Top Stories December 19th

Beaver Dam Closes On New Business Park

12/19/11 - On Friday, the city of Beaver Dam closed on the sale of property on the north side of town that is intended use as a new business park. The acquisition involves around 200 acres of land a cost of $2.2 million dollars. Bonding for the purchase of the property was approved by the common council last month. Another $3.4 million will eventually need to be borrowed for infrastructure improvements. Mayor Tom Kennedy says a planning team will be put together immediately after the holidays. In addition to building roads and running utilities in the new business park, Kennedy says the site will include a new water tower which he says will benefit all future growth in the city. Kennedy says he feels confident that the new business park will be a springboard for good things to come in Beaver Dam. The new business park is located in Tax Increment Finance District #4, which was recently expanded to include the new business park and is where the city’s two other business parks are located. Kennedy says the TIF district is currently performing very well and generates enough positive tax increment from two current business parks to cover the costs.

Washington County Fatality Identified

12/19/11 - A Cudahy man killed early Saturday morning in Washington County car accident has been identified. Authorities say 78-year-old Henry Burazin was heading north on Highway 41 in the Town of Wayne when the car slipped and crossed into the southbound lanes and crashed into the semitrailer. Brradin’s 75-year-old wife was also injured. The truck driver is from Illinois and was not hurt. While sheriff's deputies were on scene investigating the fatal crash, 60-year-old West Bend man was injured in a nearby rollover.

Beaver Dam Man Killed In Friday Rollover IDed

12/19/11 - A Beaver Dam man killed early Friday morning in a one vehicle accident was identified over the weekend as Donald L. Schmucki. The 49-year-old rolled his vehicle near the Beaver Dam Conservation Club just before 3:45am. Authorities say Schmucki drifted off the road and over-corrected before entering the ditch, overturning and becoming pinned underneath his vehicle.

Prelim Set For BD Man Accused of OWI Fatality

12/19/11 - A Beaver Dam man accused of killing his girlfriend in a drunken driving rollover accident had a March eighth Preliminary Hearing during a telephone scheduling conference on Friday. Witnesses say Guadalupe Rodriguez Jr. was driving 90 miles-per-hour down North Spring Street when he lost control of his vehicle, struck a curb and rolled the car onto its roof. His passenger, 22-year-old Diamond M. Avalos of Beaver Dam, was killed in the November 2010 accident. Rodriguez was ejected and is now a quadriplegic. Authorities say he had drugs and alcohol in his system. The 20-year-old faces up to 50 years in prison if he is convicted.

Waupun Home Damaged By Fire

12/19/11 - A Waupun residence was damaged in a fire early Sunday morning. Firefighters were called to the 1000 block of Rock Avenue just after 3am. Officials say it started as a chimney fire and quickly spread to the roof. Firefighters were able to quickly bring the fire under control. There were no injuries.

Badger Honor Flight Dates Announced

12/19/11 - Organizers with the local chapter of the Honor Flight program have a announced the dates for their Spring 2012 flights. Honor Flight is a nationwide program that flies World War II veterans to their memorial in Washington DC at no cost to them. The Madison-based chapter of Badger Honor Flight – which served the western half of Dodge County, has signed contracts for flights on April 21 and May 19. According to the year-end report, a total of 18,055 veterans from throughout the country were flown to the memorial this year, and 81,348 veterans have been flown since May 2005.

Donations can be made to PO Box 258066 Madison, WI 53725.
http://www.badgerhonorflight.org/

Oshkosh Library Officials Surprised By Donation

12/19/11 - Oshkosh Public Library Director Jeff Gilderson-Duwe says the staff knew Majorie Dexter loved reading and movies, but they didn’t know her well. They know her know. Drexler died in August of last year, leaving the library 1-point-1 million dollars. That’s one of the largest contributions of money ever given the library. Gilderson-Duwe and other library officials learned of the gift from her estate last spring, but the dollar amount was only disclosed recently. So far, the library has no specific plans on what to do with the money.

Couple Donates State’s Largest Conservation Easement

12/19/11 - An Illinois couple has made the largest conservation easement ever donated to a Wisconsin land trust. Ken and Carolyn Aldridge of Libertyville bought a 31-hundred-95 acre property for four and a half million dollars. The property will be dedicated December 29th at the Minocqua Winter Park. The easement has been donated to the Northwoods Land Trust. The land is adjacent to the Squirrel River Pines State Natural Area. The purchase and subsequent donation means skiers and snowshoeing enthusiasts will retain perpetual access to more than 25 miles of trails. The Aldridges say they decided to buy the land when spotted machinery clear-cutting it two years ago.

Not All Protest Doc’s Have Been Disciplined

12/19/11 - Last February more than 300 Madison School District employees submitted sick notes from doctors. They asked for excused absences for everything from a sick child to laryngitis and stress. The notes were written in the middle of protests at the Capitol earlier this year. At least 10 of those doctors have not been disciplined for writing notes the school district considers to be fraudulent. Previously, seven doctors were reprimanded, for using form letters for sick notes. Each listed badgerdoctors at g-mail-dot-com for their contact information. The state has not explained why the 10 doctors weren’t investigated, since those seven others were checked out.

Ryan Says Risks Part of Job

12/19/11 - Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan says if you want to be good at the job he has, you have to be willing to lose it. If you just worry about reelection, you’re not going to be effective. Time Magazine has called the Janesville Republican the most influential American politician. He wasn’t named Person of the Year, losing out to a composite person the magazine calls “the protester.” Ryan was election to the First Congressional District 13 years ago. The magazine gives him credit for, quoting here, “hard work, good timing,” and what it calls possibly suicidal guts. His tribute was based on his work on a dramatic budget plan the magazine says it necessary to, quoting again, “defuse the American debt time bomb.”