Top Stories, February 17th

Incumbent Mayors Advance In Waupun, Juneau

2/17/10 - In Juneau, Alderman Dan Jahnke will join incumbent mayor Ron Bosak on the April ballot. Bosak secured 42% of the 448 votes cast in the city while Jahnke got roughly 26%. Jim Ronge and Butch Chase each received roughly 16% of the vote.

In Waupun, incumbent Mayor Jodi Steger has secured a place on the April ballot alongside businessmen Jay Graff. Steger secured over twice as many votes as her April challenger: 579 compared to 285. Alderman Jim Van Buren received 132 votes in his failed bid for mayor and also lost his seat on the common council. Van Buren was the low vote-getter in the three-way race for his District 6 seat. Nancy Vanderkin and Wally Riel Jr. will now compete for Van Buren’s seat on the April ballot.

Mayville, Fox Lake Aldermanic Races Take Shape

2/17/10 - In Mayville, Scott Mastalish received 25 votes and J. Trevor Jones received 9 votes and will advance to the April primary to see who will occupy the Ward One seat vacated early by Dottie Hoy. Tom Bellino received 2 votes.

In Fox Lake, where three candidates were vying for the Ward Three seat being vacated by Dan Bednarek, the top-vote getters were Dennis Link and Jason Harmsen with 28 votes and 7 votes respectively. Russell Grueneberg received five votes.

Lemmenes Loses School Board Seat

2/17/10 - In the Waupun School District, Board President Lori Lemmenes was voted out. Jamie Marwitz and Bill Bruins will appear on the April ballot to see which one will represent the Towns of Alto and Trenton. Bruins received 512 votes while Marwitz secured 348 votes. Lemmenes got 310 votes.

Fall River School Board

2/17/10 - In The Fall River School Board race, where five candidates were competing for two seats, David Brozek, Diane Weiner, LeRoy Dieckoff and Steve Bader will appear on the April ballot. Tom Brumm fell short.

Gibson: ‘Voter Turnout Very Poor’

2/17/10 - Voter turnout for yesterday’s primary election was low. Dodge County Clerk Karen Gibson says there were 2429 ballots cast, which represents about six percent of eligible voters in the county. She says the Juneau and Waupun mayoral races really helped prop-up what she called a “very poor” turnout. In Beaver Dam, where the only race on the ballot was for Appellate Court Judge, there were a total of 211 ballots cast. That averages out to 15 voters in each of the city’s 14 wards. There were twice as many primary ballots cast last February, around 4600. In February of 2005, there were 2150 ballots cast in the county, which was roughly 300 less than yesterdays total. Regardless of the turnout, Gibson says it costs the county around $5000 to hold a primary election.

BDPD Looks For Connection in Fatal Game Stop Shooting

2/17/10 - Investigators are working to see if there is a connection between the armed robbery at the Game Stop in Beaver Dam last month and the fatal shooting of suspect following a Game Stop robbery in suburban Milwaukee Monday night. Beaver Dam Police Detective Corey Johnson says he spoke briefly with Fox Point police Tuesday morning and it does appear that the M-O is quite similar. He says there are similarities with the clothing and with what the suspect ordered those inside the store to do. Johnson says it will just be a matter of time before they get the information from those departments to see if it can all be tied together. Fox Point Police were called to the Game Stop shortly after 6pm Monday night. A short time later, Fox Point officers found the suspect on a street in Glendale – and they said the robber opened fire on them. Officers returned fire, and the suspect died at the scene of an apparent gunshot wound. No officers were hurt.

Wood Hearing Delayed

2/17/10 - A state Assembly disciplinary hearing against Representative Jeff Wood has been pushed back to March third. A six-member panel was planning to hold the hearing Wednesday – and a letter sent to Wood’s lawyer by committee chair Mary Hubler of Rice Lake did not give a reason for the delay. The defense lawyer raised a bunch of questions a few days ago about how the hearing would operate. He also said voters should be the only ones to boot out a legislator. Wood has been arrested three times since December of 2008 for driving under the influence of alcohol or prescription drugs. Court cases are still pending in Columbia, Marathon, and Monroe counties. The Assembly ethics panel could recommend that the full house reprimand, censure, or expel the 40-year-old Wood. Only one lawmaker in state history has been removed by his colleagues, that being in 1917. Wood says he won’t run for a fifth two-year term this fall, but he doesn’t want to leave before then.