New Richmond man takes third in pumpkin contest; Wisconsinites careful with credit, says Experian; more briefs

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A western Wisconsin man who grew a world-record pumpkin last year says he’s disappointed that he placed third in a major competition last weekend.

Chris Stevens of New Richmond entered an orange whopper at Stillwater, Minn., that weighed 1,575 pounds.

But the state record holders from South Dakota and Minnesota weighed in with heavier pumpkins. But they were not as big as the one Stevens grew last year, which set a new world record at 1,810 pounds.

Stevens said he was hoping to break his own record this year, but a hot and humid summer kept the sizes down for him and his competitors.

Stevens recently entered a smaller pumpkin at the state contest in Nekoosa. He won that contest with a weight of 1,481 pounds. Stevens never gardened until a few years ago.

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Wisconsinites careful with credit, says Experian

Wausau has the most financially responsible people in the United States, according to the Experian credit bureau.

Experian said Wausau residents have an average credit rating of 789 – tops in the country.

Experian is one of three major credit bureaus that determine whether people can get loans, among other things. Those with the highest credit scores generally get the lowest interest rates.

Experian says Wisconsinites remain among the nation’s most fiscally responsible people. Madison has the country’s third-highest average scores at 785, Green Bay is sixth at 780, and La Crosse is 10th at 777 – which means four Wisconsin cities are among the nation’s top 10 in credit ratings.

Milwaukee is 33rd at 765. Wausau replaces Minneapolis as the nation’s most fiscally responsible place.

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Police say woman killed another to take unborn child

MILWAUKEE -- The funeral will be held Friday for a woman who was bludgeoned with a baseball bat just before her unborn son was ripped from her womb.

Police said Martiza Ramirez-Cruz, 23, was lured into a stranger’s car, and the female driver took them to her house where she killed the pregnant woman and stole her baby.

Friday’s funeral will be for both Ramirez-Cruz and her son, who would have been named Yadier Omar.

Prosecutors said Annette Morales-Rodriguez, 33, was hunting for a nearly full-term pregnant woman because the defendant was unable to conceive, and she had promised her boyfriend a child.

Morales-Rodriguez is being held under a $1 million cash bond on charges of first-degree intentional homicide and the homicide of an unborn child.

She’s due back in court in a week when a judge will decide if there’s enough evidence to order a trial. Morales-Rodriguez will get a public defender, but one has not been assigned yet.

The victim’s brother-in-law, Josue Garcia, said Ramirez-Cruz made it a policy never to go into a stranger’s car, and he’d like to know why she did this time.

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Field trip chaperone charged with taking herion

A chaperone has been charged with taking heroin during a school field trip in southeast Wisconsin.

Stephanie Bailey, 28, Allenton, is free on a $500 cash bond after being charged in Ozaukee County with illegal possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia.

The incident happened during a field trip to Pioneer Village by youngsters at Wayne Elementary School in Kewaskum.

According to Superintendent David Ewald, Bailey joined her seven-year-old son on the trip. He said she used a restroom and never came out. She was later found unconscious on the bathroom floor with heroin and drug paraphernalia close by. Teachers gave her first aid and then called 911.

The status of Bailey’s court case will be reviewed Oct. 20. Online court records showed that she had no other criminal offenses. Ewald said the Kewakum schools do background checks on all their volunteers.

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Milwaukee’s teen birth rate drops again

Fewer kids are having kids in Milwaukee for the second year in a row.

City officials said almost 36 of every 1,000 teenagers had babies last year. That’s 5.6 less than in 2009, when a similar drop was reported.

The teen birth rate was as high as 52 per 1,000 in 2006, and it brought Milwaukee some unwanted national attention. Three years ago, the city and its United Way joined forces to attack the problem. Now they’re getting closer to achieving their goal of dropping Milwaukee’s teen birth rate to about the same level as the statewide figure of around 30 per 1,000 by 2015.

City Health Director Bevan Baker says more girls will be in a better position to succeed because they won’t have the burden of being teen moms.

The United Way’s Nicole Angresano says cutting the teen birth rate is a major step toward eliminating poverty, and it’s a huge challenge because children born to teenage moms are more likely to be teen parents themselves.

The United Way has pumped almost $4 million into teen pregnancy prevention efforts since 2004. They’ve targeted kids as young as fourth grade who will turn 17 by 2015.

Milwaukee’s public schools have improved their human development curriculum, and young people have seen public service ad campaigns that feature boys with swollen bellies and movie previews about what happens when a teen gets pregnant.

Angresano says officials are pleased with the progress, but there’s still a long way to go.

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Child dies in farm accident

A two-year-old boy died after a farm accident in southwest Wisconsin.

Grant County sheriff’s deputies said Soloman Fisher of Mount Hope fell off a cart Monday and was run over by a wheel.

Investigators said Soloman and three siblings were with their father, Levi Fisher. He was harvesting silage while two mules pulled the cart and a wagon.

While returning to the farm, Levi Fisher ran off the cart to tend to some cattle that stepped into a field. The cart and wagon kept going, and that’s when young Soloman fell off.

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Adult, child lose lives in house fire

MILWAUKEE -- Two people were killed, and three others were burned in a house fire overnight on Milwaukee’s south side.

Authorities said an adult and a child died in the blaze, which started around 2 a.m. Three other kids were taken to Milwaukee Children’s Hospital. One of them had serious burns.

Deputy Fire Chief Jack Christianson said two kids escaped unharmed, and firefighters rescued another youngster in the house. But they couldn’t stay in for long. Christianson said his firefighters had to leave due to a combination of heat and falling wires.

Police will help fire investigators determine what started the blaze.

Tags: state news, wisconsin