BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015 VOL. 54 NO. 4 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
FALL COLOR: Why leaves change color each autumn. P2
Fraud and theft cases dismissed BY TODD BECKMANN SENTINEL
FILE PHOTO
Ken Gale (left) and Deb Hitchcock-Gale were in Burnett County Circuit Court for a preliminary hearing on Monday.
SIREN—At the end of the two hour preliminary hearing in Burnett County Circuit Court Monday morning, the case of theft and fraud against Debra Hitchcock-Gale and her husband Ken Gale were dismissed. Hitchcock-Gale, 54, had been charged with two counts of theft of over $10,000 from a business setting, as a party to a crime, two counts of fraudulent use of a credit card of between $5,000 and $10,000 and two counts of fraud against a financial institution in excess of $10,000. Gale, 49, had been charged, as a party to a crime, with two counts of theft of over $10,000 from a business setting. The charges were in connection with the couple’s durable power of attorney regarding the finances of Carolyn Gale, an aunt of Ken Gale who has been diagnosed as developmentally disabled. In his investigation of Hitchcock-Gale and Gale, Burnett County Sheriff’s detective Jameson Wiltrout figured $24,000 was spent on items outside the
financial agreements Carolyn Gale had. “I was concerned because the expenses didn’t fit with the Community Care agreement,” Wiltrout testified. Community Care of Central Wisconsin had a $4,800 yearly contract with Carolyn Gale to help her remain in her home (she lives with her mother). The money goes for her portion of household expenses. In his testimony, Wiltrout listed several checks Hitchcock-Gale had written and cashed which were outside that agreement. But Gale’s defense attorney, Mark F. Gherty, wasn’t buying it. “You’re throwing smoke in the room to make it appear as if a crime has been committed,” he pointed out. One check in particular, for $300, had the word ‘vacation’ written on the subject line. “Because it was outside of the agreement with Community Care, you assume they went to Wisconsin Dells,” Gherty continued. “But the Gale’s booked SEE DISMISSED, PAGE 6
Same station, new gas BY TODD BECKMANN SENTINEL
GRANTSBURG—There’s a new dinosaur in town. If you had driven on Highway 70 through Grantsburg last week, it would have been tough not to notice the marquee advertising the gas station is covered plus the canopy over the gas pumps is missing some of its pieces. That’s because the Sinclair Oil Corporation is the new gasoline supplier to the gas station at the stoplights in Grantsburg. “We didn’t sell enough gallons of gas,” Jeff Anlauf, station owner, lamented. “Our former supplier, BP gas, has a minimum number of gallons to sell each month and we were going to fall just short of that number.” Jokingly inferring the station “wasn’t worthy” of the BP name, they switched suppliers. “I guess 20 years of loyalty means nothing to them,” he continued. He made it clear from the start that switching gasoline brands is more marketing than anything else. “Sinclair offers a top-tier gasoline product just like BP,” Anlauf remarked. “Customers won’t notice a
change in either mileage or performance by using this gas.” The change will occur in shifts, the first happening last Wednesday, Sept. 30. “We changed all the cash registers — we had to switch to the way Sinclair does business,” Anlauf pointed out. Even though there’s Sinclair-branded gas in the gas station’s tanks, Anlauf said the station will boast new pumps, hopefully by the middle of the month. “The new pumps will be faste plus they have EMV-ready er c card readers,” he explained. “ “It’s just our way of protecting t card-holders who use our the s station.” The EMV reader allows mot torists to use microchipped c credit cards using a more sec cure technology. The convenience-side of the s station will not change. “Our grocery provider, Corm mark, will remain the same so w are hoping the day-to-day we o operational changes are very seamless,” Anlauf noted. “We want things to be easy for the customer.” He hopes the final updates take place by the end of the month. “The imaging will include new pieces for the canopy covering the pump area,” Anlauf concluded.
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‘We’ve got spirit’ Grace Gerber runs toward the end zone for the freshman class during Powderpuff football — part of last week’s homecoming festivities at Grantsburg High School. See story on Page 9. More photos on Page 19.
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