of Juneau County
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New Lisbon: Page 5 Wonewoc: Page 12 Hillsboro: Page 6
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THE AWARD WINNING OFFICIAL LEGAL NEWSPAPER OF JUNEAU COUNTY
VOL 15, NO. 42
THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2014
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Two area residents dead in bike accidents The Richland County Sheriff's Department reported that a LaValle woman was killed late Saturday after losing control of her motorcycle and was thrown from the vehicle. Angela Novotny, 37, was traveling north on State Highway 58 near Cunningham Ridge Road when she lost control of the motorcycle and was thrown into the west side ditch line at about 5:33 p.m. Novotny was taken to the Reedsburg Hospital, and then transported to UW-Madison by Med Flight, where she died. Saturday afternoon, the Iowa County Sheriff's Department was called to a report of a motorcycle accident on Highway 130 near Spring Valley Road in the Township of Clyde. Upon arrival, deputies discovered a single motorcycle crash had been traveling northbound on Highway 130 when the driver entered a curve and lost control. Gerhard Kolb, 83, of Lyndon Station, was ejected from the motorcycle. He was taken to Upland Hills Health Care Center in Dodgeville and then later transferred to St. Mary's Hospital in Madison. Kolb died Monday due to complications from his injuries.
SPRING VISITOR
This black bear was photographed April 29th about 8 p.m. at the home of Mary Migala on 12th Street in Necedah. He was enjoying some birdseed at his leisure.
ACCIDENT INJURES ONE On Sunday, May 25th authorities were dispatched to the intersection of North Union Street and East Monroe Street in Mauston for a multi vehicle crash. Upon arrival, law enforcement found a GMC Sonoma resting on its roof and a second vehicle, a Kia Sedona, had extensive front end damage. The driver of the Kia, 28 year old Melissa Lawrence of New Lisbon was transported by Mauston Ambulance with minor injuries to Mile Bluff Medical Center. The driver of the GMC, 20 years old Kyle Jirousek, was taken to Juneau County Jail and has been tentatively charged with OWI causing injury, felony bail jumping, and two counts of misdemeanor bail jumping. He was further charged with failing to stop at a stop sign which caused the crash. Responding and assisting at the scene were the Mauston Police, Juneau County Sheriffs Department, and Mauston Area Ambulance. MAUSTON POLICE DEPT. PHOTO
County opposes Ho-Chunk application for tax exempt land BY EVA MARIE WOYWOD The Juneau County Board of Supervisors have voted in favor of opposing a request by the Ho-Chunk Nation to the Bureau of Indian Affairs
to approve placement of land purchases in the Town of Kildare in trust. Should the Bureau of Indian Affairs approve the Nation’s request the land would become tax exempt and immune to many state, county, and local regulations. In addition to the County being opposed to the request, a petition is being circulated by citizens in the Town of Kildare who are claiming that should the 272.33 acre parcel go into trust, it would create economic and environmental hardships on the Town of Kildare and a loss of income for Juneau County, the Mauston School District, Wisconsin Technical College and the State of Wisconsin. The petition states that Kildare is a rural area (without large commercial or industrial entities) which cannot afford to lose valuation from its present tax base, especially in consideration of on-going Shared Revenues and Rebates, along with increasing municipal costs.
Further the petition states that in 1985 the Town of Kildare adopted an ordinance in July of 1985 limiting residential construction to one residence within five acres of land. The property in question, otherwise known as the White Otter Property, has two closely placed residences at the end of a cul de sac. According to the petition, the Nation’s application cites the desire for additional residential development on the location. Petitioners allege the Nation’s application is an attempt to circumvent the town’s ordinance and Kildare’s Comprehensive Plan to maintain a rural atmosphere throughout the town by standardizing home-to-acreage ratios. “Other people are denied the right to build additional residential structures. If this application is approved, HoChunk Nation would be treated as a Special Class from other taxpayers, which constitutes unequal treatment under the Constitution,” state petition-
ers. According to Beth Onofrio, Town of Kildare Clerk, the latest application by the Nation to the Bureau of Indian Affairs is a third attempt with the first attempt happening in 2001, and the second in 2011. “This is not a good thing,” she told the Juneau County Board of Supervisors at last week’s meeting of the County Board. Onofrio went on to state that if the application is approved it would mean a loss of approximately $10,000 for the County. Petitioners opposing the application feel the Nation has more than the ability to pay on the property taxes. They state the Nation purchased the property, and other highly desirable and expensive properties along the Wisconsin River with government assistance and feel the Nation neither needs nor can justify tax exemption, again emphasizing that if the application is allowed to go through it would constitute unequal treatment under the constitution.
Possible Land Deal with Necedah During the same meeting, the County Board approved moving forward with the concept of a land trade with the Village of Necedah. The land the county may consider trading is some of the land taken in just last fall and was known as the Oak Grove Golf Course. Terms of the land trade still need to be evaluated but the goal would be to utilize properties owned by both the County and the Village of Necedah so that the area could be easily marketable to developers. Currently the lots have encroachment issues. Coroner’s Report Juneau County Coroner Kathy Kohutko provided the board with a 2013 summary of the coroner’s office. Kohutko stated that her office in 2013 handled 184 deaths, the most ever. Of those 184 cases, 145 deaths with due to natural causes leaving 39 deaths due to unnatural causes. Twenty-six deaths were due to accidents, 10 were suicides. Two of the
unnatural deaths were deemed undetermined. One murder occurred in the County in 2013. District Attorney’s Report Juneau County District Attorney Michael Solovey explained to county board supervisors that his office was moving forward and handling cases in a timely and efficient manner and that felony cases were down. Solovey said that his office has been busy with trials, however, the backlog in the office was at a manageable and expected level with all cases usually being charged within 60 days from the time law enforcement turns cases over to the district attorney’s office. An area seeing a significant increase of cases are children that need state protective serves. “The cases are time intensive,” said Solovey.