“News – September 22, 2009”

Language Set for Fox Lake Detachment Referendum

 

9/22/09 – The language for November’s referendum to determine whether Fox Lake can detach from the Waupun School District and join the Randolph district has been set.  On their ballot, voters will be asked to vote yes or no to the following question.  “Shall the territory located within the City of Fox Lake and the Township of Fox Lake which is presently a part of the Waupun Area School District be detached from the Waupun Area School District and attached to the Randolph School District effective July 1, 2010?”  The detachment process began after Waupun voted to close three elementary buildings this past spring, including Fox Lake.  The districts plan to hold public hearings next month so voters can hear what the financial impact of the detachment would be.

 

BDUSD Holds Public Hearing on Budget

 

9/22/09 – School officials in Beaver Dam plan to use about $350,000 of federal stimulus money to help them balance their $48.3-million-dollar budget for the 2009-2010 school year.  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act required the funds to be used for specific programs.  Business Services Director Andrew Sarnow says they’ll use the money on existing special programs.  That will allow them to keep money they had previously committed to special education in their general fund and thereby increasing their revenues.  Sarnow presented the budget last night informing the board there would a 5.1-percent increase in the mill rate, going up to $8.85 per $1,000 of assessed value.  The board is expected to act on the budget during a meeting next month after they receive the final numbers on property values.

 

BD School Board Approves Graduation Date Change

 

9/22/09 – Seniors in the Beaver Dam School District will no longer be missing out on the last few days of classes.  That comes after the school board last night approved changing the graduation date in 2011 to the Sunday following the last day of school.  Administrators say the change is needed to maintain a learning environment.  Last year the seniors were done with classes the Wednesday before graduation and teachers say once that happened the other kids in school “checked-out” mentally.  The school board also set the 2010 graduation date at the high school for June 6th and at the alternative school for June 7th.

 

Architectural Class To Undertake BDPD Project

 

9/22/09 – Officials in Beaver Dam will get input from engineering students in moving forward with plans for a new police station on the former YMCA property.  Mayor Tom Kennedy says the opportunity presented itself by chance as part of discussions related to the Weyco project. Bob Lemke, who is a partner on a Weyco project, is a professor of architectural engineering with the Milwaukee School of Engineering and he thought the project would be a perfect fit. He says the students will be divided into three groups and gain practical, real-life experience in construction management, structural engineering and mechanical design, among other things. The work of the students is not intended to replace the work of accredited architects but may offer a different perspective to decision makers. Final designs and models will be available by the time paid engineers begin to draw up their own plans this spring.  Deputy Chief Dan Schubert says the fresh set of eyes will be welcome. The students will be designing a new police station from the ground up.  The city, however, will be deciding in coming months if they will be building new or remodeling.  The city’s Operations Committee last night approved the expenditure of $1500 for student materials.

 

Beaver Dam Approves Several Downtown Resolutions

 

9/22/09 – The Beaver Dam Common Council last night put into place more pieces of the downtown redevelopment puzzle.  Alderpersons approved a pair of developers agreements related to the Weyco Shoe Factory and former Thomas Chevrolet properties.  Weyco, which is in the process of being converted into the Beaver Dam Lake Historic Lofts, has been awarded $1.7 million in Department of Commerce grants. The resolution allows the city to act as a conduit in collecting the grant funding for redistribution to the developers.  Across the street, Silverstone Partners was approved for $90,000 in city grants for construction of senior living apartments on the Thomas Chevrolet property.  The money comes from the city’s recent settlement with landlord Pete Knaup. The city also agreed to move ahead with plans to use $117,000 in stimulus funds to clean-up leaking underground storage tanks in and around the Weyco site.

 

The council also awarded a contract to Ace Plastering of Beaver Dam for façade restoration on the sides of the buildings left exposed after this summer’s downtown demolition project.  The $54,000 contract was the second lowest but city officials say Ace had a better warranty and more effective plans for dealing with crumbling bricks.

 

Finally, the project agreement for the planned 2013 reconstruction of Highway 33 was approved.  The reconstruction will cost $3.7 million in state and federal dollars and another half million in local funds. It sets in stone plans to reduce Front Street from two-lanes to one, with left-hand turn lanes, a pedestrian island and parking on both sides of the street.

 

Number of BD Kids Living in BD has Doubled Since 2000

 

9/22/09 – The numbers of elementary kids that qualify for government lunch subsidies in the Beaver Dam School District have more than doubled since the year 2000.  The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism said 36-and-a-half percent of elementary kids in the district qualified for free-or-reduced-price school lunches last year – up from around 17-percent in the year 2000.  There were double digit increases in a number of other area districts as well including, Dodgeland, Fall River, Horicon, Randolph, Watertown, and Waupun.  The smallest increase in our area was seen in Lomira where the number of kids qualifying has increased by five-point-six-percent since the beginning of the decade.  Statewide, nearly 38-percent of elementary aged kids qualified for the lunches.  Families-of-four making less than 28-thousand dollars a year qualify for free school lunches. Those same families making less than 40-thousand qualify for reduced-prized lunches.

 

Columbus Begins Search for Police Chief

 

9/22/09 – The Columbus Police and Fire Commission met last night a they begin to look for a new Police Chief.  Notices have already been sent out and requests for applications are coming in. The Commission decided last night to keep current residency requirements in place as they search for the full time Department head. If the selection, interviews and background checks are completed on time, the selection of the Chief could come at the same time the Department begins moving to its new Ludington Street address in January.

 

Authorities Looking for Help in Finding Driver of Hit and Run in Waupun

 

9/22/09 – Waupun police are asking for help to find a hit-and-run driver who struck a boy on a city street yesterday and then fled the scene. The boy went home and told his mother about what happened. She called police and then took the boy for medical treatment. Police are looking for a white male in his teens who was driving a maroon or purple-colored Ford Taurus. The accident happened shortly after 5 p.m. in the area of North Madison and East Jefferson Streets. (KFIZ)

 

Man Found in Pewaukee Lake Identified

 

9/22/09 – A man found dead in Pewaukee Lake was the C-E-O of a marketing services company.  An autopsy was planned to determine why 69-year-old Henry Teuteberg of Oconomowoc died.  Police revealed his identity yesterday.  A fisherman found Teuteberg’s body early Sunday at the end of fishing pier in about six-feet of water.  Foul play is not suspected.  Officials said there were no signs of physical trauma, and no indications of a robbery.  Teuteberg was the head of Teuteberg Incorporated, a Wauwatosa marketing firm.

 

Corrections Department to Start Collecting Convicted Felons DNA

 

9/22/09 – Some of the convicted felons whose D-N-A never made it to a Wisconsin data-base are being ordered to give samples to their local sheriffs.  The Justice Department said last week that 12-thousand convicts don’t have their D-N-A in the data-base – even though they’re required by law to do so.  Authorities are first going after felons still under supervision but not in custody.  State corrections’ officials say felons who don’t voluntarily give D-N-A samples can be held until they do.  The Justice Department said about 10-percent of those felons don’t have samples on file.  That was discovered after accused Milwaukee serial killer Walter Ellis provided a D-N-A sample in 2001 which never made it to the data-base.

 

Wisconsin has 5th Fewest Uninsured Residents

 

9/22/09 – New figures from the U-S Census Bureau show that about nine-percent of Wisconsin residents did not have health insurance last year.  That’s consistent with other recent surveys.  And Wisconsin has the fifth-lowest rate of uninsured residents in the country, tied with Iowa and Vermont.  The annual Census survey showed that just over five-percent of Wisconsin’s kids were uninsured, while 12-percent of 18-to-64-year-olds lacked coverage.  State health services secretary Karen Timberlake says all but two-percent of Wisconsinites can get health insurance from their employers, Badger-Care-Plus, or Medicare.  Badger-Care-Plus is designed to cover all Wisconsin children – and it was expanded this year to include low-income adults without dependents.  Allison Espeseth of the Covering Kids-and-Families’ group said over 67-thousand Wisconsin kids lack health coverage – and the recession could drive that number up

 

FDL Man Kills 30 Point Buck

 

9/22/09 – A 30-point buck may seem the stuff of legends, but not for a Fond du Lac bow hunter. Wayne Schumacher says he was in his tree stand west of Fond du Lac just before dusk Sunday when a huge buck walked underneath him. Through the leaves he could make out that it had a lot of points, but didn’t get a chance to count them until his initial excitement died down. While registering it at Dutch’s Trading Post yesterday Schumacher had several people recount and the consensus on the 225-pound deer is that it was indeed a 30-point buck. (KFIZ)