Paiton Bowen, daughter of Marcus and Sarah Bowen of Baldwin, is the first baby born at Baldwin Area Medical Center in 2010.
Paiton was born at 9:30 p.m. on Friday, Janaury 1. She weighed in at seven pounds, 3.3 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. Dr. Klingler was the attending physican. Older brother Robert Gausmann, 7, will welcome Paiton home.
In recognition of being the first baby born at BAMC in 2010, Paiton received a savings bond from the Baldwin Area Medical Center Auxiliary.
St. Croix County makes probable cause finding in Rassbach prosecution
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced that John Rassbach of Glenwood City, was bound over for trial following a preliminary hearing on December 30, 2009. Rassbach is accused of defrauding customers of his business, Rassbach Oil Company, which contracts to sell fuel products to Wisconsin home owners and farmers.
The charges, which include multiple felony and misdemeanor counts, arose out of an investigation conducted by agents of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), Division of Weights and Measures in conjunction with the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Department.
Rassbach, age 53, is charged with five felony counts of theft, six counts of misdemeanor theft and three counts of attempted misdemeanor theft for intentionally deceiving customers or attempting to deceive customers that he contracted to sell fuel products including LP gas, gasoline, and diesel/fuel oil in three general ways: (1) physically “shorting” the customer by pumping a portion of the fuel back into his delivery truck, (2) the use of fraudulent propane delivery invoices, and (3) the issuance of duplicate and triplicate fuel delivery tickets by presenting the same ticket to multiple customers for a single fuel delivery.
Rassbach faces maximum penalties of: three years and six months in jail and a $10,000 fine or both on four felony counts and six years in prison and a $10,000 fine, or both on one felony count, and nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine or both on six counts of misdemeanor theft, and four and one-half months in jail and a $5,000 fine or both on three counts of attempted misdemeanor theft. The charges are merely accusations. Rassbach is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The arraignment has been scheduled for January 13, 2010 at 10:45 a.m. Assistant Attorney General David Wambach represents the state in this case.
Community Foundation to host comedy fundraiser
The Baldwin-Woodville Area Community Foundation continues to work for you. At their recent meeting the foundation invited a guest, Jane Hetland Stevenson, the president of the St. Croix Valley Foundation, to inform the group about options that the foundation could use to increase its assistance in the community.
Other items on the agenda include the spring comedy fundraiser. Trevor Anderson will be the featured MC for the event on March 25. The Orchard has joined forces with the foundation so the event will include a social hour (5:00), dinner (6:00), and program (7:00). Mark your calendars for the event scheduled to help our community.
Scholarship and Grant applications will be available online (http://www.baldwinareafoundation.com/ ) beginning January 15, 2010. The Baldwin-Woodville Area Community Foundation will accept completed forms postmarked by March 1, 2010. Grant/scholarship award decisions will be made at the Board’s regular March meeting and will be announced later in the month.
For more information on the BWACF, contact the Baldwin-Woodville Area Community Foundation at PO Box 352, Baldwin, WI 54002.
From the Exchanges
Interesting items from
surrounding communities
HUDSON STAR-OBSERVER: A North Hudson neighborhood was cordoned off for three hours on Tuesday, December 22 while police waited for the surrender of a man who had fled to a residence at 658 Galahad Road N. James Lindsey Hart, 43, was wanted for allegedly threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend, police officers and himself. He came out of the house and surrendered to police without incident at just after 2 p.m. North Hudson police had been attempting to locate Hart since 7:30 a.m. that day when the Washington County Minn., Sheriff’s Department sent out a notice asking any law enforcement officer who came in contact with Hart to arrest him.
NEW RICHMOND NEWS: State reports indicated that the School District of New Richmond will get $9.7 million in federal stimulus money, but according to Morrie Veilleux, district administrator, that figure might be a little misleading. As of Nov. 16, $7.6 billion has been allocated to Wisconsin municipalities, school districts, transpiration projects and government agencies. The breakdown shows the School District of New Richmond getting $7.2 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds, $1.9 million in state fiscal stabilization funds, $589,982 in IDEA Part B Grants and $27,896 in IDEA Part B Preschool Grants. The problem, Veilleux said, is it’s not all free money to be used however the district likes.
THE SUN (OSCEOLA): Osceola’s seasonal ice-skating pond has found a new home. Village parks officials have set up the seasonal ice rink this year in Oakley Park off Sixth Ave, east of Chieftain Street on the former bus garage site. The rink was formerly located in the park uphill from the fair building, near Summit Street and Seventh Avenue. Village Administrator Neil Soltis said the Village’s Public Service Committee felt moving the rink would allow it to be larger and more accessible to the public. “There’s more room there and we can have things a little bit bigger,” said Soltis.
CENTRAL ST. CROIX NEWS (HAMMOND AND ROBERTS): Years of making YouTube videos paid off in a big way for two Central St. Croix area teens – although not as big as they were hoping. Elling Hofland and Adam Calcagno, both juniors at St. Croix Central High School and employees at the Best Buy store in Woodbury, teamed together for – literally – about the 100th time to make their latest YouTube video: “Billy Mays and Kodak.” The two-minute video was part of Kodak’s “Print and Prosper Playback” contest open to Best Buy employees nationwide. The boys’ video was one of ten chosen from all entries to be posted on YouTube for ten days. The video with the most views won $10,000 Hofland and Calcagno’s work came in second, earning them a home entertainment center valued at $3,500. “Now we just have to figure out how to split it up,” 16-year-old Hofland said. “I’m disappointed we didn’t win the $10,000. It’s undeniable that we had the better video.
RIVER FALLS JOURNAL: The amount is nothing to shrug off but it could have been much worse. At last week’s regular meeting the school board approved a $365,340 budget reduction for the 2010-11 school year. Now district administrators led by Superintendent Tom Westerhous, must hash out details of what gets cut. After a public hearing in March the school board will get its recommendation and vote on it. The reason for the cuts is a projected $1-plus-million shortfall in next year’s school district budget. If you think you’ve heard this before, you have. With the recession in full swing, the state hacked school aid to Wisconsin districts late last summer. River Falls suddenly lost $1.5 million which created a financial sinkhole. As a result, the property tax mill rate was increased by an average of 15% and $800,000 was tapped from the district’s Reserve Fund to cover the shortfall. And before that, in March, the school board ok’d a $381,000 budget reduction to prepare for the 2009-10 year and also tapped more than $300,000 from the Reserve Fund. Declining enrollment and state aid were cited as key factors.
