Sunny

A comprehensive bike plan for Kenosha County in the works for more than a year was derailed Tuesday by three members of the County Board.
The plan was scheduled to go before the full board soon for approval. But first it had to go through two board panels — the Public Works and Facilities Committee and the Planning, Development and Extension Education Committee.
A man who told a deputy he had 10 beers and two shots before driving has been charged with drunken driving causing injury for an April head-on collision that left a teenage driver with a broken hand.
Harley A. Ruppert, 49, of Salem, is charged with drunken driving causing injury, second and subsequent; driving with a prohibited alcohol concentration causing injury, second and subsequent; and drunken driving as a fifth or sixth offense. If convicted of all charges he faces up to nine years in prison.

Bloomin’ Bands 2013 takes place downtown this weekend, and those in charge are gearing up to donate a portion of the proceeds to help a local family in need with an extreme home makeover.
Last year’s recipient, Carter Hellwig, is an 11-year-old with cerebral palsy who needed a few adjustments at his family’s home in Pleasant Prairie.

A damaged dam at Bong Recreation Area has been partially removed as the state makes plans for repair.
The earthen dam that creates Vern Wolf Lake failed in April after heavy rains sent water over the top. The state shut down adjacent Highway 75 for six days, worried the dam could collapse and undermine the road. Later the state was able to open gates on the dam, draining the lake.
BRISTOL — Pringle Nature Center is hosting the “Great American Backyard Campout” this weekend.
As part of the Leave No Child Inside program, the campout begins at 5 p.m. Saturday and concludes at 9 a.m. Sunday at Pringle, 9800 160th Ave.
TREVOR — Trevor-Wilmot School District is saving 15 percent on its heating and cooling as a result of the geothermal system installed when the new addition was built.
Business manager Michelle Brown said Sustainable Engineering System, the company that installed the geothermal system, reviewed the school’s data this week and found the district is obtaining expected savings over what it would cost to heat and cool the building using a traditional boiler system.
Aurora Medical Group officials are seeking input from those who regularly recieve care at Memorial Hospital of Burlington — including residents from western Kenosha County — as they plan future facility improvements.
Dr. Jeffrey Bailtet, executive vice president of Aurora Health Care and president of Aurora Medical Group, said the hospital system is considering hundreds of millions of dollars in captial improvements.

The pier at Kemper Center will not be open to the public this year, and might never reopen again — at least in its current form.
Jon Rudie, Kenosha County general manager of park operations, said the decades-old removable railings are not stable enough to be reinstalled.

The horses and other animals removed from Hidden Lake Stables will be up for adoption starting next month.
Pleasant Prairie filed a civil suit over the care of the animals, asking that David White and his wife, Paula Moctezuma-White, pay for the care of the horses or relinquish ownership so the village could let the animals go to new homes. The horses were confiscated in April, when police investigated a complaint that animals were being mistreated. They found five dead horses and many more were reported to be starving. The horses, plus a bull, goats, ducks, rabbits and other animals, were taken to area farms, where Clawz and Pawz, along with the help of volunteers, cared for the animals.
Citizens have a third chance to comment on a modified list of Wisconsin waterways the state wants to classify as “impaired” and how it was developed.
State Department of Natural Resources officials are proposing to add the Pike River in Kenosha County to the problem waterways because of high phosphorous levels. Kenosha’s five public beaches — Alford, Eichelman, Pennoyer, Simmons Island and Southport — already are so classified.

Kenosha County has lost about $13,000 in government funding to test beach water and is relying on Racine to analyze local samples this summer.
Carlton Cowie, Kenosha County Health Division lab manager, said the loss is difficult.

Summerfest — which bills itself as “the world’s largest music festival” — opens Wednesday in Milwaukee for its 46th year, continuing a Wisconsin summer tradition.
Here’s another tradition: Making fun of the Summerfest headliners.
The Kenosha County Board is recommending that any increase in the property tax levy for 2014 be capped at 2 percent.
At their meeting Monday, supervisors unanimously approved the recommendationy, which states that the 2014 general purpose property tax levy should not exceed 2 percent over this year’s levy.
SILVER LAKE — The Silver Lake Fire Department roster is growing, and the department is ready to man an engine with emergency medical personnel, Fire Chief Andy McFarlane said Tuesday.
“Our long-term goal is to become one municipal emergency services department,” McFarlane told members of the village’s Emergency Services Committee. “It is not somthing that is going to happen overnight. We are working toward that goal.”

The Kenosha City Council on Monday denied the renewal of a cabaret license for Pop’s Place.
Without the license, the bar at 3214 60th St. can no longer have live entertainment or dancing for its guests.
L&M Corrugated Container Corp.’s plans to move a manufacturing facility to Pleasant Prairie are moving forward.
The company recently purchased a vacant building at 10860 88th Ave. in LakeView Corporate Park. The purchase price was $4.05 million, according to county records.
A new zoning district could help create jobs in Pleasant Prairie.
The Pleasant Prairie Village Board, following the recommendation of the village Plan Commission, on Monday approved creation of a new “production manufacturing district” zoning category. The designation is designed for manufacturing, office and research and development projects, while discouraging large warehousing development.
KENOSHA — A yard sale to benefit Safe Harbor Humane Society will take place Friday through Sunday at 7811 60th Ave.
Hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday.
Two men were seriously injured early Sunday during a fight in a bar’s parking lot.
Several fights were reported both inside and outside of Big Shotz, 3000 Roosevelt Road, around 2:35 a.m. Sunday, according to Kenosha police reports. When officers arrived, they found large groups of people crowded around someone on the ground in a parking lot across the street.
A motorcyclist who was killed in a two-vehicle accident Monday afternoon has been identified.
Mark A. Parker, 26, of Kenosha, was southbound on a 2002 Yamaha motorcycle when it collided with a 2003 Honda SUV exiting a parking lot, according to Kenosha police. The crash occurred about 12:26 p.m. at 39th Avenue and 52nd Street.

The Coast Guard called off the search for a Kenosha man who presumably drowned Monday evening near the North Pier.
A Coast Guard spokesperson said the search was terminated around midnight Monday, and there will be no further search efforts.

Live music is only part of the Bloomin’ Bands event taking place in Downtown Kenosha Friday and Saturday. There will be family friendly activities, and local businesses will be selling food and drinks along Sixth Avenue and 54th Street.
Admission is free for the event, organized by the Downtown Kiwanis Club of Kenosha. Bands will play from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday, and from 2 to 10 p.m. on Saturday.

A motorcyclist who was killed in a two-vehicle accident Monday afternoon has been identified.
Mark A. Parker, 26, of Kenosha, was southbound on a 2002 Yamaha when a 2003 Honda SUV driven by a 69-year-old man exited a parking lot and the vehicles collided, according to Kenosha police. Police said the fatal crash occurred about 12:26 p.m. at 39th Avenue 52nd Street.
A road used as a shortcut for golfers through Petrifying Springs Park will likely remain closed this summer, and possibly remain closed for good.
A stretch of drive through the park known as Hill Road was shut down last season due to poor road conditions. Resurfacing of the road was expected to be part of a park road overhaul project that also included removal of a dam over the Pike River.

The search has been called off for a man who presumably drowned off Kenosha’s North Pier Monday evening.

One motorcyclist was killed and another was injured in a pair of crashes that occurred within hours of each other on 52nd Street.

When Don and Dorothy Spease decide it’s a nice day to wash their cars, it becomes quite a chore.

Recent sunny weather and higher temperatures have helped ripen Kenosha County’s strawberry crop.
A vehicle stopped at a flashing red light was rear-ended by an alleged drunken driver on Sunday.
KENOSHA — A Medicare chat group will meet 3 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services, 7730 Sheridan Road.
The Wisconsin Dental Association’s fifth Mission of Mercy event, where an estimated $1 million in dental care will be donated by dentists and various other volunteers to those in need, is coming to Lake Geneva later this month.

Kenosha County home sales surged in May, jumping more than 37 percent compared with the same month last year, according to data from the Wisconsin Realtors Association.
A man suspected of helping steal cash by watching a man enter his personal identification number at a convenience store, then following him home and robbing him of his ATM card, is in custody, two years after the incident happened.

Anglers woke up at the crack of dawn Sunday for the final fishing tournament at the Kenosha Coho Classic.
A Kenosha man was arrested after he reportedly lied about driving a speeding truck.

Jason Holmes has been attracted to engines since he was young. Now at age 33, he’s a veteran engine machinist at Don’s Auto Parts and Machine Shop, 5515 60th St.

Most Wisconsinites don’t scuba dive. They definitely don’t dive in their living rooms.
KENOSHA — “T-Shirt Transformation” begins at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Southwest Library, 7979 38th Ave.

Local law enforcement agencies are working together to establish a safer boating season this summer.
Kenosha health-care providers are adapting to the new the Affordable Care Act as it slowly phases into practice.

“It’s going to be a little bumpy because we’re disturbing our culture, what we’re used to. When I was young, we used to save the bacon grease in a can. The thing I say is, be easy with each other. Be gentle. Give yourself some room ... The gentler you are with yourself, the more likely you are to get the benefit.”
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