News – September 10, 2016

Numerous Events Throughout Wisconsin In Observance Of 9/11

 

9/10/16 – Numerous events are being held in Wisconsin this weekend to observe the 15th anniversary of the September eleventh terrorist attacks. One thing that’s always visible is a unique memorial outside the state’s National Guard headquarters in Madison. It has metal from the World Trade Center, broken limestone from the Pentagon, and granite from Shanksville, Pennsylvania where a plane crashed before it could reach another Washington landmark. State Adjutant General Donald Dunbar tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he’ll stop at the memorial from time to time and reflect — and soliders and airmen will walk up to it with their families. He calls the memorial “a symbolic thought that we try to do everything we can to avoid attacks like that in the future.”

 

Beaver Dam Yoga Event Honors First Responders

 

9/10/16 – There is a unique event in Beaver Dam Sunday in observance of September 11th. It’s called “Yoga Flow To Give” and its billed as an opportunity to “honor Beaver Dam’s First Responders while paying respect to the memory of the victims and survivors of 9/11.”  The event is free but donations are encouraged. All first responders who attend will receive free ice cream and a wristband. Proceeds will be donated to the Beaver Dam police and fire departments in their efforts for fire prevention, community relations and educational programs for area children. Yoga Flow To Give begins with an opening reception at 12:15pm tomorrow that includes comments by Beaver Dam Fire Chief Alan Mannel. There are two, half-hour yoga sequences that are beginner-friendly beginning at 12:30pm and 1:30pm. Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt will provide closing remarks prior to the second yoga flow. There is also music, entertainment and refreshments. The event is being held at Wayland Academy’s Athletic Field.

 

Columbus Olympian To Be Honored With Sunday Parade

 

9/10/16 – The public has a chance to celebrate the accomplishments of a local Olympian on Sunday.  A ‘welcome home’ parade is being held in Columbus around 11:30am for Heather Miller-Koch.  The track and field star represented the United States in the heptathlon at last month’s Rio games, finishing 18th.  The 29-year-old Miller-Koch is a 2005 graduate of Columbus High School.  The parade gets underway at the Columbus Community Hospital, continues down Park Avenue to the ‘four corners,’ and heads back to Fireman’s Park.

 

Beaver Dam Pepper Festival Is Today

 

9/10/16 – An event in Beaver Dam Saturday is raising money for two local organizations.  The third annual Beaver Dam Pepper Festival runs from 9am to 4pm at the Park Village Shopping Center.  People have the chance to learn about the history and origins of the Beaver Dam pepper, which Hungarian immigrants brought to the United States over 100 years ago.  A variety of foods made with the pepper will be offered, including pancakes, fritters, pies, and cheese curds.  All proceeds benefit two local organizations.  Downtown Beaver Dam Inc’s Karla Jensen says her group’s funds will go toward painting murals for next summer’s five day, downtown festival.  Jensen says 200 artists will descend on Beaver Dam to paint between eight and 14 murals.  The Beaver Dam Area Community Theatre’s Venita Matheus says her group’s funds will go toward its $2,400,000 building campaign.  BDACT recently purchased the old St. Patrick’s Catholic School and want to renovate it into a new handicap-accessible theatre, equipped with an elevator and handicap seating. The theatre is offering face-painting today and they will also be giving a $5 reward to every kid age six to 14 who reads an original poem about the Beaver Dam Pepper on the Pepper Fest stage.

 

Hustisford Is Celebrating 80 Years Of Its Community Hall

 

9/10/16 – One local community is celebrating the 80 year anniversary of its gathering place.  Hustisford’s Community Hall was built in 1936.  Village President Dennis Uecker says the firemen owned and operated the hall, using it to hold fundraising events to cover equipment purchases.  Within the last two years, Uecker says the firemen approached the village about taking over ownership since the firefighters no longer had time to manage the facility.  The village now owns the building and leases it through the newly-formed Hustisford Community Hall Association.  The village is holding a trio of events at the community hall this month to celebrate the anniversary.  The first one is a pig roast today, which runs from 4 to 8 pm.  Prior to the roast, a wood carving demonstration starts at 1 pm.  Dexter Road will perform in the dance hall between 7-11 pm.  On Friday, the village is having a fish fry from 4:30-8:30 pm.  Uecker says the final event is a polka dance on September 25, which is reminiscent to the times when local polka bands would play at the hall each Wednesday night.  The polka dance runs from 1-5 pm.

 

Wisconsin AG Appealing Dassey Release

 

9/10/16 – Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel filed a notice of appeal Friday afternoon in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in the retrial of Brendan Dassey. A federal magistrate last month ordered Dassey to be freed within 90 days unless prosecutors decide to re-try him. Dassey and his uncle, Steven Avery were convicted of murdering Teresa Halbach eleven years ago in Manitowoc County when Dassey was 16-years-old. The magistrate said that investigators used deceptive tactics in obtaining a confession, making false promises to Dassey by assuring him “he had nothing to worry about.” The judge said those repeated false promises combined with Dassey’s age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult, rendered his confession involuntary under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Both Avery and Dassey are serving separate life sentences. The State of Wisconsin will appeal the decision to free Dassey. Per the magistrate’s decision, the Court’s order is stayed pending the outcome of the appeal.

 

Both Teens Plead Insanity In Slenderman Stabbing

 

9/10/16 – Both defendants in Waukesha’s Slender Man stabbing case have now pleaded insanity. Fourteen-year-old Anissa Weier changed her plea Friday morning to not guilty by reason of mental disease — and Circuit Judge Michael Bohren ordered two doctors to examine her mental competency before she returns to court October 13th. Weier pleaded not guilty last August to her adult charge of attempted homicide. She and Morgan Geyser have both pleaded insanity to allegations that they stabbed classmate Peyton Leutner 19 times in May of 2014 in allegiance to the online horror character Slender Man. Geyser also returns to court October 13th, when the judge could consider a defense request to either move Geyser’s trial or bring in a jury from outside Waukesha County.

 

Sentencing Set In Fond du Lac Sports Betting Extortion Case

 

9/10/16 – Sports betting tipster Adam Meyer is scheduled to be sentenced December ninth, after he pleaded guilty to bilking a Fond du Lac businessman out of 45-million dollars. Meyer, of Florida, struck a plea deal that convicted him of extortion and racketeering, and prosecutors say they’ll seek a 12 year prison sentence while Meyer asks for five years. New federal court documents in Milwaukee show that Gary Sadoff paid 45-million dollars in a two year period ending in early 2011 in a false claim that a bookie threatened Meyer’s life if he didn’t pay a large amount the bookie claimed he was owed. Reports say an actor held a gun to Meyer’s head when they met with Sadoff in 2012, forcing the victim to pay millions to Meyer each time. The total loss in the scam was twice what was earlier reported.

 

Dodge County Plat Book Printer Recommended

 

9/10/16 – The Dodge County Board’s Executive Committee at its meeting this week recommended to the full county board the company that should print the county’s new plat books.  JP Graphics of Appleton was suggested after coming in as the lowest of four bidders at $2,820 to print 800 copies.  Clerk Karen Gibson says the 80 page book shows all property ownership and public hunting lands in the county’s 24 towns.  Maps of the cities and villages are also included.  A new plat book is released every two or three years.  Gibson says the latest edition should be available for purchase in late November.  Cost is $30 per book plus $3.50 shipping for each book.  Checks can be dropped off or mailed to the county clerk’s office at the Dodge County Administration Building in Juneau.  Gibson says copies of the 2014 book are still available.