High Speed Chase In Beaver Dam Ends With Crash
6/29/15 – A high-speed chase in the city of Beaver Dam early Sunday morning ended with the suspect’s vehicle crashing into a house. Police Detective Ryan Klavekoske says it started around 3:20am when officers attempted to pull over a vehicle on East Industrial Drive near Seippel Boulevard for a speeding violation. The driver of the vehicle initially slowed down and came to a stop before speeding off at speeds in excess of 70mph. The driver lost control on North Spring Street near Coyote Gas and Liquor and overturned multiple times damaging several signs and a fire hydrant before striking a house at the intersection of Spring and Parallel streets. The 32-year-old driver was taken into custody on charges of Fleeing An Officer, Possession of THC and Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence along with several other citations. He was transported to the Beaver Dam Community Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Seven Injured In Three-Vehicle Crash
6/28/15 – Seven people were injured in a three vehicle accident Sunday afternoon in the Town of Herman. The wreck occurred around 4:30pm on Highway 33 and County Highway P. An eastbound Toyota slowed to make a left-hand turn into a private business when it was struck from behind. The force of the impact sent the Toyota into the westbound lane where it was stuck by a van. All four occupants of the Toyota were injured, the most serious being 60-year-old Donald Matlock of Cudahy who was flown by Flight for Life from the scene to Summit Hospital. The other three were taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in West Bend for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, including six-month-old Joslyn Gerharz, seven-year-old Austin Gerharz and 62-year-old Froma Gerharz of Cudahy. The occupants of the westbound van, 63-year-old Jefferey Muenchow and 61-year-old Karen Muenchow both of Hoicon, were also taken to St. Joseph Hospital with non-life-threating injuries. The driver of the car that struck the Toyota, 41-year-old Melanie Anzia of Mayville, sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to Hartford Hospital. The intersection of Highway 33 and County P was closed down for over two hours while the crash was investigated.
Teen Seriously Injured In Town of Fox Lake Rollover
6/28/15 – One person was seriously injured in a weekend crash in the Town of Fox Lake. The accident happened Sunday morning around 1:15am on County Highway A near Blackhawk Trail. A southbound SUV operated by 18-year-old William Walker of Markesan failed to negotiate a curve and drove through a channel of Fox Lake before striking a power pole and rolling over. Walker was transported to Theda-Clark Medical Center Center in Neenah with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The accident is under investigation by the Dodge County Crash Investigation Team.
PAVE Says Teen Text Hotline Has Been Initial Success
6/29/15 – One of the organizations that benefitted from last week’s WBEV/WXRO Children’s Radiothon says they are seeing results from one of their newest programs. People Against a Violent Environment, or PAVE, created a ‘teen text hotline’ at the end of last year. Executive Director Teresa Nienow says the crisis hotline allows people to get an immediate response from a trained advocate. While the hotline was created with teens in mind, Nienow says it’s open to people of all ages. The texting option is meant to offer a safer way for people in distress to reach PAVE instead of a phone call that could be overheard by others in the house. If someone texts the shelter about an in-depth matter, they usually ask the person to give them a call if they are in a safe place. In addition to helping the people who text in, Nienow says the hotline has brought other benefits, including making communication with the other local organizations they work with easier. She says this helps them provide a higher quality of service. Nienow says all of PAVE’s services are free and confidential since they are a non-reporting agency. The teen text hotline number is 920-344-0123. The 27-hour, WBEV/WXRO Children’s Radiothon, which ended last Friday morning, raised $113-thousand-and-210-dollars for nine non-profit organizations in the Dodge County area. The 18-year total is just over $1.62-million.
Beaver Dam Lake Days Looking To Rebuild From Tough 2014
6/29/15 – Beaver Dam’s annual Lake Days event will be returning in a couple weeks. Organizer Doug Sackett says the committee had to hold various fundraising efforts since last summer to build their account back up after an unsuccessful weekend last year. Sackett says the normal difficulties of planning a large festival were intensified by the uncooperative weather. He notes the heavy amounts of rain forcing them to call of Sunday’s show due to safety concerns. On top of the issues they had Sunday, the weather wreaked havoc on Saturday night as well. The fireworks started earlier than scheduled and the performances weren’t able to go on as planned. Despite the event losing money in 2014, Sackett says Lake Days will still run for four days this year. He says one night of fireworks will be a casualty as there will only be a show on Saturday. There will also be a cover on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This year’s event will run from July 9 through 12 at Beaver Dam’s Tahoe Park. A teen dance will be held on Thursday night. The Every Mothers Nighmare Band and Aultimate Ozzy Band will each take the stage Friday night. Those two acts will be back along with the Let It Rawk Band to make up the Saturday night lineup.
Kohl’s Reaches Settlement In California Pricing Dispute
6/29/15 – Menomonee Falls-based Kohl’s has reportedly reached a settlement of nearly one million dollars with California prosecutors over a pricing dispute. The company’s department stores were accused of charging customers more than the price which was posted on shelves and signs in four counties. The settlement was announced by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office Friday. Prosecutors in Riverside, Fresno, Santa Cruz and Shasta counties had sued, claiming customers were overcharged and information about the “Kohl’s Cash” promotion wasn’t adequately explained. Kohl’s didn’t acknowledge any wrong-doing as a part of the settlement, but the prosecutors say the company had taken steps to improve the accuracy of its pricing.
Truck Sales Outpacing Car Sales
6/29/15 – Vehicle sales in the area are generally higher than last year though numbers in Dodge County are lagging slightly. According to the Waterloo-based industry tracking firm Reg-Trak, car and light truck sales in the nine-county south central Wisconsin region from January-through-May were up 3.9-percent compared to 2014. In Dodge County, there have been five less vehicles sold this year compared to last year; year-to-date Dodge County has seen 1459 automobiles roll off the lot down three-tenths. Columbia County sales are up five-and-a-half percent to 1042; by this time last year Columbia was at 988. Jefferson County is up six-and-a-half percent with 1109 vehicles sold so far compared to 1041 by this point in 2014. Truck sales outpaced car sales with the region seeing a 13-percent increase in trucks sold while car sales were down over ten-percent.
Columbus Listening Session On Tuesday
6/29/15 – City of Columbus residents will have a chance to get many of their questions answered by council members on Tuesday. A two-hour public listening session will be held from 6pm to 8pm at Fireman’s Park Pavilion. The listening session will cover the upcoming Columbus area Department of Transportation construction projects; the possible transition to an automated city trash pick-up system; planned improvements to the pavilion and the development of a new city web site. The listening session is open to the public. This session — originally scheduled for the Fireman’s Park Rest Haven — has been moved to the pavilion on Park Avenue.
Obama In La Crosse Thursday
6/29/15 – President Obama will visit La Crosse on Thursday for the first time since he was elected in 2008. The White House confirms the visit — but for now, they’re only saying it’s an “event on the economy.” La Crosse House Democrat Ron Kind told reporters yesterday that Obama apparently wants to get reactions from folks in the Upper Midwest on how things are going. Kind says we’ve seen some good economic growth since the Great Recession — but he says Obama would be the first to admit there’s more to be done. Kind says the economy still needs more good-paying jobs to “strengthen and grow the middle class.” Obama has not been to La Crosse since October of 2008, when he first campaigned for the presidency. At that time, he spoke to around 15-thousand people at the city’s downtown convention center. The La Crosse Tribune says a sitting president has not visited the city since 2004, when Republican George W. Bush made a pair of campaign stops.
