Protestors blamed for super-gluing school locks before Walker visit; Wisconsin teens lead police on long-distance chase; more briefs

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Officials at a Milwaukee Catholic school say they’re very disappointed that a visit by Gov. Scott Walker this afternoon has already been marred by vandalism.

Staffers at Messmer Preparatory School in Milwaukee’s inner-city were changing the locks today after some of them were filled with metal and super glue during the night.

Walker is scheduled to visit Messmer to read the Doctor Seuss story “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” to second- and third-graders.

School development director Jeffrey Robb said cars parked in front of the school had anti-Walker signs this morning.

The principal, Brother Bob Smith, said on Thursday a woman urged parents to bring noisemakers and scream as Walker arrived.

The governor has been dogged by protestors for months. They oppose the new law that virtually ends collective bargaining by most public unions.

But Robb said reading to kids has nothing to do with politics.

Brother Smith told people to “start acting like adults.”

Jacob Flom of Milwaukee’s Students for a Democratic Society said they won’t let Walker go anywhere without being protested, but Flom agreed the vandalism at Messmer doesn’t help the protestors’ cause.

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Wisconsin teens lead police on long-distance chase

Three western Wisconsin teens have been arrested in Wyoming for leading police on a 73-mile chase in a stolen car.

Officials said the teens were in a car that was stolen in Sparta. They were pulled over for speeding on Wednesday night along Hwy. 220 south of Casper, Wyo. But the vehicle sped off while the trooper was waiting for a back-up officer.

The car eventually stopped after its tires were flattened by spikes that the State Patrol had planted. Two passengers were apprehended after a short chase on foot, and the driver was arrested 12 hours later at a fast-food restaurant in Rawlins, Wyo.

All three face charges of possessing the stolen vehicle, and the driver could be charged with eluding and interfering with police and driving with a suspended license.

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Angler pulls out long-missing prosthetic leg

A Wisconsin woman was fishing in Minnesota during the July 4th weekend when she reeled in somebody’s prosthetic leg.

Beth Krohn was at her vacation home on Lake Ida near Alexandria, Minn. She told KSAX TV that she was on the lake for about an hour when she reeled in something large -- and she knew it wasn’t a fish.

Once she saw the prosthetic leg, Krohn said she gasped and hoped it was not a dead body. She later realized it was an artificial leg so she called some specialists and found that Pam Riley of Morris, Minn.

Riley also has a vacation home on Lake Ida and lost the prosthetic leg three years ago while swimming. Riley never thought it would be recovered.

But she met up with Krohn the day it happened, and they exchanged stories and body parts. The television station did not say where Krohn lives in Wisconsin.

Krohn said her catch is one for the ages. She said it’s like going deer hunting and getting the biggest buck of all.

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$100,000 bond set for man accused of kidnapping Wisconsin girl

A $100,000 cash bond has been ordered for a Texas man accused of kidnapping a 13-year-old girl in Shawano County.

Authorities said Xan Boyett, 18, met the girl on the Internet and was planning to take her on a bus to Milwaukee and then to Vermont, where he was planned to put her up in a hotel and provide her with games and home schooling.

Officials said Boyett and the girl chatted numerous times both online and on the phone. He told officers there was no romantic or sexual contact involved.

Shawano County sheriff’s deputies learned last weekend that the girl was taken from her home in central part of that county.

Boyett was arrested last Sunday when the bus he and the girl were riding stopped in Sheboygan.

Boyett is due back in court Monday on charges of kidnapping and obstructing police. Reports said he had a long juvenile record in Texas.

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Marriage, divorce rates lower here

Wisconsin couples are more hesitant to get married than others around the country, and the state’s divorce rate is also smaller than the national average.

The U.S. Census Bureau said 1.7% of Wisconsin men tied the knot in 2009 – less than the national rate of 1.9%. Fewer women in Wisconsin also said “I do” – just l.6%, two tenths lower than the national average.

Divorce rates had similar discrepancies.

Diana Elliot of the Census Bureau said couples are getting married later in life. They’re waiting six years longer than they did in 1970. The average man gets married at age 28, and the average woman at 26.

Elliot says people are generally staying in school longer, and the more highly educated a population is, the more likely it tends to delay marriage.

State health officials said over 30,000 Wisconsin couples wed last year, about 1,400 less than in 2009. But a higher percentage of those marriages ended in divorce compared to a decade earlier.

Tags: state news, wisconsin