Wis. Man Accused of Stomping Pet Fish
Email this StoryJun 27, 11:19 PM (ET)
p {margin:12px 0px 0px 0px;}
SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) - A man accused of stomping a pet tropical fish to death during a dispute with a girlfriend faces charges of disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property. Anastacio Molina Jr., 40, was charged Wednesday in Sheboygan County Circuit Court.
The criminal complaint said police were called to Molina's home about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday after a caller said he was destroying things in the house.
Police had already been called to the house five hours earlier because of a verbal dispute when Molina ordered his girlfriend to move out.
When officers arrived the second time, they found remains of the pet fish, an Oscar, on the sidewalk, the complaint said, and the girlfriend's 12-year-old son told police Molina took it out of its tank and stomped it to death.
Molina also broke a stereo and shattered a picture window, the complaint said.
Both misdemeanor charges have penalty enhancers because of a prior conviction for child abuse. They carry up to four years in prison and up to $11,000 in fines.
Defense lawyer Patricia Adelman was not available when The Associated Press called her home number Wednesday night seeking comment.
---
Information from: The Sheboygan Press, http://www.sheboygan-press.com
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Someday you might hear: Sheboygan, we have liftoff
Someday you might hear: Sheboygan, we have liftoff
Wisconsin city plans to build a spaceport, offer rides to tourists
By TIM JONES Chicago Tribune
NOT ALONE Sheboygan isn't alone in the space race. Other states and towns are vying for the evolving tourism business.
• Florida: Gov. Jeb Bush asked lawmakers to commit $55 million next year to attract new space ventures. He is also pushing a commercial spaceport.
• New Mexico: The state has committed about $130 million — half the cost — to build a desert launch facility for British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic airline. Sightseeing flights are scheduled to begin in late 2008.
• Texas: According to news reports, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos plans to use his 165,000-acre ranch near Van Horn, about 110 miles southeast of El Paso, for a spaceport for tourism.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. -->
SHEBOYGAN, WIS. - Some people, as Robert Kennedy once said, are content to look at the world and ask why.
But in Sheboygan, where untold thousands of tons of sausage have been crammed into sheep casings, some yearn for a life beyond the smoky barbecue haze of the "Bratwurst Capital of the World." So they look to the heavens and ask "Why not?"
Why not make Sheboygan a launch pad to outer space?
Why let the legendary Cape Canaveral be the tourist magnet for most things space when Sheboygan could just as easily be the Midwest space-research center and 21st-century catapult, vaulting adventurous people into space?
That's the plan Sheboygan officials envision. Build on an existing annual rocketry event on Lake Michigan. Attract millions of the curious from surrounding states by converting a hulking, World War II-vintage armory into a space-research center and build a planetarium next door. And then, with an infusion of private and public money, cash in on the next new frontier — commercial tourism that would carry small groups of people in rocket jet vehicles for half-hour, quarter-million-dollar, suborbital rides.
It's tempting to dismiss "Spaceport Sheboygan," as it is called, as another hokey Wisconsin tourist gimmick. But the Sheboygan proposal might not be goofy at all. Along Lake Michigan, Jim Testwuide, a local businessman involved in the proposal, said, "It's not just five sod-lifters from Sheboygan" with a big idea. "We feel it has legs to take off," Testwuide said.
Here's why: Sheboygan has been firing small rockets into the atmosphere — some as high as 35 miles — for a decade as part of the popular Rockets for Schools program.
The area boasts a massive block of restricted air space over Lake Michigan, granted by the government more than a half-century ago for military munitions testing. This no-fly zone provides an ideal safety buffer for vertical rocket and horizontal jet-plane space launches.
Former astronauts, including James Lovell, have endorsed the Spaceport Sheboygan proposal. Plenty of area politicians have joined the why-not chorus.
The Wisconsin Legislature is considering a measure to create a state aerospace authority, which could sell up to $100 million in bonds to purchase yet-to-be-identified land and build a launch facility.
Sheboygan plans a groundbreaking for the space center next winter, with a targeted opening date of March 2008.
Building a launch site for commercial space travel may be years down the road because private and public financing, public support and political will to endorse it are not assured.
Wisconsin city plans to build a spaceport, offer rides to tourists
By TIM JONES Chicago Tribune
NOT ALONE Sheboygan isn't alone in the space race. Other states and towns are vying for the evolving tourism business.
• Florida: Gov. Jeb Bush asked lawmakers to commit $55 million next year to attract new space ventures. He is also pushing a commercial spaceport.
• New Mexico: The state has committed about $130 million — half the cost — to build a desert launch facility for British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic airline. Sightseeing flights are scheduled to begin in late 2008.
• Texas: According to news reports, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos plans to use his 165,000-acre ranch near Van Horn, about 110 miles southeast of El Paso, for a spaceport for tourism.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. -->
SHEBOYGAN, WIS. - Some people, as Robert Kennedy once said, are content to look at the world and ask why.
But in Sheboygan, where untold thousands of tons of sausage have been crammed into sheep casings, some yearn for a life beyond the smoky barbecue haze of the "Bratwurst Capital of the World." So they look to the heavens and ask "Why not?"
Why not make Sheboygan a launch pad to outer space?
Why let the legendary Cape Canaveral be the tourist magnet for most things space when Sheboygan could just as easily be the Midwest space-research center and 21st-century catapult, vaulting adventurous people into space?
That's the plan Sheboygan officials envision. Build on an existing annual rocketry event on Lake Michigan. Attract millions of the curious from surrounding states by converting a hulking, World War II-vintage armory into a space-research center and build a planetarium next door. And then, with an infusion of private and public money, cash in on the next new frontier — commercial tourism that would carry small groups of people in rocket jet vehicles for half-hour, quarter-million-dollar, suborbital rides.
It's tempting to dismiss "Spaceport Sheboygan," as it is called, as another hokey Wisconsin tourist gimmick. But the Sheboygan proposal might not be goofy at all. Along Lake Michigan, Jim Testwuide, a local businessman involved in the proposal, said, "It's not just five sod-lifters from Sheboygan" with a big idea. "We feel it has legs to take off," Testwuide said.
Here's why: Sheboygan has been firing small rockets into the atmosphere — some as high as 35 miles — for a decade as part of the popular Rockets for Schools program.
The area boasts a massive block of restricted air space over Lake Michigan, granted by the government more than a half-century ago for military munitions testing. This no-fly zone provides an ideal safety buffer for vertical rocket and horizontal jet-plane space launches.
Former astronauts, including James Lovell, have endorsed the Spaceport Sheboygan proposal. Plenty of area politicians have joined the why-not chorus.
The Wisconsin Legislature is considering a measure to create a state aerospace authority, which could sell up to $100 million in bonds to purchase yet-to-be-identified land and build a launch facility.
Sheboygan plans a groundbreaking for the space center next winter, with a targeted opening date of March 2008.
Building a launch site for commercial space travel may be years down the road because private and public financing, public support and political will to endorse it are not assured.
Brat-eating world championship dropped from Brat Days
Formerly televised event nixed as part of "strategy shift"
By Eric Litke Sheboygan Press staff
A year after drawing thousands of spectators and national television coverage to Sheboygan's Kiwanis Park, the Johnsonville Brat-Eating World Championship has been stricken from Sheboygan's Brat Days schedule.
Two years after introducing the sausage showdown, Johnsonville is dropping the event as part of a public relations "strategy shift," Johnsonville Marketing Manager Cory Bouck said Friday.
The competition last year was televised nationally on ESPN2 as Japanese sensation Takeru Kobayashi tore through 58 brats in 10 minutes, winning $8,000 and shattering the record of 35 brats set by Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas in 2005.
President Richard Shea of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, which sanctioned the contest, said he was disappointed by Johnsonville's decision to stop the world championship brat-eating contest.
"We were surprised and we were saddened," he said. "We would have loved to have been there."
Bouck said Johnsonville will continue to sponsor an amateur brat-eating contest at Brat Days, which has been a part of the Sheboygan Jaycees-run festival since 1953.
"The age-old tradition … the brat-eating contest, is still intact locally," Bouck said. "The idea of bringing in the competitive eaters, I just don't see it."
Kim Swisher, Sheboygan's tourism manager, said the national media exposure for the world championship brat-eating contest was a big plus for the city.
"We could never afford to do that type of marketing on our own," Swisher said. "We're the brat capital of the world, and we're proud of our heritage."
But others have decried the feeding frenzy as gluttonous and a poor reflection on Sheboygan.
Last year, former City Attorney Clarence Mertz called for the city to abolish both the professional and amateur brat-eating contests. On Friday, Mertz cheered the end of what he called a "disgusting event."
"This is the greatest news I've heard in ages," said Mertz, 85, reviving his call to end both contests. "We are telling our young children, who are already obese, that you can eat as much as you want."
Bouck said the event was a marketing success for Johnsonville last year, generating eight times more in exposure — tabulated as the cost of buying advertising with each media outlet that covered the event — than they paid to sponsor the contest.
"That was great, but that wasn't the exact message we want to get out," he said. "It's all about tying the great taste of a Johnsonville brat to the ability to raise money the way we do in Sheboygan County with (charity) brat frys."
Johnsonville's future marketing efforts will focus on charitable projects such as working with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to bring brat frys to 25 to 30 cities next year, Bouck said. The company will also continue to sponsor Brat Days by funding various musical acts and the amateur brat-eating contest.
Jennifer Mills, Brat Days chairwoman, said the Jaycees will not pursue another sponsor for the professional brat-eating contest.
"It would be cool to have it, but since we don't, we brought other really neat things onboard and people will have a really good time and an experience they haven't had at Brat Days before," Mills said. New this year will be a third music stage, a total of 25 bands and first-time attractions such as a custom motorcycle contest run by Harley-Davidson, Mills said.
Brat Days, which runs Aug. 2-4 this year, is the Jaycees largest annual fundraiser.
Last year's event was broadcast tape-delayed on ESPN2 after the NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony ran long and pre-empted a planned live feed on ESPN.
Shea said the cancellation is especially unfortunate because this year it would have been a rematch between Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut, who toppled Kobayashi in a Fourth of July contest by downing 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes at Coney Island in New York.
"Just weeks after the Fourth — it would have been big," Shea said.
Last year in Sheboygan, Chestnut finished second to Kobayashi with 45 brats. Kobayashi also won the previous five hot dog-eating contests stretching back to 2001.
Reach Eric Litke at elitke@sheboygan-press.com and (920) 453-5119.
By Eric Litke Sheboygan Press staff
A year after drawing thousands of spectators and national television coverage to Sheboygan's Kiwanis Park, the Johnsonville Brat-Eating World Championship has been stricken from Sheboygan's Brat Days schedule.
Two years after introducing the sausage showdown, Johnsonville is dropping the event as part of a public relations "strategy shift," Johnsonville Marketing Manager Cory Bouck said Friday.
The competition last year was televised nationally on ESPN2 as Japanese sensation Takeru Kobayashi tore through 58 brats in 10 minutes, winning $8,000 and shattering the record of 35 brats set by Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas in 2005.
President Richard Shea of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, which sanctioned the contest, said he was disappointed by Johnsonville's decision to stop the world championship brat-eating contest.
"We were surprised and we were saddened," he said. "We would have loved to have been there."
Bouck said Johnsonville will continue to sponsor an amateur brat-eating contest at Brat Days, which has been a part of the Sheboygan Jaycees-run festival since 1953.
"The age-old tradition … the brat-eating contest, is still intact locally," Bouck said. "The idea of bringing in the competitive eaters, I just don't see it."
Kim Swisher, Sheboygan's tourism manager, said the national media exposure for the world championship brat-eating contest was a big plus for the city.
"We could never afford to do that type of marketing on our own," Swisher said. "We're the brat capital of the world, and we're proud of our heritage."
But others have decried the feeding frenzy as gluttonous and a poor reflection on Sheboygan.
Last year, former City Attorney Clarence Mertz called for the city to abolish both the professional and amateur brat-eating contests. On Friday, Mertz cheered the end of what he called a "disgusting event."
"This is the greatest news I've heard in ages," said Mertz, 85, reviving his call to end both contests. "We are telling our young children, who are already obese, that you can eat as much as you want."
Bouck said the event was a marketing success for Johnsonville last year, generating eight times more in exposure — tabulated as the cost of buying advertising with each media outlet that covered the event — than they paid to sponsor the contest.
"That was great, but that wasn't the exact message we want to get out," he said. "It's all about tying the great taste of a Johnsonville brat to the ability to raise money the way we do in Sheboygan County with (charity) brat frys."
Johnsonville's future marketing efforts will focus on charitable projects such as working with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to bring brat frys to 25 to 30 cities next year, Bouck said. The company will also continue to sponsor Brat Days by funding various musical acts and the amateur brat-eating contest.
Jennifer Mills, Brat Days chairwoman, said the Jaycees will not pursue another sponsor for the professional brat-eating contest.
"It would be cool to have it, but since we don't, we brought other really neat things onboard and people will have a really good time and an experience they haven't had at Brat Days before," Mills said. New this year will be a third music stage, a total of 25 bands and first-time attractions such as a custom motorcycle contest run by Harley-Davidson, Mills said.
Brat Days, which runs Aug. 2-4 this year, is the Jaycees largest annual fundraiser.
Last year's event was broadcast tape-delayed on ESPN2 after the NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony ran long and pre-empted a planned live feed on ESPN.
Shea said the cancellation is especially unfortunate because this year it would have been a rematch between Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut, who toppled Kobayashi in a Fourth of July contest by downing 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes at Coney Island in New York.
"Just weeks after the Fourth — it would have been big," Shea said.
Last year in Sheboygan, Chestnut finished second to Kobayashi with 45 brats. Kobayashi also won the previous five hot dog-eating contests stretching back to 2001.
Reach Eric Litke at elitke@sheboygan-press.com and (920) 453-5119.
Mysterious 1870s Wis. Photo Sparks Jokes
Mysterious 1870s Wis. Photo Sparks Jokes
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
By ROBERT IMRIE, Associated Press Writer
E-MAIL STORY
PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION
WAUSAU, Wis. — Who is that mysterious, elegant man? And why is he sitting on a dead horse? Such are some of the questions sparked by a black-and-white photograph taken in Sheboygan between 1876 and 1884 that has led to nationwide curiosity, speculation and jokes.
It's a 1870s picture of a mustachioed man in a suit and stovepipe hat who sits rakishly on an expired horse in the middle of a dusty, deserted street.
The picture was included in a newspaper's 2007 calendar and the response from readers prompted news articles. From there, it took off on the Internet.
"This thing has gotten more mileage than you can shake a stick at," said Scott Prescher, who has a copy of the dead horse photo in his Sheboygan restaurant.
"It is just a funny picture," Prescher said. "He is sitting on there with a top hat like he had somewhere special to go and his horse just croaked in the middle of the road."
No one knows who the gentleman is, exactly what year the picture was taken or the circumstances surrounding it, said Beth Dipple, director of the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, which has had the picture in its collection for at least 20 years.
"It is a great picture and every time I see it I just laugh," she said. "But this time the novelty is everybody else is seeing it for the first time. The whole world is seeing it now."
(Story continues below)
Advertise HereAdvertisements
/**/
After writing two stories about the picture, The Sheboygan Press received more than 50 calls and e-mails about it, including from a California genealogist.
Some of the ideas for what the picture depicts include the thoughtful _ it was staged for a political campaign perhaps related to sanitation issues _ to the bizarre _ the horse is being helped to relieve "excess flatulence."
Dibble said the newspaper published the photo on Aug. 20, 1974, but mainly to focus attention on the nearby buildings. The caption said the man who provided the photo to the newspaper received it from a friend who had no idea about its origin.
A Web site sponsored a contest for readers to write the best caption for the photo and about 100 were submitted, including: "Lay still old girl, FEMA's on the way."
Dipple said about all that's known about the picture is it was taken at South Eighth Street and Indiana Avenue between 1876 and 1884 _ based on the bridge over the Sheboygan River in the background and the lack of railroad tracks that were installed in 1884.
The city had laws on the books that required people to stay with their dead horses until they were picked up and disposed of, Dipple said.
"Who knows why somebody would take a picture of it?" she said. "People had weird senses of humor then just like they do now."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
By ROBERT IMRIE, Associated Press Writer
E-MAIL STORY
PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION
WAUSAU, Wis. — Who is that mysterious, elegant man? And why is he sitting on a dead horse? Such are some of the questions sparked by a black-and-white photograph taken in Sheboygan between 1876 and 1884 that has led to nationwide curiosity, speculation and jokes.
It's a 1870s picture of a mustachioed man in a suit and stovepipe hat who sits rakishly on an expired horse in the middle of a dusty, deserted street.
The picture was included in a newspaper's 2007 calendar and the response from readers prompted news articles. From there, it took off on the Internet.
"This thing has gotten more mileage than you can shake a stick at," said Scott Prescher, who has a copy of the dead horse photo in his Sheboygan restaurant.
"It is just a funny picture," Prescher said. "He is sitting on there with a top hat like he had somewhere special to go and his horse just croaked in the middle of the road."
No one knows who the gentleman is, exactly what year the picture was taken or the circumstances surrounding it, said Beth Dipple, director of the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, which has had the picture in its collection for at least 20 years.
"It is a great picture and every time I see it I just laugh," she said. "But this time the novelty is everybody else is seeing it for the first time. The whole world is seeing it now."
(Story continues below)
Advertise HereAdvertisements
/**/
After writing two stories about the picture, The Sheboygan Press received more than 50 calls and e-mails about it, including from a California genealogist.
Some of the ideas for what the picture depicts include the thoughtful _ it was staged for a political campaign perhaps related to sanitation issues _ to the bizarre _ the horse is being helped to relieve "excess flatulence."
Dibble said the newspaper published the photo on Aug. 20, 1974, but mainly to focus attention on the nearby buildings. The caption said the man who provided the photo to the newspaper received it from a friend who had no idea about its origin.
A Web site sponsored a contest for readers to write the best caption for the photo and about 100 were submitted, including: "Lay still old girl, FEMA's on the way."
Dipple said about all that's known about the picture is it was taken at South Eighth Street and Indiana Avenue between 1876 and 1884 _ based on the bridge over the Sheboygan River in the background and the lack of railroad tracks that were installed in 1884.
The city had laws on the books that required people to stay with their dead horses until they were picked up and disposed of, Dipple said.
"Who knows why somebody would take a picture of it?" she said. "People had weird senses of humor then just like they do now."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
Sheboygan man drowns in sewer
Sheboygan man drowns in sewer
SHEBOYGAN, Wis., June 7 (UPI) -- A 41-year-old man drowned in Sheboygan, Wis., while trying to retrieve his cell phone from a storm sewer.
Lt. Tim Eirich of the Sheboygan Police Department said the man, who weighed more than 300 pounds, was wedged in the storm drain with his head and shoulders under water, said the Sheboygan Press Thursday.
He was unconscious when he was pulled out of the drain and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center.
Police said the deceased man's name is being withheld until his relatives are notified.
Neighbor Chris Van Erem and a local child were the first people on the scene to try and rescue the man, but his weight proved too much for them and they called 911.
"I could see his head and his shoulders were completely under the water," van Erem said. "His legs weren't moving. He was completely unresponsive."
Sheboygan County Coroner David Leffin has ruled the man's death an accident.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
SHEBOYGAN, Wis., June 7 (UPI) -- A 41-year-old man drowned in Sheboygan, Wis., while trying to retrieve his cell phone from a storm sewer.
Lt. Tim Eirich of the Sheboygan Police Department said the man, who weighed more than 300 pounds, was wedged in the storm drain with his head and shoulders under water, said the Sheboygan Press Thursday.
He was unconscious when he was pulled out of the drain and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center.
Police said the deceased man's name is being withheld until his relatives are notified.
Neighbor Chris Van Erem and a local child were the first people on the scene to try and rescue the man, but his weight proved too much for them and they called 911.
"I could see his head and his shoulders were completely under the water," van Erem said. "His legs weren't moving. He was completely unresponsive."
Sheboygan County Coroner David Leffin has ruled the man's death an accident.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
Piggly Wiggly - boy inside toy 'claw' machine
2004 - At a Piggly Wiggly store in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a seven-year-old boy crawled into a game machine via the chute that dispenses cuddly toys. In the glass enclosure from which people usually capture a cuddly toy using a crane-like device, the boy found that his exit was blocked. The fire department's Mark Zittel said the boy's father was using a pay phone less than a metre away "and he said the next thing he turned around and the kid was in the thing". Firefighters had a locksmith unlock the door that is used for loading the machine and release the child, who "desperately had to go to the bathroom".
Thinning the Herd
Thinning the Herd
The bodies of Kentucky State Reformatory inmates Avery C. Roland, 26, and Michael Talbot Jr., 24, were found in a nearby landfill the day after they went missing in July; a Department of Corrections official said they had probably hidden inside a garbage truck without realizing that, to prevent escapes, the prison requires that garbage be compacted twice before it leaves the grounds. And four days apart in July, two 19-year-old men (in Sheboygan, Wis., and Louisville, Ky.) fell to their deaths while car-surfing at high speeds. (According to a witness, the Sheboygan man's fatal fall came shortly after he yelled to his driver, "Is that all you got?") [WLEX-TV (Lexington, Ky.)-AP, 7-15-05]
The bodies of Kentucky State Reformatory inmates Avery C. Roland, 26, and Michael Talbot Jr., 24, were found in a nearby landfill the day after they went missing in July; a Department of Corrections official said they had probably hidden inside a garbage truck without realizing that, to prevent escapes, the prison requires that garbage be compacted twice before it leaves the grounds. And four days apart in July, two 19-year-old men (in Sheboygan, Wis., and Louisville, Ky.) fell to their deaths while car-surfing at high speeds. (According to a witness, the Sheboygan man's fatal fall came shortly after he yelled to his driver, "Is that all you got?") [WLEX-TV (Lexington, Ky.)-AP, 7-15-05]
Sheboygan News
Growing up in Sheboygan, I often share with the world how it was such a quiet and peaceful town. Their response usually contains an agreement followed by, "but did you ever hear about the story of that guy...", which normally ended with some weird news. So, I thought I would start posting a few of those to this blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)