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Vol. 125, Number 1 Ladysmith, Wisconsin 54848 Thursday, April 18, 2019 Electric co-op expanding New headquarters planned in city Page A2 Holy week Attend a church service Page A7 Milk pricing Where does Wisconsin rank? Page A10 Complaint alleges $9,744 stolen Former county department head facing felony theft related charges By Luke Klink SWORN IN AT CITY HALL — City council members who won seats in the Spring Election take the oath of office at the council’s organizational meeting on A former Rusk County Department Inside Tuesday, April 16. They are (from left) Marty Reynolds for District 7, Bonnie Stoneberg for District 5, Brian Groothousen for District 3 and Mark Platteter for head is charged in Rusk County Cir- District 1. Alderman Al Hraban in District 6 was approved unanimously as new council president. cuit Court with four felony internal County maintenance — News photo by Luke lLink embezzlement employees tell and theft related Projects scheduled to start on or before May 6 counts alleging investigators super- use of county visor ordered them identification to Fritz, Worden schedule a moving target purchase furnac- to install furnaces, es, water heaters, By Luke Klink cluded when work would begin and City officials also expressed concern from W. Fifth Street to W. Ninth Street tires, deck boards, air conditioners for With the city preparing to undertake end, which street would see major about how construction would affect at Wis. 27. skid steer parts one of its busiest street construction work first, the direction of travel for special downtown events, namely the The cost of the projects are esti- and other materi- boss’ relatives and seasons in many years, getting all the construction and how to lessen impact Ladysmith Jaycees Mardi Gras Street mated at $1.9 million with almost half Mike als for both per- build a deck for his moving parts into the necessary order to many downtown area shops that Parade on the third Sunday in July. funded through Community Develop- sonal and family remains a work in progress. will hope to do business amid incon- The street portions involved are: ment Block Grants and principal for- Naczas use. lakeshore campsite. A pre-construction meeting was veniences caused by the construction. n Eight blocks of Worden Avenue giveness loans through the Wisconsin Mike Naczas, 62, of Chetek, the held last Thursday, when engineer- Also included in talks was impact from E. Fourth to W. Fourth streets. Department of Natural Resources Safe county’s former maintenance su- ing and construction representatives construction could have on fire, law n Three blocks of Fritz Avenue Drinking Water and Clean Water Fund pervisor who oversaw a department identifying information or documents. overseeing the work met at city hall enforcement and ambulance service from W. Second Street to W. Fifth programs. with four employees, was charged on He was placed on paid administrative to discuss the projects and coordinat- that rely on these roads when respond- Street. Thursday, April 11, with one count of leave March of last year as the inves- ing with utilities. The discussion in- ing to emergencies. n Four blocks of Summit Avenue Please turn to Page A12 felony misconduct in office-acting in tigation began before he resigned last excess of authority and three counts of felony unauthorized use of an entity’s Please turn to Page A9 City taps grants to fund downtown roadwork By Luke Klink nancing tools being used to fund near- Prison for courthouse When the Ladysmith Common ly half of the project including Com- Council held a public hearing to al- munity Development Block Grants low comment on proposed sewer, and principal forgiveness through the bomb scare suspect water, curb, gutter and sidewalk spe- Wisconsin Department of Natural Re- cial assessments for this year’s $1.96 sources Safe Drinking Water Loan and By Jerilea Hendrick emailed to the Rusk County Court- million in street work on Fritz and Clean Water Fund programs. Principal After a jury found him guilty of house between July and September Worden avenues, it had the project forgiveness is additional subsidy, pro- four bomb scares to the Rusk Coun- 2016. designer, an engineer, city auditor vided by the federal government, to ty Courthouse, Assistant District Attorney Lester and an attorney on hand to strength- assist municipalities that would expe- a Mondovi man Liptak called Hewitt’s case “trou- en its argument for its method of fi- rience significant hardship raising the was sentenced blesome on a number of levels.” The nancing the improvements. revenue necessary to finance needed to 10 years in type of trauma Hewitt inflicted on City officials project $499,699 in infrastructure projects. Principal for- prison. the entire community of the court- special assessments with $456,177 for giveness is used to reduce the size of Dustin E. house is a difficult kind of trauma, private property owners and $43,522 a loan, thus reducing annual principal Hewitt, 25, ap- said Liptak, while it’s not physical, for publicly owned parcels. Nearly 50 and interest payments. peared in Rusk it’s very difficult for some people percent of the project is being funded With the DNR loans, the city will be County Circuit to recover from because it sticks in through grants and principal forgive- to W. Fourth Street and three blocks of for resurfacing only as part of a sepa- paying back $125,698 in interest over Court on April 2 your mind. Liptak asked the court, ness loans. Fritz Avenue from W. Second Street to rate $117,206 project. 20 years. Alternatively, if the city had to be sentenced “how do you give someone back a The street portions involved in the W. Fifth Street. Another four blocks Cooper Engineering Environmental applied for funding through USDA, it Dustin for four bomb reconstruction are eight blocks of of Fritz Avenue from W. Fifth Street to Scientist and Community Financing Hewitt scare threats he Please turn to Page A11 Worden Avenue from E. Fourth Street W. Ninth Street at Wis. 27 is scheduled Specialist Amy Kelsey described fi- Please turn to Page A11 Bruce area author publishes new book sequel By Jerilea Hendrick Knops realized he could wait no lon- the story of a nation-wide serial kill- and has used it to continue to grow A Bruce area writer filled his life- ger. “So many people say they will er who’s killing career spans more as a writer. On his writing journey, long dream by releasing his second wait until retirement to write a book than 50 years. one of the best tips he received was novel, Eight-Five…Still Alive; a or work on a life goal,” said Knops. To write this second novel, Knops for writers to write like you speak sequel to his first novel published in He was able to finish his first book said he completed more background because it will help create a real and 2014 called Eight-Five. within four months. research to allow the story to incor- relatable story for your readers. After enjoying writing short sto- Based on feedback he received porate more reality and spent time Knops worked for many years for ries for most of his life, Arian Knops from his readers, he decided to write rearranging and fine-tuning the sto- Northern States Power in downtown has always wanted to write a book. the sequel Eight-five…Still Alive. ry. Building, blending and creating Minneapolis before retiring to the Knops shared a memory of a long- Knops said some of his readers characters is the fun part of writing, Bruce area. He believes his experi- time friend who had a similar life didn’t like the ending and wanted says Knops. ence of working around a variety long goal but passed away before more. His second novel took almost Writing creative short stories since of people from many backgrounds, that goal could be realized. four and a half years to complete. high school, Knops said he has re- The night after his friend’s funeral, Eight-five…Still Alive continues peatedly received positive feedback Please turn to Page A11 Reach a larger audience Combination rates available Contact us at 715-532-5591 or [email protected] Advertise in the Ladysmith News and other Bell Press publications $ “Good news since 1895" Lady Smith 1 www.ladysmithnews.com Ladysmith News Thursday, April 18, 2019 - A9 Criminal complaint details charges filed against Naczas A criminal complaint against former tone brand tires size P275/55R. Rusk County Maintenance Supervisor, The detective reported he spoke with Mike Naczas alleges the following thefts Judge OK’s releasing former worker’s records Naczas about the purchase of the 20-inch and department activities while he was tires and Naczas admitted there are no overseeing a county department and By Luke Klink time due and owing employee, and the senior center roof project and to allow the parties to redact any fleet vehicles he is aware of that have 20- staff of four employees. A separation payout agreement employer shall receive no addition- not being given enough money to information that could be deemed inch tires. When the detective told Nac- between Rusk County and its for- al payouts,” the document states. get the work done. confidential. zas about the information he had that the n Gibson brand residential high effi- mer maintenance supervisor was “If an inquiry is received, employ- Naczas contested the newspa- The redacted information ap- 20-inch tires had been placed on his per- ciency furnace found installed at a Cam- among numerous documents re- er shall inform the Department of per’s request, and was granted peared to be employee financial sonal truck, Naczas allegedly stated he eron home.