BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2020 VOL. 58 NO. 14 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
NEW SCHOLARSHIPS: Benson Ace Hardware starts scholarship for Webster students P6
Four candidates head in to Congressional primary JONATHAN RICHIE EDITOR@BURNETTCOUNTYSENTINEL.COM
special.” This year, Ruiz explained that they had over 70 applicants from their high school who wanted to come and visit the states. In order to
Two candidates from each party will face off later this month in primary battles for the 7th Congressional seat. The primary will be held on Feb. 18 with the general election on May 12. The seat was held by U.S. Representative Sean Duffy who resigned his seat last September. He announced on Facebook he was resigning to focus his attention on his family. Duffy held the seat in the House of Representatives since 2011. On the republican side, Jason Church and Tom Tiffany are the two candidates. They have both been strongly supportive of President Donald Trump. Church is a U.S. Army Veteran and worked in U.S. Senator Ron Johnson’s office. He was serving in Afghanistan in 2012 when an IED blast resulted in the amputation of both of his legs. He has outlined his views on a number of opinions on his website, churchforwisconsin.com,
SEE COSTA RICA, PAGE 2
SEE CANDIDATES, PAGE 2
GRANTSBURG ROTARY CLUB
Students honored by Grantsburg Rotary Club Students from Costa Rica were welcomed at a recent Grantsburg Rotary Club meeting. The students are part of an exhange program that brings a group of students up every January and later in the year Grantsburg students have the opportunity to visit Costa Rica.
Costa Rican students visit Wisconsin ‘Grantsburg is what makes it special’ KAYLA CASEY SENTINEL STAFF
High School students from the Santa Ana Technical High School in Costa Rica have been participating in an exchange program with
the Grantsburg High School for four years now. Each year they select a certain number of students to come and spend a week with host families and experience life and school in Wisconsin in the winter. Their program
coordinator, Fabiola Ruiz, says it has been successful each and every year. “It’s not about bringing the kids to the states- because we could just go somewhere else. It’s about Grantsburg. Grantsburg is what makes it
Butler headed to state prison in child abuse case JONATHAN RICHIE EDITOR@BURNETTCOUNTYSENTINEL.COM
Mitchell L. Butler, 40, Webster, was sitting in court when the judge sentenced him to 40 years of state prison followed by 20 years of extended supervision stemming from a sexual assault case involving children under the age of 12, according to online court records. He was initially charged with four
Butler
NEWS 715-463-2341 editor@burnettcountysentinel.com
felony charges - two counts of first-degree child sexual assault – intercourse with person under 12 and two counts of child abuse – intentionally cause great bodily harm in Dec. 2018. After his plea hearing in September
both first-degree child sexual assaults were dismissed but read in for sentencing purposes and Butler was found guilty of the child abuse counts after pleading no contest. Butler is registered as a sex offender with the U.S. Department of Justice. Online records show Butler was first convicted as a felon in 1999 in a sexual assault case, which he was found guilty of third-degree sexual assault and sen-
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tenced to six years in state prison. In court last week Butler’s attorney argued for 20 years probation and imposed sentence of 15 years of state prison if his probation is violated and asked that the charges run concurrent. The child sexual assault charges were dismissed they were read in for sentencing purposes for Burnett
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SEE BUTLER, PAGE 21
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