BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2016 VOL. 54 NO. 49 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
LONG TIME COMING: Grantsburg’s Country Store getting set to sell gas again. P2
First court appearances in three major cases BY STEVE BRIGGS SENTINEL
SIREN—Defendants in three prominent Burnett County Circuit Court cases made their initial appearances on Wednesday, Aug. 10.
BILL THORNLEY | SPOONER ADVOCATE
Clowning around Saturday was a fun day for clowning around during Webster’s 100th birthday. Here, Mom Heather Henning (center), Marissa Henning (left) and Caden Dirkx of Maple Grove, Minn., don clown noses for the festivities. More photos on Page 12-13.
Town, village boards start flood repairs BY STEVE BRIGGS SENTINEL
SIREN–Burnett County town and village board members met Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 16, at theBurnett County Government Center to learn more about disaster
relief funds that the President approved to help repair Wisconsin’s July storm and flood damage. Burnett County Emergency Management Director Rhonda Reynolds led the meeting, with assistance from County Highway Commissioner Mike Hoefs.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced Aug. 9 that federal disaster aid will be provided to the state of Wisconsin to supplement tribal,
water and sometimes causes the water to turn bright green. Water from the Siren treatment plant flows into wetlands adjoining Little Doctor and Big Doctor Lakes, but the phosphorous level exceeds the wetlands’ ability to filter it out.
JACK ROBERT GARCIA Jack Robert Garcia of Braham and Richfield, Minn., made his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon on a variety of felony charges stemming from an alleged shooting July 17 in Siren, in which one man was airlifted to a Twin Cities hospital with a gunshot wound to the thigh. Garcia, 42, was represented in court by Public Defender James McLaughlin. Garcia entered not guilty pleas on all charges. His next court appearance will be at a status Jack Garcia conference at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2. Garcia remains in custody in Burnett County
SEE ALGAE, PAGE 6
SEE COURT, PAGE 6
SEE RELIEF, PAGE 7
Working with the lake association BY STEVE BRIGGS SENTINEL
SIREN—In a special meeting on Tuesday morning, Aug. 9, the Siren Village Board accepted an offer of private funds to help pay part of the cost of adding a waste water treatment chemical that eventually will make the water clearer in Big Doc-
tor Lake. The village board agreed to start adding aluminum sulfate (alum) to waste water at the Siren sewage treatment plant to reduce the high level of phosphorous getting into the lake via Siren sewage plant effluent. Excess phosphorous increases algae growth in the lake
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DOROTHY ANN WHITE Several church members and the pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church of rural Grantsburg watched from the courtroom’s spectator area Wednesday morning as their former church treasurer, Dorothy Ann White, made her first appearance on three charges of allegedly embezzling money from the church. She was represented by Attorney David Grindell. In response to questions from Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Kutz, White waived her right to a preliminary hearing. Judge Kutz found probable cause exists to believe White may have committed one or more felonies, and bound her over for trial. Grindell told the judge his client had reviewed the three charges filed against her and understood the charges. She pleaded not guilty to each. White had previously posted bond and was accompanied to court by her husband. The case’s next court date will be a status conference at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26 in Burnett County Circuit Court. At that time, attorneys for the State and White will consult and determine whether there is an opportunity to settle the case or move toward setting a trial date. White, 61, was charged in March with three counts of theft from Bethany during a three-year period, totaling more than $83,000.
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