The Sheboygan Press from Sheboygan, Wisconsin • Page 6

A6 The Sheboygan Press, Friday, September 20, 2002 Buy, sell, trade: Call Classified Toll Free at 1-888-774-7744 Wisconsin Sfiafi gnn few i(KMT McCallum urging game farms to keep proper records rr By Robert Imrie Associated Press A deer killed on a private hunting preserve in central Wisconsin earlier this month had chronic wasting disease, the first case of the fatal brain disease in the state's captive deer herd, a state official said Thursday. The whitetail buck was shot Sept. 4 on a game farm in Portage County, and test results came back Wednesday, state Veterinarian Clarence Siroky said. Animals at the game farm were quarantined, he said. He would not name the game farm.

Records kept on the infected deer show it came from a game farm in Walworth County, and animals there also were quarantined, Siroky said. Wisconsin has about 950 private deer and elkfarrs. It's too early to know whether any wild deer near the Portage County game farm have the disease, but the state Department of Natural Resources intends to do some sampling, Siroky said. In February, the DNR announced that three bucks shot in November near Mount Horeb in south central Wisconsin had chronic wasting disease, the first time it was discovered east of the Mississippi River. How the wild herd there got infected has not been determined, but the DNR has said a possible source was from a diseased deer in a private game farm.

In another development Thursday, a landowner said the discovery of at least 12 dead deer in the last three weeks within about 60 acres of land west of Mount Horeb was scary because some of the deer appeared to be healthy. "Some of these deer are just falling over and dying in a peaceful manner and not in an emaciated condition," said Rob Wegner of rural Blue Mound. The dead deer could be more evidence of chronic wast- bow hunters in that area for; testing. The DNR already plans to test about 500 deer killed in every county during the fall) hunt to check the extent of the ciiscHsc "The testing that we had already embarked upon will tell us more about where CWD is and isn't in the state of Wiscon-; sin than is available anywhere else on the globe," Hauge said. The DNR hopes to kill about 25,000 deer in a 389-square-1 mile area of Dane and Iowa, counties around Mount Horeb in coming months to try to eradicate the disease.

During four special week-long hunts this summer, 1,493 deer were killed in that area. As for the dead deer found in that area, Langenberg said there was no evidence any of them had been shot, and poisoning is one possible cause of1 death being explored. Some of the deer were found near water, she said, and deer i suffering certain kinds of health problems will go to water. "That may have caused some of the clustering of animals." Wegner said a 2 Vi -year-old doe found dead Wednesday ap-; peared to be in good health and was discovered soon enough so that medical testing can be' done on how it died. Most of the other carcasses were badly decomposed or chewed up by coyotes, he said.

"Maybe it is not related to CWD," Wegner said. "That is a lot of dead deer to be found at, this time of year." Langenberg said she would not necessarily expect 12 deer' killed by chronic wasting dis-; ease to be found in a relatively i small area. However, if the deaths oc- i curred over weeks, it is more plausible, given deer with the disease might seek out water, she said. "We don't expect that wej would start seeing clusters of dead animals like this regularly," Langenberg said. "THE RECEIVER" statue remains outside the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame this week, but its future remains up in the air as the renovation of Lambeau Field continues.

The Hall of Fame, which is now located near the stadium, is to move into the Titletown Atrium at Lambeau. AP photo Future of famed Packers statue 'up in the air' "It does say we have to be extremely careful how we move all white-tail deer and elk today." State Veterinarian Clarence Siroky ing disease, but it's too soon to tell, DNR wildlife veterinarian Julie Langenberg said Thursday. Siroky said records from both the Portage and Walworth county game farms are being obtained to trace the full history of the buck killed in Portage County. "We are looking at all purchases and all sales," he said. He did not know yet whether the deer was born in Wisconsin or imported from elsewhere.

There is no connection between the Portage County case and the disease in the wild herd near Mount Horeb so far, Siroky said. "Did (the disease) come from the outside into the game farm? I don't know," he said. New regulations put in place after the discovery of the disease near Mount Horeb led to the detection in Portage County, Siroky The development shows the need for vigilance, he said. "It does say we have to be extremely careful how we move all whitetail deer and elk today," he said. Gov.

Scott McCallum said it is imperative that game farm owners keep good records about the transport of their animals. "We will use every resource at our disposal to go after game farm owners who do not abide by the emergency rules," he said. DNR wildlife management director Tom Hauge said the agency will do some surveillance of the wild deer herd in about five-mile radius of the Portage County farm and perhaps try to collect some deer killed in vehicle accidents or by disease. Experts say there is no scientific evidence the disease can infect people, but the World Health Organization advises people not to eat any part of a deer with evidence of the disease. Hunters donated 4,000 deer last year to programs in 47 counties that feed the needy and hungry, using a DNR program that pays to process the venison.

"There seems to be a lot of interest in hunters who want to hunt to take an extra deer, but they want to have an extra outlet for it," said Laurie Fike, the Manufacturer to close in Shawano SHAWANO (AP) One of the community's largest and oldest manufacturers, American LaFrance, will end production at its two local plants in March. The company, which makes fire trucks and other emergency vehicles, said it will save money by moving the work to Charleston, S.C. American LaFrance will keep the Shawano plants open with a small crew for sales and service, company spokesman Chris Brandt said. The plants employ 150 workers. The Shawano plants, which opened in 1973 as 3-D Manufacturing, were sold to American LaFrance by founder and owner Dennis ZemanofBonduelin 1999.

American LaFrance, based in Cleveland, N.C., is a subsidiary of Freightliner Inc. of Portland, which is part of automotive giant Daimler-Chrysler. School doesn't like neighbers JANESVILLE (AP) A charter school may move to a new location after school officials learned a psychologist has been treating convicted sex offenders in the same building for nearly a year. Rock River Charter School officials met with the psychologist and the building's landlord Thursday to discuss the problem but have not reached a solution, said Doug Bunton, the district's business services director. The school had wanted to expand into the building's second floor, where the psychologist's office is.

Psychologist Bob Gordon said his offices and the school have coexisted without a problem since he moved into the building last November. Gordon said he told landlord Bob Kimball about his business before he signed a 10-year lease, and Kimball told him it was not a problem. Kimball said he believes the three sides can work out the issue. McCallum asks for more disaster relief MADISON (AP) The governor asked President Bush Thursday to extend federal disaster aid for 19 Wisconsin counties. The counties need more federal help to recover from storms Sept.

5 and Sept. 6, Gov. Scott McCallum said in a letter to Bush. The storms hit Barron, Burnett, Chippewa, Clark, Dunn, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Polk, Portage, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Shawano, St. Croix, Taylor, Washburn, Waupaca and Wood counties.

The president approved federal assistance for those counties Sept. 10 after severe storms, flooding and tornadoes ripped through them Sept. 2, causing more than $30 million in damage. Another round of storms Sept. 5 and 6 caused more damage to homes, businesses and communities, McCallum said.

Under the current federal disaster declaration, the counties would not be eligible for assistance because the damage didn't occur on Sept. 2, the official disaster incident period. Virtual school sued by teachers APPLETON (AP) The state's largest teachers union filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the legality of Wisconsin's first virtual elementary school, designed to provide school services via computer to a statewide enrollment. The Wisconsin Education Association Council's lawsuit, filed in Dane County Circuit Court in Madison, charges that Wisconsin Con- nections Academy violates state open enrollment and charter school laws. The academy opened Sept.

4 with 260 kindergarten through eighth-grade students. Among defendants named in the lawsuit are the state Department of Public Instruction and school Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster, as well as WCA, the Apple-ton Area School District and Board of Education. season, will have 25,000 square feet slightly more than the current facility but the design will allow almost twice as much exhibit space. However, Mark Schielfel-bein, director of administrative affairs for the Packers, said it is too soon to tell whether there will be a place at the renovated stadium for the statue. "Obviously it's a very popular piece, but we're still early in the design stages," Schiefelbein said.

"The statue will be one of those things that we'll have to decide whether we can incorporate it into the overall design. "Our plan is to have the Hall of Fame open by the 2003 football season, so after the first of the year, there are a lot of things that we'll have to make decisions on." Gage makes it clear that he does not want "The Receiver" to be the victim of a roster cut. "Whether it would go to Lambeau Field will be up to the Packers, but I would like to see it stay here in Green Bay in some position of honor," he said. GREEN BAY (AP) The future of "The Receiver" statue outside the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame remains up in the air as the renovation of Lambeau Field continues. The Hall of Fame, which is now located near the stadium, is to move into the Titletown Atrium at Lambeau as part of the $295 million renovation scheduled to be completed next year.

But no decision has been made on what to do with the statue of an outstretched receiver wearing a Packer uniform that stands outside the current location of the hall. However, Packers Hall of Fame president Mike Gage said about $6,000 will be spent within the next 30 to 40 days to rebuild the statue's base and repaint it. "The Receiver," which stands about 22-feet tall, was unveiled in 1985. "It's probably the most photographed object in the whole area," Gage said. The new Hall of Fame, which will open next football Despite disease worries, food pantries want donated deer Dolan: Church can't apologize enough MADISON (AP) Food pantries in about 30 counties have signed up to participate in a deer donation program, despite the discovery of a fatal brain disease in the herd, a wildlife official said Thursday.

Most of the counties are in northern Wisconsin, far from Dane and Iowa counties where chronic wasting disease was first discovered in February, said Greg Matthews, a spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources. Southern counties that signed up include Crawford, Dodge, Grant and Richland, he said. In May, Milwaukee's Hunger Task Force decided not to accept donated venison because of concerns about the deadly DNR's coordinator of the dona-. tion program. Following the 2000 deer, hunting season, 7,765 deer were donated and processed into 350,000 pounds of ground veni-: son distributed to more than 200 food pantries across the' state, Fike said.

r' Chronic wasting disease ere-' ates sponge-like holes in a deer's brain, causing it to grow thin, act abnormal and die. It has no 1 cure. The discovery of the dis-' ease near Mount Horeb marked the first time the ailment was found east of the Mississippi River. 3 "We're in this fix-it mentality," he said. "We can't do that with these people who've been so shattered.

We've got to listen to them, and we've got to let them tell us, "This is what I need to Don't you think it's time to live a less complicated life In the privacy and comfgrtof your own home? CHOOSE THE SERVICES THAT YOU DESIRE AT THE PRICE VOU CAN AFFORD: In-Home Companionship Care Transportation (To the Doctor, etc.) Meal Preparation Criznl Package 2 yr. unconditional guarantee. Thinnest clearest, most scratch resistant lens available. Expires 9-30-02 MILWAUKEE (AP) The Roman Catholic Church can never apologize enough to victims of sexual abuse by priests, the Milwaukee Archdiocese's new archbishop says. Archbishop Timothy Dolan said that is one of three lessons he has learned from the church's sexual abuse scandal.

Also, the church can't do business as usual, and it can't take trust for granted, Dolan told Milwaukee Press Club members Thursday. Dolan became archbishop three weeks ago when he succeeded Archbishop Rembert Weakland, who retired in May after he acknowledged paying a $450,000 settlement to a former Marquette University student who accused him of sexual assault in 1979. Weakland admitted he had an inappropriate relationship but did not abuse the student. Since arriving in Milwaukee, Dolan said he senses southeastern Wisconsin Catholics most need hope. "We really are craving a renewed sense of hope," he said.

"There's been an awful lot to cry about in society, in the world and in the Catholic Church in the last nine months." The church has a long way to go before it begins to fully help victims of sexual abuse by priests, Dolan said, but he believes the victims need someone to listen to them. Badger Optical is family owned and operated. We give you personalized care and products. Light Housekeeping i Grocery Shopping Errand Services Laundry Linen Washing Clothing Shopping And much morel Routine eye exams prevent future problems. Call us for an appointment today.

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