Green Bay News

TOWN OF MENASHA – Hundreds of people gathered in Fritse Park Thursday to remember the victims of the trestle trail shooting.

Thursday being the national day of prayer, those who gathered joined hands and prayed together.

“You give and take away,” attendees sang as the vigil began.

Something very dear was taken away from the Fox Cities Sunday night, a sense of safety, a sense of happiness, but these people joined together to take it back.

“We’re gonna have an opportunity to heal and there’s just such a hope that we get to share,” explained Landon Churchill, Pastor of Freedom Fellowship in Kaukauna.

Those that gathered held hands and leaned on one another for support.

Attendees prayed for the victims of the trestle trail shooting.

“As hard as it is, you’ve gotta continue on with daily life and get over the tragedy and keep them in your memories,” Andrew Voecks of Appleton told FOX 11.

They also prayed for the family of the shooter, Sergio Valencia Del Toro.

“I think of his fiancee and all their family and my heart just aches for them,” said Debbie Smoll of Neenah.

After the prayers, hundreds walked across the Friendship Trestle Trail, an act that showed this is still a place meant for fun and joy.

“Satan tried to put fear and terror in people’s hearts and we need to take it back. We need to know that it’s a safe place. It’s beautiful,” said Smoll.

People later joined in a pot luck dinner, enjoying the park, weather and sense of togetherness.

“Just says that there are people who really do care, because it would be easy just to write off, but we are all grieving, whether we like it or not,” said Churchill.

But those we spoke with told us that grief can’t last forever and Thursday, they asked a higher power to help renew the park, trail and community.

Denmark visited West De Pere in a Bay Conference baseball game Thursday.

West De Pere won, 4-1.

BROWN COUNTY – When the half percent sales tax for Lambeau Field’s renovations ends in September, there will be millions of dollars in extra money.

A state representative introduced a plan Thursday for what should be done with the money.

For the past fifteen years, the half percent sales tax in Brown County has helped pay for Lambeau Field’s renovations and up keep.

At the end of March, the goal of the sales tax was reached. However, the tax will still be in place until September. Between those six months, based on low-end projections, about $8 to $10 million in excess revenue will be generated.

“It is my belief that it is in the best interest of the taxpayer and consistent with originating law to have that money as soon as practically possible returned to the taxpayers,” said State Rep. David Steffen, a Green Bay Republican.

Steffen plans to introduce legislation for the excess revenue in August or September. Under his plan, 25 percent of that $8 to $10 million would go to the county for arena property upgrades. The other 75 percent would be distributed to the county’s municipalities based on population. The municipalities would be required to use the money for either debt reduction or economic development.

“To give that back to the municipalities and have them put that in economic development or debt reduction, that’s a wise thing to do,” said Jim Schmitt, Green Bay’s mayor.

The stadium district board has been working on plans for the excess revenue for the past two years. It hasn’t taken an official stance on Steffen’s plan.

“I’m not personally opposed to what he is doing,” said Pat Webb, executive director of the stadium district board. “I just think the timing is off because we haven’t resolved the issues of the future management of the stadium.”

Webb says any plan should be tied to whether the stadium district board dissolves.

“Additional legislation has to be taken care of and we would like to kind of do a comprehensive plan like we’ve done all along and get all the parties involved in it and determine what’s the best route to go,” said Webb.

If nothing is done, under state law, the eight to ten million dollars would sit in a fund until 2031. Everyone involved agrees, that is something they do not want to happen.

Under current legislation, any excess sales tax revenue must go back to Brown County municipalities. New legislation would be required to make that revenue available before 2031 and for some of it to go toward future arena work.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The state Department of Justice would get four more positions to help investigative officer-involved deaths under a plan the Legislature’s finance committee has tacked onto the state budget.

State law requires outside agencies to probe officer-involved deaths. DOJ officials say they’ve become the go-to agency to handle local police departments’ incidents. A report released last week found DOJ has investigated 12 deaths since the law took effect in April 2014, up 71 percent from seven investigations in 2013.

DOJ asked Gov. Scott Walker to create five new positions in his state budget proposal to handle such probes. Walker didn’t address the request in his spending plan. The finance committee on Thursday gave the agency four positions funded by about $600,000 from criminal penalty surcharges over the next two years.

TOWNSHIP OF LIND – Two people were arrested in Waupaca Co. after a search warrant seized marijuana, drug paraphernalia and more than $5,000 worth of heroin.

At 7:43 a.m. on Thursday investigators conducted a search warrant at a home on Shadow Road in the Township of Lind.

Authorities found 11.55 grams of heroin, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and money in the home.

A 32-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman, both from Waupaca, were taken into custody.

Waupaca police say this arrest was part of a much larger drug investigation and they anticipate more arrests in the future.

A National Day of Prayer event was held May 7, 2015 to honor those who lost their lives during the tragic shooting on Trestle Trail Bridge, May 3, 2015.

NEENAH – The Little Chute woman who lost her foot and part of her leg because her husband allegedly ran her over with the family minivan was released from the hospital Thursday.

Right now, her husband is behind bars, charged with attempted murder.

The incident happened last month at their home.

While Pachia Lor is recovering, she’s also remembering what happened on April 27, 2015.

“I just saw this car racing and accelerating and squeaking and coming, rushing toward me,” Lor.

Prosecutors say Lor’s husband, Zohn Yang, drove the family minivan into the garage intent on taking her life.

Lor says she went flying. Her husband ran to her side.

“And say, ‘Oh honey, I’m sorry I run into you on accident, by an accident,” said Lor.

Lor says the day of the crash the couple didn’t speak much.

“The week before we fight, and he made some threats, and he using a gun, and he threat me and he harassing that people died without any cause of accident. It looks like an accident but is not,” Lor said.

Still, she didn’t think her life was in danger.

“I never come into my mind that he intention to kill me until I start to put the pieces of the puzzle together and that’s where I realized that it wasn’t an accident,” explained Lor.

Lor describes her 20 year marriage as filled with fights and threats.

The couple even filed and then withdrew divorce papers.

She says she didn’t report the abuse to police because of the Hmong culture. Clan leaders were called instead.

“Every time we’d fight they’d come in and consult and try to solve it peacefully without involving the authorities,” Lor said.

Court documents show Yang told investigators he was going to kill Lor when he floored the accelerator.

“He may well have been upset with his wife over a potential affair, but that doesn’t necessarily lead to the conclusion that this was an intentional act,” said Brandt Swardenski, Yang’s Attorney.

“He doesn’t want me to do community work, he doesn’t want me to have any friends, he wanted me to stay home go to work come home he doesn’t want me to talk to other people,” Lor said.

Yang’s attorney says English is his client’s second language and that may have been a factor in his communication with police. He adds his client has no prior record.

“There’s still the distinct possibility that as we learn more about what happened that this could have been a terrible accident,” Swardenski said.

“A part of me still love him, I still prayed and asking God to forgive him,” said Lor. “I don’t understand how he can do it because I would never have a heart to kill him.”

Lor says she wants to send a message to domestic abuse victims.

“Go find help before it’s too late.”

Lor says she’s thankful she’s alive, but adds her future looks dark.

“I’m going to take a step at a time, and I don’t know what’s going to be,” said Lor.

Lor will now stay at a rehab center. However, she says several more surgeries are ahead.

She is asking for donations through a Go Fund Me site to help with her recovery. For more information on how you can help, click here.

CLEVELAND – Jackie Mayer and her husband, Scott, pray each day that their son Dillon can just live a normal life. The 14-year-old was born with a cognitive impairment.

Each day the family faces many struggles, but life is getting a little easier – and it’s all thanks to a very unique cooking show.

It doesn’t take much for Dillon to put a smile on your face.

“Dillon was such a content baby, normal birth,” said Jackie Mayer, Dillon’s mother.

It was at a young age that Jackie knew something wasn’t right with her son.

“He wasn’t communicating, wasn’t looking at us in the eye,” said Jackie.

At a year old Dillon would be diagnosed with Fragile X.

“And I was like, ‘Fragile what?'” said Jackie.

A genetic disorder that is the leading cause of cognitive impairment in boys.

My heart just dropped. What do we do, where do we go,” said Jackie.

Years later, Dillon would be diagnosed with autism.

“And that was another blow,” said Jackie.

Dillon started therapy and things got a little easier.

“We’ll deal with it, we’ll get through it,” said Jackie.

It was this past year Dillon started home schooling. It was time for his parents to look at Dillon for Dillon. They had to find out what he is passionate about and what is he interested in?

“We started really pushing forward and creating a world just for Dillon,”

Thanks to the Internet, his very own blog was created. It’s called “Dillon’s World”.

“There’s a gap of communication. Our friends want to interact with Dillon, but they don’t know what to say,” said Jackie.

The bridge to fill that gap are the posts.

“He asked, Do you like camping? And, oh my! Did we get the comments!” said Jackie.

Some of the most popular posts are Dillon’s Cooking Segments.

“I’ll be out with Dillon and people are like ‘Hi Dillon, Hi Dillon!’ And it’s like, who are you? You know they know him from seeing him on the cooking show and his videos,” said Scott Mayer, Dillon’s dad.

“He has so much to give,” said Jackie.

Each week, Dillon’s treats are delivered to people in the community – such as one made to longtime friend Grandma Grace.

“I think that, through his cooking something is released that he fells comfortable with, and I think that’s important,” said Grandma Grace.

“He’s practicing giving and Making a Difference in someone’s life. Because he can do that – with the right support and opportunities,” said Jackie.

An opportunity that allows Dillon to be seen for Dillon. Making this father and mother so proud of their son and proving that every person has value and a purpose regardless of ability or disability – even Dillon.

Click here to see Dillon’s Facebook page.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Yasmani Grandal drove in eight runs, hitting two homers and reaching base six times Thursday to power the Los Angeles Dodgers past the Milwaukee Brewers 14-4.

It was tied at 3 going into the sixth inning, and Grandal had zero RBIs in the game up to that point.

Grandal’s two-run single capped a four-run sixth inning. He hit a three-run homer into the second deck in right field in the eighth and launched another three-run shot in the ninth.

Starting in a day game after A.J. Ellis caught the previous night, Grandal went 4 for 4 with two singles and two walks.

Grandal’s previous career high for RBIs was five, done last Sept. 25 when he homered twice against San Francisco. He had totaled two home runs and four RBIs this year before his big day at Miller Park.

Alex Guerrero also homered for the Dodgers, his sixth.

Milwaukee, with the worst record in the majors, split the four-game series with the NL West leaders after Craig Counsell replaced fired manager Ron Roenicke.

Carlos Frias (3-0) won for the second time in as many starts. He gave up three runs and six hits in five innings, striking out six and walking one.

Mike Fiers (1-4) was lifted in the sixth after walking Guerrero and giving up a triple to Andre Ethier. Fiers allowed five runs on five hits and five walks, and fanned eight.

Adam Lind hit a solo home run and an RBI single for the Brewers. Adrian Gonzalez blooped a two-run single for the Dodgers.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Dodgers: Los Angeles optioned P Joe Wieland to Triple-A Oklahoma City, one day after he was called up, and recalled OF Chris Heisey. Wieland started and took the loss in Wednesday night’s game, giving up six runs in 4 2-3 innings. … OF Yasiel Puig, on the 15-day DL with a hamstring injury, was expected to be the DH for Single-A Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday. Manager Don Mattingly said Puig could possibly play in the outfield on his rehab assignment by Saturday.

Brewers: OF Carlos Gomez was out of the lineup. Milwaukee reinstated Gomez, who injured his right hamstring, from the 15-day DL Saturday. “He’s played five games since, and I think it’s important that we make sure that everything’s OK with him,” Counsell said. “He’s been going hard and he’s a little sore.”

UP NEXT

Dodgers: Matt Anderson (1-1, 4.21 ERA) will pitch to start a three-game series at Colorado. Anderson pitched for the Rockies last season, compiling a record of 1-3 with a 2.91 ERA before being shut down with a broken left index finger and lower back surgery.

Brewers: Jimmy Nelson (1-2, 4.03 ERA) will make his sixth start of the season as Milwaukee opens a three-game series against the visiting Chicago Cubs at home on Friday. Nelson pitched against the Cubs on Sunday, allowing three runs in 6 2-3 innings.

NEENAH – The Neenah-Menasha YMCA membership services desk is where Erin Stoffel worked twice a week.

Thursday nights and Sundays.

But this Thursday – and Sunday – Erin won’t be there. She is still in serious condition at Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah.

“It’s very hard for the staff, because we look at ourselves – we are a family. And they’re part of who we are, and that’s been taken from us,” said Scott Schanhofer, the YMCA’s executive director.

In Erin’s absence, signs of support have popped up in the lobby for YMCA members to sign – and a banner for co-workers to leave small messages of support.

“Small things can have the biggest meaning and we felt this is the one way we could show our support, not only for our own inner family, but also for the entire community,” said Amy Carpenter, the member services director and one of Erin’s co-workers. “Everything, the healing process, is going to be made up of small steps like these; we’re just very blessed to be able to be a part of that for the community.”

At noon Thursday, about thirty of Erin’s co-workers walked the Trestle Trail Bridge to where her husband, daughter and another man, Adam Bentdahl were shot and killed. To place the banner with care. To grieve – not as co-workers – but as a community, as a family.

“How do you make sense out of madness? How do you make order out of chaos? You really can’t,” said Schanhofer. “And we’re trying to bond together and be strong as we move forward. We can’t replace anything, but we can at least be there for her, for her family, for Adam’s family. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Like Lyndsey Houle, who started working at the YMCA in February.

“I wasn’t fortunate enough to know Erin or her family, but it felt good to be able to at least show support, I mean, as a mother, you just want to support her and her kids,” Houle said.

As the winds blew hard over Little Lake Butte des Morts, the small sign stood strong, as did its messages of encouragement; words trying to sum up the sadness of a community searching for answers.

APPLETON – Two weeks after the tragic shooting on the Trestle Trail Bridge, an event to bring togetherness and healing for the community is planned.

On Sunday, May 17, local business leaders and community members will host “Hands Over the Fox” from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Residents can gather on both sides of the Trestle Trail Bridge and begin walking on the bridge from either side until both sides meet in the middle. Hands will be joined and raised during a moment of silence in honor of the lives lost.

Nearby churches are asked to ring their bells at 7:33 p.m. and boaters and kayakers in the water will sound their horns and release flares.

“The goal of the Hands Over the Fox event is to demonstrate compassion for the families of Jon and Olivia Stoffel and Adam Bentdahl, to show appreciation to the emergency personnel who acted so bravely, and to show community strength in times of uncertainty and fear,” said Paul Brunette, Goodwill Industries, NCW. “Our community needs to come together to grieve and begin healing, and choosing to do so at the location of this devastating shooting is a visible sign that we will move forward strong and undivided.”

 

 

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Republicans on the Legislature’s finance committee have approved creating a solicitor general’s office within the state Department of Justice.

DOJ officials asked Gov. Scott Walker to create the office in his state budget. The agency says it needs the office to help deal with appellate litigation.

Walker’s budget calls a five-person office for DOJ at a cost of about $1 million over the next two fiscal years but leaves it up to DOJ to find the money.

The finance committee voted 12-4 on Thursday to approve a slightly revised plan creating the office. The plan calls for using money won by prosecuting Medicaid, trust and environmental violations to fund the office and eliminates four vacant positions within the agency.

Minority Democrats on the committee said the office isn’t necessary.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – A body found in Jefferson County earlier this month has been identified as that of a woman who went missing from Milwaukee in 2013.

Surveillance cameras recorded 27-year-old Kelly Dwyer going into her boyfriend’s lakefront apartment in October 2013. But, she was never seen leaving.

The boyfriend Kris Zocco has been considered a person of interest in her disappearance but was never charged for any crime related to that. Since then, he’s been convicted of child porn and drug charges.

Skeletal remains were found in Jefferson County May 1 and police say the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner notified them Thursday that they identified Dwyer.

Milwaukee police and authorities in Jefferson County are investigating the circumstances and cause of her death.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A man who was with Michael Brown when Brown was fatally shot by a Ferguson police officer last year is charged with misdemeanor resisting arrest over a new confrontation with police.

The St. Louis city prosecutor charged 23-year-old Dorian Johnson on Thursday, one day after his arrest with two other people by officers trying to disperse a crowd.

Johnson was with Brown when the black, unarmed 18-year-old was killed last August by white Ferguson officer Darren Wilson. A grand jury and the U.S. Justice Department declined to charge Wilson, who later resigned.

Wilson last week filed suit against Ferguson, Wilson and the city’s former police chief.

One of Johnson’s attorneys, James Williams, declined to comment on Thursday’s charge, saying he doesn’t have any details at this time.

(SBG) As powerful as the weapons themselves: terrorist tweets, Facebook pages & YouTube videos. And the U.S., hardly getting the same traction with it’s online messaging, meant to counter.

“People on our social media feeds and it’s laughable, 3 retweets, 2 retweets,” Sen. Cory Booker (D) New Jersey.

So how do we lessen the power of that ‘siren song’? So called ISIL zombies just waiting to hear their marching orders.

“We need to step up our game and be much more sophisticated,” said Sen. Gary Peters (D) Michigan.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R) of Wisconsin says, “We’ve got Hollywood, we’ve got the capabilities to blow these guys out of the water.”

Experts testified on the hill, the U.S. should capitalize on those hi-tech advantages and hit an untapped resource.

“If you wanna fight back against recruitment of 15-year-old kids, you need to work with 15-year-old kids,” said Mbin Shaikh, author of “Undercover Jihadi.”

Together, it could flood the internet with a narrative showing the less alluring, unattractive side of terrorist groups.  Then there’s this debate: should the U.S. shut down terrorist web accounts?

“On the one hand you have their ability to radicalize people to action on the other hand you have the ability to gather information on them, “said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

And now another group in need of protecting: young women suddenly making up 20 percent of terror converts.

“I think that their social media romanticizes what it’s like to be part of this caliphate and it’s obviously not a reflection of the truth,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) New Hampshire.

The experts testified the U.S. should use social media to amplify the failures & losses of ISIL; that it can somehow damage the terror group’s brand and in dissaude young iimpressionable minds, from joining the fight.

 

NEENAH – Funeral services for the father and daughter killed in Sunday’s shooting on the Trestle Trail in Menasha have been set for next week.

Visitation for Jon and Olivia Stoffel is set for 4-8 p.m. Wednesday and 3:30-6 p.m. Thursday at Calvary Bible Church in Neenah. The funeral is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the church.

Jon, 33, and Olivia Stoffel, 11, were among the victims of what police say was a random attack on the trail Sunday night. Erin Stoffel, 32, who is Jon’s wife and Olivia’s mother, was also shot and continues to be hospitalized.

• Click here to view Jon Stoffel’s obituary
• Click here to view Olivia Stoffel’s obituary

Adam Bentdahl, 31, of Appleton, was also killed. The shooter, 27-year-old Sergio Valencia del Toro, died of a self-inflicted gunshot, investigators say.

APPLETON – A former Hortonville administrator, pleaded not guilty Thursday to child pornography possession charges.

A trail is scheduled for Patrick Vaile on Aug. 17 on the 16 counts.

Investigators said they found more than 150 images of child pornography on Vaile’s computer and a flash drive. Court documents show Vaile admitted to viewing and saving images of nude children, typically between 12 and 16 years old.

Vaile resigned from his job the same day he was charged.

LITTLE CHUTE – Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin broke ground in Little Chute Thursday to expand their operations.

The Northeast Wisconsin Food Bank say they will be able to provide expanded space and storage capabilities to increase efficiency.

The new 40,000 square foot facility is expected to also increase services to 200 partner hunger relief programs.

Officials say one in nine people in Northeast Wisconsin faces hunger.

GREEN BAY — The day after Brett Favre is inducted in the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame this summer, he will play in an all-star flag football game at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.

The game is scheduled for July 19th and the plan is to team Favre with several of his former teammates who will be announced later this month. They will play against an all-star team comprising of former NFL opponents. The same kind of game was held last year with former San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana and his former teammates against an all-star team led by Dan Marino.

The Packers turned down the opportunity to host the game in order to keep Lambeau Field’s playing surface in the best condition possible for the start of the season.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Horizon League Executive Council approved an agreement in principle with Olympia Entertainment to host the Horizon League men’s basketball tournament in the city of Detroit for the next five years.

The first two years of the tournament will be held at Joe Louis Arena, home to the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, before moving to the state-of-the-art Detroit Events Center, currently under construction in downtown Detroit.

The 2016 Horizon League men’s basketball championship game will keep its current Tuesday, March 8, slot on ESPN or ESPN2 at 6 p.m. CT. Additional game dates, times, network information, and tournament format will be announced at a later date.

Green Bay reached the Horizon League championship game last season as it fell to Valparaiso at Valparaiso.