Top Stories April 28th

Mayville Teacher Charged

4/28/12 - A Mayville teacher has been charged for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a former student.  43-year-old Shannon Cardinal was in court yesterday to face six counts of sexual assault of a student by school staff and another six counts of child enticement-sexual contact.  The criminal complaint states Cardinal struck up a nearly five-month relationship with a 17-year-old male student last December.  In that time, Cardinal and the student allegedly had several sexual encounters at her home in Oakfield, along with one time in Iowa.  The teen told authorities the relationship began after the two started exchanging text messages about homework related to a Spanish class Cardinal taught, and got more serious as the relationship evolved.  The boy says Cardinal would arrange to pick him up in Waupun, and he would tell his mother that he was staying with a friend.  The boy moved to Iowa last month, and the boy’s sister uncovered the relationship after catching the two having sex at the family’s home.  Cardinal was released on a $5,000 signature bond, and is due back in court on June 1^st.  If convicted, she faces a maximum of 186 years in prison and fines in excess of $660,000. 

Bicycle Rider Hit By Car

4/28/12 - A 34-year-old Horicon man was seriously injured when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car yesterday afternoon.  Jeremy Ward was riding his bike on Decora Road in the town of Hubbard when he failed to stop at a stop sign, and was hit by a Ford Mustang going north on County Highway T-W.  Ward was taken to Beaver Dam Community Hospital before being taken by Flight for Life to Froedert Hospital in Milwaukee.  The driver of the Mustang, 55-year-old Dale Bath, was not injured in the crash.  The investigation into the accident is still ongoing.

BD Police Looking for Missing Teen

4/28/12 - Beaver Dam Police are asking the publics help in locating a missing juvenile. Authorities say 15-year-old Meredion Emmrich was reported as a runaway by her family on March 28. The last time a member of the Emmrich family has seen the teenager was on March 25. Meredion’s current whereabouts are unknown and police have received conflicting reports; some saying she left the region and others that she is in the immediate Beaver Dam area. She had been in contact with her family via text message but those messages have stopped. Meredion is described as having brown hair and brown eyes, five-feet tall weighing approximately 130 pounds. She has a left eyebrow ring and a scar above her left eye. She was last seen wearing a blue tank top with white sweat pants. Anyone who has seen Meredion is asked to contact the Beaver Dam Police Department (920) 887-4612. Contact information and a picture can be found on our website and facebook pages.

More Vandalism Reports in Beaver Dam

4/28/12 - There have been over five dozen reports of vandalism in Beaver Dam since March 1, and reports keep coming in. For the first time, a vehicle was stolen and tagged with spray paint. Authorities were called out to Beaver Cleaners on West Maple Street Thursday after someone gained entry to their garage, and stole a van during the overnight hours.  Police were able to recover the vehicle that afternoon after a caretaker at St. Peter’s Cemetery found it behind a shed; it had graffiti spray paint in numerous places. Meanwhile, records also show the front window at Kritter Cuts on Madison Street was shot recently by a bb-gun, while the window of a residence on South Spring Street was also damaged by a single bb shot.  Vehicles on Park Avenue and Frances Lane had their tires slashed, while another vehicle on West Third Street had been spray painted.  Authorities are urging the public immediately call 9-1-1 if they encounter suspicious activity.

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

4/28/12 - Several local police departments will be participating in today’s (Sat) “National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.” The effort is aimed at removing drugs from the streets, reducing pharmaceuticals in the water supply and limiting the amount of pills available for theft or accidental poisoning. Beaver Dam Police Detective Ryan Klavekoske says officers will be collecting unused and unwanted medications at the new police station on Park Avenue.  The Horicon Police Department will host a “Take Back” at the Public Safety Building on Ellison Street. The Juneau Police Department will host a drug collection that Saturday as well at the Public Safety Building on East Cross Street. In Waupun, officers will be at Agnesian Pharmacy on West Main Street. Drop offs are also planned in Lomira, Watertown and Waterloo. A link to a collection site locator can be found on our website. Medications should be brought in their original containers with personal identification removed.  http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/

New Restrictions on Child Farm Labor Scrapped

4/28/12 - The U-S Labor Department has scrapped a controversial plan to put new restrictions on child farm labor. And at least one Wisconsin farm group calls that a big victory. Casey Langan of the Farm Bureau Federation said the face of family farms would have been drastically changed quote, “if these unworkable rules would have been implemented.” Among other things, children younger than 16 would have been prohibited from running tractors or heavy equipment of farms that don’t belong to their families. Children working on their own families’ farms would have been exempt. Langan said thousands of Wisconsin farmers and parents deluged their congressional representatives and the Labor Department with their concerns. But not everyone in Wisconsin was against the rules. Officials at Marshfield’s National Farm Medicine Center said something had to be done to curb the high numbers of childhood farm injuries and deaths. Langan said he understands that concern – and he appreciates that the U-S Labor and Agriculture agencies will work with stakeholders to create an educational program aimed at reducing child farm accidents.

Man Gets Jail Time for Refining Gold with Acid

4/28/12 - The actual charge against an Altoona man was disposing of hazardous waste without a license.  Matthew Hagen also failed to submit hazardous waste report.  The 24 year old was sentenced to four months in jail and three years probation on his guilty plea.  He also has to pay a fine and nearly 42 hundred dollars restitution.  The criminal complaint said Hagen was running a lab in a wooded area of Eau Claire three years.  He was convicted of using acid to refine gold.  Hagen took scrap metal from his job at Hutchinson Technology, put it in buckets of acid, strained out the gold, then poured the acid on the ground.  He reportedly made four thousand dollars from just one batch of refined gold.

Prisoners and Paroles Illegally Obtaining Food Stamps

4/28/12 - The Legislative Audit Bureau estimates hundreds of prisoners in Wisconsin jails, fugitives and parole violators have been collecting food stamp benefits worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.  As it was examining the FoodShare program, the audit bureau ran the names, Social Security numbers and birthdates of the more than 830 thousand people receiving food stamps through records held at the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and the state Justice Department.  More than 16 hundred people – many behind bars – were found to be illegally receiving food stamps.  One estimate puts the total loss to taxpayers at more than 1-point-8 million dollars.  The report suggests state caseworkers be given more training to identify applications from people still in jail or in violation of their parole, and therefore ineligible for the benefits.