Top Stories February 7th

Police Searching for Man Involved in Violent Domestic Issue

2/7/12 - Authorities are searching for a man who allegedly beat up his girlfriend and later held a knife to another man’s throat early this morning. Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls says they were called out to a residence on Pond Road in the town of Rubicon around 2:45 this morning for a report of a domestic incident. Nehls says the 36-year-old man got into a physical altercation with his girlfriend, and when he learned police were coming to the home, he fled into a wooded area near the residence. As authorities began searching the woods for him, he circled around and reentered the home. He armed himself with a knife and threatened another man with it before once again fleeing into the woods. Nehls says deputies and the department’s K-9 team are currently searching for the man in an area around the home.

Charges Possible in Deadly Crash

2/7/12 - Fond du Lac County sheriff’s officials say the district attorney will eventually decide if charges will be filed in an S-U-V crash that killed three girls and injured six others. All nine were on the Campbellsport High School girls’ soccer teams. Authorities said yesterday that they had left an overnight sleep-over, went to get fast food, and toilet-papered a friend’s house before their vehicle crashed near the high school around 3:30 Saturday morning. Sheriff’s lieutenant Rick Olig said the S-U-V was speeding when it went over a hillcrest, and hit a bump and a small incline before it lost control. It flipped over and rolled into a farm field before stopping on its wheels 700-feet later. Caitlin Scannell, Katie Berg, and Sabrina Stahl died in the crash. At least three others were still at Milwaukee Children’s Hospital overnight. The others have been sent home after getting treatment. Four girls were not wearing seat-belts, and were thrown from the vehicle. Sheriff’s officials said alcohol was not believed to be a factor, but they’ll know for sure when test results come back in about 10 days. The S-U-V driver, 18-year-old Carly Ottery of Eden, was among those released from the hospital.

BD Council Approves CIP

2/7/12 - The Beaver Dam Common Council last night unanimously approved the city’s five-year Capital Improvements Program. The CIP, as it’s called, lays out infrastructure improvement needs and major equipment purchases over the next five years while outlining a borrowing plan for the current year. Officials came up with a three-year plan in committee that holds borrowing to $1.6 million in each of the next three years. Don Neuert chairs the Administrative Committee, which basically holds the purse strings. Neuert says it’s important to earmark projects that constituents have identified as priorities that need to be funded over the next few years.
The Operations Committee is tasked with placing items on or removing items from the CIP, whether or not they get funded. Chair Laine Meyer says it is a benefit to have agreement on projects over the next three years. While street repairs have been identified in coming years that tie into state and federally-funded projects, Meyer is concerned that city borrowing for street reconstruction projects will continue to decline. He says the city is well behind where it should be at this point and if funding can’t keep up we’re just going to continue to fall farther and farther behind. Projects for 2012 include the reconstruction Prospect Avenue in conjunction with a state Highway 151 project. Two stretches of North Crystal Lake Road will see mill and overlay work along with the city-owned, downtown Center Plaza parking lot. Borrowing is also planned for a dump truck, handicap-accessible playground equipment, and state-mandated repairs to the dam, along with a new ambulance, rescue boat and pumper truck for the fire department.

New Design Plans Unveiled For The Watermark

2/7/12 - The Beaver Dam Common Council last night heard an update on the designs for the planned Community and Senior Center. There are no city tax dollars being used to pay for renovation of “The Watermark” in the former Fullerton Lumber building at 209 South Center, so a non-profit group is spearheading the fundraising campaign. Marty Sell with the design company Rketek (architect) says the new floor plans reduce the interior from 25-thousand square feet to 22-thousand, which reduces construction costs by $400-thousand dollars to just above $3-million dollars. Sell says there are five separate zones inside the building, among them: an entry way, office space, an arts and crafts studio slash wood shop and a general recreation area. The bulk of the building is comprised of five, dividable multi-purpose rooms surrounded by a circular hallway that doubles as a walking track. The outside of the pre-engineered steel building has metal siding and Sell says the plan is to replace it with an insulated brick veneer that conforms to the historic look of the downtown as outlined by the Landmark Commission. The fundraising group behind the $2.9 million dollar capital campaign also announced an aggressive timeline last night with bidding and contract awards planned by September, ground broken as early as this fall and completion targeted for the summer of next year.

Horicon Could Dissolve Police Department

2/7/12 - A city of Horicon committee is expected to discuss the possibility of dissolving the city’s police department. The Personnel and Finance Committee is set to meet today to talk about possible solutions to a budget deficit and an incomplete police contract. One of those solutions would be to do away with the city’s police department and contract out coverage to the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department. The city used the department over the summer to bridge the gap between the departure of Lieutenant Adrian Bump and the return of Chief Joe Adamson. The police contract has been an issue in recent years and there is currently no deal in place for 2012. Officials are not expected to make any quick decisions on the department’s future and are seeking community input but they do hope to have a solution in place before a new council and mayor is elected in April. According to the agenda, the meeting will adjourn into closed session to gather information for negotiating police services for the city.

Ex-Walker Aide to Plead Guility

2/7/12 - A former aide to Governor Scott Walker when he was the Milwaukee County executive is expected to plead guilty this afternoon to a pair of misdemeanor charges. Prosecutors say they’ll only recommend a fine for 61-year-old Darlene Wink, one of four ex-Walker aides charged as the result of a long-running John Doe investigation. She entered into a plea agreement before she was charged in late January. Milwaukee prosecutors said they gave her a break because she agreed to provide information about an undisclosed destruction of digital evidence – plus other matters being pursued in the John Doe probe. Wink was accused of posting anonymous comments on blogs praising Walker’s campaign for governor, and working on other campaign events while she was supposed to be providing customer service for Milwaukee County residents.

Meanwhile, Walker acknowledged for the first time yesterday that prosecutors initiated the meeting that the governor said he would have with them. He told reporters in Waukesha that his campaign has provided written documents to the D-A’s office – and now, they’d like to talk to the governor about what was found and quote, “additional help we can provide.” Walker announced the meeting last week, but did not say when it would be. He was it was not the result of a subpoena. Walker said he hired two attorneys for the occasion – and taxpayers will not cover that bill.

Watertown Man Charged As Lookout In Dealership Burglary

2/7/12 - A Watertown man is accused of acting as the lookout in last month’s armed burglary of Martin Motors. A window was broken on January 26 to gain access to the Watertown car dealership. 18-year-old Mark Humfleet is charged with being a party to a crime of Burglary and Theft. Authorities say Humfleet served as the lookout while another man ransacked the office, stealing around $20 in cash an iPod and a 22-caliber handgun. The handgun was allegedly found in Humfleet’s possession. The other man has not been charged but according to the criminal complaint he burglarized the dealership on the same day he was to be sentenced for an unrelated burglary. Shoe prints at the scene matched the shoes he was wearing during questioning and after investigators noted the similarity he reportedly connected the stolen gun to Humfleet, who is also accused of filing down the serial number on the weapon. The charges carry a maximum of over 21 years in prison if Humfleet is convicted.

GAB Wants Unified Recall Challenges

2/7/12 - If a state elections official has his way, outside groups would not be able to challenge improper recall petitions that they see on-line. Kevin Kennedy says he’ll ask the Government Accountability Board today (Tue) to strike only those signatures that the board’s staff finds faulty – or those brought to the agency by the petition circulators or the targets of the petitions. There are said to be efforts taking place throughout the country to check the validity of the estimated one-point-nine million recall signatures against Governor Scott Walker, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, and four G-O-P senators. If the board approves Kennedy’s recommendation, the outside groups might have to take its questionable signatures to the recall targets in order to challenge them. But time is running out. Senators Pam Galloway, Van Wanggaard, Terry Moulton and Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau have until Thursday to file challenges with the Accountability Board. The Walker campaign has until February 27th to challenge signatures. And Kleefisch’s camp has until March fifth to do the same.