Sunday State News Briefs: Dairy plant in Waukesha closes its doors

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WAUKESHA - Golden Guernsey dairy plant in Waukesha closed its doors Saturday for unknown reasons. The plant provides milk for stores and schools through much of southeastern Wisconsin.

Employees for the Saturday shift showed up as per usual but were told to go home as the plant was locked up. Efforts to reach the owners of the plant by the media for explanation were unsuccessful. The plant is owned by a private equity firm based out of Los Angeles named Golden Gate Captial. The firm bought the plant in 2011 after the U.S. Department of Justice forced the former owner, Dean Foods, to sell it due to anti-trust law violations. By owning the plant along with another in De Pere, Dean, which bought the plant in 2009, would have more than a 50 percent market share of milk sold in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The plant employs 100 workers and under state law, employers are required to give workers 60 days' notice of any shutdown to city and state officials, and to pay them severance payments for 60 days leading up to a shutdown or mass layoff.

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East Coast gun shows near the site of the Newtown, Connecticut, massacre have been called off, but a gun show in Evansville drew a good-sized crowd. People’s worries about tighter gun control laws actually pumped up attendance for several weekend shows. Organizer Marv Kraus said there was never a reason to consider postponing or canceling the Wisconsin event, which runs through today. One customer looking for a gun to hunt coyotes said he was glad vendors didn’t back out. He said there’s even more interest in guns now, due to the shooting, and it’s good that they still have access to them for their own protection.

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A 58-year old Racine man charged in a head-on collision faces eighth-offense drunken driving charges. Fifty-eight year old Cruz R. Castro is accused of running into the other vehicle at an intersection, then running away from the scene. He has a court hearing set for next Wednesday. Racine police say they found Castro in a friend’s home, lying in a bedroom in his underwear. According to police he “performed poorly” on field sobriety tests and was taken to a hospital for a blood draw.

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Carthage College says renovation work on its science facilities will start in spring of next year. A spokesman says enrollment in science classes has grown rapidly, bringing on the need for more space. The $40 million project will increase classroom and laboratory space by 40 percent, including the addition of 35,000-square feet to the main science hall. About one in four graduates of the Kenosha school have science degrees.

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Blue Mound State Parks’ new half-million dollar shelter for skiers opened last night during the park’s annual ski-by-candlelight event. The shelter will give skiers and other visitors at place to warm up. It’s been in the works for more than a decade, becoming a reality through fundraising efforts conducted by the Friends of Blue Mound State Park. About 140 thousand people visit the parks each year, with 10-to-20 percent coming to ski between December and March. The new building includes a heating and cooling system, skid-resistant floors and bathrooms.

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Friends of 27 year old Robert Stenbrecker say he left a bar in the early morning hours of December 27th and began walking on the frozen Cedar Creek. Stenbrecker hasn’t been seen since. Those friends say he ran ahead of the others and disappeared around a curve in the creek. His friends say they did talk to him on his phone about 30 minutes later, but they say he seemed confused and the conversation was disjointed. Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Department officials are still looking for him.

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A fire early Saturday morning destroyed a home in Monona, doing an estimated 225 thousand dollars damage. Firefighters responded to a call in the 53 hundred block of Schluter Road shortly before 1 a.m. It took about two and a half hours to bring the fire under control. The residents were home at the time and they did get out safely. One of them needed medical attention due to breathing difficulties. Heavy smoke, water and damage was done to the second floor of the structure. Family members were able to stay with relatives.

Tags: news, wisconsin, agriculture