To Stories January 4th

Municipal Candidate Filings

Waupun
It’s official; there will be a primary election in at least one Dodge County community. That’s after three candidates filed for mayor in the city of Waupun. Incumbent Mayor Jodi Steger will see opposition from Todd Snow and Jay Graff in a February 21 primary. Aldermanic incumbents Steve Bastian and Nancy Vanderkin are running unopposed while District Two incumbent Dan Ganz failed to submit either his nomination papers or his non-candidacy papers by the deadline. As a result, the deadline for any candidate wishing to file in District Two – on the Dodge County side of the county line – is extended 72 hours to the close of business on Friday. Peter Kaczmarski is currently the only candidate who will definitely appear on the ballot in Waupun’s District Two.

Horicon
The next mayor of Horicon will be named Craig. Craig Muenchow and Craig Reiger will face each other on the April ballot to see which one will succeed Jim Grigg, who is leaving municipal government to run for State Assembly. Incumbents Richard Marschke and Steve Neitzel are running unopposed, as is newcomer Matthew Wieneke who would replace District Three Alderman Ted Pyrek.

Juneau
There are two contested races in Juneau where incumbent Mayor Ron Bosak is being challenged by Alderman and Finance Committee Chairman Robert Affeld, who is also running to retain his Second Ward seat. Juneau’s Ward Three Alderman Dan Schamberger is being challenged by Corey Ronge.

Columbus
In Columbus, Steven Davidson is running for the seat being vacated by Tyler Walker while incumbent alderpersons in District’s Two and Three are running without opposition.

Beaver Dam
Barring a successful write-in campaign, Tom Kennedy will serve a third term as Beaver Dam’s mayor. All incumbents alderperson on the council in even numbered wards will also be returning and face no challengers.

Mayville and Fox Lake
The Mayville and Fox Lake city councils should stay the same after the April election as all incumbent mayors and alderpersons are running unopposed.

Only One Contested Race on Local School Boards

1/4/12 - There is only one contested race for a spot on one of the area school boards in this spring’s election. And that comes in Fall River where the seats of incumbents Doug Lee and Wendy Corlett are up for grabs. Both are running again and they’ll be joined on the ballot by challenger David Brozek. In Columbus, current board members Don Nelson and Sally Owen will run unopposed while newcomer Peter Fogarty will fill the seat being vacated by Pam Larson. There are three seats up for election and only two people running in the Beaver Dam School District. Incumbents Marge Jorgensen and Gary Spielman will run unopposed while no one submitted nomination papers for the seat currently held by Dan Feuling, who isn’t running again. In Waupun, Ron Paul and Katharine Schlieve will run unopposed. Same goes for Dodgeland School Board incumbents Neil Whiting, Shawna Rennhack and Jeffrey Caine. Also running unopposed are John Westphal and Jim Congdon on the Mayville School Board. There will be no contested races in Horicon where incumbents David Westimayer, James Ketchem and Eric Krause-Emerick will return for another term.


Six Contested Races on the Dodge County Board

1/4/12 - There are six contested races on the 33-member Dodge County Board. In District Three in the Town of Beaver Dam, Delwyn Guenther will square off against Mary Bobholz. Longtime incumbent Ernest Borchardt will be defending his District 11 Ashippun-area seat from Sheryl Jaeger. Incumbent Bob Smith is being challenged for his Mayville-area District 13 seat by William Muche. District 14 incumbent Eugene Wurtz of Mayville is facing opposition from Philip Gohr. Incumbent Larry Bischoff of Hustisford will try to retain his District 17 seat from a challenge by Tom Schmidt Sr. of the Town of Hubbard. Incumbents Jeff Berres and William Nass will be squaring off against each other for the Watertown-area District 22 seat; they are competing for the same seat because of the recent consolidation of supervisory districts. Incumbents in the other three districts that were lost due to consolidation chose not to seek re-election. James Houchin of Watertown is the only candidate running for the District 21 seat being vacated by Joe Ready, the longest-serving elected official in the state of Wisconsin.

Voters to See Seven Names on Primary Ballot

Mitt Romney won the Iowa Republican presidential caucuses by just eight votes over Rick Santorum, 30-thousand-15 to 30-thousand-seven. Ron Paul was third, followed by Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann, and Jon Huntsman. All seven of those names will appear on Wisconsin’s G-O-P primary ballot, at least for now. A committee of Republicans and Democrats chose the candidates for the April third ballot yesterday, but they can still be changed. Texas Governor Perry said last night he would quote, “determine whether there is a path forward” for his White House bid after his distant fifth-place finish in Iowa. If he drops out of the race, his campaign would have until January 31st to get off the Wisconsin ballot by notifying the Government Accountability Board. The ballot committee chose President Obama as the only Democratic candidate. Others can still make the ballot by collecting a-thousand nominating signatures in each of Wisconsin’s eight congressional districts. The deadline for that is also January 31st.

Group Asks to Join Petition Signature Lawsuit

Recall groups have asked a state appeals court to let them join a lawsuit over the way petition signatures are verified. The recall groups say the Government Accountability Board should not be forced to reject false-and-duplicate signatures, without somebody else challenging those signatures first. Governor Scott Walker’s campaign and the head of the state G-O-P say it should not be their job to find improper signatures among the million-and-a-half signatures expected to be filed by January 17th. But the Accountability Board says the law only requires them to check the petitions for full names and valid Wisconsin addresses – and they don’t have the resources to do any more than that. Those petitions seek recall elections against Walker, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, and four state senators including Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Mac Davis has rejected a request by the recall groups to intervene, saying there’s not time to consider it before the petitions are filed. Davis also said the Accountability Board’s position is the same as the recall groups, so they should be adequately represented in a hearing on the merits of the case, which is scheduled for tomorrow.

Waupun Correctional Guard Accused of Inmate Relationship

1/4/12 - A corrections officer at Waupun Correctional is accused of having a sexual relation with an inmate. 33-year-old Jolene J. Mason of Beaver Dam is charges with three counts of Second Degree Sexual Assault by Corrections Staff and one count of Delivering Illegal Articles to an Inmate, all felonies which carry a combined maximum of over 123-years in prison upon conviction. According to the criminal complaint, the Department of Corrections received information regarding inappropriate contact between Mason and a prisoner and immediately began to monitor activity between the two. Officials then intercepted letters sent to a Beaver Dam Post Office address that detailed sexual activities between the two. Mason reportedly used her driver’s license in filling out the application for the PO Box. The inmate reportedly denied the relationship at first but later confessed saying it began last December and continued through April. Mason allegedly smuggled a cell phone into the inmate so the two could talk and text and also brought in food, jewelry, tattoo ink and needles. The inmate has since been moved to another institution. Mason had a signature bond set at $5000 yesterday and a preliminary hearing is on the calendar next month.

DNR Expanding Service Hours

The state D-N-R will expand its customer service to five-days-a-week at over two dozen locations throughout Wisconsin. Former Governor Jim Doyle cut service hours to save money. But D-N-R Secretary Cathy Stepp says customers don’t know when to come in when centers are open just 2-to-3 days a week. She promised a year ago to make the agency more customer-friendly. So her agency is expanding its customer service hours by 40-percent despite the state’s current budget crunch. Full-service centers in Eau Claire, Spooner, Rhinelander, Green Bay, Fitchburg, and Milwaukee will be open from 8:30-to-4 Monday through Friday. Rhinelander began the new hours yesterday, and the others will start them on February sixth. Twenty-one satellite centers will open from 11-to-2 each weekday. And the D-N-R has lined up 250 businesses to provide registrations for boats, A-T-V’s, and snowmobiles – which means people no longer have to visit D-N-R centers for those items.

Whooping Crane Migration Halted

1/4/12 - The annual migration of whooping cranes from Wisconsin to Florida was recently halted in Alabama. An attorney for Operation Migration said the group voluntarily stopped its journey, after learning that an ultra-light pilot guiding nine baby cranes broke federal rules. The F-A-A prohibits ultra-light pilots from being paid – and Operation Migration compensates its pilots. Attorney Charles Barnett said the group didn’t want to knowingly violate federal rules. He has asked officials to exempt Operation Migration from the payment ban, saying the group tries to protect an endangered species. For more than a decade, Operation Migration has reared baby crane chicks in Wisconsin and flew them to Florida. That’s where they’ve met up with other birds, in an effort to expand the crane population in the eastern U-S. The babies are guided in their first year. After that, many make the trip on their own. The International Crane Foundation of Baraboo says there are now 103 whooping cranes in the eastern U-S.

The Eagle Has Landed

1/4/12 - Two bald eagles are back in the wild after being rescued and treated at a wildlife rehab center in Sauk County. Jerry and Linda Bethke released the birds on New Year's Day near the Wisconsin River, where many eagles find food and places to rest. The Bethkes operate the Soaring Eagle rehab center in Prairie du Sac. Linda Bethke said someone in Grant County brought in an eaglet during one of last summer's hot spells -- and the bird needed fluids and antibiotics. Nick Schommer found the other eagle in October near the Juneau-Wood county line -- and he eventually got a hold of the Bethkes to provide help. Linda said the eagle might have been hit by a car, because it had a bruised spine while its wings were okay. Once the birds flew back-and-forth in their cages, Jerry Bethke said he knew it was time to release them. Linda Bethke tells the Baraboo News-Republic they become fond of the eagles -- but they never forget their mission is to get them healthy and send them back into nature.