Top Stories, August 18th

Dodge County Fair Begins Today

8/18/10 - The Dodge County Fair officially enters its 123rd year today. The five-day event features live music, a carnival midway and, of course, plenty of food. We’ll find out tonight who will be this year’s Fairest of the Fair. Also on the calendar: Open Class Judging in the Farm Progress Arena, Arts and Crafts Building and Under the Main Grandstand; Pig Races are at 4pm near the Youth Building; Children’s Story Time is in the Youth Building at 5pm and 6pm. Also at 6pm, the Wild World of Animals is on West Midway Circle. Josh Turner is on the main stage tonight beginning at 8pm. The cost to enter the fair before 2pm is $6 and after 2pm its $10. Season tickets are $30. Kids under age 9 are free. There is no additional charge for the grandstand acts or parking.

BDUSD Budget Outlined for Public

8/18/10 - Beaver Dam School District could see about a five-percent increase to the school portion of their tax bill. Business Services Director Andrew Sarnow outlined the numbers at a public hearing this week on the $50 million budget for the 2010-2011 school year. Sarnow says the total tax levy to district residents is expected to be $13.4-million which results in a mill rate of $9.37 per thousand, so a tax payer whose property is worth $125,000 would pay $1,170 for the school portion of their tax bill, which is roughly a 60-dollar increase over last year. The budget in its final form will come before the school board for consideration in late October.

First of Three Sentences Handed Down in Bank Robbery

8/18/10 - A man from Memphis, Tennessee has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for robbing a bank in Madison. Authorities said 28-year-old Gregory Allen jumped over a counter at an Anchor Bank branch in February, and took money from two teller drawers. When he left, the money was stained when a pack of dye exploded. 34-year-old Jennifer DeBoef later spent some of that money in Portage – and that led officers to her home in Poynette where she, Allen, and Allen’s brother Raymond were arrested. Raymond Allen has pleaded guilty to concealing and disposing money stolen from a bank. DeBoef has pleaded guilty to aiding-and-abetting in the robbery. Both await sentencing.

Bank Warns of Scam

8/18/10 - The American National Bank of Beaver Dam is alerting its customers of a phone scam. Bank officials say that area cell phone customers have received calls and/ or text messages that appear to be from the bank. The messages ask the customers to call a phone number and then punch in their 16-digit debit card number. The bank says this is a scam and they remind all customers that they should not reply and never give out account numbers or other account information over the phone, especially when it is unsolicited. Local authorities have been notified.

Mercury Maine To Close OK Plant By Years End

8/18/10 - Mercury Marine of Fond du Lac has announced that it will close its plant in Stillwater, Oklahoma by the end of next year. And as promised, those jobs will move to Fond du Lac – and the Oklahoma plant will then be put up for sale. A year ago at this time, Wisconsin was in a bidding war with Oklahoma to keep the famous manufacturer of outboard motors. The Badger State won with the help of concessions by union employees. Also, Mercury Marine was promised 70-million-dollars in state tax credits which hinge on creating new jobs – a 50-million-dollar loan, funded by a half-percent sales tax in Fond du Lac County – and three-million from the City of Fond du Lac. Meanwhile, the new jobs are rolling in. Mercury says it has recalled all 500 employees who were on a layoff last summer, and it added 145 people the past few months. By early next year, Mercury says casting-and-machining work for the Mer-Cruiser engine will have moved from Oklahoma to Wisconsin. And the rest of the Mer-Cruiser operation will be re-located by the end of next year, with another 200 jobs being added. Mercury Marine now employs about 19-hundred Wisconsinites.

Mustski’s Improve At Nationals

8/17/10 - The Beaverland Mustskis Waterski Show Team placed two spots better at this year’s National Championship than one year ago. Publicist Diane Bell says they competed in a very stiff wind on Sunday and the Mustskis placed eleventh out of the field of 14. Their “Jump Act” placed second in the competition while their “Ballet Line” took fifth. A team from Wonder Lake, Illinois took first overall to win the National Championship. Bell says they are very excited to bring their added experience and knowledge to Beaver Dam to finish out their summer season. There are four shows remaining in the year with the first coming this Sunday at Tahoe Park at 6pm.

Survivor Oshkosh

8/18/10 - A former state high school cross country champion will be one of 20 contestants on the new season of “Survivor.” Matt Lanahan, an Oshkosh native, will compete for the million-dollar prize in a remote area of Nicaragua. He graduated from Oshkosh West High School in 1998, and was a state cross country champ around that time. He’ll use his nickname “Sash” on the show. The 21st season of “Survivor” premieres next month on C-B-S. The show will move to Wednesday night from its traditional Thursday.

Political Contributions Skyrocket

8/18/10 - Wisconsinites gave over one-point-three million dollars to outside political groups between January-and-June, to try and influence this year’s elections. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign said the so-called “527” groups have received over twice as much as they did in 2006, when Governor Jim Doyle was running for his second term. But with Doyle pulling out, this year’s governor’s contest is wide open for the first time in 28 years. And the money is flowing on both sides. According to the Democracy Campaign, the Republican Governors Association has gotten the most money from Wisconsin residents – about 353-thousand dollars. That group is running ads attacking the Democrats’ main gubernatorial hopeful, Tom Barrett. The liberal Greater Wisconsin Committee has received the second-highest donations this year, with about 255-thousand dollars.

Costs Driving Vets From Veterans Homes

8/18/10 - At least a dozen residents have been driven out of the state-owned veterans’ nursing home in Union Grove this year, because of sky-rocketing rates. That’s according to a state audit released yesterday. The non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau said veterans who don’t qualify for Medicare or Medicaid had their rates go up by as much as 60-percent for 2008-and-’09. That’s an increase of more than 15-thousand-dollars a year. And spouses who live with veterans at the state home saw their rates go up over 40-thousand-dollars each year, or 285-percent. Those people pay what’s known as “private pay rates” – and by law, they must be based on the cost of care. The audit found that the Union Grove home has been running at a loss each year since 2004. The state’s other veterans’ nursing home in Waupaca County has been in the black, but the audit said both homes will have net losses in the current fiscal year. And it said the Veterans’ Affairs Department must take additional action for the homes to maintain their solvency while effectively serving veterans. The veterans’ agency did not have an immediate comment on the audit.

Carp Hearing in Federal Court Monday

8/18/10 - A federal court in Chicago will start hearing arguments next Monday on a lawsuit that demands tougher action against the Asian carp in the Great Lakes. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania filed the lawsuit earlier this month. It accuses the Army Corps of Engineers and the Chicago area’s Water Reclamation District of creating a public nuisance, by running a system of locks and gates in which the bloated Asian carp could enter the Great Lakes. Wisconsin Attorney General J-B Van Hollen says the first court hearing on a preliminary injunction is set for Monday – and any testimony that’s needed would be heard August 30th and 31st. The suit came after the U-S Supreme Court said no twice to closing a major Chicago area shipping canal that’s connected to the carp-infested Mississippi River. And that was before a full-size Asian carp was spotted in a river a few miles south of Lake Michigan in late June. Wisconsin and the other plaintiffs say the carp threatens the Great Lakes’ multi-billion-dollar fishing industry. Illinois and the Obama White House say closing the canals would put too much of a dent into the Chicago area’s economy.

Cranberry Crop Projections Rosy

8/18/10 - Wisconsin’s cranberry crop is projected to be 10-percent bigger than a year ago. The U-S Agriculture Department issued the forecast yesterday. It said the nation’s cranberry production would grow by about six-percent to around seven-point-three million barrels. That would be the second-largest annual crop on record. Wisconsin – the nation’s top cranberry grower – was helped by an early spring and a warm-and-humid summer. Massachusetts, the number-two grower, could see a seven-percent increase. But the U-S-D-A cautioned that hot weather and a lack of rain in the northeast could reduce the potential Massachusetts yield. On the other side of the country, a cold wet spring is blamed for a potential 16-percent cranberry out-out in Washington State and a 10-percent reduction in Oregon.