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October 6, 2004
The long, winding road to Seneca 
 The drive from Gays Mills to Seneca usually takes less than half an hour. But for the Crawford County highway department, the trip took nearly two years. The new highway department facility celebrates the journey and their new location with an Open House this Saturday October 9. The trip began when the Crawford County applied for and received approval for over $700,000 in funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) back in 2001, after heavy flooding on the Mississippi River affected many parts of the county. Ironically, it was not the 2001 flood that affected the highway department headquarters in Gays Mills, but the flooding on the Kickapoo River in 2000. According to highway commissioner Dennis Pelock, the county applied for FEMA funds to move the shop in 2000, but federal funding for the county ran out before the project was considered. Trying to care for the county's highway system from a flooded building was difficult. "What was most frustrating," said Pelock, "was spending time evacuating your own facility, instead of helping people in the county." The building that housed the headquarters in Gays Mills had a history. It had belonged to a man named E. Tex Reddick who had run a metal manufacturing operation called Regal Products that specialized in flat-bottom boats and oil stoves. The county bought it from him in 1949, when he decided to move his operation to northern Wisconsin. But the highway department didn't need a building with a history as much as it needed one that would stay dry and better accommodate the fleet of trucks and additional office space. The location they selected just south of Seneca on State Highway 27, is one of the highest places in the county, Pelock believes, far from the reach of any flood waters. The 42-acre site was chosen in part because of the access to city water and sewer from Seneca. No farm was broken up for it, said Pelock. The acreage came from a nearby farm that had already been subdivided. Several new buildings are located at the site. There is a much larger maintenance shop, a sign shop and a new office. There is plenty of parking/storage space for trucks and vehicles. While the FEMA dollars paid for the actual costs of demolition of the old building and to move all of the equipment and supplies to the new site, the property and the new buildings were paid for by the county with a $2,025,000 bond. Pelock said the project is $200,000 under the estimated cost of $2,712,000. The ordinary costs and complications for this type of a project weren't all that the highway department had to deal with. Unfortunately, the former location in Gays Mills had been contaminated by the manufacturing and possibly other activities at the site . A residue of chlorinated solvents was found in the soil. This meant going through a process of evaluating the level of contamination, creating a plan to clean it up and finding funding for that specific project. The county had to remove 500 cubic yards of soil, and clean up some petroleum contamination as well. The cleanup is now nearly complete, and was funded in part with monies from the state Department of Commerce and the Department of Natural Resources. Despite the fact that relocation has been a lengthy process dotted with a few setbacks, Dennis Pelock is satisfied. "It has been a great project. The county board has been very helpful and supportive. This has been a good move for Crawford County," he concluded. The highway department actually moved into their new facilities late in 2003. They had planned to hold an Open House last spring, but flooding from heavy rains postponed their plans. The Open House will be held Saturday, Oct. 9, from 1p.m. to 4 p.m. at the new location at 21515 State Hwy. 27, just south of Seneca. Refreshments will be served and a collection of interesting historic photos and county maps will be displayed. Call the Crawford County Highway Department for more information at (608) 734-9500.

City Council denies request for police resource officer
Last night's city council meeting was pretty routine until it came to item number 14 on the agenda: the police resource or liaison officer. Prairie du Chien High School Principal Andy Banasik knew that he faced an uphill battle after his verbal confrontation with the Council at the last Committee of the Whole meeting. So he and other supporters of the idea appeared at the meeting in force to show support for the idea and to speak.

The police resource officer position is a new community crime-fighting tool. It is usually a cooperative effort between a city and their police department with the local school district. A police officer is stationed at the school to deal with students and issues if there are problems with violence, bullying, or other legal or family issues that students may need help with. A number of other cities in Wisconsin, many smaller than Prairie du Chien, have created such a position and funded it initially with federal grant assistance. Generally the results from in schools and communities have been impressive, according to supporters of the idea. Police Chief Mike King addressed the issue first, because he said, it was his idea. He told the Council that he approached the school with the idea because of the positive results that it could bring and because there is federal funding available for the position. The primary value of the police resource officer, said King, was the ability to affect young lives before major problems arise. "The idea is to be proactive, to prevent problems," said King. "Students don't pick up the phone to call the police if there is a problem. But a resource officer is a face and a person to the kids," he said. More discussion on the topic was postponed briefly to await the arrival of two resource officers from Dodgeville who were to address the council. When the two men came a few minutes later, Banasick went on to call five more individuals to testify about the value of the resource officer position, including Rick Peterson of the Crawford County Abuse Resistance Effort (CARE Council), Tracy Morovits, the juvenile probation officer for Crawford County, Judge Michael Kirchman, Gary Knickenbocker, a local youth mentor and Tim Baxter, Crawford County district attorney. Each offered reasons why the resource officer would be important to the community. Tracy Morovits presented one of the most compelling arguments. Her job is to deal with youth offenders who may need to be placed in a correctional setting outside the home. She explained the burdensome cost to the County of placing kids in the juvenile corrections system. The cost to place one boy in such a facility recently was $44,000 for six months. She noted that these expenses were picked up by the county, although 41 percent of her case load is with youths from the city of Prairie di Chien. "The school resource officer provides a preventive approach. It's quite costly to come in after problems develop," she said. Last to speak was officer Dave Bauer of the Dodgeville Police Department. Bauer had started the position of resource officer as an intern after completing his law enforcement training, then was hired on and later promoted. Dressed in cargo pants and a casual shirt along with his belt and his gun, Bauer explained that this was how he dressed for his job at the school because uniforms were too intimidating for the students. He said that the core of the job is building positive relationships in a non-confrontational setting. The council asked him what an ordinary day included. Bauer explained that he would check police logs before going to work to see if any incidents had occurred over night that might affect a student that he could help. Then he said he assisted in monitoring the halls, responding to complaints about harassment and bullying, and answered a lot of questions from students. The students also give him tips about drug activity, sexual activity and abuse and cases of child neglect and abuse. He said that his work during the school day prevented a lot of police calls before and after school. The program was so effective that when grant funding for the position ran out, the city and the school district dug deeper into their pockets to support it. Lt. Ron Gratz, a Prairie du Chien native and also a member of the Dodgeville police force, is training to take over Bauer's position as police resource officer. He said he was astounded at the serious issues advised the council on the value of the position. Despite all of the testimony in favor of the creation of the police resource officer position, the city council was not ultimately convinced it was necessary. David Hemmer made a motion to approve the plan that the city try the position for one year on a trial basis, saying that he had been against it, but had changed his mind. Bonnie Homuth seconded the motion. But on a role call vote, the measure was soundly defeated 8 votes to 3, with Phil Dagnon joining Homuth and Hemmer. Luanne Nuemann has also expressed support for the idea in the past, but she was not present. Principal Andy Banasik said that while he was very disappointed with the council's vote, he will move forward. He also noted that through the process a lot of positive and useful connections has been made between the school, the judicial and human service agencies. Speaking of the ad-hoc committee that had come together to organize and lobby for the police resource officer, he said, "We will reconvene and look at other ideas to help kids. We feel that kids are our greatest resource."

October 4, 2004

PdC man, 20, dead after rollover accident in cemetery
On Saturday, Oct. 2, at 11:20 p.m. the Crawford County Sheriff's Department was notified of a one vehicle rollover on County Highway K approximately one-half mile south of Cliffwood Drive in Prairie du Chien Township. Justin Westbrook, 20, of Prairie du Chien, was southbound on County K driving a 1997 Chevy Monte Carlo when he lost control negotiating a curve. The vehicle skidded across the centerline and rolled several times in the Calvary Cemetery. Westbrook was ejected from the vehicle. Prairie du Chien EMS transported him to the Prairie du Chien hospital and then he was taken to Gundersen Lutheran by Med Link. Shortly after arriving at Gundersen Lutheran, Westbrook died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash. Assisting at the scene was the Wisconsin State Patrol, Prairie du Chien Police Department, Prairie du Chien EMS, Fire Department and First Responders. The accident remains under investigation.

$17,000 grant will help create more effective reponse to domestic violence Domestic violence is against the law.
It's the same crime we call 'assault' when it happens between people who are not in a domestic or intimate relationship. In 2002, 38 women in Wisconsin were domestic violence homicide victims. Domestic violence happens everywhere, among people of all ages, races, genders and socioeconomic groups. As the Crawford County Domestic Violence coordinator, June Hoeger knows the grim facts about this all-too common crime. A new $17,000 grant will help her and other professionals in the criminal justice and social service system do a better job serving domestic abuse victims. The grant will be used to help build a Coordinated Community Response (CCR) program. The Crawford County grant was the only new CCR program funded by the state this year. The grant is funded through Wisconsin's Office of Justice Assistance. City planner Garth Frable and police chief Mike King were instrumental in writing the grant and assisting with the project, Hoeger said. A major obstacle in assisting abuse victims lies in the fact that a victim may approach any one of a number of different agencies for help ‹ a hospital, a police officer or sheriff, or even a school counselor. And individuals in that agency may not be trained how to help her, or know who to refer her to for help. When that happens, the victim may not be provided adequate services, and often falls through the cracks of the system. Coordinated Community Response's aim is eliminate that problem, and to "change the climate of tolerance of battering by institutionalizing practices and procedures which centralize victim safety and offender accountability," according to their mission statement. Hoeger is working right now sending out questionnaires to the Prairie du Chien Hospital, Catholic Charities, Crawford County Human Resources, the district attorney's office, the PdC high school guidance counselors and others, to identify what procedures are used to interact with domestic violence victims. "By pulling all of the agencies together, we can find out where the gaps are that victims fall through," said Hoeger. "If everyone knows what everyone else's role is, we can help each other and ultimately, the victim," she added. After the questionnaires are filled out and returned agencies will draft memorandum of understanding with each other to clarify and set procedural roles. Later, representatives from these agencies will form a team. The team will meet for a training session with Lori Jorgenson, a representative from the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence, who trains CCR teams all over the state. After training, the team will become a primary force to maximize the safety of victims and hold offenders responsible for their violence. Funding for the new program runs through July, 2005.

Victims, survivors to be remembered at candlelight vigil next Wednesday October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month
When June Hoeger began working as the Domestic Violence coordinator for Crawford County six years ago, there were days when the phone hardly rang. "People didn't believe there was domestic abuse in Crawford County and victims did not know I was here to help," she said. Since then things have changed. June decided that she had to get active in the community in order to create a greater awareness of the problem, and the help she could offer. "I started getting out and meeting with people, police officers, nurses at the hospitals, social workers, high school counselors. And the phone started ringing." Now June is very busy. Not only does she assist individuals who are trying to get out of an abusive situation, she also helps people find other types of resources and help they need, such as financial assistance or transportation. She also teaches a healthy relationships class to high school students and works with offenders at the prison to help them learn new, healthy ways to interact with women and deal with anger. "Most of the people in correctional institutions are also victims of family violence," she noted. But of all of the very important work she does, perhaps the most important is public education. "Domestic abuse is everywhere, so we have to pull together as a whole community to break the cycle," she said. Domestic abuse affects everyone. Victims and batterers or people who know them are among our neighbors, co-workers, our children's friends. The statistics about domestic violence are sobering:

€ An estimated 3 to 4 million American women are battered each year by their husbands or partners.

€ The battering of women during pregnancy causes more birth defects than all of the diseases put together for which children are usually immunized.

€ Children of abused mothers are at a six times more likely to attempt suicide and 50 percent more likely to abuse alcohol or drugs.

€50 percent of all homeless women and children are fleeing domestic violence.

€ Women who leave their batterers are at a 75 percent greater risk of being killed by their abusers than those who stay* In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October, several events are being held to raise community awareness. A Candlelight Vigil for women and children who have died as a result of domestic violence will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 13 starting at 6:30 p.m. in front of the Public Library. A Domestic Violence Awareness Banquet will be held at Huckleberry's Restaurant on Wednesday, Oct. 27, at 11:30 a.m. Everyone is welcome. Call 326-0248 for more information.

If you or someone you know is a victim of abuse, call the Domestic Abuse helpline toll- free 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week, at 888-200-8426. For more information on Crawford County Domestic Violence programs, call June Hoeger at 326-7152.
 
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