Western Wisconsin News Briefs: Police went to dead man's home to deal with threatening remark

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TOMAH - Tomah police say they went to a 54-year old man’s apartment last week because he had called the Monroe County Communications Center and made a threatening remark.

The Wisconsin State Patrol, Tomah Fire Department and sheriff’s deputies all went to the scene. They say the man didn’t respond to several communication efforts, so they entered the apartment at about 9 p.m. last Friday. The man was dead inside. The cause of death and identity of the man have not been released yet.

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Tom Andres knows all about the aftermath of the Newtown school massacre. Andres is the administrator of the Weston schools at Cazenovia in southwest Wisconsin. That’s where 15-year-old Eric Hainstock walked into his high school with guns on a Friday morning in September of 2006, and shot principal John Klang to death. Andres said the nation must get confront what’s causing school violence, get to the root of the problem, and help those who are troubled. Andres said police-school liaison officers and guidance counselors must improve the way they assess threats. And he said parents need to keep a closer eye on their kids’ exposure to violence in the video games, and other media they’re involved with. Andres said the Connecticut massacre brings back the horrible memories of what Hainstock did. The Cazenovia shootings were among three deadly incidents within a week at the nation’s schools in 2006. And that was just two weeks before a major school attack was halted at Green Bay East High School, when another student overheard something and spoke up. In that case, students who were bullied reportedly planned for at least a couple years to shoot school-mates they didn’t like.

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Wisconsin’s 112th Rustic Road was named yesterday. Governor Scott Walker awarded the designation to Bundy Hollow Road near LaValle in Sauk County. It’s a two-point-eight mile stretch of slopes and curves. It features alternating views of pastures, crop-lands, and wooded hillsides that provide habitat for many birds and other wildlife. The Rustic Road system was formed in 1973 to preserve scenic, less-traveled roads for leisurely scenic views by motorists, bicyclists, and hikers. They’re anywhere from two miles to 37 miles long, with a maximum speed for motor vehicles of 45-miles-an-hour. There are now more than 640 miles of Rustic Roads in 58 Wisconsin counties. More information about the program is available at the Transportation Department’s Web site, accessible at Wisconsin.gov.

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