Sunday State News Briefs: Icy roads possible cause of fatal accident near New London

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NEW LONDON - Wisconsin State Patrol troopers say it’s possible icy roads were a factor in a double-fatal accident Friday night near New London.

Crash investigators say a car rounded a curve and collided with an oncoming school bus at about 10 p.m. Two teens in the car, Yalanda Maggio of Weyauwega and Levin Johnson of New London, were killed. Both were 17 and neither was wearing a seatbelt. Three of the 39 children on the school bus and the driver suffered minor injuries. The bus was returning to New London Middle School after a ski trip when the accident occurred.

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A protester who spit on a Mitt Romney supporter last year won’t face criminal charges. The 83-year old will have to pay a 277 dollar fine. The incident happened at a campaign event in Little Chute last August, part of a “Wisconsin Women for Mitt” tour. Video shot during the event shows the protester interrupting state Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) to ask about Republican opposition to Planned Parenthood. A woman standing next to the protester told her to wait until Darling was done, saying, quoting here, “Zip it. Zip it.” The protester tells that woman to get out of her face, then spits on her. A Green Lake County prosecutors recommended the fine, but said no charges will be filed.

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Speaking in Washington, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Janesville) said Republicans have to stick together and pick their fights carefully during President Obama’s second term. The party’s vice presidential candidate in the 2012 campaign says Obama will try to divide Republicans, but they have to avoid internal fighting while rebounding from a second straight presidential defeat. Also speaking to the conservative gathering was Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. He says despite the poor results in the presidential and U.S. Senate elections, Republicans should stay optimistic. They’ve had plenty of success in state elections.

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Rescue workers say they found 47-year old Kerry Milam of Fond du Lac in the icy waters of Lake Winnebago after his snowmobile fell through thin ice. Milam had been in the water for at least 30 minutes, but he is expected to survive. He had suffered severe hypothermia. A man from Bayfield wasn’t as lucky. Thirty-four year old Jim Hudson was on a snowmobile which broke through the ice in a channel between Bayfield and Long Island yesterday afternoon. He was in the water for 30 minutes, according to the Ashland County Sheriff’s office. Hudson was pronounced dead at a Duluth hospital.

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Just two weeks before 51-year old Kevin Droz was injured, Wisconsin’s pothole-liability law went into effect. Droz was blinded in one eye after a chunk of concrete smashed through his windshield last spring. Two weeks earlier, Droz could have filed a claim for up to 50 thousand dollars. The new law leaves him with fewer options. Droz says he was driving April 17th when a piece of concrete the size of a softball came flying through his windshield. It hit him in the head and opened a deep gash on the left side. He lost his left eye.

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Facing his 11th charge of driving while intoxicated, a Plainfield man is pleading not guilty by reason of mental defect. A judge ordered a doctor’s examination for 51-year old Mark Schulke last week. Conclusions from that exam will be reviewed at a hearing in Stevens Point next month. Schulke’s first conviction for driving while intoxicated was in 1993. He hadn’t had another one since this 10th conviction in 2004. Schulke had originally pleaded not guilty, but he asked the Portage County judge to let him change his plea.

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