Municipal Court Now Handling Marijuana Violations
5/18/10 – The Beaver Dam Common Council approved an ordinance change last night that allows their municipal court to handle minor marijuana possession citations. The offense was previously handled by the circuit court but the Dodge County District Attorney’s office has told local authorities that the office will no longer prosecute first-time adult drug offenders caught with small quantities of marijuana, cocaine or prescription drugs. State statute does not allow local municipalities to prosecute for cocaine or prescription drugs possession, but it does allow for the prosecution of marijuana offenses. Alderman Aaron Onsrud voted against the ordinance because he says it doesn’t go far enough. City Attorney MaryAnn Schacht says she has sent a letter to local legislators asking that the state consider giving local municipalities the power to prosecute cocaine and prescription drug offenses. Municipal Court Judge Ken Peters has said that he will prescribe the maximum financial penalty allowed under the ordinance to those caught with marijuana. The first offense penalty could be as high as $1000, $2000 for the second, and subsequent offenses could be as high as $4000. The money collected would stay in the city. There is also the possibility of community service or jail time, which would come at the city’s expense.
Sun Prairie Company To Raze Old YMCA
5/18/10 – The Beaver Dam Common Council last night awarded a contract for demolition of the former YMCA building on Park Avenue. The low bid came in at the lump sum price of $140,000 from Sun Prairie Sand and Gravel. A new $5.1 million police station is planned for property. Also last night, the Operations Committee began the process of demolishing the Milwaukee House at 101 Ryan Cantafio’s Way and the adjacent building, previously known as Babcock Auto Parts, at 204 South Center Street. With the action, the city engineer can begin the process of advertising for bids.
Deputies Save Two Lives In One Day
5/18/ 10 – Dodge County Patrol Captain Molly Soblewski says actions by her deputies saved the lives of two men yesterday. The first call came in around 3:15 from the town of Lowell where a 53-year-old man was apparently having a seizure and not breathing. While authorities were in route to the home a communications officer began giving CPR instructions to the caller. Once on scene, Deputy Andy Rolfs utilized his Automated External Defibrillator, shocking the man three times before Beaver Dam EMS personnel arrived on scene. The man was eventually taken to the UW-Hospital in Madison. The second of the two incidents came around 9:45 when deputies rescued a man from a burning house. It happened at a home in the town of Ashippun. Soblewski says the owner of the home on County Highway EE called 9-1-1 reporting the fire and that her boyfriend, who is paralyzed, was unable to get out. Upon arriving at the home the deputies saw the home was being consumed by the fire. It was at that point they went inside and pulled the man to safety. Soblewski says the man was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation but was otherwise uninjured. The fire itself is still under investigation.
