Man Assaults Police Officer With Member

Now that’s drunk. 

Police were called to his home by his girlfriend, who had complained about him being drunk last November.

They arrived to find the self-employed engineer sitting on the sofa wearing a pair of underpants.

Fiscal depute Elaine Lynch said: “The accused got to his feet and was standing over the police officer exposing his penis and thrusting it in her face, forcing her to take evasive action to avoid getting struck.”

Defence solicitor John Hardie said: “He was sitting on the couch drunk with his pants on.

“He can’t remember anything but accepts that if that’s what the police say then that’s what happened.

“He has never been so drunk before that day and accepts he has to take full responsibility. He apologises profusely and is extremely embarrassed.”

Open Book Co-op Out of Business

It’s never good to see a Wisconsin business close, but…

Open Book, the bookstore co-op that opened in Shorewood last fall, will close by April 30, the store’s directors said Friday.

The shop opened in November in the N. Oakland Ave. space previously occupied by a Harry W. Schwartz Bookstore. The organizers raised money from local residents and also secured a low-interest, $35,000 loan from the village.

Organizers cited “a confluence of events” for the closing, including the economy, a change in the public’s book-buying habits and strong competition from online booksellers.

“We had an expectation that we would have a much more robust holiday season than we did,” said Keith Schmitz, chairman of the Open Book co-op.

...seriously… what about the book industry has changed in six months?  The economy is about the same if not a bit better than it was when they opened.  Online booksellers, reading devices like a Kindle, and people’s book buying habits have been on this trend for quite some time.  The market hasn’t substantially changed.  It looks like the organizers here had some sort of fantasy that they could buck the trend and didn’t have enough capital to give themselves enough time to build a customer base.

Clarke Improves House of Corrections

Nice to see some progress.

The once troubled House of Correction in Franklin has undergone a major transformation, with big improvements in security, staffing, maintenance and fiscal oversight, according to a report done by the National Institute of Corrections.

The turnaround over the past year under the management of Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. has turned a “deeply troubled” lockup into a good jail, according to the report, written by California-based corrections consultant Jeffrey A Schwartz.

Still, the jail - renamed by Clarke the “Milwaukee Correctional Center-South Facility” - has a long way to go before it could be deemed excellent, the report says. Ongoing problems include sometimes being too thinly staffed, a core group of embittered workers and inmate food and recreation problems, the report says.

Absentee Ballots Available

FYI.

The city of West Bend has received its shipment of absentee ballots for the April 6 general election. City Clerk Amy Reuteman ordered 2,075 absentee ballots. The races on the ballots include District II appellate judge, four aldermanic seats, two seats for the West Bend School Board, and several county supervisor races.

   West Bend residents are able to vote now during regular City Hall office hours. Ballots are available on the second floor of City Hall in the clerk’s office.

Word is that there were people voting yesterday already.