Top Stories, December 28th

Waupun Teen Killed in Collision

12/28/10 - A 14-year-old girl was killed in a two-vehicle accident Monday morning in Waupun. Authorities say it happened at the intersection of Highway 26 and Clagget Avenue around 9:30 a-m. The initial investigation shows a Toyota Camry, driven by 16-year-old Clayton Scheer, was westbound on Clagget Avenue, with the girl, Taylor Lackey of Waupun, when they collided with a Chevy Blazer going southbound on Highway 26. Lackey was pronounced dead at the scene. Scheer and the 89-year-old driver of the Blazer, Edwin Hull of Waupun, were removed from their vehicles with the help of the Jaws of Life and taken to Waupun Memorial Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The crash remains under investigation by the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department Crash Investigation Team in cooperation with the Waupun Police Department.

Watertown Man Commits Suicide in Jail

12/28/10 - Jefferson County authorities are investigating the self-inflicted death of a jail inmate. A 31-year-old Watertown man was found dead Sunday night in a part of the jail that was outside his cell. It was the second suicide at the Jefferson County Jail this year. The first was in January – and the last one before that was around 8-to-10 years ago.

Mueller Sentencing This Afternoon

12/28/10 - A Fond du Lac County judge this afternoon will sentence a 37-year-old Brookfield man for the January 2009 murder of Renee Redmer. A jury found Brandon Mueller guilty of the 28-year-old Waukesha woman’s death during Mueller’s trial in October. Redmer was strangled at the Fond du Lac apartment of Mueller’s mother Nancy Pinno. Pinno and an acquaintance, Donald Worth of Van Dyne, are already serving prison time for helping Mueller disposed of the body of the young mother of two.

Lynch In Court Again This Week

12/28/10 - Former Fox Lake Police Chief Patrick Lynch will be back in court later this week to answer to charges that he sexually assaulted a 7-year-old girl over 20 years ago. Lynch was also charged in Dodge County Court last week with stalking and paid a $25,000 cash bond for his release. According to court records the alleged assault date backs to 1989 and the stalking incidents occurred in 2004 and 2007. The 54-year-old Lynch has a Review Hearing tomorrow (Wed) and a preliminary hearing scheduled on Thursday. An Assistant Attorney General is serving as special prosecutor for the case.

CN Freight Jumps Tracks

12/28/10 - Canadian National Railroad officials are trying to figure out why 11 empty freight cars jumped the tracks in Neenah. It happened early yesterday morning on the railroad’s main-line through the city, close to the Neenah railroad yard. No one was hurt, and the only damage was to railroad property. C-N spokesman Patrick Waldron said seven cars toppled over after leaving the tracks. They had been used to ship potash. The cars were part of a 99-car train heading from Gary Indiana to Stevens Point. Repairs were expected to be finished last night. The main line stayed open, but trains by-passed the damaged portion of the line until it was fixed.

Booze and Belts Stats Released

12/28/10 - Results are in for the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department’s participation in the recent “Boozed and Belts” traffic safety enforcement effort. During traffic stops there were 8 drunken driving arrests, 240 speeding tickets written, 15 safety belt citations, and 23 people were cited for operating with revoked or suspended licenses. There was also one felony arrest.

Cook, Customers Rescue Delivery Driver

12/28/10 - A restaurant cook and his customers near Sheboygan were heroes yesterday, when they saved a delivery driver who got trapped under his truck. It happened about six a-m behind Judy’s Restaurant in the town of Wilson. 68-year-old Jerry Timm of Sheboygan was delivering doughnuts when he walked out of his van while it was in “neutral” instead of “park.” It rolled backwards, and he tried to stop the vehicle when it rolled onto one of his legs, and pinned him under the left front wheel. Timm said he screamed for help – and when he realized nobody could hear him, he pulled out his cell phone and called 9-1-1. A Sheboygan County sheriff’s deputy arrived – and a customer noticed the lights from the squad car. Waitress Marie Glander then went out to see what kind of help was needed. And cook Eric Perez and several customers joined the deputy in lifting the vehicle to free Timm. It took two tries, but they finally did it. He was taken to a hospital, where he learned that nothing was broken. Timm says it’s really bruised, and he’ll need to ice it up for the next few days. Glander said the customers’ response was “awesome,” and Timm said he really appreciated the help. He knows it could have been a lot worse.

Santa Foils Counterfeit Attempt

12/28/10 - In West Allis, Santa Claus is a crime stopper. A man who’s accused of trying to get change for a fake 100-dollar bill was stopped by Santa on Christmas Eve. Greg Steffek was dressed as Santa Claus when a Milwaukee man allegedly walked into Steffek’s bar and handed over the counterfeit bill for a shot and 95 dollars in change. When his son checked the bill he noticed the watermarks were missing, which led to Santa Claus grabbing the man and holding on until police arrested the suspect – along with two other people in a suspected getaway vehicle.

Mom Has Baby Born on Christmas, Again

12/28/10 - For the second time in two years, a southern Wisconsin family celebrated the birth of their own baby on Christmas. 20-year-old Brianna Whitney of Waterloo had a boy named Logan on Saturday – exactly two years and 10 minutes after she had a girl, Kyra Jensen. Neither baby was due on Christmas. Logan was not expected until January fifth – and Kyra was due January 21st of 2009. Both were delivered by the same obstetrician at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Madison. The children’s grandmother, Donna Higgins of Sun Prairie, said she’s overwhelmed thinking about all the gifts she’ll need for next Christmas.

Budget Deficit Lower Than Projected

12/28/10 - Wisconsin got some good economic news yesterday. The state’s budget deficits will be smaller than expected, as the result of new economic growth and an extension of the Bush tax cuts. State officials say they’ll collect 57-million-dollars more than their last projection for the current budget that runs until June 30th. And tax collections will be 235-million-dollars higher than expected for the next two-year state budget period that begins July first. Experts say the national economy will grow by three-percent next year, due mainly to the recent federal tax compromise. And John Koskinen of the state Revenue Department says it should also translate to a stronger state economy. He says projections for Wisconsin’s personal income are also higher. The news comes as Governor-elect Scott Walker tries to balance a current state budget that was 150-million-dollars in the red – and a budget for the next two years that was three-point-three billion in the hole. Cullen Werwie of Walker’s transition team says more sustained economic growth will be needed to balance the budget, along with cuts in state spending. Incoming G-O-P finance co-chair Robin Vos says yesterday’s report might eliminate the need for a last-minute repair bill to balance the current budget – but that still remains to be seen.

DC Awards $23M For Badger Care

Wisconsin got the federal government’s second-biggest reward for enrolling kids who were eligible for tax-funded Medicaid, and were not getting it. That was a major goal of Badger-Care-Plus, which added 85-thousand eligible youngsters in the last fiscal year. Because of that, the federal government gave state health officials a 23-million-dollar bonus yesterday. It was the second-highest among 15 states that shared 206-million dollars in bonuses from the national Children’s Health Insurance program. Jon Peacock of the Wisconsin Council on Children-and-Families said a major stigma was removed when Badger-Care-Plus was fashioned to serve all Wisconsin children. He also said a new on-line renewal option helped the Badger State get the award. Peacock says the bonus will help reduce a 300-million-dollar deficit in the state’s Medicaid budget for the next two years. Alabama got the biggest bonus, with 55-million dollars. Governor-elect Scott Walker and legislative Republicans have talked about scaling back public health programs, and make sure that only the state’s most vulnerable families receive them. Walker’s office says he’s still being briefed on the state’s Medicaid programs.

Rain, Floods in Forecast

12/28/10 - Wisconsin’s January thaw might take place a few days early – and things could get wet-and-slippery. The National Weather Service says southern Wisconsin may get a half-inch to one-inch of rain on Thursday and Friday. Also, temperatures might climb into the 40’s late in the week. And forecasters say the rain plus the melting snow could equal flooding on at least some Wisconsin rivers. Dense fog is also being predicted in the south. Freezing rain is possible from southwest Wisconsin into the north, and forecasters say ice jams are possible in the southwest later in the week. Of course, winter will resume at some point. The Weather Service says colder temperatures are expected Friday night into New Year’s Day – and things could really get icy by then.

Bird Watchers Flock To Middleton

12/28/10 - Over 100 bird watchers have traveled to Middleton in the last week to see a golden-crowned sparrow that’s almost never spotted in Wisconsin. It’s been hanging around a feeder at Eagle Optics, a binocular store owned by Mike McDowell – who happens to be a birding enthusiast. He confirmed that it was a golden-crowned sparrow, and then put an item on his Facebook page. Bird watchers from Chicago and throughout Wisconsin have made the pilgrimage to Middleton to add the sparrow to their viewing lists. It normally nests in Alaska and British Columbia Canada – and it spends its winters on the West Coast from Washington to California. McDowell says there’s been a lot of speculation on how the bird got to the Upper Midwest. Some say it might have got blown to Wisconsin by rough weather. Others said it got mixed up in the wrong flock. According to the Wisconsin Ornithological Society, the last gold-crowned sparrow seen in the state was in Sheboygan from November of 1992 through mid-April of ’93.