Top Stories, July 11th

Lake Days Wraps Up Today

7/11/10 - The 17th Annual Beaver Dam Lake Days wraps up today at Tahoe Park. The event features live music, food, and a carnival midway. There was big turnout for last night’s fireworks and pretty good weather other than a late afternoon thundershower. Today (Sunday) begins with an Ecumenical Polka Worship Service, there’s a Sheepshead contest at noon, a Swinging Beavers Square Dance Demonstration at 2pm and music by Don Peachey and Brian and the Mississippi Valley Dutchmen. Shuttle service is available at the lower Tower Parking Lot, off Mill Street, the Family Center and the M&I Bank parking lot and leaves every half hour. Also today, the Women’s Affiliate Day In the Park Arts and Crafts Fair is being held in Swan Park. The event, now in its 39th year, features over 200 booths of hand-crafted items. Shuttle service today stops at both Lake Days and the Craft Fair.

Green Lake County Justice Center Opens

7/11/10 - Green Lake County has a grand opening for its new justice center this weekend. Backers say the project is long overdue, but critics say the justice center’s location a few miles from the downtown will hurt local business. Currently, most county workers are based in Green Lake’s historic courthouse, built in 1898. It’s not big enough to house the county’s roughly 150 workers. Many work in dark, crammed spaces filled with furniture and people. Green Lake County Clerk Marge Bostelmann says offices are housed either in the old courthouse or an old gear factory. She says the courthouse has only 37 jail cells, which means when they have more prisoners than space, they have to house them in different facilities in other counties. At 122,000 square feet, the new justice center has space, including more than 100 jail cells. Improved security is another feature at the new center. The 32 million dollar Justice Center was funded largely through a half-percent sales tax enacted by the County in 1999. The recession’s helped lower contractor fees, which made construction come nearly a million dollars under budget. But some locals say despite the savings, Green Lake’s downtown shops and restaurants will suffer after the county’s workers are moved to the new justice center several miles away. Backers of the new justice center say its location gave them room to expand and modernize county services, something that wasn’t possible with the old courthouse and its one-block space. And they say they’ll find something eventually for the old courthouse. Possibilities include low-income housing, a Native American-owned casino, or a wellness center. County government and law enforcement offices are still being transitioned into the building, but officials say it’ll eventually house 150 county workers and 100 inmates.

Gas Prices Dip

7/11/10 - If you’re driving somewhere this weekend, you won’t be squeezed as much at the gas pump. The Wisconsin Triple-“A” says unleaded regular went down by just over six-cents a gallon in the last week. The statewide average is 2.69 today. That’s still more expensive than a year ago, when the price was 2.56 but is two cents lower than the current nationwide average. Gas in Beaver Dam and Fond du Lac can be had for $2.62 on average. Watertown and Ripon are at $2.67. Oconomowoc and West Bend are at $2.69. Gas prices in the state’s largest metro are at their lowest in four months. Milwaukee-Gas-Prices-Dot-Com reports a regional average of 2.65 for unleaded regular. That’s down 15-cents from late June. It’s as low as $2.49 on Madison’s east side and as high as $2.99 in Elk Mound.

Lake Winnebago Cleaner Than Normal

7/11/10 - Lake Winnebago is cleaner than normal this summer. And the state D-N-R says it’s causing a new problem – runaway aquatic plants. In the past, algae have blocked sunlight in the lake, thus stunting the growth of the underwater plants. But this summer, the lake is clear – and experts say it’s creating a big crop of loose plants. One reason the lake is clearer is that farmers are doing a better job of controlling their run-off. And the D-N-R says there are other factors as well. The blooming plants have helped pan-fish grow – but officials say they’ve also caused problems at the dams near Neenah and Menasha. Utilities and industrial water users are also finding them to be a nuisance. The D-N-R says folks can remove loose plants that build up along the shorelines. And they can remove those with roots on a limited part of the shore, if it creates an easier access to piers and boat landings.

Good Bargains For Home Buyers

7/11/10 - Wisconsin home buyers are getting better-than-average bargains on distressed properties that were foreclosed upon. The firm of Realty-Trac has conducted its first survey on the subject. And it found that Wisconsinites paid 32-percent less than normal from January-through-March for homes that were in some stage of the foreclosure process, or in default. The state’s discount is five-percent better than the national average of 27-percent. But Wisconsin still pales in comparison to the Western U-S when it comes to finding bargains in the foreclosure listings. Realty-Trac said distressed homes in Nevada were selling for 64-percent less than they otherwise would have. Other discounts were 51-percent in California and 50-percent in Arizona. Realty-Trac said there were almost 18-hundred foreclosure-related home sales in Wisconsin in the first quarter of the year. The average price was just over 109-thousand dollars.

Click-It Or Ticket Stats

7/11/10 - Law enforcement agencies across the state wrote a lot of citations during the state's Click it or Ticket mobilization earlier this year. From May 24 through June 6 more than 360 state, county, and local law enforcement agencies were involved in the campaign. Officers issued more than 16,000 tickets for failing to buckle up. In addition, more than 8,000 speeding and over 1,000 drunk driving arrests were made. In all, more than 35,000 citations and 28,000 warnings for various traffic violations were issued. Wisconsin State Patrol Major Dan Lonsdorf says he believes the campaign was very successful and that despite the number of citations issued, law enforcement officers saw indicators that more people are buckling up than ever before.

Area Code Changes Coming To 715

7/11/10 - Beginning next Saturday, everyone in the 715 area code will need to dial 10 digits when making phone calls. If callers forget to dial the area code before making any calls after July 17th, they’ll hear an automated message telling them their call cannot be completed as dialed. CenturyLink spokesperson Kim Valiquette says the change makes way for the introduction of the 534 area code into northern Wisconsin. She says all the numbers have been exhausted in the 715 area code and a new area code will be added to the mix starting August 14. After that, new phone numbers will have the new area code 534. This will be the first region in Wisconsin requiring people to use the area code on all calls. Douglas County Elderly Benefit Specialist Pat Nelson says she’s not used to dialing ten digits. She wonders how senior citizens will accept the change, and asks the public to check with elderly relatives, friends and neighbors to see if they need help reprogramming phones. Nelson also worries about emergency services on speed dial, like Life Alert, or Lifeline, which may also have to be reprogrammed. No phone numbers will change, including emergency service numbers like 911.

Mosquitoes Love Hot, Rainy Weather

7/11/10 - Hot, rainy weather is bringing out the bugs. Entomologist Edward Blumenthal says mosquitoes lay eggs in some cases a year prior. Because their larvae develop in water, the heavy rains will allow the eggs to hatch and the insects will appear a week or so later. Blumenthal says repellent containing DEET is most effective and lasts the longest without reapplication. Citronella is good too. Mosquitoes have been known to carry West Nile virus although, according the state Department of Health Services, few do. There have been no confirmed West Nile cases in the Wisconsin this year.

Neumann Submits Nomination Papers

7/11/10 - The Republican field of candidates for governor grows by one. Former Congressman Mark Neumann on Friday dropped of his nomination papers at the Government Accountability Board in Madison. Despite his opponent being endorsed by the state Republican Party, Neumann says he still filed as a GOP candidate because it puts him in a position to work more closely with the Legislature. Still, Neumann says he considers himself an “American first, a conservative first, and part of the Republican Party after that.” Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, Neumann’s main primary opponent, tried to drop off nearly 15,000 signatures earlier this week, even though the GAB only accepts the first 4,000. Neumann says he focused on other issues, instead of collecting unusable signatures, such as an online petition to repeal national health care reforms. Neumann did turn in 4,000 signatures of his own, with some to spare.

Attorney Hired In Concrete Slab Fatality

7/11/10 - Teenager Jared Kellner's family has hired an attorney and is investigating the accident that killed him. Kellner is the 15-year-old crushed to death by a falling piece of concrete at O'Donnell Park. Attorney William Cannon says Milwaukee County could be a target because it owns and maintains the garage where the concrete slab fell from. Cannon's firm is to investigate to find out what exactly happened and who might be responsible -- then file a lawsuit against that party or parties.

Dubuque Man Charged With Attempted Homicide

7/11/10 - A 28-year-old Iowa man is jailed in Winnebago County, charged with attempted homicide and drunken driving for trying to run over another man — in a parking lot near a police station. According to the report from police in Neenah, Bryce Hinkel of Dubuque had blue-green lips, tongue and teeth when he was arrested. Hinkel told police he’d been drinking food coloring. A woman told police Hinkel had been drinking vanilla extract and vodka. That woman told police Hinkel had threatened to kill another man who was her former fiancee. Hinkel confronted the former fiancee’s father in the parking lot and tried twice to run over him. Police say Hinkel ran into some parked cars and a nearby building instead. The Dubuque man faces his fourth drunk driving offense in five years and could be sent to prison in Wisconsin for up to 66 years if he’s convicted.

Teens Foiled In Liquor Store Robbery

7/11/10 - Milwaukee police hold two teenagers who weren't very good at their chosen criminal pursuit. They tried to rob a 47 year old man as he came outside a liquor store. One of the 15 year old suspects showed the man a gun and apparently demanded some money. The would-be victim used his just-bought liquor bottle to knock the gun out of the kid's hand and the two failed robbers ran away. A witness watched the boys put their masks on before the attempted robbery, so police were able to track down one suspect quickly. Not too much later they picked up the other one.