Wausau Daily Herald from Wausau, Wisconsin • 3

Local. Local News Editors Rich Jackson, 845-0655 MarkTreinen, 845-0705 Thursday, May 13, 1999 Wausau Daily Herald 3A roup: '(B(LfllfJ7 and has some of the best fishing because the fish are so big. But the bigger the fish get, the higher the mercury level is in them, said Pete Segerson, fisheries technician with the Department of Natural' Resources office in Antigo. "I think it's a good warning signal that something's wrong," Segerson said-All states have to work together to reduce the amount of coal-powered plants and industries, Reopelle said. "(Emissions) don't respect state boundaries," he said.

That's why it's so important to work on a regional level and even a national level." the upper Midwest." "The bottom line is all three states have had an increase in the number of lakes with mercury in their game fish," said Keith Reopelle, co-director of Wisconsin's Environmental Decade. Mercury is a neurotoxin, which affects the brain and nervous system. Pregnant women and small children are most at risk from eating fish from lakes that are on the state's fish con- sumption advisory. Wisconsin has 330 lakes and rivers earmarked by the Department of Natural Resources this year as having unsafe levels of mercury in the game fish, such as walleye. That includes four Marathon County waterways, including the Big Rib River from Marathon City to Highway Mayflower Lake and the Wisconsin River at Lake DuBay.

Anglers should check the size recommendation before eating walleye from these areas. Minnesota has 780 lake advisories and Michigan's advisory is statewide, Reopelle said. Mercury emissions come from a variety of sources, but the main source is coal-fired power plants, such as the Weston Power plant in Rothschild, he said. The Vulcan Chemicals plant in Port Edwards is responsible for 20 percent of Wisconsin's total mercury emissions, Reopelle said. Anglers need to be aware of fish advisories on waterways to protect themselves.

About 1.2 million fishing licenses are sold in Wisconsin and only 40,000 fish advisories are published. "We think (mercury) has a definite negative impact on tourism," he said. Aggressively pursuing alternatives to coal-generated power, such as renewable energy like' solar power, would help reduce mercury emissions in the state. Tom Keenan, store manager at Gander Mountain in Rothschild and an avid walleye angler, said he's not too concerned about mercury in the walleye that he catches because he rarely eats them. He doesnt know how mercury in fish might affect state tourism.

"It's always a double-edged sword," Keenan said. "For people that catch a lot and want to keep them, yeah. But if the fish are highly polluted and you can't eat them and just let them go, they're just going to get bigger." Keenan said a lake in Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula has been highly polluted with mercury for years A GOOD DAY FISHING ff- I f''- "'turn Fishing organizations such as the Izaak Walton League of America and Walleyes Unlimited of Wisconsin also sponsored the study of the mercury levels and support a bill to reduce mercury emissions, he said. The bill, introduced in April by state Sen. Brian Burke, D-Milwaukee, and state Rep.

Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, would cap mercury emissions in the year 2000 and require the state's largest sources to reduce emissions by 15 percent by 2005, 30 percent by 2010 and 50 percent by 2015. The state Legislature is expected to vote on the measure this fall, Reopelle said. Rothschild to host tandem bicyclists Wausau Daily Herald ROTHSCHILD Friday through Sunday, nearly 100 tandem bicycles and their owners will arrive from all over the Midwest to participate in the annual Spring Rally, according to the WausauCentral Wisconsin Visitors Bureau. The Stoney Creek Inn will host the group, which refers to itself as Couples on Wheels, or COWS, who come from Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan and throughout Wisconsin. The weekend includes various rides throughout the Wausau area and a Saturday evening banquet complete with a special farewell concert by the University of Wisconsin Show Choir.

The major event, however, is the official rally ride on Saturday morning. A mass start of all the bikes will take place at 9 a.m. The group will leave collectively from the Stoney Creek parking lot and travel as a whole for several miles through the Kronenwetter area. Then the group will branch off into five different routes ranging from 6 to 62 miles. The Wausau Wheelers Spin Into Spring ride is also planned to take place along the same routes in conjunction with he COWS rides.

The public is welcome. There is no charge to accompany the COWS and the Wheelers on any of the routes. Five different bike shops from around the area are providing tandem bikes for people who wish to see what tandem cycling is all about. The COWS group was formed in 1986 by couples interested in sharing their love of the sport of tandem bicycling with each other. No membership fees are charged and members enjqy an annual Spring Rally, a club newsletter five times a year and various local rides arid events sponsored by the Environmental Decade warns of toxic waters By Nikki Kallio Wausau Daily Herald, Mercury in Wisconsin's fish is a problem that needs to be addressed on a regional level, said Wisconsin's Environmental Decade.

But Wisconsin has fewer waterways with mercury advisories than Minnesota and Michigan. The group visited Wausau Wednesday to release a report on mercury levels in 2 men to stand trial for burglary By Peter J. Wasson Wausau Daily Herald Two of the four men accused in a string of recent rural business burglaries were ordered Wednesday to stand trial in Marathon County court. James Bedwell, 21, of Mosinee and Robert Mayer, 19, of Antigo, face multiple burglary charges 1 in connection with more than 30 businesses that were broken into the past month in and around Marathon County. A preliminary hearing for their co-defendants, Travis Inman, 18, of Hatley and David King, 18, of Birnamwood is scheduled for Wednesday.

Marathon County Sheriff's Department detectives arrested the four last week after investigating the break-ins, in which culprits cut phone and alarm lines then smashed open video gambling machines and at least one safe. Police said the four made off with several thousand dollars in cash and several thousand dollars more in liquor, cigarettes and other merchandise. Bedwell, who gave a statement implicating himself and co-defendants to detectives after his arrest, was called as a witness Wednesday but exercised his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and not incriminate himself. Without Bedwell's testimony, prosecutors introduced as evidence a chart Bedwell filled out during his interview by detectives, outlining the burglaries, who participated in each, how they got in, what was' taken and who drove getaway cars. Marathon County Sheriffs Department detectives Scott Parks and Greg Bean also told Marathon County Circuit Court Judge Raymond Thums about interviewing Bedwell and their investigation of the break-ins.

It was enough evidence to order Bedwell and Mayer to stand trial and remain in the Marathon County Jail on $25,000 cash bonds. Inman also was scheduled for his prelimi-, nary hearing Wednesday, but hearing was postponed until next Wednesday to allow him time to find an attorney. Russ Meyer of Wausau tries the Eau Claire River in Schofield, where walleye exceeding 30 inches have NTC, faculty to arbitrate credit requirement "We never really contested that the college couldn't make the qualifications. We just said you have to negotiate it and couldn't arbitrarily say this is what to do with no provisions for reimbursement." Hal Ehrenreich, NTC mathematics instructor A A Tom LaucksWausau Daily Herald been caught NCA requires that the credits have to be in a faculty member's discipline. "It isn't so.

milch that we question their ability to make sure we comply with NCA requirements," said economics instructor MaryAnn VanSlyke, who was also affected by the credit requirements. "It's whether NCA requires us to get those credits exactly like they say." VanSlyke said to qualify all of her courses had to have an economics prefix in front of the course number. "I would have had no problem if they jiad sat down with me to look at what graduate courses I had had and whether' it was appropriate for what I teach," she said. Language in the Handbook of Accreditation says faculty teaching general education courses have to hold graduate degrees that include substantial study, usually 18 semester hours, "appropriate to the academic field in which they are teaching." of stuff just hanging out there right now." The overwhelming caseload is one of the reasons Graveley and Gableman bailed out, and a large part of the difficulty Falstad is having in finding replacements. Falstad said Gableman was shocked at the amount of work in Marathon County when he moved here a year ago from Antigo.

By going to Ashland County, he became boss of the office, has a lighter caseload, more pay and he's living in a beautiful part of the state. Graveley said he routinely works 55 hours a week and spends only about 20 minutes per eight-hour business day in his office. The rest of the time he's in court or preparing to go to court, and he frequently comes in on weekends. In addition, Graveley was hounded constantly by local defense attorneys because his wife is a probation officer. Defense lawyers repeatedly objected in cases involving a defendant Graveley prosecuted and his wife later supervised on probation.

"It was a strain professionally and personally," Mike couldn't require additional credits as a requirement for holding a teaching position. Rather, it had to be subject to negotiation. "We neyer really contested that the college couldn't make the qualifications," he said. "We just said you have to negotiate it and couldn't arbitrarily say this is what to do with no provisions for reimbursement." The mandate for the additional 18 credits came out of preparations made by NTC in anticipation of the institution's reaccreditation by the Chicago-based North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, or NCA. As part of gaining this accreditation, a his luck Wednesday afternoon fishing general education faculty receive 18 graduate credits in their academic field.

"A court ruling gives higher jurisdiction than an arbitrator does," Ernst said. "We did it as much for ourselves as for the system." The grievance arbitration process has yet to begin. The ruling came as welcome news to the 10 or so faculty members who were affected and had been scrambling to" get an initial three credits by the end of this month, as was initially required, or risk termination. Mathematics instructor Hal Ehrenreich said he signed up for several courses at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, only to have them canceled because of low enrollment. "Working within one month of losing -your job is really debilitating, but it was to be a condition of employment," said Ehrenreich, who is also president of the faculty asso-.

ciation and has been teaching for 33 years. He said the association's position was never that NTC i A By Lee Powell Wausau Daily Herald A dispute between ttorthcentral Technical College and its general education faculty that went to circuit court is now the subject of arbitration. On April 22, Judge Greg Grau ruled that NTC can force its general education faculty to get 18 graduate credits within five years but this must be a subject of bargaining and has to be submitted to grievance arbitration. Upon being notified of the change in November 1997, the Northcentral Technical College Faculty. Association filed a grievance over the requirement, stating the matter had to be subject to arbi- tration in setting contracts.

But NTC went to court to stop the association from going to arbitration to make a point, said NTC President Bob Ernst. State statute requires that the institution be accredited, and the agency responsible for making the accreditation requires that 4 certain percentage of NTC's general education faculty had to have advanced degrees or be working toward them, something NTC did not meet at first, said Joe Hegge, vice president of academic affairs. This prompted the push for the 18 credits, with three being earned in a year-and-a-half and three more being earned each year for five years. "We felt having a plan in place with some teeth in it was a good move for us," Hegge said. NTC was granted reaccreditation for 10 years, the highest possible, last April.

However, there continues to be some dispute on whether May 7. He was appointed by Gov. Tommy Thompson to fill the vacant district attorney's seat in Ashland County. Assistant District Attorney Mike Graveley will leave May 26 so he and his wife, Claire, can Teturn to Kenosha County. The Graveleys moved 'to Wausau three years ago and are going back for a variety of personal and professional reasons.

"I was completely unprepared for Gableman leaving," Falstad said. "Mike Graveley gave me about two months notice, so I've been ready for that. Still, you don't count on being down two at once." Marathon County has one of the highest caseloads per prosecutor in the state. Last year, Falstad received approval for Gableman's hiring, but she still is capped at seven attorneys, including herself. With Gableman and Graveley gone, she and four assistants are left to do the work that, statistically, should be done by 10 attorneys.

"Everything that can be put on the back burner, put on hold for a few weeks, we're putting off;" Falstad said. "There's a lot DA's office scrambles to cover Stretch it out 1 caseload Graveley said. "We had to have boundaries. We could not go home and discuss our work day the way most couples can." i Falstad already has tried to find replacements, and thought she had three candidates she was ready to hire. "All three backed out for very legitimate personal reasons," she said.

"We really are stuck. For the same pay and same benefits, you can go somewhere else and have a manageable caseload. This county has no real appeal for someone to come here because they know how much work they will have." So far, Falstad has interviewed eight of about 20 applicants arid would like to have someone hired by late May. In the meantime, she's waiting to hear if she's approved for a federal grant that will allow her to hire another prosecutor dedicated exclusively to domestic abuse cases. "We made it over a huge hurdle when the Joint Finance Committee approved another position, but we still have to make it through the full Legislature and survive a governor's veto.

The next few weeks will be really tough because we're desperate." Departure of two assistants leaves work for 10 to be handled by five By Peter J. Wasson Wausau Daily Herald i Marathon County District Attorney Jill Falstad should be ecstatic. She recently settled the mur-der-for-hire case of Todd Pacey, avoiding an expensive week-long trial, and the state Joint Finance Committee just approved hiring an additional prosecutor for her staff. But she's not ecstatic. Two of her prosecutors have quit.

A caseload the state says should take 10 attorneys to cover is now being handled by five and Falstad is swamped. "We're just looking at day-today coverage, week-to-week coverage, of our cases," she said. "We're in a crisis mode. A lot of cases are just sitting, waiting, until we can get a couple more bodies in here." Assistant District Attorney Mike Gableman worked his last day in Marathon County Mlcheti StocktrWausau Dally Herald Fifth-grader Danielle Lillie (center) warms up for a relay race with Felicia Brown (right) Wednesday morning at Maine Elementary School. Students competed in the relay race, 100-meter and 60-meter dash, 60-meter hurdles, shot put, long jump, high jump and softball throw and a 1 fun run for a chance to qualify for the Kiefer Swenson All-City Elementary School Track Meet Wednesday at John Muir Middle School.

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