Top Stories December 20th

Dan Thiel To Appear on Community Comment Today

12/20/11 - It’s been a turbulent year for Dan Thiel, the Beaver Dam man who lost his wife in a drunken driving accident ten years ago. This past May his daughter Danni Jo died as a result of injuries sustained in the August 2001 wreck. In October, he learned that Wisconsin law at the time of the accident prohibits the state from additional prosecution of the driver who was responsible for Danni Jo’s death. With all that on his shoulders, Thiel has asked to appear on WBEV’s Community Comment Tuesday to share a positive message about responsible celebrating during the holidays. He says he’d also like to field some questions from our listeners and he says no topic is off-limits. Community Comment airs weekdays on WBEV 1430AM beginning around 12:35pm.

BDUSD Approves Change in Math Track

12/20/11 - After years of parent and student complaints the Beaver Dam School District is changing how they teach math. Currently the district teaches “core” math but last night the school board approved a change back to a traditional form, with the biggest difference between the tracks being the process in which you reach your final answer. With the plan approved last night all students will have the opportunity to take 8th grade algebra and enter high school at the geometry level if they want. The plan also has an additional honors track while the other plan they were considering did not. The district still must make a change in how the curriculum describes the difference between an honors course and a normal course. You can find a chart with the new math track on our website, wbevradio.com.

Brown County OWI Task Force Gearing Up

12/20/11 - For the first time, Brown County’s drunk driving task force will be on the prowl after a Green Bay Packers’ game. Michael Panosh of the State Patrol said his multi-agency unit has had a lot of requests to increase its O-W-I enforcement, to catch those who drink over the limit at Lambeau. So his group of state-and-local officers will look for drunk driving offenders for four hours after the Packers’ home divisional playoff game the weekend of January 14th-and-15th. And if the Packers make the N-F-C Championship Game, the task force will be on the job then, too. They will not be outside the final two regular season games on Christmas and New Year’s Days, because fewer officers work on the holidays. The Packers do not have a partnership with the task force. But team spokesman Aaron Popkey says they are mindful of the O-W-I problem. He says the Packers have had a number of long-time programs to encourage responsible drinking – limiting alcohol to two glasses per purchase, and stopping sales after the third quarter. The team also has a designated driver program and free bus rides on Green Bay’s transit system.

Godbolt Has Plea Hearing Set In OWI Injury Case

12/20/11 - A Milwaukee man is now expected to enter into a plea agreement for injuring his girlfriend in a drunken driving accident. Tony Godbolt II had spent the evening of April first at a friend’s 21st birthday party in Oshkosh but woke-up the following morning to news that his step-father had died. Godbolt, who was one month away from his own 21st birthday, rolled his vehicle four or five times on Highway 41 in Lomira while heading to Milwaukee. He was not injured but his girlfriend was ejected. Authorities say Godbolt’s blood alcohol level was over the legal limit for driving at point-zero-nine-five (.095). Witnesses on the road that morning say they were driving 70mph and Godbolt’s vehicle flew past them. Godbolt is charged with three felony counts of Injury By Intoxicated Use of a Vehicle and a misdemeanor count of Operating Without A Valid License. If he is convicted, the charges carry a combined maximum term of over 38 years in prison. During a telephone scheduling conference yesterday (Mon), Godbolt had a plea hearing scheduled for February 3.

Beaver Dam Man Pleads To Work Theft

12/20/11 - A Beaver Dam man who embezzled money from Ballweg Turf and Leisure entered into a plea agreement Monday with prosecutors. Jeffrey Schmuhl pled to reduced misdemeanor Theft charges for withholding paperwork from cash transactions and pocketing the money. According to the criminal complaint, the 25-year-old admitted that he kept $2800 from the sale of a tractor but denied a second transaction and has been ordered to pay full restitution for the tractor. Schmuhl was also placed on probation for 18 months.

Beaver Dam Directs Grants to Lift Station

12/20/11 - The Beaver Dam Common Council has signed-off on plans to redirect grant funding previously approved for the purchase and demolition of the downtown Fountain Inn Tavern. The $260,000 Department of Administration grant will now go toward a $700,000 upgrade to the north side lift station. The city’s already gotten $350,000 in grants and the remaining costs will be paid through storm water and sewer user fees. The owner of the Fountain Inn has rebuked buy-out attempts from both the city and the state in recent months and could be on the hook for demolition costs if the DNR orders the structure removed; the Front Street building violates modern statutes because it was constructed over a river.

BD Approves Sewer Expansion To New Business Park

12/20/11 - Action by the Beaver Dam Common Council last night has moved the city yet another step closer toward having a third business park. The council unanimously approved an expansion of the city’s sanitary sewer service area. The city is in the process of building a third business park and recently acquired around 200 acres of land on the north side of town that is currently in the township. Consulting Engineer Mike Laue with MSA Professional Services says, as part of the process, Beaver Dam has to gain DNR approval to run sewer lines to the property. Council President Jon Litscher asked Laue about the acreage of wetlands that will be lost with the designation. Laue says it will be “minimal,” approximately less than one acre. The DNR will have to sign off on the final version, but they’ve already approved early drafts and Laue says state officials have already deemed early versions “favorable.”

Council Approves Donation Agreement With ‘Friends’ Group

12/20/11 - The Beaver Dam Common Council last night approved a resolution that will allow the city to receive funds from a private group in renovating a new Community and Senior Center. There are no city tax dollars planned to pay for the move into the former Fullerton Lumber building at 209 South Center, so the non-profit “Friends of the Beaver Dam Community Center” is organizing a fundraising campaign. The group’s president, Ellen Sushak (sue-shack) says the resolution spells out the role of the “Friends” group in raising money and the role of the city in approving building plans along with owning and operating the building. Sushak says her group is in pre-campaign mode, with plans to launch their official fundraising campaign after the New Year with the goal of securing $2.9 million for the renovation.

Home Prices Drop Drastically In Dodge County

12/20/11 - Sales are up, and prices down for existing homes in Wisconsin. The state's Realtors Association says that almost 38-hundred-50 houses (3,850) were sold in the Badger State in November – 15-percent (15%) more than in November of 2010. And the median price went down by about 2-percent (2%), to about 134-thousand dollars ($134,000). Dodge County’s median price dropped by over 36-percent (36%) to $90,000 last month compared to November of 2010. There were 67 homes sold last month in Dodge County, up by 20 from November of 2010.
Median home prices in Jefferson County dropped four-point-four-percent (4.4%) to $128,000. Conversely, prices in Columbia County are up nearly five-percent (5%) to $121,000, while 34-percent (34%) more homes were sold this November compared to last November. For the first 10 months of this year, homes sold by Realtors went down by less than one-percent (1%). Association chairman Rob Keefe said buyers did not have major incentives this year, like the huge federal tax credits from the year before.