Top Stories July 1st

Clearview Breaks Ground


7/1/10 - There was a festive atmosphere yesterday (Wed) as ground was broken on the site of the new Clearview Long Term Care and Rehabilitation Facility in Juneau. County Administrator James Mielke says the goal of the entire project is to find the best way to serve the current and future residents of Clearview. Construction is expected to take 28 months. The $44.5 million structure will be built on the site of the current Clearview South building. The wings of the 236-bed facility will be built first and the residents in the south building will be transferred to the new portion next summer. The Clearview South building will then be demolished. When the new portion is complete, the remaining residents at Clearview North will be transferred. The fate of the Clearview North building has not been determined. Clearview Administrator Jane Hooper says her team is ready to move forward with the transition and is excited about putting together a plan for operations that will take Clearview into the future. Clearview serves the county's aging population as well as those with behavioral and mental health issues and also has one of only three brain injury rehabilitation centers in the state.

Obama in Racine

7/1/10 - President Obama told 13-hundred people in Racine yesterday that the economic stimulus package did its job, and prevented another Great Depression. Critics said the stimulus was mainly a boost for government, while doing little to generate new wealth in the private sector. Obama said most workers benefited from the stimulus with a tax cut in their paycheck. The president joked that he could have given everybody checks with his picture on it - and then people would have known where it came from. But he said the tax cut worked out better economically. The stimulus was the subject of one of six questions Obama received in a 40-minute segment at his town hall meeting in Racine. The other questions dealt with the economy, mortgage relief, and support for the military and U-S jobs. In his prepared remarks, Obama slammed Republicans for their response to the financial reform package and the Gulf oil spill, in what appeared to be a campaign shot-in-the-arm for Wisconsin Democrats. Before his speech, Obama stopped at the O-and-H Danish Bakery to taste and buy some of Racine's famous Danish kringle.

New Drunk Driving Law Takes Effect

7/1/10 - Wisconsin's tougher drunk driving law takes effect today. And while lawmakers call it the most important reform in a quarter century, safety advocates say it does little to discourage first-time offenders. Senate Democrat Jim Sullivan of Wauwatosa said lawmakers did quite a bit, considering there was little new money to spend in the wake of a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit. But U-W Health lobbyist Lisa Maroney said legislators could have raised the state's beer tax - something politicians have refused to do since 1969. She also said lawmakers could have also required sobriety checkpoints, and stopped kids from drinking with their parents in taverns. Checkpoints have been a political no-no for years at the Capitol, and senators refused to stop kids from drinking in bars with their parents after the Assembly had passed the measure.

Supreme Court Rules Gay Marriage Ban Legal

7/1/10 - The State Supreme Court ruling that preserved Wisconsin's ban on gay marriage was a huge victory for the state's Family Council. President Julaine Appling says it will make her group even more committed to preserving traditional marriage. But she would not say if the group would try again to strike down Wisconsin's domestic partner registry - which lets same-sex couples obtain about one-fifth of the legal benefits that married couples enjoy. Last year, three members of the Family Council tried to get the State Supreme Court to strike down the registry before it could begin in August. But the justices didn't act on the matter until November. And when they did, they refused to take the case without comment - which meant the Family Council would have to go to the lower courts first. Since then, the group has given no indication what it might or might not do. Attorney Tamara Packard, who was involved in defending the domestic partner registry, says she's confident it would survive a lawsuit. And she said yesterday's ruling gives opponents nothing to bolster their legal stand against the registry.

Waupun Group Highlights Recreational Opportunities

7/1/10 - Various members of the Waupun community are partnering together to help develop and promote recreational opportunities. The group calls itself “WARP,” which stands for the Waupun Area Recreational Project. The Waupun Chamber of Commerce is one of the partnering agencies. Executive Director Kristie Buwalda says their goal is to not only develop recreational opportunities but also to promote, maintain and preserve the environmental, historic and quality-of-life assets offered by the Rock River and the Horicon Marsh. A multi-use recreational trail that connects their Fond du Lac County park with the Wild Goose State Trail is high on their list. Buwalda says the other big push is for an aquatic center to fill the void left by the closure of the city pool. The WARP group first met in February and is currently working on becoming a 501c3 registered non-profit. A Board of Directors was recently installed and is headed by businessmen Jeff Collien and Steve Guth. The group is seeking public input in designing a new logo. The Waupun Chamber is accepting submissions through July 16.

Petri In Mayville Tuesday

7/1/10 - Congressman Tom Petri will be in the area next week for a series of town meetings. The Fond du Lac Republican will be at the Ixonia Town Hall next Tuesday from 9:30am to 10:30am. That afternoon, he will be at the Mayville City Hall from 2pm to 3pm. Petri says the Sixth District Town meetings provide the public an opportunity to discuss national issues in a group setting.

Swatkowski DPA Extended

7/1/10 - Dodge County Judge Brian Pfitzinger is giving a former Hustisford teen one more chance but with a significant amount of apprehension. Cory D. Swatkowski had a deferred prosecution agreement extended for one more year Wednesday. The 19-year-old was originally placed on deferred prosecution last November after pleading “no contest” to a felony charge of Third Degree Sexual Assault. Swatkowski passed himself off as a 15-year-old to date a 13-year-old girl, who was assaulted following a school dance. The state filed a motion to revoke the deferred prosecution agreement in April after Swatkowski was charged with a burglary in Oshkosh.

BDPD May Crime Stats

7/1/10 - The Beaver Dam Police Department has released crime statistics for the month of May. According to the activity report, there were 13 burglaries; five involved forced entry. Three of the burglaries were residential the others were business-related. There were 45 general thefts reported and one stolen vehicle. All of that resulted in a total of $36,846 in stolen property, of which $622 was recovered. Beaver Dam police officers issued nine tickets for Operating While Intoxicated, and issued three citations for liquor law violations. There were 17 citations for Disorderly Conduct along with four domestic incidents, one child neglect offense and four sex offenses reported. There were 110 adults arrested in May along with 32 minors. There were 35 traffic accidents in the city last month resulting in three injuries.