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Ostrander running for one more term as sheriff

Crawford County Sheriff Robert Ostrander said that he is running for one more term as sheriff. There will be a democratic primary in September between Ostrander and former Undersheriff Jerry Moran.

Ostrander will have been sheriff for eight years following the current term. He began his duties with the Sheriff's Department in July of 1968 as a radio operator and has been with the department ever since, except for a 1.5-year stint in the 1990s. Ostrander was a road deputy, an investigator, the undersheriff, the chief investigator, the head of the traffic department and then sheriff beginning in 1999.

"I know the ins and outs of this county well," said Ostrander in an interview Tuesday afternoon.

"I would like to say that I was really shocked, let down and I felt betrayed that the person that I had appointed as my undersheriff, my right hand person, would turn around and run against me for sheriff," Ostrander said. "It's unheard of. He (Moran) must feel he has a bigger agenda"

Ostrander then touched on the recent firing of Moran as undersheriff. "It doesn't serve people well to have two bosses," he said. "I have to look out for the people of Crawford County and that's what I'm going to do" Ostrander said that he didn't take Moran's appointment away on the spur of the moment. He contacted 71 Sheriff's Departments in Wisconsin and got their opinions. He also contacted the County Attorney in Madison, the Corporation Counsel and Crawford County Public Safety Chairman Gary Knickerbocker.

"I have done a lot of good things since I've been sheriff," said Ostrander. "We are constantly working to improve communications" He cited the new communications tower that has been installed between Wauzeka and Steuben as a recent example. Ostrander noted that the tower not only serves the Sheriff's Department it also serves the Highway Department, the Wauzeka-Steuben First Responders and area fire departments and other emergency personnel when they are in the Wauzeka-Steuben area. "It's really helped communication in that area of the county," said Ostrander about the tower that he was instrumental in obtaining.

Another accomplishment in recent years is the Crawford County Dive Team. Ostrander said that he felt that the Dive Team was necessary because of the Kickapoo, the Wisconsin and the Mississippi rivers in Crawford County.

Ostrander pointed out that no public money has been spent on the Dive Team. All of the funds needed to get the team started, maintained, equipped and trained has come from fund-raisers and donations. "We're very fortunate to have good cooperation with the City Police and Grant County for the Dive Team," said Ostrander, who noted that, along with Crawford County Sheriff's Department personnel, the Prairie du Chien Police Department and the Grant County Sheriff's Department also have some of their members on the Dive Team.

Ostrander cited several instances in which the Dive Team has worked well with other agencies and in other jurisdictions. Recently, the Dive Team helped Clayton County recover a stolen safe in the Turkey River. The team has recovered two bodies in the past two years as well as recovered items for the city of Prairie du Chien at Lawler Park and for the Highway Department near the Falling Rock Bar. The team has also recovered items from the Kickapoo River for an insurance company and recovered a snowmobile in Iowa County. Ostrander said that he has invited all surrounding counties to make use of the Dive Team should the need arise.

"The Dive Team has been busy," said Ostrander, who noted that he and the county are thankful for the use of Hoffman Hall for training. In fact, the team will have another training session at Hoffman Hall in March to get used to some new communications equipment. The Dive Team has also made use of the Mississippi River for training purposes.

Ostrander said that mutual aid between agencies and other counties has also been good. "The mutual aid is great. Our people get along really well," he said. Ostrander cited area bank robberies in 2005 as one recent example when the Crawford County Sheriff's Department, the Allamakee County Sheriff's Department, the Vernon County Sheriff's Department and the FBI all worked together to solve the crimes. "We work so good together when we need to," he said. "I see no problem with that (mutual aid) at all"

An ongoing project for the Sheriff's Department is consolidating the dispatch duties with the city of Prairie du Chien. Ostrander said that the project began about a year ago and is in the now in the study phase. "This (the consolidation) should save money in the long run and the people will get better service," he said.

Ostrander explained that when the dispatch is consolidated there will be two dispatchers on duty at the same time. In addition, all dispatchers will be Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs) and will be required to be recertified every two years. Having all dispatchers be EMDs is expected to be mandated by the state within five years so Crawford County is getting ahead of the game, said Ostrander. "It's going to be good for everyone," he said.

"I think Crawford County has a very fine Sheriff's Department. There are some very good people working for the Sheriff's Department. They know their jobs and they do their jobs," said Ostrander. "In more than seven years, I have not had one grievance filed and I attribute that to the people we have and the union we have and I want to thank the people in the Sheriff's Department for that"

McCarthy aims high for yet another season

In 2006, Dan McCarthy had what most people would call an extraordinary year. The modest Wauzeka native, however, referred to it only as a "pretty fortunate year"

McCarthy, at the age of 22, dominated the Archery Shooters Association (ASA), while also bringing home the Shooter of the Year award. McCarthy explains the ASA by comparing it's structure to the PGA. Last year, McCarthy became the first shooter in ASA history to win five of the seven tournaments of the season, including the World Championship at the conclusion of the season.

Last August in Augusta, Ga., McCarthy beat out nearly 100 other contestants to win the championship in the Men's Open Pro (the highest class possible) in only his second year as a professional shooter. In his rookie season, McCarthy came in second at the World Championships, and in both 2001 and 2002 he took home the winning trophy in the young adult division.

All of the success has brought McCarthy endorsements, sponsorships, and a well-paying career. Despite all that, the young shooter says that he only plans on keeping this lifestyle for another two or three years. He sites the traveling and the stress as two of the main reasons for wanting to get out of the shooting business. For example, after New Year's McCarthy took off for Louisiana to start training for his season with the ASA. The first leg of the tour is Feb. 3-5 in Gainesville, FL. From there is Columbus, Ga. in March, Tennessee in April, Virginia and Illinois in June and ends back in Georgia in August. McCarthy chooses to drive himself to all of these events because he doesn't trust the airlines with his bow and other equipment.

After the season ends in August, McCarthy will head back home to Wisconsin to enjoy his time off doing "anything but shooting" Although he still gets out his bow when the deer season comes around, McCarthy said shooting, "used to be relaxing, but now it's just my job"

Then, in January, when deer season, Christmas and New Year's are over, he tells his parents, Bill and Tammy, friends and family good-bye and heads back out on the road. But even deciding his destination isn't that easy. Because Wisconsin's climate is obviously not adapt for year-round archery shooting, he must decide where to make his home for the remainder of the year. This time, he's renting a place in Louisiana, last year it was Tampa and the year before that he bunked in Austin, Texas. He says he likes to keep switching, because if he gets too comfortable in one place then he doesn't get enough practicing done. The less he knows about his surroundings, the better it is for his shooting.

Whatever his strategy is, it seems to be working for him. The "Shooter of the Year" is an award the ASA gives to their competitor that has highest culmination of points throughout the season. McCarthy ran far and away with the prestigious honor last year, was named Rookie of the Year the season before.

Many, including McCarthy himself, speculate on how to top the season that he had in 2005. With a World Championship win, a record-setting five tournament wins in one season and the Shooter of the Year honor, it's not hard to imagine why.

"I really don't look to beat last year... a lot of fortunate things happened that year," he said. And (laughing) "to have a season like that all the planets would have to align"

Monona boy dies in Saturday house fire

A four-year-old rural Monona boy's body was found by local firefighters who responded to the house fire around 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning on Suttle Creek Road, northeast of Monona.

The young boy, Justin Cahoon, hid in a bedroom closet when the fire started and could not be found by his mother, Melanie.

It has been reported that Justin and his five-year-old brother, Jacob, were playing with a wood stove when the fire started. When flames began climbing the walls, Jacob ran to find his mother. She took him outside and then re-entered the burning house to look for Justin.

The father, Nathan Cahoon, and the couple's eight-year-old daughter, Cassandra, were away from home at the time of the fire.

The cause of death and the cause of fire are under investigation by the Monona Fire Department, Allamakee County Medical Examiner, Allamakee County Sheriff and State Fire Marshall.

CARE works with other entities to help prevent drug and alcohol abuse

With drug arrests doubling in the Prairie du Chien area in the past year, drugs have obviously become a major concern, especially with the rise of methamphetamine manufacture, distribution and use.

While the law enforcement agencies have stepped up their efforts to combat the problem, so too have intervention organizations such as C.A.R.E.

Based at 705 S. Buchanan St. in Prairie du Chien, CARE (Crawford Abuse Resistance Effort) uses a variety of intervention and educational methods in order help area youth make good choices and to resist drug, alcohol and tobacco use. CARE also offers educational meetings for parents, teachers, emergency personnel and others concerning substance abuse.

In fact, in August of 2005, CARE helped form the Methamphetamine Task Force, which has held several meetings to discuss the best intervention strategies and the training needed. The Task Force identified three top priorities that need to be addressed: 1 - Training and education. 2 - Protocol and policies for agencies and 3 - Care, comfort and follow-up services for children of meth users-manufacturers.

On Feb. 28, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Prairie du Chien City Hall there will be a Drug Endangered Children Training (DEC) meeting. There is no cost and training will be provided by Department of Criminal Investigation Agent Cindy Geise. A drug endangered child is a child living in an environment where adults are selling, manufacturing or using drugs.

Law enforcement, medical personnel, public health professionals, social workers, prosecutors, school personnel, parent educators and other persons or professionals who work with children and their families are encouraged to attend.

Meth Awareness training sessions have been held at Prairie du Chien Memorial Hospital, Gunderson Lutheran Clinic, Southwest Wisconsin Technical College and The Bridgeport Fire Department. A DEC meeting was also held at Gunderson Lutheran.

Prairie du Chien Police Chief Mike King said that the training sessions not only help medical, law enforcement, emergency personnel, and school professionals, they have been quite an eye-opener for the vast majority of the parents who have attended, especially the 60 or so parents who attended a meth training session at Prairie du Chien Memorial Hospital.

CARE Director Rick Peterson said that one goal of the Meth Task Force is to eventually have meth intervention and prevention become a regular part of the services that CARE provides.

CARE facilitates a coalition of area businesses, agencies and community members that come together to address substance abuse issues. While in the past six months, CARE has been mounting an effort on meth, they have also been working for many years on prevention and intervention concerning substances such as marijuana, alcohol and tobacco.

"Underage drinking is the number one issue to youth in our area," said CARE Director Rick Peterson, who noted that alcohol is usually the first drug that most youth experiment with. He also said that alcohol is a "gateway" for experimentation with other drugs. Peterson explained that alcohol is often readily available in the home, and in fact, the home is the number one source for obtaining alcohol. Peterson said that when a young person drinks, their inhibitions become lowered and they are more likely to then try other drugs.

Peterson said that CARE and other organizations strive to improve the "web of support" for the area's youth. The web of support includes the six "domains," which consists of the individual, the peer group, family, school, community and society.

"With a strong web of support, there are less holes to fall through," Peterson said. "It's all about providing multiple strategies for multiple domains." Peterson said that if one or more domains is weak for a certain individual, CARE works to strengthen that domain. "We are looking to find out what is missing and how to best fill that gap," he said.

A young person is much more susceptible to dangerous substances and behavior if that person's friends are delinquents who use or value dangerous drugs, for example. If the young person can then be associated with peers who are not involved in high-risk behavior and who are involved in school, sports, recreation, service, religion or other organized activities, the young person is much less susceptible to drugs.

"Everyone in the community has a role," said CARE member Mary Sprosty in referring to the popular saying, "It takes a village to raise a child."

Programs that CARE recently helped to provide are the All Stars program and the Class Action program that are now a part of the curriculum at area schools, including Boscobel, Wauzeka, Seneca, Prairie du Chien Public and Prairie du Chien Catholic.

CARE provided the initial cost for the training and helped set up the curriculum for All Stars, which serves the sixth through eighth-grade students and Class Action, which is for high school students. About 60 teachers underwent the training and are teaching these programs as part of the regular school curriculum.

All Stars has been integrated into area classrooms over the last two to three years and discusses good decision making and what a student should do and what they shouldn't do in order to reach their goals in life. All Stars is not a series of lectures and keeps the students involved in activities that keep them entertained and intrigued.

Class Action is an eight to 10-week classroom curriculum for high school students. Underage drinking is presented as a communitywide problem, giving students the opportunity to debate the legal intricacies of alcohol-related cases involving teenagers. Class Action emphasizes the broader social and legal consequences of underage drinking rather than the sole focus on individual responsibility.

Prairie du Chien is also one of only two communities in the state that have a hospital funding drug and alcohol programs and organizations to a large extent, said Peterson, who noted that the hospital provides financial support, office space and employees in order to sustain CARE's programs and the coalition of area businesses, agencies and community members that work together to address substance abuse.

For more information, the CARE Office can be reached at (608) 357-2083 or at carecpcl@mhtc.net.

Highland Bluffs cited for construction run-off violations

According to a report filed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in early January, Highland Bluffs Resort (formerly River Bluffs Resort) was found to be in violation of their stormwater general permit. Silt-laden run-off from the construction site was flowing into an unnamed tributary of Sny Magill Creek located on the property of Jerry and Stanley Thomas. The Thomas' called the DNR to report the runoff on January 3 (the Stanleys were unavailable for comment when contacted by the Courier Press).

On January 5, Mike Wade, environmental specialist for Iowa DNR conducted an investigation at the construction site. According to Wade's report, he found several areas on the construction site where no soil stabilization work had been done, and other areas where silt fences were in need of repair and attention. Run-off had occurred with some rain and snow melt in the unusually mild weather.

Wade said the run-off was not substantial, although there is no way of calculating the amount of soil loss. Wade described the site as having "common problems."

"This is not an atypical site," he explained.

As a result of the investigation, Wade determined that there were several problems with the pollution prevention plan for the construction site.

The pollution prevention plan (PPP) is a plan developers are required to write as part of their general stormwater permit. The plan is supposed to describe the sequence of activity for the construction site, what pollution prevention measures will be taken and when, and who is responsible for pollution prevention. Among other problems, Wade noted that the Highland Bluffs PPP did not include a sequence of events for construction, the size of the site and the number of acres disturbed was not properly documented, and disturbed areas had not been stabilized within 14 days after construction was halted.

Wade met with developer Jim Daughtry and several of the contractors involved in the project on January 9 to discuss the violations. Wade explained that since a responsible party for pollution prevention was not named in the PPP, the DNR would hold all the parties equally responsible for the violation. Daughtry was out of town at press time and could not be reached for comment.

Following the meeting, a crew from C.J. Moyna and Sons Construction, Elkader, returned to the site to remedy the problems.

According to Ron Bossard, a supervisor for C.J. Moyna, his crew worked from January 12 through 14 to correct problems. Bossard sent Wade photos of the repairs, and Wade was satisfied, although he noted in his report that "Šit is apparent that these types of measures should have been conducted prior to ceasing construction."

Bossard said that although cold weather came late this year, it came on suddenly, and that his crews had been unable to complete the stabilization work. "We did what we thought we had to do," he explained.

Bossard also noted that a lake that was planned for the early stages of the construction to help contain run-off, but the design for it was never completed. So his crews simply began the grubbing and bulldozing work for the golf course.

The Iowa DNR is currently reviewing the violations found at Highland Bluffs in order to make a decision whether a fine will be imposed, and upon whom. The maximum penalty is $10,000.