Wisconsin State Journal from Madison, Wisconsin • 17

Wisconsin State Journal City Editor. David Stoeffler, 252-6130 rsn JVl 3B Thursday, April 28, 1994 Ballmer police get jobs, pay Judge calls dismissals unjust Workers remove items from a mobile home destroyed by a tornado about two miles east of the unincorpo rated village of Canton in Ban-on County. Two twisters caused about $2 million in damage Tuesday. Victims of tornado tell what happened, what's lost Associated Press right off," he said about the pain in bis ears. "Then it sounded like a rifle shot, all the windows in the house popped, and it was gone." John Porter of Cameron arrived home from work to find 20 pheasants, peacocks and other birds scattered from his game farm and 18 llamas wandering around in a daze.

Five buildings on the farm were smashed and the roof was torn from his garage. Hail the size of baseballs fell in Cameron, Mary Bell said. In Green Bay, where 3.6 inches of rain fell Sunday and Monday, the Fox and East rivers were muddy from runoff, raising new awareness about sources of pollution. "Less than 1 percent of all waste in the river and bay comes from point sources of pollution such as factories," said H.J. "Bud" Harris, director of the Institute for Land and Water Studies at UW-Green Bay.

The other 99 percent comes from wastes such as agricultural runoff, runoff from the city storm drains and runoff from other waste sites, he said. 1 MILWAUKEE (AP) Two police officers fired for allegedly mishandling an incident involving serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer were ordered reinstated with back pay Wednesday by a judge who called the dismissals unjust The firings of Joseph Gabrish and John Balcerzak were "disproportionate" to their errors in the May 1991 incident when they returned a dazed, naked 14-year-old boy to Dahmer, Reserve Circuit Judge Robert Parins of Green Bay said. When arrested two months after the incident, Dahmer told authorities he killed the boy soon after the police officers left, and he killed four others before being apprehended at his west side apartment in July 1991. Dahmer said at his sanity trial in early 1992 that he simply fooled the officers and felt bad that they had been fired. "It is shocking to one's sense of fairness," Parins said of the dismissals.

He was appointed by the director of state courts to hear the case because he is not from Milwaukee County. Parins ordered the commission to reconsider its penalty against the officers and suggested that each officer be suspended for 60 days at most Police Chief Philip Arreola fired the two officers and placed another on a year's probationary status in September 1991 for their handling of the incident. The Fire and Police Commission upheld the firings in November 1992. Gabrish, 31, was hired last year as a police officer in suburban Grafton. Balcerzak, 37, opened a south side tavern, Fuzzy's, after his dismissal.

There was no immediate comment from Arreola on Parins' decision. At a news conference at the Milwaukee Police Association offices, Gabrish said he hadn't decided whether he would return to the Milwaukee police force. "It would be very difficult to work for him," Gabrish said of Arreola. "I understand he doesn't have that much time on his contract. It'd be nice if he resigned." Association president Bradley DeBraska said Balcerzak, who did not attend the news conference, was pleased with the ruling and was undecided whether to return to police work.

Attorney Kenneth Murray, who represented Gabrish, estimated the officers could be due about $55,000 in back pay plus benefits. He said there could be no appeal M. Nicol Padway, chairman of the Fire and Police Commission, said commission members would be briefed Thursday on their options such as an appeal. "My inclination at this point is that we not appeal it," he said. "I think it is time for us to put this matter to rest give it some finality" and focus on positive developments between the police and the community.

Dahmer, 33, is serving 16 consecutive life terms for 15 dismemberment slayings in the Milwaukee area and one in his boyhood home of Bath, Ohio. He was never charged in one killing because of lack of evidence. In the May 1991 incident, witnesses called police after seeing the dazed, naked youth, Konerak Sin-thasomphone, wandering outside in the neighborhood of Dahmer's apartment building. The officers said they believed Dahmer's story that the youth was his adult lover, and they returned the boy to Dahmer's apartment The mother of one of the witnesses who reported the incident later complained that she telephoned police to express concern about the boy but was told the matter had been resolved and shouldn't concern her. Parins said that although the officers made mistakes handling their encounter with Dahmer, it was unfair to judge them in hindsight.

The judge said the commission's determination that the officers were guilty of gross negligence was "not supported by any rational view of the evidence." A separate court action filed by the Sinthasomphone family is pending in U.S. District Court. "They are very confused by the whole thing," said Robert Slattery, the family's lawyer. "Their focus is on their child, and every time it hits the media, it is very upsetting to them. They don't know how to put it in any kind of perspective.

They know that their child is dead and could have been saved." Thomas Jacobson, a lawyer who has represented some of the families of Dahmer's victims, said his clients "believed that the officers' suspension and removal from the force was appropriate and they would express disappointment at the decision of Judge Parins." Associated Press Jerome Foods in Barron on Wednesday began tallying the cost of a tornado that killed as many as 10,000 young turkeys after blowing them from their barns across southern Barron County. "We're going to have our people count the birds as they pick them up," said production manager Fran Byerly. There were about 36,000 birds at the company's Fairview Farms when the tornado hit about 1:05 p.m. Tuesday. The birds, all 2 weeks old, will be trucked to rendering plants.

"It's not a trivial loss or a pleasant job," Byerly said. "But this is not something that is going to affect the price of your Thanksgiving turkey." Two tornadoes that hit northwest Wisconsin caused an estimated $2 million in damage in Barron County and another $200,000 damage in Dunn County. Barron County Sheriff Jerry Johnson said there were no serious injuries. "Some of the stories you hear about how people escaped are amazing," he said. Emily Hill, 16, grabbed her dog and three puppies and hid in a closet of the family's trailer home near Canton, rolling with the structure as a tornado ripped it apart.

She ended up under a pile of debris that included a dresser. "When it calmed down, I just looked for a way to crawl out," she said. "I just walked to the neighbors'. I couldn't cry because I was so much in shock. It was terrible." Three trailer homes, a barn and house were severely damaged or destroyed on the same road where Hill lived.

Power lines were down, vehicles were flipped and trees covered parts of the road. In northern Dunn County, Herb Glaser, 57, lost 11 buildings and most of the trees near his home, but the house was spared except for blown-out windows. Glaser said he was eating lunch about 1 p.m. Tuesday when it "got real quiet" and he saw a black funnel less than a mile away with debris flying all around it. He rushed for the basement.

"The pressure was so great that I thought my head was going to pop ACROSS THE STATE FOND DU LAC Officials seize cats from filthy home Thirty cats were seized from a woman's home after she unsuccessfully tried to shoo them outside to avoid being cited by authorities, who say the house reeked of cat urine. The woman was ordered to remove her two children, ages and 6, from the home until it meets municipal code requirements. Her husband was not home Monday when police and city health offi- cials confiscated the cats. "She knew we were coming and the cats were all hidden," said Ishamon Harris, a humane officer. "She had a back door open and was trying to shoo them out the back door." The cats, some in poor health, were taken to the city Humane Society.

City ordinance allows four cats per residence. WAUKESHA Woman charged in fatal car accident An 18-year-old woman whose car collided with another vehicle in January, killing three teen-agers, has been charged in the crash. Megan S. Cherne of German-town was charged Tuesday in Waukesha County Circuit Court with three counts of homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle. Cherne had a blood-alcohol level about half Wisconsin's legal intoxication level of 0.10 percent, a criminal complaint said.

She was returning from a party Jan. 29 about 2 a.m. when she crossed the center line while east-bound on Highway 59, just west of Highway 83 in the town of Genesee, the complaint said. She sideswiped one car and struck another head-on, it said. SHEBOYGAN Newspapers sue for disciplinary records Two newspapers are suing to gain access to records of disciplinary action taken by the Sheboygan Falls School Board against Superintendent Norman Frakes.

Representatives of The Sheboygan Press and The Sheboygan Falls News ask in the Circuit Court suit that school officials be ordered to allow inspection of Frakes' personnel files concerning any disciplinary action within the last six months. The lawsuit contends school officials' refusal to provide access to Frakes' records violates the state Open Records Law and that such denial is contrary to the public interest. RICE LAKE School Board to ask for $275,000 more The Rice Lake School Board has voted 8-1 to schedule a May 31 referendum on whether to approve a $275,000 increase above the state's mandated spending cap. Voters rejected a similar referendum April 5 by a 2-1 margin. The board approved the new referendum Tuesday night after receiving more than 2,000 signatures on petitions calling for another election.

Petition organizers said they would pick up the costs of holding a special election for the referendum. The eight schools in Rice Lake have been without any extracurricular programs, including all athletic, band, and club activities, since the earlier vote, school district business manager Ron Novotny said. The $275,000 would be used to restore extracurricular activities in the district, Novotny said. APPLETON Boy to face trial jn death of sister An 11-year-old boy who was so upset after he accidentally shot and killed his younger sister he said he wanted to die will face a juvenile court trial next month, a court commissioner ruled. A juvenile petition charging him with homicide by negligent use of a firearm in the death of his 9-year-old sister at their home Feb.

19 was dismissed Tuesday by Outagamie County Court Commissioner Kathleen Lhost. The boy faces a May 23 juvenile court trial on charges of causing great bodily harm by the negligent use of a weapon and possessing a dangerous weapon as a juvenile. The two children lived with their mother. The family remodeled their home and returned to it several weeks after the girl died. The boy, who has been in psychiatric treatment since shortly after the 'shooting, appeared in court with a social worker.

Sam Journal win services Labels to be law Governor expected to sign rBGH bill 7 i SIGNUP for PAD.I. SCUBA M07 THROUGH MAY 9TII instructors Va Limited le Supplies en Hand LEARN jTX about our i DWERS U.S.D. springsummer Regulator, calendar of events I 1 Octopus, depth 1- 4 Reg $750 I pressure gauge FREE Vpackagefrom Discover Scuba $399 lesson AiM 6.5mm step-in ff suit witlxFarmer John bottoms P'X 1 All Masks -FinsA BCDsAll I Snorkels 1 30 Off Downtown: Comer Stats iff IS i Moo Thw. IM Uf 13-0871 sa 1 sat Sun.Noon-5 Sun. Noon By Jeff Mayers State government reporter A bill requiring a state system for voluntary labeling of dairy products without synthetic bovine growth hormone (rBGH) is scheduled to become law today.

Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, who has vetoed past anti-rBGH legislation, is scheduled to sign the voluntary rBGH labeling measure today at a Capitol signing ceremony, Thompson aides confirmed Wednesday. Thompson, who earlier this year pushed for a federal labeling law, will endorse voluntary labeling for consumers in Wisconsin but ask his agriculture department to draft rules that conform with federal guidelines, Thompson spokesman Kevin Keane said. The conflict with federal guidelines has been raised by critics of the bill. Another Thompson aide, Mark Licdl, said pushing for federal labeling requirements didn't preclude endorsing voluntary state labeling provisions contained in the bill (SB 771).

He said Thompson had opposed mandatory labeling, the disputed law in Vermont, because it would have made Wisconsin an economic island. The bill's major sponsor, Rep. Al Baldus, said Thompson was as aware as anybody about consumer concerns. "My guess was the governor would sign it" said the Menomonie Democrat, noting the almost unanimous legislative approval. "Tommy figured out he can't ignore it." Baldus' bill will require that the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) draft rules within 90 days to set up a system that will allow verifiable labels on consumer dairy products.

According to the bill, the product label will contain the statement "Farmer-certified rBGH free" or an equivalent statement that "is not false or misleading." The term "rBGH" specifies the synthetic hormone, because the BGH hormone naturally occurs in dairy cows. "The statement shall be based upon affidavits from milk producers stating that the milk producers do not use synthetic bovine growth hormone for the production of milk," the bill says. Baldus said the bill didn't go as far as he wanted, but it will allow Wisconsin's dairy industry to promote proven rBGH-free milk to a national market. "What's wrong with being something special?" he asked. But opponents point to the existing labeling in the state and say this law will make for more bureaucracy because DATCP already is considering labels on a case-by-case basis.

The Cedar Grove dairy in Plain has a department-approved label and a handful of other inquiries have been made, said Roger Cliff of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. "We think it's bad. We think it's unnecessary. We already have voluntary labeling going on in this state," Cliff said. "Why go through all the bureaucracy?" Cliff and Sen.

Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, both raised questions about whether legal problems may arise because of the potential conflict with federal guidelines. But Baldus called that "smoke," contending opponents and the department have been dragging their feet on the labeling issue. Schultz, however, said he expected the controversy to continue. "I'm not sure we're going to get a workable labeling law out it," he said. Joseph Tregoning, DATCP's executive assistant said the department would find a way to make it work.

"Where we're going to see problems are with dairies that co-mingle milk," he said..