Top Stories, October 12th

Car Drives Into House, Misses Squirrel

10/12/10 - A Beaver Dam man swerved to avoid a squirrel on Lake Shore Drive Monday and drove into a house. John Taylor says he was enjoying a serene afternoon drive and thought he was still on the road after swerving for the squirrel. It turned out to be a driveway. The 20-year-old hit the northwest side of an attached garage, crashing though the stone foundation and wooden walls up to his windshield. Taylor says (quote) “It wasn’t such a serene drive after all.” No one was injured. Homeowner Ruth Metz advises all motorists (quote) “next time just kill the squirrel.”

Objections Question Constitutionality of Demerit Ordinance

10/12/10 - Attorneys for a Beaver Dam tavern facing a possible liquor license suspension say the city is not following their own ordinance. The common council last week tabled a vote that could have resulted in a 30-day suspension for the Cellar so that alderpersons could review a 17-page written objection from the defendants. Police say they responded to four fights at the Rowell Street tavern in five months. Bill Gergen represents the Cellar and says the police department did not comply with the ordinance by failing to notify the license holder that points had been assessed after the alleged fights. Gergen says there is a definite notification issue and it may be systemic. This is the first real test of the city’s demerit point system that was adopted last year to identify and address problem establishments. Gergen says there are a variety of shortcomings with the ordinance that are, as he puts it, are indicative of a “failure of the system.” He says the ordinance as written is “unconstitutional” because it “encourages arbitrary and erratic point assessments and consequences.”

Attorney Joe Sciascia is representing the city. Sciascia says the merits of the Demerit Points System ordinance are not the issue. He says the issue is whether or not the license holder maintains a disorderly or riotous, indecent or improper house and whether or not the facts support a suspension under state law. Sciascia says the ordinance should be considered independent of this issue and the council should not get sidetracked on the point system. According to the written objections, the Cellar stands to lose $4000 if their doors are closed for a month. The Administration Committee last month voted 5 to 1 for the 30-day suspension. The Common Council will consider the suspension at their October 18 meeting.

Sewer Line Connected to Storm Drain

10/12/10 - Some toilets in Beaver Dam may have been flushing into the Beaver Dam River during times of heavy rain. Mike Laue says it appears a cross connection between a sewer pipe and a storm sewer line on the 100 block of Front Street dates back to 1978. Laue says if it did happen, clear rainwater would have heavily diluted the sewage. There is now a temporary, inflatable plug stopping any sewage from entering the storm water drain. Laue says city workers will need to bypass and seal the gap permanently, at least until the Highway 33 reconstruction project in 2014 when the pipes will be reconfigured. The plan still awaits committee approval but the fix is only expected to cost a few hundred dollars.

Krueger Supports Watertown Rail Depot

10/12/10 - The mayor in Watertown says the proposed high-speed train running from Madison to Milwaukee would be a good thing for his city. Watertown is one of two cities along the proposed rail line that would have train depots. But not everyone is on board, in fact, a citizens group gathered enough signatures to put an advisory referendum question on the April ballot to determine the amount of support for a stop in the Watertown. Mayor Ron Krueger says they have not made any significant outlay of money as they look at possible sites for the depot and will not until all the numbers are in. Still he says, no matter what, he believes the stop would be good for Watertown.

Habitat Goes Statewide

10/12/10 - Wisconsin has 40 local Habitat-for-Humanity groups which have operated on their own for years. Now, over 30 of those groups are banding together to create a statewide organization. Habitat-for-Humanity of Wisconsin officially came into being October first with a 12-member board. Former President Jimmy Carter started the Habitat program in the 1980’s, to provide homes for low-and-moderate income families who help volunteers construct them. About 125 Habitat homes are built each year in the Badger State. And the new Wisconsin group plans to have a single purchasing program for building materials, plus a warehouse-and-distribution network. It also plans to advocate for affordable housing concerns throughout Wisconsin. Tim Schwan of Thrivent Financial in Appleton chairs the new board. The statewide Habitat plans to hire an executive director and a small staff during the next year.

Home Sales Slump Continues

10/12/10 - Home sales in Wisconsin’s most populated region are still way down from a year ago. The Multiple Listing Service is reporting that Realtors sold 29-percent fewer homes last month than in September of 2009. The M-L-S said 932 homes were sold by Realtors in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington counties – down from just over 13-hundred the previous year. For the first nine months of the year, home sales in Metro Milwaukee were down just under seven-percent. That figure partially reflected the federal tax credits for home-buyers that expired in the spring.

Packer Prospect Turns Serial Killer

10/12/10 - A man who almost played football for the Green Bay Packers is serving life-in-prison in the state of Oregon as a serial killer. The Green Bay Press-Gazette reported today on 59-year-old Randall Woodfield. Prosecutors said he killed up to 18 people, mostly women, in the 1970’s and ’80’s. Oregon did not have the death penalty when he was sentenced in 1981 – but they have it now. The Packers drafted Woodfield as a receiver out of Portland State University in Oregon. He was the Pack’s 17th-round draft choice back in 1974, when Dan Devine was starting his final year as coach-and-general manager. Woodfield was cut during training camp. He later played with the Manitowoc Chiefs’ semi-pro team and worked at Oshkosh Truck. He later returned to Oregon, where he committed a murder spree that gave him the name the “I-5 Killer.” Authorities say they have no record of Woodfield committing any crimes when he was in Green Bay. But Ann Rule, who wrote a book about Woodfield, said there were rumors that he committed indecent exposure. He filed a 20-million-dollar libel suit, but did not prevail.