Duane Rogers of Prairie du Chien will be the new Crawford County Board Supervisor from District 5. The County Board unanimously approved of the appointment of Rogers at its regular meeting Tuesday morning.

"I am here to serve on the board and to give back to the community," said Rogers in addressing the board. Rogers replaces Tom Cornford, who had moved out of District 5.

Rogers is the senior vice president at People’s State Bank and he and his family have lived in Prairie du Chien for approximately a year. Rogers will serve on the Senior Resources and Bonds and Insurance committees.

In other business, the board heard a presentation by Gi Gi Collins regarding the Wireless 911 Grant that was applied for by 911 Coordinator Julie Cipra.

Crawford County wireless 911 services were activated in Oct. 2005, which made the county one of the first in the state to provide this service. Although the grant award did not become effective until January 2006, it grandfathered funding for any 911 centers such as Crawford County that already had wireless in place.

Wireless 911 mapping allows the dispatch center to see the location of a wireless caller on a map along with information regarding the correct emergency service agencies for that location.

Collins said that the total dollar amount collected to date is $201,635.17. Word has not been received yet as to the final amount that will be distributed. Of the $201,635.17 received to date, $23,400 must be transferred to the Land Records account. This is reimbursement for the 50 percent of the costs to create aerial photos, which will be used in the dispatch center. There is $6,257.78 from the wireless expense account that has been used for current wireless expenses, and $25,000 needs to be carried over into 2009 for future expenses.

Collins said that the balance left (before the final pending award) is $146,977.39. Since this is reimbursement for money previously spent by the county, there are no restrictions in how the funds are used or distributed, said Collins.

The board voted unanimously to refer this money to the Finance Committee.

Collins also gave a presentation to the board about the sale of tax delinquent properties at a Nov. 15 auction by Kramer Auction Service of Prairie du Chien.

The seven properties that have been finalized are in the village of Wauzeka, the village of Bell Center, the town of Marietta, the town of Scott, the town of Seneca, the town of Freeman, and the town of Utica. The total amount of the sale is $79,500. The total estimated expenses was $44,041.85. The revenue to the county is $35,458.15. The sale of two other properties from the Nov. 15 auction have yet to be finalized.

In further business, the board approved of transferring the sum of $105,000 from the contingency fund to cover deficiencies in several accounts. The deficiencies resulted because of inadequate 2008 budget appropriations. The accounts included the telephone system, property and liability insurance, city/county law enforcement S&E, law enforcement salaries, law enforcement supplies and expenses, law enforcement maintenance contracts, law enforcement transportation of juveniles, law enforcement gas and oil, law enforcement vehicle expense, and law enforcement teletype.

Hoffman Hall pool to remain open—for the present

After a lengthy debate, Prairie du Chien Common Council agreed to keep the Hoffman Hall pool open through January, 2009, and approved grant contracts totaling $188,500.

At the Dec. 4 meeting, council had adopted the proposed budget, but approved a two percent levy increase over what had been projected. This gives the city approximately $38,000 to be added into the budget. Although council was scheduled to discuss amendments to the budget last night, all action on the budget was tabled with the exception of adding $3,000 to the Hoffman Hall budget to keep the pool open one more month.

Because previous cost figures indicated the pool was an expensive drain on the city’s finances, the 2009 budget included no funds for the pool, which was scheduled to close at the end of this year.

Mayor Karl Steiner said, however, that several things are in the works which might allow the city to keep the pool open. He has had discussion with mayors from across the river about the possibility of a tri-city agreement on the pool, which could open up the possibility of obtaining grants from Iowa as well as Wisconsin. Steiner said he should have more information by the Jan. 6 meeting, and felt it would make sense to keep it open until more information is available.

Council member Kathleen Hein said when she voted for the levy increase, the pool was one of the things she had in mind. "It’s important to the city to have a fitness center," she said, and added that a new marketing study conducted by Prairie du Chien Revitalization, Inc. (PDRI) indicted that a fitness center was desirable.

Jean Titlbach added that the projected income and expenses for the pool were about even, except for the cost of utilities, which is unknown. A meeting is scheduled for Dec. 18 to discuss utility costs with state officials. The Hoffman Hall is heated by steam furnished by the prison heating plant. Council member Becky Hackett asked, "How can we close a facility when we don’t have the answers?"

The motion to keep the pool open for another month was approved, with dissenting votes cast by council members Frank Pintz and Joe Ruskey. Ruskey favored tabling all action until cost figures are determined, and Pintz said he favored selling the building and looking for other alternatives.

Garth Frable, former City Planner who currently does consulting work for the city, said the city has received contracts for two grants which total $188,500.

The first grant, a Waterfront Planning Grant from the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, is for waterfront planning, and will cover the slough area between the mainland and St. Feriole Island from Washington Street to Highway 18. The $16,000 grant requires matching funds of $18,000, but Frable said the city should not have to fund that with extra dollars, and could include staff time spent on the project in the match. Prairie du Chien, said Frable, is one of 15 communities to receive this grant.

In speaking of the grant, City Administrator Jim Gitz said there are a number of different ways the city could come up with the match, and it would give the city a way to tie in the waterfront all the way though downtown. Frable added he felt it was a gateway grant to other potential funding sources.

The Ready for Reuse Petroleum Grant from the Department of Natural Resources is the first such grant awarded in the state. The grant is to clean up contamination at the Stratton site on the corner of Blackhawk and Main. The grant is for $172,500, with a 22 percent match, $37,050, required from the city. That match can be made up, said Frable, mainly from the use of concrete and fill recycled from the summer street projects. In addition, TIF money could be used for part of the project.

Council approved both contracts.

In other business:

Classes at Bluff View have settled back to normal following a bomb threat Dec. 11 at the Prairie du Chien school.

The bomb threat was discovered in the late morning by a boy who reported handwriting that he had found on a boys’ bathroom wall. The message was written in light pencil and said, "A bomb will go off at 3:15." The message is presumed to have been written by a student.

The Prairie du Chien Police Department and Fire Department were notified immediately and responded to the scene.

"All of the authorities agreed that the hand-written message was not credible," said Prairie du Chien Superintendent Drew Johnson, who spoke to Police Chief Mike King and Fire Chief Harry Remz.

Even though the message was never considered credible, the school district and the authorities agreed that the district took the appropriate action by emptying the school from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and by having local radio station WPRE make announcements beginning at 1 p.m. The district also called the school buses in early.

"We wanted to minimize disruption to classes," said Johnson. "But, at the same time, we felt we needed to do something." Johnson said that many parents came to pick up their children early.

Johnson said that later in the day on Thursday, some students reported to school officials that they had seen the message on Wednesday, Dec. 10 and had not told anybody because they dismissed the message as non-credible.

Even though the message was never considered credible, it nevertheless caused a disruption for students, staff, parents, and the Police and Fire departments.

"This caused a big headache," said Johnson. "It was huge. It was a serious matter and quite irritating. This was not a prank." Johnson said that because the incident caused such a disruption, a monetary reward has been offered by the school district to anyone with information regarding who may have written the bomb threat message.

Johnson also said that an administrative team will further look into the matter so as to ascertain ways to respond that will cause the least disruption should a similar situation occur in the future.

Should other non-credible messages surface in the future, Johnson said that the students will be taken to other sites and instruction will continue. "School will not be getting out early," he said.

Johnson noted that the Prairie du Chien School District has a policy in place should a threat ever occur that is considered credible. In such a case, the policy would "kick in" and the school would be evacuated immediately, he said. The authorities would be contacted immediately and the appropriate course of action would continue.

While typical teenagers might be involved in sports or video games in their spare time, two young men in Prairie du Chien have a more unusual pursuit: searching for evidence of the paranormal.

They have, with the assistance of another friend, Roger Kiester, formed the Prairie du Chien Paranormal Society.

Kelten Prew and Bradley McNett, both 14 years old, started talking about their common interest during the summer. They had seen a TV show on the Discovery Channel about a cemetery in Green Lake, Wis., in which some strange things supposedly have occurred. As they understand it, there’s a mausoleum on the site, and anyone who sits on it is mysteriously pushed off. People have also reported they’ve seen small children suddenly appear before them.

The two decided to explore their own city. Armed with information from their research, including a book titled How to Hunt Ghosts, by Joshua P. Warren, they took a camera and a cell phone with a voice recorder and visited the cemetery near the movie theater. A recorder, they explained, sometimes picks up sounds that don’t register on the human ear. They got nothing on tape, but did capture some orbs-—energy from spirits—on their photographs. A true orb, they said, has a membranous appearance when magnified, and a nucleus can sometime be spotted inside it.

Roger Kiester joined them when they visited Villa Louis one evening. They couldn’t enter the grounds, but walked around the outside. When they approached the pond, they thought they heard a little girl crying. They thought at first it was the geese, but the noise from the geese wasn’t quite the same. By the time they thought to record the sound, it had stopped.

They also saw, said Bradley, "what looked like green fire in the trees, but there were no green lights around there." In addition, they observed what appeared to be two glowing eyes at the front door of the Villa, and they heard a noise that sounded like a vacuum cleaner from inside the house. The eyes appeared in conjunction with the sound. When the noise stopped, the eyes disappeared.

With the camera, they captured a large orb with a medium and a small orb next to it. They also captured a ‘vortex,’ which appears as a curved, glowing image in their photo. From what they have read, a vortex is caused by a paranormal force of greater strength than an orb.

They have heard the story about how some people have seen the ghost of Nina Dousman running into the pond with her hair on fire, but have seen nothing of that themselves. Paranormal activity, they said, is most frequently observed at places where there has been some violence.

Their standard procedure is, once they have had a ‘weird’ experience, to return home and "check it out against the evidence." They have, for example, left a message at Villa Louis, asking if anyone can explain what they saw and heard; however, since the Villa is closed for the season, they may not get a response until next spring.

The two have fashioned dousing rods out of metal rods. In theory, they said, ghosts are made up of electromagnetic energy and the rods should be attracted to it. The homemade rods aren’t working too well, and they are now saving up for purchase an electromagnetic field detector meter.

Kelten’s mother, Melanie, who admits to a combination of skepticism and worry, said she was surprised at the number of adults who, upon learning what her son and friends are up to, have suggested people with whom they should talk or places they should visit.

Kelten and Bradley are well aware that there could be rational explanations for all the things they have experienced. Orbs, for example, can be caused by light reflecting off dust or other things. They know, too, that the dark and their own fear can make the ordinary seem extra-ordinary. And yes, they admit to being afraid at times. "It gets scary at times, said Kelten, "but we have to face our fears."

Even if everything turns out to have a natural explanation, they won’t be disappointed. They are, after all, in pursuit of knowledge and understanding. "We can’t be sure it’s real," said Kelten, "but it’s cool to check it out." Said Bradley, "We’ve already looked at some things and could tell they weren’t anything unusual. One unexplained thing turned out to be a motion sensor."

In the meantime, they would like to hear from people in the area who have had unusual experiences. Anyone who has information to share can contact them via email: pdcps@yahoo.com.