Top Stories, December 21st

BDUSD Lawsuit Revived

12/21/10 - Another lawsuit has been filed against the Beaver Dam School District and Superintendent Steve Vessey for alleged violations of the states open records law. The lawsuit, filed by Cheryl Grulke, claims the district failed to hand over personnel records she requested that her attorney believes will show she was harassed by former high school principal Don Patnode and two other employees. In a statement, attorney Bob Shumaker says the suit is seeking punitive damages aimed at deterring Vessey and the district from further alleged violations of Wisconsin’s public records law and to deter other custodians of records from violation the same law. For their part, Vessey says the district would have been more than happy to provide the records requested if the representatives for Grulke had asked. As similar suit by Grulke’s husband was settled earlier this year.

BDUSD Modifies Block Schedule

12/21/10 - Following months of study, there is going to be a new schedule format at the Beaver Dam High School. The school board unanimously approved the new “Flex Model” schedule at their meeting last night. The new plan will still have some similarities to the current 4x4 block schedule like a continuation of block periods for classes that function better with 90-minutes of instruction time, like science, art and English. Other classes though, will be 45-minutes long, including math and foreign language. Math and advanced placement courses will also now be taught year-round. There will also be a change in how advisory periods work, with it going from once a day to once a week except for certain periods of the year. The schedule will also allow for kids to take what they are calling an “early bird” class, which would be a period prior to the regular start of the day. For the first year only physical education would be offered but they hope to offer more courses in the future. Also part of the plan will be the school moving to a closed campus for students, beginning with the incoming freshmen this fall.

Fox Lake Elementary Approved As Charter School

12/21/10 - After sitting empty for two school years Fox Lake Elementary will reopen as a charter school next fall. That’s after the Waupun School Board unanimously approved a proposal put together by an ad-hoc committee made up mostly of Fox Lake residents. In the first year the school will run kindergarten through 6th grade, a second year would include 7th graders, and the third year would allow for 8th graders. Interim Superintendent Don Childs says the school will focus on agriculture and environmental studies, with emphasis on using technology and field work to better students learning. Officials say a grant will be used to operate the school, and the reopening will not have an impact on the district’s tax levy. The building was closed following the 2008-2009 school year in a budget cutting measure.

Committee Approves Redesigned LSD Plan

12/21/10 - The Beaver Dam Operations Committee last night unanimously approved a new design for the reconstruction of Lake Shore Drive. Chair Laine Meyer says MSA Professional Services will draw up plans that include a street width that is four feet less than the original design. There would also be a reduction in the tree border width – that’s the area between the street and the sidewalk – from nine feet to five feet. Parking would be limited to one side of the street. Meyer says the decreases should reduce the number of trees that would have to be lost if the reconstruction moves ahead. The city attorney is looking into the legality of putting sidewalks on one side of the street while assessing property owners on both sides. The Operations Committee last night also voted unanimously to split the project over two years, beginning next summer and concluding in 2012. The changes reduce the projected cost from $1.72 million to $1.57 million. It would be $200,000 less if the city switched from concrete to asphalt. The Administrative Committee still has to fund the reconstruction as part of the annual Capital Improvement Plan. A Committee of the Whole meeting has been called for January 10 to consider the action. The reconstruction as it stands would include complete reconstruction of the roadway, curb and gutter, decorative street lighting and sidewalk installation on both sides of the street.

James Street Repairs Planned

12/21/10 - Extensive changes are being planned for the James Street / Highways 16 and 60 corridor through downtown Columbus. The City has already scheduled work on sewer lines for the regionalization project with Fall River beginning in spring. Planning for a second major project - repaving Highways 16 and 60 – starts in 2011. Columbus is on the DOT list to for the James Street project. Administrators are trying to plan for ways to continue the provision of services to the downtown during the two construction projects.

Fox Lake Man Charged In Assault of Four Teens

12/21/10 - A Fox Lake man is accused of raping several young teenage girls. 21-year-old Derick B. Van Beek is charged with six separate counts of Sexual Assault of a Child Under the Age of 16, each of which carries a maximum 40 year prison sentence. The offenses are said to have occurred in the summer of 2009 and the spring and summer of 2010 and involved four different girls who were between the ages of 13 and 15-years-old. In one case, the victim states she tried to push Van Beek off of her. In another incident, the criminal complaint states that the victim resisted but Van Beek pushed her down, held with his hands so that she could not get up and forced himself on her. He was also said to be controlling, forcing the girls to delete all male contacts from their cell phones and delete their social networking profiles.

Wagner Sentenced To Jail In Embezzlement

12/21/10 - A Horicon man was sentenced Monday to one year in jail for stealing from his former employer. In October, Dodge County Judge Brian Pfitzinger ordered Michael N. Wagner to pay $64,000 in restitution back to the Neosho tire store he used to manage. That’s after the 44-year-old pleaded “no contest” in June to a half dozen felony theft and forgery charges. Wagner stole cash and also wrote checks to himself for personal reasons throughout the course of his ten year employment. He told authorities that the owner of the store told him that if he ever needed personal money to just take it. The owner denied that such a conversation ever took place. Judge Pfitzinger structured Wagner’s probation in such a way that if he fails to pay $6400 in restitution by the end of each year, for the next ten years following his release, he will have to serve a six month jail sentence.

Milk Production Up in Wisconsin

12/21/10 - Wisconsin's milk production rose by one-half percent in November compared to a year ago. But the increase was smaller than the national jump of two-point-seven percent. Badger State dairy cows made just over two-billion pounds of milk last month. The state added seven-thousand more cows over the last year to just under one-point-three million. The production per cow held steady at 16-hundred-30 pounds. Wisconsin remains the country's second-largest milk-producing state behind California. Idaho is third, followed by New York and Pennsylvania. Nationally, November was the ninth straight month that milk production increased over the previous year.

Soglin Seeks Madison Mayors Seat

12/21/10 - Paul Soglin– who served twice as Madison’s mayor – wants the job again. Officials say he has filed the preliminary paperwork to get on the February primary ballot, and he’ll need 200 valid nomination signatures to secure his spot. If he files by the January fourth deadline, Soglin will become one of at least nine candidates for the mayor of Wisconsin’s Capital City – and that includes the incumbent, Dave Cieslewicz. The top two vote-getters in the primary will square off in the general election in April. Soglin was Madison’s mayor from 1973-to-’79, and again from 1989-to-’97. He also ran in 2003, losing to Cieslewicz by just two percentage points.