Top Stories May 22nd

Train Hits Pickup Truck, Two Killed

5/22/11 - Two men were killed early Saturday evening after they drove their pickup truck onto railroad tracks in Reeseville and were struck by an Amtrak passenger train. Sheriff Todd Nehls says it happened just before 5:45 p-m at the railroad crossing on Main Street. Investigators believe the driver intentionally drove around the crossing gates and was hit by the southbound train. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene. Nehls says they are trying to determine why they went around the stop arms. Nehls says none of the 200-plus people on the train were injured. The crash and subsequent fire destroyed the equipment that controls the crossing gates and signals, so officials are on scene to control/stop traffic for trains and will remain there until the equipment can be replaced. Trains will be at reduced speeds and in contact with those workers prior to crossing.


Man Killed in Accident Identified

Authorities say they believe a man killed when his motorcycle was hit by a pickup truck failed to yield the right of way and that alcohol played a factor. 54-year-old Richard Dilley was pronounced dead at the Columbus Hospital following the Friday afternoon accident. Police say the Fitchburg man was attempting to turn left from Highway 16 into the Columbus West Travel Center when the westbound pickup truck hit him. Dilley’s 24-year-old daughter, Rachael, was a passenger on the bike and she was taken to the Columbus Hospital before being transferred to UW-Hospital in Madison. Neither of them were wearing a helmet. The driver of the pickup truck, 48-year-old Daniel Broomberg of Brookfield, was not injured and is cooperating with investigators.

“Click It Or Ticket” Campaign Starts Tomorrow

The Dodge County Sheriffs Department is among the more than 385 law enforcement agencies in the state participating in the “Click It Or Ticket” campaign. The annual campaign begins tomorrow (Mon) and is intended to get more Wisconsinites to buckle-up. Dodge County Patrol Captain Molly Soblewski says officers will stop vehicles when they see either a driver or a passenger not wearing a shoulder harness. Last year’s two-week campaign resulted in 120-thousand convictions for not wearing seat-belts. It’s the second most common infraction behind speeding. Officials say 79-percent of Wisconsinites normally buckle-up – behind the national average of 85-percent. The campaign runs through June 5.

Didion Receives Award

Didion Milling is the recipient of Norfolk Southern Corporation’s “Thoroughbred Chemical Safety Award for 2010” for their handling of hazardous chemical products. The award, presented annually for 15 years, is earned by a company or facility that ships more than 1,000 carloads of regulated hazardous material over the railroad’s 22-state network without incident for the year.  For 2010, 49 Norfolk Southern customers earned that safety award and Didion is the only customer in Wisconsin with the distinction.  Didion ships ethanol products via Norfolk Southern rail and is one of thirteen ethanol facilities throughout the country that has achieved this.  Didion is a family owned operation with more than 150 employees and four locations in Wisconsin, including Cambria.

Housing Recovering in WI to be Slow

5/22/11 - A U-W Whitewater professor says Wisconsin will be among the first in the nation to recover from the struggling housing market. But Russ Kashian says the recovery won’t start until around 2015, based on a new national survey released this past week. The firm of Realty-Trac said 54-percent of U-S adults don’t believe a housing recovery will come until 2014 or later. Only about a third of Americans felt that way last November. Realty-Trac vice president Rick Sharga said the demand for new homes is still weak – loans remain hard-to-get for many – and an inventory of depressed and foreclosed houses is still weighing down the market. Sharga says all three need to get better before the market can recover. Whitewater professor Kashian says Wisconsin did not take part in the excesses of the market seen in places like Florida and Nevada. Therefore, he says the market will recover earlier here than in Florida – but it might be 2018 before things get much better in the Sunshine State. Also, 45-percent of adults in the Realty-Trac survey said Washington is not doing enough to stop foreclosures. Around half of renters and homeowners say they would consider buying foreclosed properties – but they expect a discount of 38-percent. That’s up from the actual average discounts of 36-percent.

West Bend Company Bought

A maker of industrial equipment in suburban Milwaukee has acquired an engineering firm from West Bend. The Acutant Corporation of Menomonee Falls has announced that is has purchased Weasler Engineering for 155-million dollars. Weasler is a designer-and-maker of drive-train components and systems used in industrial equipment, farm machinery, and lawn-and-turf equipment. Acutant makes industrial tools, electrical supplies, and motion-control systems for numerous vehicles. It also provides energy services. Acutant says Weasler Engineering has generated above-average growth, and it’s a great addition to its engineered solutions’ business.

Walker to Sign Numerous Bills

Governor Scott Walker plans to sign five bills tomorrow (Mon) – including the one that tells 66 communities they don’t have to disinfect their drinking water. It will repeal a D-N-R mandate from last year to make all Wisconsin communities disinfect their water by the end of 2013. The vast majority of Wisconsin places purify their drinking water – but places with 85-thousand total residents don’t. The D-N-R pushed for the disinfecting mandate in part because of a study by a former Marshfield Clinic researcher which found higher rates of gastro-intestinal illnesses in places that don’t disinfect their water. But some communities said the cost was too high. Other measures to be signed Monday would let stores offer sales tax refunds in their advertising, as long the tax remains part of the selling price – and let the city of Milwaukee sell property for school purposes. On Tuesday, Walker plans to sign the bill to deregulate the landline phone industry in Wisconsin. Walker plans to approve the measure at a conference of the state Telecommunications Association in Lake Geneva.

BDACT & BDUSD Team Up for School Play

5/22/11 - The Beaver Dam Area Community Theater and the school district are teaming up again this summer for a middle school play. It will be “No Strings Attached” a contemporary spin on the classic tale of Pinocchio. Auditions will be held at the Beaver Dam Middle School on North Spring Street on Tuesday, May 31 (from 3:15pm to 5:30pm) and Wednesday, June 1 (from 6:30pm to 8:30pm). Students in grades six through eight should be prepared to sing a short song a capella and read from the script. The cost to participate is $5. The show runs three days beginning Wednesday, July 20.