Green Bay News

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Utah became the only state to allow firing squads for executions Monday when Gov. Gary Herbert signed a law approving the controversial method’s use when no lethal-injection drugs are available.

Herbert has said he finds the firing squad “a little bit gruesome,” but Utah is a capital punishment state and needs a backup execution method in case a shortage of the drugs persists.

“We regret anyone ever commits the heinous crime of aggravated murder to merit the death penalty, and we prefer to use our primary method of lethal injection when such a sentence is issued,” Herbert spokesman Marty Carpenter said. “However, when a jury makes the decision and a judge signs a death warrant, enforcing that lawful decision is the obligation of the executive branch.”

The measure’s approval is the latest illustration of some states’ frustration over bungled executions and difficulty obtaining the drugs. Utah is one of several states seeking new forms of capital punishment after a botched Oklahoma lethal injection last year.

States have struggled to keep up their drug inventories as European manufacturers opposed to capital punishment refuse to sell the components of lethal injections to U.S. prisons. The Texas deadline is the most imminent, but other states are struggling, too.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Paul Ray of Clearfield, argued that a team of trained marksmen is faster and more decent than the drawn-out deaths involved when lethal injections go awry – or even if they go as planned.

Though Utah’s next execution is probably a few years away, Ray said wants to settle on a backup method now so authorities are not racing to find a solution if the drug shortage drags on.

Opponents of the measure say firing squads are barbaric, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah saying the bill makes the state “look backward and backwoods.”

Utah lawmakers stopped offering inmates the choice of firing squad in 2004, saying the method attracted intense media interest and took attention away from victims.

Utah is the only state in the past 40 years to carry out such a death sentence, with three executions by firing squad since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

The last was in 2010, when Ronnie Lee Gardner was put to death by five police officers with .30-caliber Winchester rifles in an event that generated international interest and elicited condemnation from many.

Gardner killed a bartender and later shot a lawyer to death and wounded a bailiff during a 1985 courthouse escape attempt.

The bailiff’s widow, VelDean Kirk, said she supports Utah’s efforts to bring back the firing squad.

Gardner’s brother recently has spoken out against it. Randy Gardner said he doesn’t condone his brother’s actions but believes the firing squad is barbaric.

OUTAGAMIE COUNTY – Burn restrictions are in place around the area, as a quick start to the wildfire season is keeping fire fighters busy.

That included Sunday in Shawano County.

A grass fire spread to a nearby barn in the Town of Green Valley, and another blaze broke out near the corner of County Road C and Nichols Drive.

Department of Natural Resources officials are watching the situation, and update the fire danger conditions on a daily basis.

Four area counties were in the “high” category in a season that is already well ahead of last year.

At the Mack State Wildlife Area, near Shiocton, a walk through the brush Monday was crunchy and dry.

“All the marsh grass we have, and the private marshes, that it’s very dry right now. No rain, nice blowing wind all the time, so she’s a tinder box,” said Butch Bunnell, Shiocton Fire Chief.

Bunnell has been on the Shiocton Fire Department for 44 years. He says he sees it every Spring.

“The biggest danger right now, is that they rake their leaves. Or out in the rural area where they rake it, and walk away, and figure it’s out, and it’s not. A little wind would blow it, and here we go,” said Bunnell.

And Bunnell is not alone. As of Monday morning, the D.N.R. has responded to 20 wildfires in Northeast Wisconsin. There have been 101 calls statewide, compared to four at the same time last year.

“As soon as our snow melts, until the time we hit green-up, this is the time when we have most wildfires in Wisconsin,” said Curt Wilson, D.N.R. District Forestry Leader.

Wilson says the D.N.R. requires burning permits, and offers some advice.

“Make sure you got a water source nearby, some firefighting tools, a barrier around that fire, and the local fire department’s phone number in case it gets away,” he said.

Wilson says some rain would help.

“If we could get a couple of days of precipitation, it really shortens that window. Just think about what’s happening here. The sun is coming up earlier in the morning, it’s staying light longer, so you have a longer burning day,” he said.

Bunnell says waiting to burn would be best.

“I’d like to see them not burn for a while. If they choose to, be very cautious, and watch it,” he said.

There are penalties for someone responsible for causing a wildfire.

Officials say people could consider composting as an alternative to burning.

MOUNT CALVARY – A year later, charred remnants remains of a burned out building at Saint Lawrence Seminary High School.

Forty crews helped battle the blaze at the Fond du Lac County all-boys prep school.

Despite millions of dollars in damage to the historic building, the school plans to rebuild.

All that’s left of St. Joseph Hall is an archway made of bricks.

Even though it’s been a year since the fire, the memories from that day are still fresh in the minds of students and teachers who were there.

“We saw the lights flashing about a mile south of here,” said high school music director John Ahlstrom. “When I saw the smoke, I thought it was coming from the wood shop which was the next building behind where we were. When we got up here to the center courtyard, I realized, ‘Hey, it’s coming out of where we live.”‘

“I woke up to a bunch of people looking out the window on my bed and there was a fire,” said high school senior Danny Matthew.

“Everybody’s just kind of standing there in awe almost, just shocked,” said high school senior Kevin Draftz.

The Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office suspected a former student started the fire but arson charges have never been filed.

The building housed music classes and the admissions office.

While many of the instruments have been replaced, “We’ve lost an awful lot of music, some of which is not replaceable,” Ahlstrom said.

Band practice has to be held in the chapel.

“We’ll just leave it at squished. It echoes. It’s like a big echo chamber. It’s definitely different,” Matthew said.

Some students are still adapting to the empty space.

“The side of it facing the tree line, there was a garden. It was kind of just a place that you could go and just relax,” high school senior Kevin Draftz.

But next month, construction on a new St. Joseph Hall will begin.

“We would put a majority of our classrooms in these two buildings. You’ve got three levels here of science classrooms, regular classrooms, offices and then each of these levels is connected to this main building we’re in right now by a corridor,” said Father John Holly, Rector President of St. Lawrence Seminary High School.

Even though high school senior Kevin Draftz is in his final year at St. Lawrence, he’ll have a reason to come back at see the new building.

“After I graduate, I’ll have a brother coming up to St. Lawrence and I know he’s going to get the new facility and it’s kind of nice to know that there will be something here for him,”  Draftz said.

Father John Holly says the building will most likely be finished by the end of next year.

Click here for a photo gallery to see what the old building looks like now.

GREENVILLE – A Hortonville football player is calling it quits from the sport he loves.

Bryce Monti says he told his coaches about his decision the day before San Francisco 49-ers linebacker – former UW-Madison Badger Chris Borland – announced his decision to end his young football career last Tuesday. Borland voiced his concerns about potential brain damage in the future.

Heading into his third season at Hortonville High School, the 17-year-old Monti had plans to play in college after his senior year, having been recruited by several major colleges.

“How long have you been playing football?” I asked Monti.

“How long have I been playing football?” pausing to think, “Well, ever since I can remember.”

Sitting in the living room of his parent’s Greenville home, three days after he told his coaches about his decision to stay off the field his senior year, the nearly six-foot, 215-pound middle linebacker says the decision to hang up the helmet dates back more than six months to a September game against Oshkosh North.

“It was late in the 4th quarter, we were down, and they were driving and they threw a pass, and actually, I hit heads with a teammate,” Monti recalled. “We both went in to – both tackled a guy – and we kind of just went helmet to helmet, and I got the bad end of the stick and – when I got up, I saw two scoreboards.”

Monti says he knew he got hit hard, but wasn’t dizzy and didn’t have a headache – some tell-tale signs of a concussion. But when he got home to leave for a college visit, both he and his parents knew something was amiss.

“We were going to leave Friday night after the game,” Monti said. “Instead of taking a right, to North Dakota, we took a left.”

Straight to the emergency room.

In the days and weeks after the concussion, Monti says he followed orders, eventually passing a special concussion test used by some high schools. And got back on the field – but.

“But I came back way too early, and I played two more games, and then after that second game, I knew that I was not feeling right.”

Concussions a difficult diagnosis

“A person can fall and hit their head, and get up, finish a game, and say ‘I feel fine,’ but three hours later, four hours later, they have vomiting, they have sensitivity to light,” explained Mark Husen, a licensed athletic trainer with Bellin Health Sport Medicine.

I wanted to know what taking the pre-season baseline concussion test Monti took – this version called an ImPACT concussion test – was like.

The computer portion of the test takes about half-an-hour to complete and involves word recall, drawing memory, shape-number-and color relation, and more recall. The second part of a baseline evaluation involves setting a balance standard on stable – and unstable surfaces.

“(The computer test is) a great test for neuro-cognitive (evaluation),” said Husen. “This is a great test for vestibular, balance.”

Husen had me stand flat-footed on the ground for ten seconds, followed by lifting one leg, then placing my feet heel-to-toe. The next part of the balance test involves the same balancing routine, on top of a foam pad, forcing your body to focus on staying upright.

“This is what your brain was normal or, ‘non-injured’,” Husen said of the first portion of the balance test. “Now we put you on this, we have some people who can’t even get to that foam pad.”

Husen says concussions are extremely difficult to diagnose, and just because you may pass one test, another test – or both – doesn’t mean a concussion patient is ready to hit the field, court or classroom.

“It’s not like it’s a broken bone, where we can go back and go, I can see the break, three weeks later, four weeks later, I can go back and see the break healing,” Husen said. “That doesn’t happen with the brain.”

And there’s another problem.

“Some kids know about the symptoms, and don’t want to say anything either. You can only do so much, and it’s still – the onus is back on that student athlete, the parents, of we’re asking you guys to be honest.”

Coaching not about wins and losses

“A lot of times, we forget that these are young men and women and sometimes, their desire to play the game is so great that they don’t disclose right away what the symptoms could be,” said Andy Kolosso.

Kolosso is Hortonville’s athletic director and one of Monti’s head coaches. He says last Monday’s conversation in his office was an emotional one, as all of his school’s athletes are more than just a student playing a sport.

“Sometimes, that picture is painted out there from the public that coaches just care about wins and losses and they forget about the personal feelings that we have with our kids,” Kolosso said.

Symptoms still linger

Monti and his parents say they’ve seen numerous doctors who haven’t been able to help Monti get over his symptoms.

“I have constant headaches every day, some pretty bad nausea. But I’d say the headaches are the worst part,” Monti said.

“Do you have one right now?” I asked him.

“Yeah,” he replied.

In talking with his parents and doctors, that’s when Monti decided to call football quits.

“After what all the doctors have said, I kind of looked at the risk-reward, in talking to all the adults in my life, whether it’s my parents, or my coaches or my principal, I want to be able to run around with my kids some day and I want to be able to write my name when I’m 40 years old. That stuff just outweighed the ability to play.”

“Extremely proud of him,” said John Monti, Bryce’s father.

John Monti says his son’s coaches and the school couldn’t have been more supportive during the recovery process. However, honest conversations with his “determined” son weren’t easy.

“Be honest with yourself, when you do get better, are you going to want to put yourself in that same position again, to take one more hit, and possibly not be able to walk off the field?”

It was a serious decision for his son to make.
“He’s an amazing young man that is much wiser than 17,” John Monti said.

“We say the true character comes out in the toughest times,” said Kolosso. “And I think you’re seeing that from Bryce and I’m very proud of that and I couldn’t be prouder of that young man.”

“I got to play with the best teammates in the state, in front of the best fans in the state, for the best coaches in the state,” said Bryce, “Nobody can take that away.”

Monti says he plans on being on the sidelines with the team in a supportive role this fall. However, if the symptoms continue, he may not even go to college.

Katie’s high school interest in math and science led to a graduate work opportunity at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, where her current studies cover aerodynamics, supersonic flight over land and the development of a skin-tight space suit. Her experience gained at NASA opened the door for further studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She attributes Southern Door’s approach to a well-rounded curriculum as part of that success.

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Boulder County authorities have detained a 12-year-old Boulder County girl for suspicion of attempted murder after she was accused of trying to kill her mother with bleach because the mother took away her smartphone.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement on Friday that the first attempt on March 2 left her mother feeling ill after her daughter placed bleach into a breakfast smoothie.

Authorities say later in the week the girl poured bleach into a water carafe her mother kept in the bedroom.

On the first occasion, the mother smelled bleach and thought her daughter used it to clean the glass. On the second occasion, the mother told authorities she confronted her daughter and learned of the daughter’s plans.

The girl has been turned over to juvenile authorities.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Virginia coach Tony Bennett has been named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association national coach of the year.

Bennett guided Virginia to a 30-4 record, including a 28-2 mark in the regular season. The award is based on the regular season.

Bennett also won the award named for Hall of Fame coach Henry Iba at Washington State in 2007 and is the ninth coach to win it twice.

He and Roy Williams – Williams at Kansas in 1990 and North Carolina in 2006 – are the only coaches to win the award at two schools.

The Cavaliers won their second consecutive outright Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title this year.

They were eliminated from the NCAA tournament in a 60-54 loss to Michigan State on Sunday.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

A look at the law known as “Obamacare” five years later and what’s changed since it first became law.

The interactive looks at the spread of the Ebola disease in West Africa in the past 12 months.

James, a student at L.B. CLarke in Two Rivers, discusses a class robotic project sponsored by the FIRST LEGO League of Wisconsin that addressed a specific engineering challenge. Students worked closely together to construct a vehicle meeting the needs posed by the challenge.

KENAI, Alaska (AP) – Authorities investigating the disappearance of an Alaska family missing for nearly a year have discovered four bodies and a handgun about a half a mile from their home.

Kenai police Lt. Dave Ross says the bodies haven’t been identified by a coroner, but police have every indication it’s the missing family.

He adds that they believe the gun came from the family home based on a serial number match.

Ross provided few details, saying the investigation remains open. But he says there’s no reason to believe another person was involved in the deaths or that the bodies were moved.

He says the remains of a dog that match the size of the family dog also were found along the trail.

The bodies were found in a depression behind bushes that made them hard to see from the trail.

MADISON (AP) – Wisconsin’s elections chief says he expects 20 percent turnout for the April 7 election.

Government Accountability Board director Kevin Kennedy said Monday he doesn’t expect there to be much of a change from the 2013 spring election when turnout was also just over 20 percent.

The top race on the ballot this year is for state Supreme Court, where Justice Ann Walsh Bradley is seeking a third term against challenger Rock County Circuit Judge James Daley.

There is also a constitutional amendment to change how the chief justice is selected, allowing justices on the court to make the choice rather than have it go to the most senior member.

There are a host of other local elections which could increase turnout in pockets of the state.

Learn more about burn restrictions and permits in each county.

REDGRANITE – Two people were arrested after officials say they found several marijuana plants and a drug lab during a search warrant in the Village of Redgranite Monday morning.

The Waushara County Sheriff’s Office and Redgranite police say they raided the house in the 600 block of Main Street just before 9:30 a.m.

The search warrant was a result of an investigation by the Waushara County Sheriff’s Office for the past several weeks.

The state Division of Criminal Investigation was called in to examine the lab. Agents determined the lab was used for a marijuana operation.

Tiffany describes the theater production she took part in; playing Abu the monkey, in Aladdin. Dave Harper, Denmark High School’s Musical Director, discusses Tiffany’s stage presence and commitment.

BOSTON (AP) – Gov. Charlie Baker and legislative leaders are turning to outside experts for advice on Boston’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Stan Rosenberg announced Monday they are formally seeking a consultant to analyze the potential costs and impacts on the state of the Olympic bid.

Baker said while hosting the games would provide an opportunity to showcase the state on the world stage, the outside analysis will make sure the plan doesn’t “unfairly burden taxpayers.”

Organizers of Boston’s effort to host the 2024 Olympics said Monday they would not submit a final bid to for the games unless a majority of Massachusetts residents were supportive.

The IOC is expected to award the games in 2017.

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) – A cow in Northeast Texas has apparently defied great odds and given birth to four calves that have been named Eeny, Meeny, Miny and Moo.

Jimmy Barling said Monday that DNA tests will be done on tissue samples from the three bull calves and the one heifer calf to satisfy those who may question the births from one mother.

“We knew she was pregnant, but we didn’t know she was going to do this,” the 76-year-old Barling said. “This was a shock. This blew our minds.”

Barling’s wife, Dora Rumsey-Barling, owns the couple’s 20 or so cattle outside of DeKalb, near the Arkansas and Oklahoma borders. Rumsey-Barling’s granddaughter named the four black calves Eeny, Meeny, Miny and Moo, Barling said.

Local veterinarian Mike Baird called the March 16 births “extremely rare.” He said the odds of four live births from one cow are 1 in 11.2 million. Baird knows the couple well and is nearly certain the four came from one mother, rather than a nearby cow perhaps birthing one or two and then moving along so that it appeared the four came from the Barling’s cow.

“In the interest of science and the animal world, it’s one of those things that need to be verified beyond a shadow of a doubt,” he said.

The couple watched the birth of the fourth calf after going to check on her when they saw buzzards circling above a field.

Because the mother cow is unable to nurse all four calves, the couple are relying on neighbors to help. Moo has stayed with her mother, while Eeny, Meeny and Miny are with two different caretakers. Meeny is the smallest of the calves, weighing in at about 25 pounds.

A typical healthy birth weight for a calf is 75 pounds. Standing has also been difficult for some of the quadruplets.

GREEN BAY – Dozens of area kids are learning about water safety at a special camp on Green Bay’s east side.

The Green Bay Boys and Girls Club, along with the Zac Foundation, have teamed up to teach kids about water safety.

This week-long camp provides free swim lessons and other pool safety lessons from local area emergency responders and other officials.

Marketing and Community Relations Manager, Stephanie Schallhorn says this is an important camp for children to recognize the dangers of open water, “You never want to be in that situation where a kid is by a pool, falls in, and they don’t know what to do or a kid sees someone fall into a pool and not know what to do. So we are really excited to be able to offer so many kids in their ocmmunity the opportunity to learn how to swim and also learn those safety rules.”

Leaders of the event are hoping to help lower the number of deaths related to drowning.

116 kids drowned in Wisconsin last year.

TOWN OF FRIENDSHIP – A man was killed when he was pinned under his pickup truck Monday morning, Fond du Lac County sheriff’s deputies say.

Emergency crews were called to W7039 Voyager Dr. just after 11 a.m. They found a 26-year-old Fond du Lac man pinned under a Ford F350 in the driveway. Crews pulled him out from under the truck, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The initial investigation shows he was doind maintenance work when a mechanical failure happened.

The incident is still being investigated. The man’s name has not been released until relatives can be notified.

MADISON – Governor Scott Walker has proclaimed March 23-27 as Work Zone Awareness Week here in Wisconsin.

The week will hopefully raise awareness to prevent traffic crashes in road construction and maintenance work zones that injure and kill motorists and workers.

Two Outagamie County Executives held a press conference Monday to talk about what the governor’s declaration means locally. They are urging drivers to help keep road workers safe while traveling.

Thomas Nelson, an Outagamie County Executive, said “We want to make sure that while they work very hard during the day, that the people of our community can take a little extra time to give them a break and make sure they can return safely to their families.”

Last year there were more than 2,200 work zone crashes that killed 12 people.

Officials are reminding drivers to use extra caution while driving and to give yourself extra time.

For more information on road construction projects going on it the state, click here.