News 07.13.16
13 July 2016 News
At least one person is injured following a head on collision in Green Lake County. The accident happened last Friday morning just past 9 a.m. at the intersection of State Highways 23, 73 and Pye Alley in the Town of Princeton. Green Lake County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Mark Putzke says a westbound truck pulling a boat, driven by 38-year-old Brian Zirgibel of Green Lake, turned south onto State Highway 73 and crossed into the eastbound lane. Zirgibel’s vehicle struck an SUV, driven by 68-year-old Holly Walker of Neshkoro, head-on. Walker was trapped inside the vehicle and require extrication. She was flown by medical helicopter for her injuries. Zirgibel may have sustained injuries but was not treated. Both vehicle had to be towed from the scene. The investigation into the crash continues.
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A Kenosha man charged in the cold case murder of a Sturdevant teenager in Fond du Lac County is going to prison in a drug case. At a hearing, Fond du Lac judge Peter Grimm sentenced Dennis Brantner to six and a half years in prison and seven years of extended supervision followed by 11 years probation. Brantner was convicted earlier this year on all ten counts including bail jumping and drug possession. The drugs were found in one of Brantner’s boots as he was being booked into the jail last spring after his arrest for the 1990 murder of 18 year old Berit Beck. Before handing down his sentence judge Grimm said he didn’t think Brantner was trustworthy and was a moderate risk to re-offend. The judge described Brantner as a career criminal and that society needs protection from him. Last month a mistrial was declared in Brantner’s homicide case after one jury member voted not convict Brantner of first degree murder. The District attorney is deciding whether to ask for a retrial. Brantner was charged after his fingerprints were found in Beck’s van. She disappeared after stopping at the Fond du Lac Forest Mall while en-route to a work seminar in Appleton. Her body was found about a month later in a roadside ditch near Waupun.
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The state Department of Corrections is looking into allegations a guard assaulted an inmate while he was force-feeding him. Cesar DeLeon is one of five prisoners at Waupun Correctional Institution who have refused to eat since June 7 as a protest against long-term solitary confinement. The Industrial Workers of the World, a labor union working with the inmates to promote the strike, issued a news release Monday saying that DeLeon has filed a complaint against a guard alleging he assaulted him while force-feeding him. The union also says prison officials won’t let DeLeon’s mother visit him any longer. DOC spokesman Tristan Cook says the agency has received the allegations and is reviewing them.
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A legislative committee extended emergency rules allowing captive deer farmers to opt out of the state’s chronic wasting disease monitoring program without upgrading their fences. Generally, deer farms must enroll in the monitoring program to get Department of Natural Resources’ approval for a single fence. If farms don’t participate in the program they must install double or solid fencing. The DNR board in December adopted an emergency rule allowing farmers to opt out of monitoring without having to install double or solid fencing. Agency officials says the rule simplifies deer farm regulations. The rule was set to expire June 13. The Legislature’s rule committee voted unanimously June 2 to grant a 60-day extension. DNR officials plan to adopt a permanent rule this fall.
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The state Justice Department has shrunk staffing levels in its environmental protection unit to the lowest level in 25 years. The unit had six attorneys last year compared to 10 as recently as 2008. A DOJ spokesman says he couldn’t explain the trend, although he mentioned that lawyers with the agency’s special litigation unit and solicitor general’s office work so closely with other attorneys that it’s hard to determine how much responsibility they’ve assumed for environmental protection. Carl Sinderbrand, a lawyer who once worked in the environmental unit, says the staffing reduction may reflect the dwindling number of pollution cases the Department of Natural Resources has referred for legal action. Last year fines against polluters dropped to their lowest point since at least 1994.
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Gov. Scott Walker and members of his cabinet are planning to make more than 100 stops in 10 western Wisconsin counties. Walker and more than 35 officials from his administration began the swing on Monday night. The stops included listening sessions in Altoona, Cornell and Fountain City as well as a “cabinet on the road” meeting in Ellsworth. Walker was also set to visit an industrial park fiber optic broadband expansion project at Chippewa River Industries in Chippewa Falls. He was also to tour the Baldwin Area Medical Center. First lady Tonette Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch were also participating and making a variety of stops across the area, including in New Richmond, Menomonie and Barron.
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