News – December 15, 2011

Kennedy Will Run for 3rd Term

12/15/11 – Beaver Dam Mayor Tom Kennedy has formally announced his plan to run for a third term in office. In a statement issued to the press yesterday, Kennedy said he is running because of his love for his hometown and it has been a privilege to serve for the past four years.

He says over the past two terms and in 20 years as a city employee, he has developed a great respect for city employees and a commitment to the administration and citizens and he is prepared to again face the challenges of the position. Kennedy turned in his completed nomination packets this week. Alderpersons Don Neuert and Dona Maly turned in their completed packets last week. Alderpersons Mick McConaghy and Mary Flaherty are currently circulating papers. No non-candidacy papers have been filed yet in Beaver Dam. Elected officials in even numbered wards are on the ballot in the April election.

Grant Funding Won’t Go for the Fountain Inn Tavern

12/15/11 – City officials in Beaver Dam will be using leftover grant funding from the 2008 floods to pay for upgrades to the north side lift station. That’s according to Mayor Tom Kennedy who says the Department of Administration has given the city a verbal agreement that money originally intended for the purchase of the Fountain Inn Tavern could instead be used for the lift station. The Fountain Inn was constructed over the Beaver Dam River a century ago and is in violation of modern state statutes. Owner Jay Hoeft has rebuked buy-out attempts from both the city and the state in the past few months. The DNR could order the structure down at any time and Hoeft would be responsible for the demolition costs. Kennedy says upgrades to the lift station will help alleviate flooding in the city. The project cost is around $700,000. The city had previously received $350,000 in grants. The new grant totals $260,000. The remaining costs will be paid through storm water and sanitary sewer user fees. State officials are preparing documents to switch the grant award from the Fountain Inn project to the North Side Lift Station. The Common Council will then have to sign-off on the matter.

Postal Service Delays Planned Closings

12/15/11 – Under pressure from Congress, the U-S Postal Service has agreed to delay the planned closings of post offices and processing centers until mid-May of next year. Agency officials say they want to give Congress more time to consider legislation that could help the Postal Service fight off bankruptcy. Forty-one Wisconsin post offices were proposed for shutdowns earlier this year, including the office in Lowell. The processing centers targeted for closing are in Wausau, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Kenosha and Portage. The Postal Service was expecting a record loss of over 14-billion dollars next year, as it struggles to deal with less customer usage and rising costs for retirees’ health benefits.

Columbus Accepts Check for Funding Additional Classes

12/15/11 – Columbus Schools accepted a check this week that could open the door to additional funding for High School classes. This is the first time that a community organization donated money to fund a specific agribusiness “class.” The donation covers the cost of offering an Ag class in large animal science. The High School decided not to drop the class from the curriculum after ten students signed up to take the class and the FFA group offered to pay.

WI Supreme Court Won’t Consider New Trial for Avery

12/15/11 – The Wisconsin Supreme Court will not consider a new trial for Steven Avery in the brutal slaying of Teresa Halbach in Manitowoc County. Authorities said Avery raped, burned, and shot Halbach at his family’s auto salvage yard on Halloween of 2005 — just two-and-a-half years after he was freed from prison for a rape he didn’t commit. Avery was returned to prison for life. But he said the jury that convicted him should have been allowed to hear that others might have caused Halbach’s death. An appeals court didn’t buy that — and his public defender had asked

the Supreme Court to consider the issue. Last week, Avery filed a suit in federal court claiming his civil rights were violated by Calumet County deputies who investigated the Halbach slaying. He’s asking for 150-thousand dollars in punitive damages in that case.

Novitzke Pleads Not Guilty

12/15/11 – Jefferson County Fair Director Paul Novitzke entered a “not guilty” plea at arraignment yesterday (Wed) to charges that he used a county credit card for personal expenses. Novitzke is charged with nine felony counts of Misconduct in Office and misdemeanor Theft By False Representation. The 44-year-old was issued a credit card by the county in 2008 and the first alleged misuse of the card came the following year. According to prosecutors, he used the credit-line to purchase nearly $140 worth of merchandise from Dick’s Clothing in addition to smaller amounts at several other establishments both in Wisconsin and out-of-state. Novitzke claims he accidentally mixed-up the county card with his own personal card and says he has reimbursed the county for the money owed. An investigator on the case notes that Novitzke had recently experienced financial troubles but has a good job and is paying off his other debts. Novitzke says he will be found not guilty. He is facing over 30-years in prison.

Cappetta in Court

12/15/11 – A Watertown woman charged with trying to pass counterfeit money at the Dodge County Fair has pleaded not guilty. 30-year-old Patricia Cappetta and her husband Gerald Cappetta were arrested after getting off the Ferris wheel. According to the criminal complaint, Patricia attempted to exchange the fake $20 bills for ride tickets at several different ticket booths. Carnival employees rejected them each time but were able to provide a physical description of the couple. When questioned, authorities said their stories were “one-hundred miles apart.” Patricia said she got the bills from a gas station before they got to the fair while Gerald said they weren’t at a gas station. She changed her story to finding the money on the ground but he had already confessed to printing it on his home computer. The quality of the currency was said to be, “terrible.” Patricia has court activity early next year. Gerald was sentenced last week to one-month in jail after pleading to amended charges.

Dog Credited With Saving the Life of Farmer

12/15/11 – A dog is credited with saving the life of a farmer near Oshkosh. 57-year-old Bob Kumbier said he was recently getting a skid loader ready for snow-plowing when a raised bucket fell. It crushed his body between the bucket and the base of the machine. Kumbier said he was pinned so hard by the 250-pound bucket that he could hardly breathe. And when he yelled for help, his chocolate Labrador named Holly came to the rescue. She barked a number of times until Kumbier’s wife could hear the dog while she was baking — and she then called for help. But Vicki Kumbier said her husband would have been crushed to death without the dog. Bob Kumbier said he might have passed out if he was trapped for too much longer. He was treated at a Neenah hospital, and is expected to make a full recovery.

Legislators Debating “Wheel Tax”

12/15/11 – Wisconsin lawmakers are debating whether to make communities get voter approval before they can slap a “wheel tax” on their residents. The Assembly’s Transportation Committee held a public hearing this week on a bill from Hudson Republican Dean Knudson. Knudson’s home county of Saint Croix charges a 10-dollar annual wheel tax, which is the case in Mayville. Elected officials in Beaver Dam rejected a wheel tax proposal earlier this year. The bill would require voters to approve local vehicle registration taxes in referendums. Knudson says wheel taxes are designed to skirt around the local property tax limits approved in the new state budget. But Fort Atkinson Democrat Andy Jorgenson says it’s wrong for the state to micro-manage local governments. And Ashland Democrat Janet Bewley says those governments need some way to make up for their losses in funding.

Officials Recommend Getting a Photo ID Now to Vote

12/15/11 – If you were born outside Wisconsin, and you need a photo I-D to vote, Madison’s city clerk suggests that you act now. The state’s February primaries for local governments and school boards are about 10 weeks away. And Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl says some states take up to 10 weeks to issue certified birth certificates — one of the things you’ll need to get the I-D that will be required at the polls for the first time. The first statewide election in which the I-D’s will be required is on April third, the day of Wisconsin’s presidential primary. If recall votes are scheduled against the governor and lieutenant governor, they’ll certainly be later. That’s because the state says it will need at least until late March to determine if there are enough valid petition signatures.

Rep. Ryan a Runner Up for “Person of the Year”

12/15/11 – U-S House Republican Paul Ryan of Janesville was named today as one of four runners-up for Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year.” Time gave its much-anticipated honor to what it called “The Protestor” — the people engaged in demonstrations from Egypt and Tunisia to the Occupy Wall Street movement in this country. But Time offered high praise for Ryan, calling the House Budget chairman the most influential American politician of 2011. The magazine said Ryan used hard work, good timing and quote, “suicidal guts” to harness a major plan for tackling the rising national debt. Time said the 41-year-old Ryan offered a federal budget alternative that quote, “began to convey the scale of change necessary to defuse the American debt bomb — sweeping tax form, unprecedented spending freezes, and most important, a thorough re-invention of federal entitlements.”