The opening of a new hospital in Shawano tops the list of local stories for 2015, a year that also featured high-profile criminal cases and some significant changes in the community. Here is a list of this year’s Top 10 stories chosen by the Leader staff.
1 ThedaCare opens new Shawano hospital
ThedaCare opened its new $52 million ThedaCare Medical Center-Shawano in September, celebrating with a grand opening and a ribbon-cutting at the main entrance of the 128,000-square-foot facility.
Hundreds attended the event and toured the hospital, which offers services in oncology, cardiology, maternity, surgery, rehabilitation, hospice and more. About 400 doctors, nurses and others work there alongside another 200 employed at ThedaCare’s adjacent outpatient clinic.
ThedaCare, which operates six other hospitals and 35 clinics in Wisconsin, had been competing with Shawano Medical Center for many years by offering similar services at the local outpatient clinic. The two competitors forged an alliance in 2011 and began making plans for a new hospital.
2 Walker rejects Menominee casino
Gov. Scott Walker in January denied the Menominee Nation’s request for permission to build an off-reservation casino in Kenosha, saying approving the project could leave the state owing a rival tribe hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Menominee Tribe had been pushing to build a casino at Kenosha’s Dairyland Greyhound Park dog track for years in hopes the facility would pull the tribe out of poverty. The governor said the state’s compact with the Forest County Potawatomi requires Wisconsin to refund payments that tribe has made to the state if a Kenosha casino became a reality.
Walker, then running for president, made his decision a day before he was scheduled to attend a conservative summit in Iowa for potential GOP presidential candidates, but he denied the decision was political.
Menominee members staged a 155-mile march to Madison in hopes of persuading Walker to reconsider, but were unsuccessful.
3 $9M school referendum passes
Residents in the Shawano School District voted nearly 2-to-1 in November to approve borrowing $9.25 million for improvements to the community’s 60-year-old middle school.
Results released by the school district showed that the districtwide referendum was supported by 1,338 voters and opposed by 717 voters.
The outcome means school administrators can borrow $9.25 million and make repairs and upgrades that referendum backers described as long overdue to Shawano Community Middle School, 1050 S. Union St.
4 Homeless shelter opens doors
Shawano Area Matthew 25 in November opened the doors of the Sam’s House homeless shelter at 213 E. Green Bay St. after nearly three years of working to make the shelter a reality.
The facility offers a warm shelter and meals to homeless people overnight from November through April.
It took three tries and two public hearings for SAM 25 to get final approval for a conditional use permit from the Shawano Common Council. The group first presented its plans in May. The council unanimously approved it in September.
The shelter has received widespread community support, including financial donations and shelter supplies.
5 Feds bulldoze hemp crop; tribe sues
The Menominee Indian Tribe filed a lawsuit in October challenging the federal government over a drug raid on the tribe’s reservation.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, assisted by the FBI, destroyed the hemp near County Road M west of Suring, bulldozing plants and placing them into dump trucks.
According to the DEA, approximately 30,000 marijuana plants weighing over several thousand pounds were seized in the Oct. 23 operation after a search warrant was issued by a U.S. District Court judge in Green Bay.
Tribal officials maintain they were growing industrial hemp, a different plant with legal product applications and typically no psychoactive effects.
The civil suit filed in Green Bay federal court seeks a judge’s declaration that the Menominee tribe can legally grow industrial hemp as a possible new business venture for the impoverished Native American tribe.
6 Teen driver charged with homicide
Charges of vehicular and reckless homicide, along with multiple drug counts, were filed in April against the teenage driver in the October 2014 crash that claimed the lives of his three young passengers.
Ryan M. Swadner, 18, of Cecil, was charged with being under the influence of marijuana when he swerved to avoid another vehicle stopped in his path on state Highway 22 in Belle Plaine and lost control on a gravel shoulder.
The Ford Mustang he was driving crossed into the path of an oncoming sport utility vehicle and was hit broadside, according to the accident report.
Two Shawano Community High School seniors, 17-year-old Cody Borsche and 18-year-old Tyler Welch, were pronounced dead at the scene.
A Bonduel High School sophomore, 15-year-old Paige Brunette, was transported to Shawano Medical Center for medical attention and later died.
Swadner has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He is scheduled for a pre-trial conference Feb. 3.
7 Shawano mayor announces retirement
Shawano Mayor Lorna Marquardt announced in November she will not run for another term in April’s spring election after 14 years in office.
Marquardt served for six years prior to that as alderperson.
The announcement was followed by a flurry of potential candidates interested in running for the office. Nine people took out papers, and eight filed campaign registration statements. So far, four have returned nomination papers that are due by Tuesday at 5 p.m.
8 Worker killed in construction zone
Shawano County highway employee Derek T. Stempa, 30, of Shawano, died May 26 after being struck by a vehicle at a road construction site in Red Springs.
Stempa was working as a flag person at the intersection of state Highway 47 and County Road G when he was struck by a southbound 2003 Dodge Caravan driven by Dennis M. St. John, 69, of Tigerton.
Stempa’s death was met with an outpouring of community support for his wife, Heather, and their two children, 3-year-old Brynlee and 5-year-old River. Community groups held benefits and fundraisers and a memorial fund was set up in Stempa’s name.
The Shawano County Sheriff’s Department said it had intended to refer charges against St. John, but then learned he had passed away as a result of advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
9 Traveling basketball coach charged
A traveling basketball coach was arrested in October for allegedly attempting to set up a sexual rendezvous with a 13-year-old boy he met at a basketball camp. He was also subsequently charged with 201 counts of child porn possession.
Nicholas R. Bennett, 23, of Portland, Oregon, was a basketball coach with Pro Shot Shooting Systems, which held a basketball camp at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Shawano on Oct. 13. According to the criminal complaint, Bennett struck up an acquaintance with the boy during the camp and began sending him text messages that became suggestive in nature.
After the boy’s mother alerted authorities, sheriff’s detectives took over the electronic communications with Bennett, who eventually suggested a meeting and was taken into custody when he arrived.
Bennett is being held on a $100,000 cash bond and is scheduled for a pre-trial conference on Feb. 9.
10 Clintonville mayoral controversy
Political controversies that dogged Clintonville government in 2014 continued into 2015, with Tricia Rose, publisher of the Clintonville Chronicle, filing a complaint accusing Mayor Judith Magee of misconduct in office, abuse of power, theft of property, willfully destroying public property, releasing confidential information and concealing a crime.
The Clintonville Common Council voted early this year to hire a law firm to investigate the complaint.
In September, Magee agreed to resign, effective Jan. 1, to settle the dispute. Magee denied Rose’s allegations but agreed not to seek re-election.
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