DA demands to carry weapon in courthouse; Romney campaigns in Wisconsin today; more briefs

Talk about it

The district attorney in Oshkosh says judges are illegally limiting his right to carry a concealed weapon in his courthouse, and he’s filing a petition today with the State Supreme Court to get that changed.

Christian Gossett and his chief deputy Scott Ceman both have state permits. As prosecutors, they say Wisconsin’s new concealed weapons law allows them to carry their weapons on the job.

But Gossett says Winnebago County’s judges will not let him to have a concealed weapon in court unless he gets written permission from the judge or court commissioner who handles each case.

Gossett said the order goes beyond the limits of the courts’ authority. And because the law is so new, they had no legal precedent on which to base their order.

Gossett says he and Ceman have their offices in a different building from the courtrooms, and they must carry concealed weapons to stay safe as they pass through unsecured areas.

The head of Gossett’s judicial district, Fond du Lac Judge Robert Wirtz, issued an order in January that affirmed the DA’s gun restrictions. Wirtz is a defendant in Gossett’s complaint, along with all six Winnebago County judges.

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Romney campaigns in Wisconsin today

Mitt Romney’s bus tour rolls into Wisconsin this morning.

The Republican presidential candidate will speak from a loading dock at Monterrey Mills in Janesville, which makes fabric for paint rollers.

Romney will appear in the hometown of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, who will appear at the event along with Gov. Scott Walker. After that, Romney will ride through southwest Wisconsin before stopping next in Dubuque, Iowa, where he’ll take a boat ride and speak at a park.

Romney started his bus tour Friday in New Hampshire, campaigning in small-to-medium-sized cities in battleground states that supported Democrat Barack Obama in 2008.

National media say Democratic protestors have been following the bus caravan. In Newark, Ohio, Sunday, Romney’s wife Ann responded to about 30 shouting protestors by saying, “We can be just as loud about how much we love this country.”

Obama adviser David Alexrod said he condemns the heckling.

“Shouting folks down is their tactic, not ours. Let voters hear both candidates and decide,” said Axelrod on Twitter.

Romney has been touting his economic plans on his trip. Wisconsin Democrats took aim at those plans yesterday at rally in Madison at the Labor Temple. Mahlon Mitchell, who lost for lieutenant governor two weeks ago, was among those criticizing Romney.

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Wanggaard asks for recall recount

State Senate Republican Van Wanggaard of Racine has asked elections officials to recount the ballots that showed him losing his recall election June 5.

Should his defeat hold up, Democrats would assume control of the Senate at least until November, when half the Senate’s up for reelection.

A canvass last week showed that Wanggaard lost to Democrat John Lehman by 834 votes out of 72,000 cast. But Republicans claimed there were voting irregularities.

Racine County sheriff’s deputies are investigating reports of problems at a Racine polling place and suspicious voter registration documents.

In a statement, Wanggaard said he talked to numerous officials and voters before deciding to seek the recount. He denies doing it as a stalling tactic, although Democrats say he should just concede and stop delaying the inevitable.

State elections’ officials will certify the ballot this week, and then the recount can begin. Because the margin is more than half of one percent, Wanggaard will have to pay $5 a ward or $685. If the cost is higher, taxpayers will pick it up.

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Pro-life group promises aggressive agenda

Pro-life groups made some big gains in the last state legislative session, and they plan to keep the petal to the metal if Republicans win both houses again in November.

The GOP is expected to keep running the Assembly, but Democrats have taken control of the Senate, pending a recount in a June 5 recall contest.

If the GOP does not regain the upper house this fall, Barbara Lyons of Wisconsin Right to Life told the Madison Capital Times, “We won’t be able to get our issues through the Senate.”

Still, her group and others promise an aggressive agenda if they get the same Republican majorities that brought back an emphasis on abstinence in sex education, cut state funds for Planned Parenthood and made abortion candidates prove they’re not coerced into getting their operations.

Among the new bills that Wisconsin Right to Life wants to promote is a ban on birth control coverage in state health insurance plans for public employees. It also wants to require abortion candidates to have ultrasounds, and then be given the right to see what they’re created.

Right to Life also wants to find a sponsor for a bill being promoted nationally to ban abortions after the woman’s sixth month of pregnancy except when the mother’s life is in danger. National Right to Life says five states have made it law.

Planned Parenthood says there are problems with all the proposals.

“These groups aren’t pushing anti-abortion agendas – they’re pushing anti-woman agendas,” said Nicole Safar in a Cap Times interview.

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Ex-DA says he’s paid enough for sexually harassing women

Ken Kratz says he’s suffered enough. He’ll try to convince the State Supreme Court not to suspend his law license for sexually harassing women while he was Calumet County’s district attorney.

Kratz is scheduled to appear tomorrow before retired Rhinelander Judge Robert Kinney. The judge will hear arguments and then make a recommendation to the State Supreme Court, which was asked last November to suspend Kratz’s law license for six months.

His case was first publicized in 2010, a few months after he sent 30 sexually explicit text messages to a domestic violence victim while he was prosecuting her ex-boyfriend. He was later accused of making sexual remarks to other women and having sex with a woman he prosecuted.

Kratz has agreed to plead guilty to six violations of attorney conduct rules brought by the state Office of Lawyer Regulation. Five other violations, including the sexual assault allegations, were dropped last week.

Kratz told the Associated Press he doesn’t believe a suspension is necessary to show him how serious his misbehavior was. He was a private attorney after quitting in 2010 as the Calumet DA, but he says he’s been forced out of the business for six months.

He filed for bankruptcy this spring and moved to Florida. And the subject of the original text messages still has a federal harassment lawsuit pending against him.

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Weekend fire damages historic building at UW-La Crosse

UW-La Crosse officials will learn more today about the damages from a weekend fire.

The blaze was contained to a storage room at Wittich Hall, but there was smoke and water damage throughout the structure. The cause remains under investigation.

The building was locked, and it appeared to be unoccupied when fire units arrived late Saturday night.

One injured firefighter was treated at a hospital and later released.

An alarm was also sounded in Graff Main Hall, which is connected by ventilation shafts, but there was no damage to the second building.

Wittich Hall is one of the oldest on the UW-La Crosse campus. It was built in 1916 as the first physical education facility. It was put on the National Register of Historic Places in the mid-‘80’s. It now houses several department offices, the women’s gymnastics program, youth sports programs and motor development programs.

The fire was the second on the La Crosse campus this year. A blaze in January closed a dormitory for the rest of the semester. The cause of that fire was never determined.

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New Miss Wisconsin tackles childhood hunger

Kate Gorman has been Miss Wisconsin for only two days, and she has already started to work on her platform, which is reducing childhood hunger.

Gorman, 23, entered the pageant as Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest. She was crowned Saturday night in Oshkosh as the state’s representative for the Miss America Pageant in January.

Gorman said she has a partnership with Festival Foods, and they hope to arrange 16 food drives throughout Wisconsin to benefit hungry children.

Gorman graduated last month from UW-La Crosse in elementary art education. Besides the Miss Wisconsin title, she won a $10,000 scholarship.

The first-runner-up was Katie Williams, 23, of Wisconsin Rapids, Miss Heart of Wisconsin. She won a $2,000 scholarship.

Elizabeth Kramer of Holmen was the second runner-up, followed by Raquel Bruening of New Berlin and Desiree Geffers of Oshkosh.

Sixteen-year-old Madeline Morgan of Oregon was named the Miss Wisconsin Outstanding Teen.

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Tribe wants to reclaim Apostle Islands

Alarming news for homeowners who spend their summers on the Apostle Islands: The Bad River Bank of Lake Superior Chippewa says it considers the island sacred.

That same island also has high-priced summer homes sitting on it when hundreds of visitors come each summer. In many cases, the locations have been leased from the tribe for decades. It’s possible those leases won’t be renewed when they run out in the next five years.

The chairman of the tribe told Wisconsin Public Radio he’d like to see the reservation land reclaimed for tribal members. A tribal-relations committee has been formed recently, with locals hoping both sides will keep the lines of communication open.

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Man arrested after 24 cattle found dead in barn

SHAWANO COUNTY -- Deputies have arrested a 50-year-old man after they found two dozen dead cattle inside a barn.

Officers were investigating a report of a stench coming from that barn. Tentative charges against the suspect are of animal neglect. The sheriff’s department says the bad smell was reported Friday and other neighbors confirmed they smelled it, too.

Authorities used a search warrant to check out the farm in the Town of Belle Plaine. It’s possible charges could be filed as soon as today.

If convicted, the maximum penalty on the animal neglect charge would be 18 months in prison and a $10,000 fine.

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Search goes on for 10-ft. python

SHIOCTON -- Crews at Navarino Nature Center say they have been looking for a 10-foot python since the Memorial Day weekend. A visitor took a picture of the snake then.

The nature center is located on the Navarino Wildlife Center in Shiocton.

Since pythons aren’t native to the area, the center director said it is most likely an abandoned pet. He said it offers little threat to human beings because the snake would be much more interested in the center’s smaller animals, like beavers, otters and ducks.

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Twins drown in tub while mom sleeps

A woman from East Troy has admitted letting her twin baby girls drown in an overflowing bathtub as she fell asleep.

Melody Butt, 26, pleaded guilty in Walworth County to two counts of felony child neglect while causing death. Two misdemeanor counts of child neglect were dropped in a plea deal.

Butt could get up to 50 years in prison when she’s sentenced July 31.

Prosecutors said she placed her 11-month-old twins in a bathtub at her home last Sept. 22 and then fell asleep in her bedroom. A roommate came home a short time later and found the infants in an overflowing tub. That’s when Butt woke up.

Prosecutors said it happened in a filthy apartment where seven people lived.

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After release from prison, couple deported to Philippines

They have completed their six-year prison term for human trafficking, now Jefferson Calimlim Sr. and his wife Elnora have been deported.

The Calimlims were both doctors, living in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield, when they were convicted of bringing a woman to the U.S. from the Philippines and forcing her to work in their home.

The victim says she was threatened with violence if she didn’t work 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., every day, 365 days a year. That reportedly went on for 19 years.

Defense attorneys argued the woman agreed to the working conditions, saying she knew her situation here would still be better than the one she faced back at home.

The couple was convicted in 2006 in federal court. They have been returned to the Philippines themselves now.

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Ronald McDonald found unharmed

One of America’s most famous icons was found in a ditch in Fond du Lac County.

A six-foot statue of Ronald McDonald was stolen from the McDonald’s restaurant in Lomira early Wednesday morning. Somebody called 911 around 5:20 a.m. Friday to say that Ronald was in a ditch at a rural intersection near the Dodge County line.

Chief Deputy Mark Strand said anyone who took the statue would not have been able to keep it a secret for any length of time – it’s not something that a person normally keeps in a home.

Lomira police say the $5,000 statue appears to be intact. It was expected to return to its place at the restaurant sometime today.

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Early spring followed by frost ruins cherry crop

Door County’s famous cherries will be harder to come by this year.

Growers say the record warm March got the crop going too early, and then frost in April killed the buds.

Bob Lautenbach of Fish Creek said his family has been growing cherries all his life, and this year is the worst he’s ever seen. He said Door County normally produces around 8 million to 10 million pounds of cherries per year, but this year, the prediction is for only a half-million pounds.

Lautenbach’s orchard expects to cancel its pick-your-own season. But he said visitors have still been able to feast on cherry-related products in his store, made from last year’s crop.

Growers say they plan to keep their limited crop within Door County this year for residents and visitors to enjoy. Due to the limited supply, they expect prices to be higher.

Tags: state news, legislature, wisconsin, courts