23/09 - Christmas in Wisconsin will be a wet, icy, snowy, and slippery mess. The southern part of the state got 2-to-5 inches of snow yesterday. Flurries and freezing rain are expected in many of those areas today. And snow will move into most other parts of the Badger State by tonight. The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather adviorsy beginning at 6pm tonight until noon tomorrow. They say precipitation will begin mainly as snow later this afternoon before transitioning into a wintry mix. That mixture is expected to change over to mostly rain and drizzle on Thursday before changing back over to all snow on Christmas day. The storm is expected to make for hazardous travel over the next few days.

Crescio Makes Initial Appearance

12/23/09 - The alleged driver of a vehicle that was involved in a fatal accident early Saturday morning has been charged with Homicide by Intoxicated use of a Vehicle. 22-year-old Anthony Crescio of Randolph made his initial appearance in court yesterday. He’s accused of being drunk when his car left Highway 73 early Saturday morning before rolling over, killing 22-year-old Dustin Vredeveld who was a passenger in the car. According to the criminal complaint, EMS personnel had to extract Crescio from the back window of the vehicle. At that point they attempted to remove the hard packed snow that had filled up the car during the crash. Soon after, they found Vredeveld still strapped into the passenger seat of the vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Crescio told authorities that a third person had been driving the vehicle, but according to the complaint, they were unable to find any evidence to support that claim. After being treated for his injuries, Crescio was arrested. Court records show he has already been convicted twice of OWI and his license is currently revoked. In addition to the homicide charge, Crescio has been charged with Operating a Motor Vehicle after Revocation Causing Death, which is a misdemeanor. If convicted on both charges he faces up to 40-years in prison and more than $100,000 in fines. Crescio had a cash bond of $50,000 set and is scheduled to be back in court in February.

Mayville Man Charged with Sexual Assault

12/23/09 - A 30-year-old Mayville man has been charged with sexual assault of a child under the age of 16 for allegedly touching a 15-year-old girl inappropriately earlier this month. Weston S. Leiberg is accused of grabbing and rubbing a 15-year-old girl at a bowling alley. The complaint says Leiberg approached two girls and reportedly told one of them she was (quote) gorgeous and started to grab and rub her. Police say Leiberg later told them he was drunk and didn’t remember what happened in the incident. Leiberg was in court Tuesday for his initial appearance and was released on a $2,000 signature bond.

Horicon’s Bump on High Speed Pursuits

12/23/09 - It seems like a simple concept. An officer attempts to pull a vehicle over but that person does not stop and a chase ensues. However, as acting Horicon Police Chief Adrian Bump says, a number of factors come into play whether to continue such a chase. Those include the weather, time of day and severity of the offense committed. It was Bump’s department that was involved in a pursuit last Thursday that reached speeds of more than 100-miles-per-hour. He says it that situation the driver, 48-year-old Laura Brown, presented such a danger to the public that despite the time of day the pursuit was not called off. Authorities have forwarded a myriad of charges against Brown, including Fleeing an Officer, OWI 3rd offense and reckless endangering safety.

Randolph Teachers and School Board Headed for Mediation

12/23/09 - The Randolph School Board and the teachers union are at an impasse in negotiations for a new contract. And for that reason they’ve decided to allow a mediator to help in finalizing a new deal. Randolph Superintendent Greg Peyer says the mediator will work with both groups separately to hopefully come to an agreement. Peyer says this is relatively new ground for the unions and districts as the QEO, or Qualified Economic Offer, which guaranteed an increase of 3.8-percent if the two sides couldn’t come to agreement, was dropped this past summer after 16-years. Peyer says the next option would be arbitration, something both sides would like to avoid due to the risk involved.

Columbus PD Closes in on New Chief

12/23/09 - The Columbus Police Department is just two steps away from having a new Chief.
President Ed Schellin told the PFC that top candidate Daniel Meister was getting ready to assume his new duties. Meister was offered the position December 11th when he was chosen over Columbus Acting Chief Dennis Weiner and four other finalists. Meanwhile, an Appleton firm has begun his background check and, when that’s complete, Meister will undergo psychological and physical tests. Installation is not likely to take place before the second week in January.

Council Approves Speed Limit Changes

12/23/09 - The Beaver Dam Common Council this week approved speed limit changes on area roadways. The speed limit on South Center Road from the southerly city limits to Cody Drive will be set at 45mph. The stretch is currently not posted so the speed limit is 55mph. Once posted the Town of Beaver Dam has agreed to post signage with the same speed limit. The council also approved three other speed limit changes resulting from recent annexations where the posted speed limit differs from what’s on the books. City ordinance automatically considers an annexed roadway at 25mph. In all cases the posted signage will remain the same. Another item approved by the full council allows for city speed limits to immediately conform to county speed limits whenever a County Trunk Highway is annexed.

WI Military Officials Warn of Scam Involving Soldiers

12/23/09 - The Wisconsin Army and Air National Guard is warning residents about what they've termed Operation Desert Scam. In a recent scheme a scam artist skimmed details about a deployed National Guard soldier from a news article, and then used information about the soldier to try and sell a vehicle on-line to a potential buyer in Oklahoma. The buyer got suspicious and reported the incident to Wisconsin National Guard officials. Fortunately the soldier whose identity was used didn't suffer any financial losses. Another scam, that's been around for some time, is one where you're contacted about a handful of U.S. Marines who have discovered millions of dollars in cash in the mansion of a militant leader in Iraq. The hook is they need your help to bring the money back to the states. It's a variation on the plethora of "Nigerian" scams found online. (KFIZ)

Delay in Garbage Pickup for Christmas

12/23/09 - Garage pick-up will be delayed because of the Christmas holiday. In Beaver Dam, the Friday garbage and recycling pick-up will be on Saturday. Christmas Eve will be collected as usual on Thursday. As part of the contract the city has with Veolia Environmental, there will be an additional collection of recyclable materials for city residents next week.