BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2017 VOL. 56 NO. 7 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
LETTERS TO SANTA: Read what 2nd graders have to say to their Christmas hero. P26-37
Judge proposes second courtroom District Attorney speaks to number of cases department faces JONATHAN RICHIE EDITOR@BURNETTCOUNTYSENTINEL.COM
GLEN SKIFSTAD | SENTINEL
Christmas is Coming Mrs. Melin’s kindergarten class sings “Santa Claus is on His Way” at the Nelson Elementary School Christmas program earlier this week. All of Nelson’s Kindergarten and Little Pirate classes sang to a jam-packed gymnasium for their annual show.
Village board suspends officer JONATHAN RICHIE EDITOR@BURNETTCOUNTYSENTINEL.COM
SIREN–– The Siren Village board suspended police officer Trevor Thiex for 30 days following his OWI conviction. The announcement was made at the monthly village board meeting last week. Village President Dave Alden said it was village policy that Thiex be suspended 30 days from the police department. The board will have a closed session meeting on Dec. 14 to discuss and make a decision on his future with the department. “This situation is not helpful, because as you know, the police department has been very busy,” Alden said. Thiex was convicted of OWI with a passenger under the age of 16 in Shawano County on Dec. 1 and was already suspended from his duties
with the Burnett County Sheriff’s department where he serves as a deputy. Siren Chief of Police, Chris Sybers gave his monthly police report. He stated that cases for the month of November were down, but that it was a misleading statistic because his department is still dealing with the cases from other previous months. “Last year, we had 38 cases and this years it’s 44,” Sybers said. “Follow-up on cases has increased, we’re still working on last month’s 74 and before that 66 cases.” Mobilitie had a representative at the meeting who was there to answer any questions. He said the company is in the preliminary phases of the project. So far they have picked out a site for the proposed 120-foot tower by the Gandy Dancer Trail. Chief Sybers wanted to make
sure that their proposed site would need approval from the FAA and the Mobilitie representative insured Sybers that the company runs all proposals for towers by the FAA before construction. The Mobilitie representative went on to explain that the mobile carrier Sprint would be using the tower. Other actions, • The village board approved to replace boat dock at Crooked Lake Park. • The board also discussed the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application for the Southeast Neighborhood Project that would deal with replacing drainage systems. The discussion also talked about linking trails and walkways for the senior center and Gandy Dancer Trail.
GOVERNMENT CENTER –– The Public Safety meeting last week had both the District Attorney and Judge making apperances. District Attorney William Norine spoke at the meeting about his department and Circuit Court Judge Melissia Mogen talked about her start in the county and ways to make the Government Center more effective. “Last year, we had about 150 felony cases and this year we’re already at 300,” Norine said. “That’s twice as many, with the same number of prosecutors.” Judge Mogen Mogen stated that last week there were three different judges from outside of the county. She said that it is difficult being kicked out of her courtroom and had a suggestion on how to temporarily solve the problem. “As you know, our county has seen a big increase in caseload and we have visiting judges here at minimum three days per week,” Mogen said. “I know we don’t have funds right now to build a second courtroom, but I am a brainstormer and I try to think of ways we can do things more efficiently without spending a lot of money.” Mogen explained that with a few adjustments the board room at the Government Center, that is used for the county board of supervisors, could be slightly modified to be a second courtroom to accommodate visiting judges. She went on to talk about opening up one of the tables for the witness stand and how her laptop is too slow and needs a CCAP computer. CCAP is a case management system the courts use. Mogen also talked about the tremendous workload her department is facing. She gave an example of one day at work having 705 criminal cases, when she checked it the next day it was up to 789 criminal cases. “Most of these are felony cases involving meth and heroin,” Mogen said. “This is a true epidemic and I’m not sure what to do about it.” She described her efforts to make people more responsible in her courtroom and respecting the court. She said she is already noticing a difference. SEE MOGEN, PAGE 2
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