Hopeful that Sheriff Greening will have opposition in next election

In a recent article in the Antigo paper, it stated that Bill Greening will be running for Sheriff again in the November election. I sincerely hope that Langlade County has not forgotten some of his public statements and hopefully he will have opposition in the election.

There are few things that rubbed me the wrong way with Sheriff Greening, one of them being the murder investigation Cathy Nameth. I can recall seeing the Sheriff on the news more than once stating that the investigation was close to being concluded and that he believed the person responsible would be found and prosecuted. I have yet to see or hear anything about that again in last few YEARS. So, what is happening there? An update would be nice.

Another statement that Greening made is still on this website, when he was on the phone with CNN and talking about how the big drug bust with the ex-principal was just the tip of the iceberg. Hmmm, not much happening with that now either. What's going on there Mr. Greening?

And wasn't he the Sheriff when Officer Jason Just was quietly removed due to his illegal actions with minor females?

Sorry Mr. Greening, but, I think you have proved to me that you are not who I want to see as Sheriff and at this point I will vote for anyone who runs against you!

source article - http://antigodailyjournal.com/index.php?ID=18296

Comments

Ok. I see someone on here calling others a liar for saying the Sheriff has to have law enforcement experience. I did some checking and the state of Wisconsin requires ALL law enforcement officers to be certified. That excludes the Sheriff but please tell me how someone can effectively run a department they know nothing about? So the person in charge of a department like that doesn’t have to know anything that his employees are all required to be certified and trained in??? Wouldn’t it be a little strange to have a Sheriff who has NEVER investigated a crime or issued a citation? What an embarrassment to Langlade County it would be the first time a major crime is committed (homicide, etc) and the FBI and State Crime Lab get called in to investigate. How does a Sheriff communicate with them and assist them in the investigation when he hasn't even participated in one?? I’d like to read his press release or watch his interview on the local news stations. Mr. Stegall could be a great guy but the bottom line is and I’ll repeat it again, he has no experience. Unless he has done some extensive training aside from his jailer position then I’m going to doubt he has what it takes to run a Sheriff’s department. Let’s not forget about balancing budgets, going to county board meetings, dealing with the public. I'm sure the Sheriff has to answer to the public when they have a complaint about an officer and a decision he/she made on an arrest, etc. How does someone without experience fix that problem? Or someone who complains about how an officer handled a traffic stop when the person they are complaining to can’t relate because they have never done a traffic stop of their own. A Sheriff who is managing how many people but has never done their job before? It’s actually scary to think that so many people don’t feel the Sheriff needs any experience. Sounds like more than one of you need to pull your head from your back side. I am not saying the current Sheriff is the answer but neither is someone without experience. It's not an open management position at a grocery store it’s a law enforcement agency. Voting for someone with no experience is like asking the garbage man to do brain surgery. It’s no different than any other job posting and I rarely see one that doesn’t require some sort of knowledge pertaining to the position. I would like to see the platform of the two people running. We’ve seen Greening’s, the other candidates need to step forward.

The embarrassment to Langlade County is that in the last decade or so those certified officers and deputies have only had 2 "Serious" cases to solve and failed to convict or even arrest anyone for the murder of Mrs. Nameth and have done an equally embarrassing job finding what happened to Kayla Berg. The garbage man/brain surgery comparison is foolish at best. The majority of law enforcement do not have the I.Q. to be even compared to that scenario. "The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average." http://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836#... Looks like they are about on par with the garbage man.

It's not brain surgery or rocket science to know the LAW and enforce it. Shouldn't be that complicated even though you are trying to make it sound as though it is. You use common sense. Well at least a person who has it would. Any citizen with knowledge of the law could successfully execute a traffic stop. Any person with knowledge of the law could also successfully deal with a complaint about a stop and whether it was a lawful or an unlawful stop. Your statement "It's not an open management position at a grocery store it’s a law enforcement agency." People in groceries learn about groceries. People enforcing the law learn the law. It's not like once you get your certification you all of a sudden are infallible and know everything. The list of former dirty cops in the county and cities department reflect this. I do agree though that we need the candidates to both come forward and lay out their platform they'll be running on.

I believe noneya is talking about expericence, not I.Q. in this case. As far as it not being "brain surgery" or "rocket science" to know the law, then why is it a Lawyer needs a 4 year under graduate school and has to pass the bar just to practice law? Why is the educational standard requirement for law enforcement officers in Wisconsin so strict? As far as any "citizen" with the knowledge of the law can "successfully execute a traffic stop" They cannot, you have to be a law enforcement officer to do that. Inexperienced officers complete a field training program after they are hired by an agency. Usually 16 weeks. Conducting traffic stops without any experience can end badly for the inexperienced. I do agree we do have an unsolved homicide, as far as Kayla Berg, that was a Police Dept case. Your are correct, non of the Officers there have been able to solve the homicide and with that I ask, do we want to elect a Sheriff with no law enforcement background or training to do that. I feel we would be going backwards if that were to happen.

"... any citizen with the knowledge of the law can successfully execute a traffic stop" "They cannot, you have to be a law enforcement officer to do that." The statement was meant to allude to the fact that any person can know the law and apply it correctly. Not that it was lawful according to Wisconsin state law to do so.

As to "As far as it not being "brain surgery" or "rocket science" to know the law, then why is it a Lawyer needs a 4 year under graduate school and has to pass the bar just to practice law? Why is the educational standard requirement for law enforcement officers in Wisconsin so strict?" So every citizen is expected to know and follow the law. Yet you are telling me that a college degree is needed to even understand and know the law. The only thing I can take from that is that apparently too many laws have been created if by your own admission one needs a college degree to know them.

To your comment "as far as Kayla Berg, that was a Police Dept case." I guess I've now been told it is both ways...You say it's the cities case and I've read on others posts how common it is for these agencies to work together. So you are telling me the Sheriffs Department takes no interest and had not helped try to solve this case because it's a city case? I hope that is not what you are saying. I would also point out that not all comments under anonymous are the same person. Some are mine and some are other persons. Take care.

I need to clarify my last post. It just says law enforcement officer. It mentions nothing about the Sheriff being exempt from the state certification.

To Anonymous on 06/09/14 @ 10:28am. Please name the past Sheriff's we have had with no law enforcement training.

How experienced was Roland Combs, Jack Hoffman, and Dave Steger?

Rolland Combs was a Deputy prior to being Sheriff and so was Jack Hoffman. Actually Hoffman was a Deputy under Rolland when he was Sheriff. Rolland was a Deputy under James Aird. Aird was the Sheriff prior to Rolland Combs. Dave Steger was also a Deputy prior to being elected to the Office of Sheriff. He was a Deputy for 7 years and was Sheriff for 18 years. One of the longest running Sheriffs in the State. Times were different back in the 60's and 70's and even the 80's for that matter, the training requirements for law enforcement was far different and much more lax. In 1969 the Chief Deputy System was created and training requirement started becoming more intense. Now to be a Law Enforcement Officer in the State of Wisconsin you have to have at least 60 college level credits or have a two year associate degree in Criminal Justice. Your also have to attend a 13 week Law Enforcement academy or if you have a degree you can attend a mini academy. Prior to 1994 a person didn't need a college education and back in 1988 the academy was only 8 weeks, so that should give you an idea of how much things have changed over the years.

Investigating a serious case or not serious case, the bottom line here is there is someone running for Sheriff who has no experience but thinks he can run a Sheriff's department. You seem to dwell on the "dirty cops". A few bad ones doesn't label the whole department as "dirty" and shame on your for continually bringing up the bad ones. Contrary to what you may think, there are innocent employees who work nights, holiday's and weekends away from their families to take care of a whole county just so you can all sleep at night. It's not just deputies that work there. There are dispatchers, jailers and office personnel. That job is their livelihood and it would affect each and every one of them if the department was mismanaged by someone who for whatever reason decided it would be a good idea for Langlade County to elect him Sheriff. I'm not saying that Mr. Stegall is a terrible man, I do not know him, I'm trying get some of you past the mind set that he should be Sheriff because he's a "nice guy" and "has common sense".

" Contrary to what you may think, there are innocent employees who work nights, holiday's and weekends away from their families to take care of a whole county just so you can all sleep at night."

I'm calling bs on that one sorry. They are showing up for work to collect that paycheck and wonderful benefits. I'd sleep fine whether any of them showed up for work or not. Or is not solving the only murder on their case load and only potential kidnapping supposed to be what makes me sleep better? Everyone who leaves for work leaves their families so give me a break. If it's such a hardship maybe they should find different employment instead of trying to garner unwarranted sympathy. Sorry to be harsh but that is how I feel on the matter. Take care.

VOTE STEGALL FOR SHERIFF

What I see missing from all of the comments is that the sheriff needs to uphold the constitution above everything else. Plain and simple. The sheriff is indeed the highest ranking authority in a county and that is why it is an elected position and not appointed. It keeps the checks and balances in place provided by our constitution.

Lawyers need 4 years to teach them to TWIST the law... not enforce it. I believe anyone who runs on the platform of enforcing the constitution will win without any real competition. The liberals may not vote for that platform, but most others will.

Maybe it is time for as shake-up. If you think it is, vote your conscious.

I remember seeing a bit on 60 minutes or some show like that, where the same guy had been like Mayor or something, it could have even been Sheriff, for like 20 years. The people of the small town kept voting him in, over and over. The reason why, was simply because he DID THE RIGHT THING, All the time, plain and simple. I think that is what Langlade County needs. I think Mr. Stegall would fall right into that. I don't know anyone could argue with doing the right thing.

I do not know Mr. Stegall, so I can not say much about what he will do. I honestly can't say that Bill Greening has overstepped his bounds or blatantly stepped on our rights from what I have seen either, so hopefully whoever runs will let us know what they stand for.

The most important thing is that the person who wins remembers the oath they take when they take office. There are many sheriffs across the state and country that are doing just that, and are telling the federal government where to stick it when it comes to laws that are against our constitution. They will simply not enforce them.

I personally think we have a DA in this county that is marching to his own drum and pretty much does what he wants. So,we do not need a sheriff that does the same.

Don't be mistaken... anyone who understands right and wrong and knows what are rights are can be an effective sheriff, plain and simple.

Vote Joe Stegall

Inexperience does not equal competency. This is not a learn on the job position.

Vote Sam Wurtinger

Yea probably not

Well....we could vote for Joe, but we would still need someone who knows how to run a department.

How is Sam qualified to run a department? Being a law enforcement officer automatically qualifies one? Joe Stegall has been a small business owner for 5 years and before going to work for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections he was a self employed logger. He hasn't been a government employee all his life. He knows hard work and how to get his hands dirty. He has worked 2 jobs most of his adult life.
We need someone with common core values not somebody that has been a government employee all their life.

So Mr. Stegall has been in multiple jobs in the past, yes that does provide diversity, just not in the occupational field he wants to run. I doubt either he or Mr. Wurtinger have kept from getting their hands dirty, nor do I believe one has more core values that the other. But if it makes you happy, then by all means keep degrading the other. It is interesting how you insinuate working in government is corrupt in some fashion, like being in public service is the same as a politician. I find these to fields to be world's apart. Because Mr. Stegall has been working for the government as well, he is also corrupt by your definition and not a good choice as sheriff.
My understanding is that Mr. Wurtinger has worked in all facets of this occupation from EMT to corrections, deputy coroner and finally as a sheriff's deputy along with being the recreation deputy. That gives me the confidence I need to vote for him as Langlade County Sheriff. It seems he knows all facets of those who protect and serve along with understanding the intricacies needed to perform each position. Personally I prefer the person with the most experience.
For all those who wish to fire back that Mr Steagall is a good person, I am not attacking him as a human being, I am making comparisons between the two gentlemen and their work experience. I don't believe either is a bad or not good person, considering how people champion for each of them here, they each must have a passion for what they do and want to see an improvement to this county.

Very well written. I could not agree with you more!

Could not agree more with whomever posted this!

I can tell you this, Being a Law Enforcement Officer certainly plays a big part in it. I don't think there would be many people that would disagree. He has worked every aspect of public safety - EMS, Corrections, Coroners Office and Law Enforcement. He is also a part-time Police Officer for the City of Crandon not to mention he was a Manager at Remington Oil Company for a long time to. The guy is more than qualified. I've known him for many years.

I can tell you what kind of person he is. When he started working in Public Safety, he worked for Crawford Ambulance. He was always in that ambulance. I made the comment to him one time that he must be rolling in the money because he was always working. He told me working for a private ambulance service who is subsidized by the county is not a way to get rich. He got paid per call and he didn't make a lot of money at doing the job. I asked him why he did it then and he told me because he loved helping people. He's the kind of person who actually cares about people. The kind of person that would get out of bed in the middle of the night, go out in 20 below weather and respond to help someone that he didn't even know. It just wasn't a time or two he has done this, it was many many many times. It wasn't for a paycheck and wonderful benefits because there were no benefits and the paycheck wasn't much! I would say his core values stand out in this case! He did all this before deciding to work for Forest County, he did this for the Langlade County residents. Which brings up another thing. He didn't wanna leave Langlade County. He left because he wanted to work as a full-time road Officer. The opportunity wasn't available for him in Langlade County at the time Forest County offered him a full-time road job. Another thing...running for Sheriff in Langlade County has nothing to do with it being the perfect time for him to advance his career. He has always talked about running for Sheriff, even before Greening ran for Sheriff. Most Sheriff's wait until they are close to retirement age to run. That way if the win, but then get beat in the next race they can retire.

People respect Sam. That's because he respects people. Even the inmates respected him, that's because he was always firm but fair and he knew how to communicate with people. That is what we need in a Sheriff. Someone who respects people, respects their rights and is willing to work with the community. Someone that knows all aspects of the job. We are friends but I would vote for him even if I didn't personally know him. I think he has already proved himself and will continue to do so! He has lived in Antigo his entire life and has given some of himself to our community. I say VOTE SAM WURTINGER

Sorry Sam, I know you can speak for yourself but I felt this needed to be said.

I agree with this assessment of Sam Wurtinger. I've known him for many years and he has my vote. Langlade county needs better than we are getting with the current leadership and that's true on many levels... including Sheriff.

Don't vote Greening

Agree

About Cathy Nameth's murder. Greening did say he received several breaks in the case, and was close to solving the murder. That obviously was a blatant lie. Those were Greening's exact words. There are family members who have been yearning for closure, and had faith in the system, and a community that would like to see someone brought to justice...

In response to, "He knows hard work and how to get his hands dirty. He has worked 2 jobs most of his adult life" I'm not sure that getting your hands dirty even comes close to the requirements of being a Sheriff. The job doesn't require much physical labor. Maybe if Mr. Stegall is such a "jump in and get dirty type of guy" he's in the wrong career path. Seems like someone is really grasping for straws here in trying to make him out to be a great candidate for the job.

Vote Stegall for sheriff

It's a shame the best you can do is type vote stegall. How about articulating what he plans to do to improve the county. My guess is nothing since you are unable to write anything else.

Nobody but Stegall, Wurtinger and Greening need to be talking about the plans to improve so I don't know where you get off thinking it's somebody else's business to do so. Ppl are going to vote for who they want anyway.

WOW, If a lot of you only had a clue on things are actually run you wouldn't be saying half of what you are. Need we forget the County board oversees the Sheriff's Dept. do I see any of you at meetings complaining to them, how many where there when they gave the current Sheriff a big raise, if you are that concerned with Greening where were you, not to mention the union, the union definitely has say when it comes to officers rights and I'm pretty sure that when things have happened that have concerned officers, the Union did step in to assist. I'm not campaigning for anyone on here but I am asking all you haters to please review your facts and not your anger before you post.

I dont know much about the particulars about the sheriff, but I do know the D.A. has responsibility of bringing charges of these crimes.
The one that bothers me is the missing women and the murder of Kathy Nameth and another that remains unsolved! kATHY WAS NOT SOME LOW LIFE THAT SHOULD BE FORGOTTEN SHE WAS A MEMBER OF OUR COMMUNITY AND A MOTHER AND DAUGHTER!
If you dont like them to be elected THEN DONT KEEP RE=ELECTING THEM! Put the word out that what they are doing is atrocious and should be paying for it!
Remember the D.A. was in charge of all these cases, not the sheriff!
RALPH UTTKE NEEDS TO GO AS WELL AS THE INVESTIGATION DETECTIVES!

I believe whoever wrote this is not a responsible or reliable reporter. And too many untrue facts! First of all Greening was a detective not sheriff when Cathy Nameth was murdered, the drug bust was a big farce for the D.A. who TRUELY needs replacing and Just is a city cop! If you're going to report at least report facts or go work for CNN!

Vicki - you should go back and read the comments, this has already been discussed. Check out this thread - http://wisconsin-buzz.com/comment/211081#comment-211081 - excellent points made there, like about the Nameth murder - "No matter when the murder occurred. Greening was the only one jumping on news stations telling the world that solving the case was all but imminent. So guess he should have kept his hole shut then." and regarding Officer Just - "The Sheriff is the highest ranking law enforcement officer in the County and can investigate a City cop in the wrong anytime he'd like to."

The sheriff of a county in Wis does not have jurisdiction over a city police chief. The sheriff handles county matters.

The Sheriff is the highest ranking Law Enforcement Officer in the County. Theoretically the Sheriff is over the Chief of Police however the Sheriff normally does not interfere with the Chief's business. The Sheriff has enough to worry about and politically doesn't need to get involved with another agency.

Typically the Sheriff and Chief(s) run their agencies without much headbutting between one another.

Below is a article that the Antigo radio station wrote about Joe Stegall. I guess it is easy to talk about what you want to do when you take it from somebody elses platform. Wurtinger said this from the beginning when all Stegall was saying it was time for a change and we should basiclly vote for him because he is a nice guy. I read somewhere on here that Stegall copied Wurtinger's signs. Yes he did, When I looked at the signs, they are of the same pattern. Just different colors. I wonder how much money was wasted there. Stegall must value Wurtinger's concerns and ideas. I would hope he votes for him. I know who I am voting for and it won't be Stegall.

By Wednesday morning, incumbent Sheriff Bill Greening will know his opponent for the 2014 general election. The primary on the republican side is between Joe Stegall and Sam Wurtinger. Wurtinger is a Forest County Deputy, and Stegall is currently employed at the Langlade County Jail where he's been for several years. Stegall says that he feels a disconnect between the Sheriff's Office and the public has grown in recent years, and he wants to close that gap so the public will work with law enforcement to combat crime, specifically drug crime, in the area. He also says that as a former business owner, he realizes that employee moral is crucial to successful work, because the people will want to work harder for you. Stegall also said he would enhance the efforts to eliminate drugs in the area. Polls will be open all day on Tuesday. The general election will be held in November.

Joe didn't take anything from Wurtinger, except the election on the 12th. You complain about Joe Stegall in your first fictional paragraph then state how many GREAT ideas he has for the county. You're all over the place. He stole the designs of Wurtingers signs?? Really?? Are you in 3rd grade? You must be sitting there as Sam's campaign is slowly coming to an end and becoming upset. Joe Stegall has a great grasp of what Langlade County's deficiencies have been under Bill and will do everything needed to bring us back on track.

Not upset in the least. I feel confidant the good people of Langlade County will make the right choice and I don't think that choice will be Stegall. Keep living the dream!

Your right the good people of Langlade County made their choice!!!Are you going to vote for Greening now and keep that joke running our county?

You're right they made there choice. OPEN MOUTH INSERT FOOT.....

Looks like Joe beat Wurtinger. congrats joe

Looks like the incumbent got his way, I received a message Monday telling me which way to vote as one is a much weaker candidate and can be beaten in November. Deception reigns in Langlade County. Wonder what mischief will be coming down the road.

are you kidding? what is this, survivor or big brother?

Someone like you should have Greening and Ralph so they keep busting the dope smokers and let the heroin dealers and child molesters walk.Guess you have never been to Ralphs circus he calls a court room. Your not much for change for the better are you?

My point was the incumbent must be so fearful of losing to one challenger he felt the need to skew the votes by encouraging others to vote for who he felt was the weaker opponent. It has nothing to do with drugs or Ralph but being ethical.

Not a good day for Langlade County. Hmmmm, who to Vote for. I say neither. Stegall is an idiot and Greening is lazy as you can get. Voters of Langlade Co. really messed up this time.

YOU must be a big Ralph fan, Layoff the bathsalts?

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