Childs Heading To Waupun
6/14/10 – The outgoing, interim Superintendent in the Beaver Dam School District is heading to Waupun. Dr. Don Childs, who has worked in Beaver Dam for the past four years, recently signed a two-year contract with the Waupun School District. Childs had previously served as Superintendent in Howard-Suamico and Lake Mills. Current District Administrator Randy Refsland announced in March that he would be leaving at the end of this month to take the top position in the Clinton Community School District. Beaver Dam, meanwhile, promoted Director of Human Resources Steve Vessey to the top position, the first time there’s been a Superintendent without an interim title since Dr. Brian Busler left for the Oregon School District in 2006.
YMCA Demolition Schedule Set
6/14/10 – Crews will mobilize for the demolition of the old YMCA in Beaver Dam on July 6. That’s according to the schedule of Sun Prairie Sand and Gravel, who will begin capping utilities and removing fixtures the week after the July Fourth holiday. Hazmat abatement is planned for week two, followed by materials disposal. The demolition of concrete is planned to begin the week of July 26 and will be followed by backfilling of crushed concrete and supplemental fill. Grading of the site for drainage is planned for the week of August 4. The project is anticipated to be completed no later than August 11. Sun Prairie Sand and Gravel is being paid $140,000. A new $5.1 million police station is planned for property.
Summer Reading Programs
6/14/10 – Libraries across the state are gearing up for their summer reading programs. Beaver Dam Community Library Director Sue Mevis says their Children’s reading program runs for seven weeks and every kid who meets their weekly reading goal of 90 minutes or nine books gets a prize. Mevis says story time activities and performers from comedians to musicians and magicians will be incorporating the theme this year, which is the water-oriented, “Make A Splash.” Kids will also be able to take in several aquatic themed movies at the library this year including “The Little Mermaid” and “Finding Nemo.” Workshops include making water bottle fish, earth camp and learning to garden. The Teen and Adult Reading Programs also incorporate the same theme. Prizes will be awarded for those who fill out a bingo card with spaces for fiction books and bestsellers, checking out DVD’s and using the library database. There is also an inter-library battle of the books and summer teen book club for students entering sixth thru 12th grades. Summer reading kits are available at most area libraries beginning today.
Motorcycle Trailer Disconnects On 151
6/14/10 – A vehicle lost a motorcycle trailer while traveling on Highway 151 in Dodge County Saturday afternoon. According to the Sheriff’s Department, the accident occurred near County Highway G in the Town of Beaver Dam around 1:30pm. The 4 x 6 trailer reportedly disconnected and scattered debris all over the roadway. Miller Towing used a flatbed to remove the wreckage. The owner of the vehicle is from the state of Iowa. There were no injures.
45 Months For 7th OWI
6/14/10 – A seventh OWI earned a Michigan man 45 months in prison last week. Wilhelm Von Menze of Marquette entered a “no contest” plea to the felony charge and
had second felony dismissed but read into the record. A misdemeanor charge of Operating After Revocation was dismissed all together. Authorities clocked Von Menze going 77-miles-per-hour in a 65-mile-per-hour-zone on Highway 60 in early February. The 44-year-old had a blood alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit for driving at (point).13. It was the third time Von Menze had been convicted in Wisconsin for drunken driving; the other four were in Michigan. Von Menze was also sentenced to five years of extended supervision and lost his driving privileges for three years followed by three years with an ignition interlock device on his vehicle.
Inmate Sentenced For Assisted Suicide
6/14/10 – A state prisoner at Waupun will spend an extra two years and three months behind bars, for helping a cellmate kill himself last year. 21-year-old Joshua Walters was sentenced Friday for helping 20-year-old Adam Peterson hang himself in January of last year. Prosecutors say it’s the first time in Wisconsin history that a person was convicted of criminal assisted suicide. Walters struck a plea deal earlier this month. He avoided what could have been a much longer prison term when a proposed penalty-enhancer was dropped. Dodge County Circuit Judge Andrew Bissonette said the 27 months behind bars and 27 more months of extended supervision were long enough to punish Walters, and send a message to other prisoners not to do the same thing. The judge also questioned whether Peterson would have been successful in hanging himself had Walters not helped him. Walters said he tied the noose from a bed sheet, and then tested it with his arm. He called it a “stupid mistake.” Peterson was a former U-W Madison student from Stillwater Minnesota. He was awaiting a possible parole date, after he admitted stabbing Joel Marino to death outside his home in Madison in January of 2008. The assisted suicide charge resulted from a conversation Walters had with another Waupun inmate after the hanging.
Edwards Sentenced For Akron Slayings
6/14/10 – The man who admitted killing two high school sweet-hearts in Jefferson County in 1980 pleaded guilty Friday to two similar murders in Akron Ohio. 76-year-old Edward Edwards was sentenced to two life prison terms for the 1977 shooting deaths of Bill Lavaco and Judith Straub. Edwards, who’s in a wheelchair with complications of diabetes, won’t be eligible for parole until he’s 97 if he lives that long. He faces two life terms in Wisconsin for the slayings of Tim Hack and Kelly Drew. But he won’t actually do the time for those crimes unless he serves his sentence in Ohio. Still, he’ll be sentenced in Jefferson County. Officers from the Badger State were in the courtroom in Akron to take him back for that sentencing. Edwards listened to the victims’ family members express their grief about the Ohio shootings, which happened at close range. And he turned down a chance to speak for himself. Edwards answered questions with only one-or-two words. He was arrested last July after D-N-A evidence linked him to the murders of Hack and Drew as they left a wedding reception in Sullivan in 1980. Their bodies were found a number of weeks later. He confessed in April to the Ohio slayings.
Woman IDed In Wreck
6/14/10- Authorities have released the name of a Juneau woman killed in car accident in eastern Dodge County Thursday morning. 37-year-old Amy L. Toll-Bork clipped the back end of a car she was trying to pass on Highway 33 near County AY. Toll-Bork’s pick-up hit a highway embankment, went airborne and rolled several times before coming to rest in a ditch. She was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene.
BDPD Recovers Stolen Vehicle
6/14/10- The Beaver Dam Police Department recovered a stolen vehicle Thursday night. Deputy Chief Dan Schubert says officers were called to the band shell at Swan City Park in reference to possible drug activity. Three juveniles from the Dane County area were taken into custody on charges of obstruction, for allegedly withholding their identities, and marijuana possession. The vehicle – a 2001 Nissan pick-up — was stolen from Middleton and returned to the rightful owners. Two of the teens were taken to a juvenile detention facility in West Bend while the third was released to their parent’s custody.
Brothers Arrested For OWI In Same Night
6/14/10 – A Hubertus man was arrested by Dodge County Sheriff deputies early Saturday morning for his fourth Operating While Intoxicated charge. 24-year-old Joshua M. Kirsch was arrested followed a routine traffic stop on County Trunk P in the Town of Rubicon around 1am. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Joseph P. Kirsch of Hubertus was waiting to his pick-up his brother at the Dodge County jail and was also arrested for his fourth OWI.
City Smoking Ban Mirrors State
6/14/10 – The Beaver Dam Common Council will consider adoption of a local smoking ban, which closely mirrors the state statute. The ordinance has gone through multiple changes since it was first discussed in committee in April. The city had planned to go above-and-beyond the statewide ban which takes effect July 5. Original wording has been removed that would have prohibited smoking outdoors in places like taverns with patios where food is served or around volleyball courts, as well as in city park. City Attorney Mary Ann Schacht says the state has informed municipalities that they cannot adopt a smoking ban that is more stringent that the state statute. Passage of the city ordinance will allow the city to keep any money collected from fines. The public will have the opportunity to comment on the ordinance before its second reading on the council floor June 21.
