Top Stories, February 10th

DOJ Orders Clyman To Build $4M Treatment Plant

2/10/10 - The village of Clyman has joined the cities of Columbus and Fox Lake in being ordered by the state to upgrade their wastewater treatment system. The Attorney General’s office announced this morning that Clyman will be required to construct a $4 million wastewater treatment plant by July of 2011. Under the terms of the settlement approved in Dodge County Circuit Court, the village also agreed to implement a DNR-approved, ten-year program of repairs and improvements to its sewage collection system. The DNR says the village has known for years that an 8000 foot-long buried force main sewer leading to several treatment lagoons was badly deteriorated and leaking due to age and neglect. The DNR says the sewer main would break and discharge large quantities of untreated raw sewage onto private lands and into adjacent wetlands. The complaint also says that Clyman’s treatment system often exceeded regulatory limits on the strength of pollutants it discharged into an indirect tributary of Lake Sinissippi. In addition to a new treatment plant, Clyman must also enforce and impose a moratorium on new sanitary sewer extensions and connections, which will remain in effect until the new wastewater treatment plant becomes operational. In addition, the order requires the village to abandon existing wastewater treatment lagoons and pay penalties, costs and fee’s totaling $5000.

BDPD Releases Game Stop Surveillance Images

2/10/10 - The Beaver Dam Police Department has released video surveillance images from last month’s armed robbery at the Game Stop. The robbery occurred at 7:22pm on Wednesday, January 20 at the Francis Point Shopping Center. One of the images is from the Game Stop camera’s while the rest are from the neighboring Quizno’s sandwich shop, about 15 minutes before the robbery. It is believed the getaway driver may have purchased water from the establishment before the crime. The robbery suspect is described as a male, wearing a dark, possible forest green puffy jacket with fur around the edge of the hood, 5’7” to 5’8” tall with a deep voice. He spoke in slang and held a black handgun in his left hand. The getaway car is described as a mid-sized tan, four-door luxury vehicle with a colorful license plate and an emblem on the hood. Investigators are trying to determine if it was connected to six other Game Stop robberies in the state, most of them in the Milwaukee area. Authorities have also subpoenaed phone records because they believe the suspects may have called the store about an hour before the robbery asking for directions. Anyone who may have seen anything is asked to Detective Corey Johnson, his direct line is 356-2560. The surveillance images are posted on the department website, at www.cityofbeaverdam.com.

Lomira Work Death Likely Natural Causes

2/10/10 – Authorities say there was nothing suspicious about the death of a 59-year-old Lomira man at a Fond du Lac business. Police Captain Steve Klein says when employees arrived at Gonzalez Recycling Monday morning they found the body of Robert Geschke lying in a pool of blood. Klein says an autopsy will determine the exact cause of death, but it’s believed Geschke suffered a medical condition like a heart attack, fell over and then struck his head.

H1N1 Third Wave Possible

2/10/10 - Just because H1N1 flu cases have slowed down doesn’t mean you should relax. State health officials say they’re watching for a third wave of the virus, possibly this spring. The second wave ran from last August through mid-January. The state’s health agency stopped issuing weekly reports on January 25th – but experts say many people should still consider getting vaccinated for both the H1N1 flu and the seasonal flu. Fifty-two people in Wisconsin have died from H-1-N-1 since it first hit the Badger State last April, including one Dodge County resident. The flu returned in the fall, and the numbers of cases and hospitalizations peaked around Halloween. Just under 11-hundred Wisconsinites were hospitalized in the second wave, and there were almost five-thousand confirmed cases.

St. Anna Fatal Fire Still Under Investigation

2/10/10 - Fire investigators continue to search for clues into the December death of a St. Anna firefighter. They say the case should be closed by the end of this month. Volunteer firefighter Steven Koeser was killed in an explosion while fighting a dumpster fire January 2nd. The fire was burning outside Bremer Manufacturing in Chilton. That dumpster contained several flammable metal byproducts -- which reportedly blew up when water was used to put the fire out.

Millions Remain In Doyle Campaign Fund

2/10/10 - Governor Jim Doyle still has nearly 2 million dollars in his campaign fund several months after announcing he would not seek re-election. In the campaign finance report Doyle's treasurer turned in to the state Government Accountability Board last week, the governor reported roughly $1.9 million in cash on hand. That's just shy of what he had in the bank last summer before announcing in August he would not seek a third term. Doyle's campaign did spend about $211,000, but it was mostly on routine expenses like phone bills, rent and staff salaries. The governor's campaign returned a total of just $170 in donations to three people. All returns were made in July, before Doyle bowed out of the race.

Bear Hunting Permits Increase

2/10/10 - Wisconsin bear hunters will have a better chance of getting a permit this year. The D-N-R says it will issue 89-hundred bear permits – 22-percent more than a year ago – based on a new statewide population estimate of around 22-thousand animals. A study by the D-N-R, the Bear Hunters’ Association, and the U-W showed that Wisconsin had more bears than what was estimated in the past. Permits were first increased last year, and the same thing is being done this year. In 2009, over 32-thousand people applied for 73-hundred bear-hunting permits. Those hunters killed a record 39-hundred animals. Successful applicants for this fall’s hunt will be notified by mid-February. The season runs from September eighth through October 12th.

Public Hearing Today On Diploma Mills

2/10/10 - A Wisconsin Senate committee will hold a public hearing Wednesday on a bill to make it a crime to sell false college diplomas – and for buyers to use them when looking for a job. Education officials say fake credentials are a growing problem, both here and nationally – they hurt the credibility of real colleges – and they help unqualified people become engineers, or even doctors. The state Assembly held a hearing last week on its own bill to ban so-called “diploma mills.” Eleven states have laws against it – and supporters of the bill say Wisconsin could become a haven for “diploma mills” if it doesn’t pass. But that wouldn’t happen if the same crackdown is approved nationally. There’s a bill in Congress to do that.