By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
2013 in The Platteville Journal
Placeholder Image

Jan. 1: Lifelong Lafayette County resident Jim Leahy turns 103 years old.

Jan. 8: The Platteville Common Council votes 6–1 to rent seven parking spots in Lot 7, on the northeast corner of North Fourth Street and East Furnace Street, on 12-month leases for $30 per month. The council had originally proposed renting 92 spots.

Jan. 9: Potosi School District administrator Steve Lozeau announces his retirement at the end of the school year after 23 years in Potosi.

Jan. 10: Robert VanNatta of rural Platteville is ruled competent to stand trial on 105 charges, with maximum penalties of 907½ years in prison. Mark J. Curda, 18, Greenfield, is placed on three years probation after pleading guilty to two felony drug charges after an attempt to make methamphetamine in a wastebasket in UW–Platteville’s Rountree Commons started a fire.

Jan. 13: Grant County firefighters fight house fires on U.S. 61 in Rockville and Church Road in Georgetown in below-freezing weather.

Jan. 15: The City of Platteville is the high bidder on 15 of the 19 rental properties owned by Darrel Kallembach, which had accumulated $366,765.38 in fines and interest for violations of city building codes. Under state law, Kallembach has until April 2014 to pay the fines and retrieve the properties from foreclosure.

Jan. 17: A day-long hearing, some of it closed to the public, is held to determine whether statements Armin G. Wand III to authorities after the Sept. 7, 2012 house fire that killed his three sons and unborn daughter can be used in a trial. Wand faces four counts of first-degree intentional homicide, two counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, and one count of arson.

Jan. 20: Platteville Cleaners, 250 W. Main St., is heavily damaged after the building was hit by a pickup truck around 4 a.m. In an unrelated incident, a Benton man faces 14 traffic charges after hitting a stop sign on Lafayette County J in the Town of Benton and a tree in Benton.

Jan. 22: The Lafayette County Board postpones a vote on removing protective status from sheriff’s deputies who work in the county jail. That same day, Grant County Sheriff Nate Dreckman and Chief Deputy Jack Johnson speak at the County Board meeting against an effort to enact a two-tier health benefits system for sheriff’s deputies, exempt under state law from contributing to their own benefits.

Jan. 23: Levi K. Kinsinger, 20, of rural Platteville is killed when his horse and buggy was rear-ended by a pickup truck on Wisconsin 81 around 5:30 p.m. The horse pulling the buggy was euthanized at the scene.

Jan. 25: Iowa County Deputy Sheriff Brad Hill and a passing motorist pull Dakota L. Michek, 18, Rewey, out of his flaming car after a crash on U.S. 18.

Jan. 26: A Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department traffic stop on U.S. 18 in the Town of Belmont results in one felony and five misdemeanor charges and 15 traffic citations issued.

Jan. 27: An unusual few days of weather begins with an ice storm that closes Iowa–Grant and Potosi schools for the next day.

Jan. 28: The previous night’s ice is melted by sun and a high of 42 degrees. That evening, severe thunderstorm warnings are issued in northeast Iowa, and Platteville receives 0.7 inches of rain.

Jan. 29: Platteville reaches a high of 53.

Jan. 30: Area schools are called off after Platteville receives 8 inches of snow.

Jan. 31: Platteville’s low sinks to 2 below zero, a swing of 55 degrees over the previous 36 hours.

Feb. 1: Platteville’s low sinks to 7 below zero, the coldest temperature for the year.

Feb. 1: Robert VanNatta is sentenced to 15 years in prison after he pleads no contest to 44 of the 105 charges he faces. Five of the charges are read in, and the remaining 56 are dismissed. VanNatta faced a maximum sentence of 907½ years in prison on the 105 charges.

Feb. 3: The San Francisco 49ers, whose coaching staff includes Geep Chryst, son of former UW–Platteville athletic director and football coach George Chryst, and brother of University of Pittsburgh coach Paul Chryst, lose Super Bowl XLVII to Baltimore.

Feb. 15: One week before his trial is scheduled to begin, Armin G. Wand III pleads guilty to three counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count each of felony murder, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and arson in connection with the Sept. 7 house fire that killed his three sons.

Feb. 19: Platteville Ald. Steve Becker finishes second to challenger Mike Denn in the Common Council at-large primary election. Challenger Barb Stockhausen finishes third, but will be on the April 2 ballot anyway because she also filed for the District 1 seat held by Common Council President Mike Dalecki.

Feb. 23: The Platteville Area Chamber of Commerce celebrates its 50th anniversary at its annual dinner.

Feb. 25: UW–Platteville holds auditions for the Heartland Festival, returning after a one-year absence due to renovations at the Center for the Arts.

Feb. 26: During a Platteville Common Council work session, 17 proposals to curb alcohol-related offenses are proposed, including passing a public intoxication ordinance, closing Second Street to vehicle traffic on Friday and Saturday nights, and establishing standards for when the city License Committee can suspend a business’ liquor license.

Feb. 26: The Common Council votes to apportion three-fourths of the $8,502.41 of Arts Board proceeds to the Platteville Community Auditorium renovation project. The council had previously voted to disband the city Arts Board due to lack of participation and membership vacancies.

March 1: The Platteville Journal wins seven Wisconsin Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest awards, including first-place awards in Most Improved Newspaper and editorial for the Etc. column “Parking problems.” The Journal also wins second place in Lifestyle pages, and third-place awards in Open Records/Freedom of Information, headlines and front pages.

March 4: Matthew Cline, 26, Argyle, is killed and three people from Benton are injured on a crash on U.S. 61 south of Lancaster.

March 10: A 21-year-old Platteville man is rescued from the Little Platte River after a kayaking accident. The man fell out of his kayak and ended up on the cliff said of the river. Platteville firefighters and the Southwest Wisconsin Technical Rescue Team were called to rescue the kayaker.

March 12: After considering instituting a $25 brush pickup charge and reducing the number of available pickup days from 14 to 10, the Platteville Common Council decides to do neither.

March 13: Army Sgt. Mitch Kress surprises his Potosi Elementary School children by showing up in their classroom. Kress returned to Potosi after 16 months overseas.

March 19: An attempt to oust Grant County Board chair Larry Wolf fails.

March 20: March 20 is the 100th anniversary of the disappearance of 9-year-old Catherine Winters in New Castle, Ind. Catherine’s grandmother and unmarried aunt lived in Platteville briefly after her disappearance. Catherine was never seen in public again, and no one was ever convicted of kidnapping or killing her.

March 23: More than 200 people go to Airport Road for the final photo of That Tree, the year-long iPhone oak tree photo project of photographer Mark Hirsch.

March 29: The Dane County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad is called to a Platteville house after its owner finds a live hand grenade in a box of old belongings.

March 31: Aaron D. Saalsaa, 27, Argyle, dies one day after an early-morning fight in Argyle. The Lafayette County District Attorney’s office decided against filing charges in connection with Saalsaa’s death.

April 2: Platteville Common Council President Mike Dalecki and at-large Ald. Steve Becker lose their reelection bids. The Iowa–Grant referendum to exceed state spending caps by $950,000 over the next three years wins. Potosi Village President Frank Fiorenza and Dickeyville Village President Tammy Kunkel are reelected.

April 3: Michael R. Schoenbeck, 38, Grant Park, Ill., is killed when his tractor–trailer hit a tree on U.S. 18 in the Town of Mount Ida.

April 3: State Rep. Howard Marklein (R–Spring Green) announces he will run for the 17th Senate District seat held since 1991 by Sen. Dale Schultz (R–Richland Center).

April 4: UW–Platteville holds its first softball games at Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium because the grass at UWP’s softball field is unplayable.

April 5: Three Platteville people and a 17-year-old are arrested after an alleged Dubuque car theft and damage from shooting at downtown Platteville buildings.

April 5: Platteville is named one of the 20 finalists for the 2013 All-America City Awards.

April 8: State Rep. Howard Marklein (R–Spring Green) announces he will run for the 17th Senate District seat held since 1991 by Sen. Dale Schultz (R–Richland Center). Schultz has not announced whether he’s running for reelection.

April 8: Belmont native Ruby Jantzen, who attended Platteville High School and the Platteville Normal School, celebrates her 100th birthday.

April 9: The Platteville Common Council votes 4–3 to proceed with the North Fourth Street reconstruction project, including the removal of six 100-year-old oak trees. The trees are removed on April 22, Earth Day.

April 10: Police seek Jeffrey D. Campbell, 34, Hazel Green, after a report of a burglary attempt on Platteville’s southwest side, followed by a hit-and-run crash and escape from police. The incidents cause Westview Elementary School to be locked down for one-half hour. Campbell is arrested in Cedar Rapids later in April.

April 10: Storms knock down trees in the Platteville area.

April 14: Daniel Sandoval Arandia, 29, Fitchburg, is arrested after his drive on U.S. 18/151 near Barneveld at 143 mph ends with a crash.

April 15: Mandi Jacquinot of Platteville and three UW–Platteville alumni running to support Wisconsin Badger Camp finish the Boston Marathon minutes before a bomb explodes at the finish line, killing three people and injuring 176.

April 17: Armin G. Wand III is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole on three counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count each of felony murder, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and arson in connection with the Sept. 7 house fire that killed his three sons and unborn daughter.

April 19: Richard Brockman, 65, the publisher of The Platteville Journal for 31 years and a largely anonymous benefactor of numerous Platteville causes, dies.

April 23: The Platteville Common Council decides against creating a Building Platteville Green program.

April 23: The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association mandates a football scheduling arrangement between the Southwest Wisconsin Conference and the Coulee Conference beginning in 2014.

April 26: An explosive device goes off inside a mailbox near Union Street. Police believe the device was a “bottle bomb” of caustic chemicals inside a plastic container.

April 28: The bodies of Gary and Chloe Thoreson and Gary’s brother, Dean, are found in Gary and Chloe Thoreson’s Town of Wayne home. Jaren M. Kuester, 31, Milwaukee, is arrested at a Waukesha apartment building.

May 1: Southwest Health Center buys Dean Clinic–Cuba City.

May 2: A demonstration of Southwest Wisconsin’s changeable weather: The high April 30 was 86. The low May 2 was 33.

May 6: River Ridge Middle School teacher Heidi Serres of Platteville receives a Crystal Apple Award from WMTV (channel 15) in Madison.

May 13: Jaren M. Kuester is indicted on three counts of first-degree intentional homicide, burglary and auto theft in Lafayette County Circuit Court.

May 13: The Platteville School Boards votes to spend $200,000 to implement the pilot phase of the school district’s One-to-One Student Technology Purchase and Program. The school district will issue iPads to seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade students next school year.

May 14: The Platteville Common Council discusses Street Department staffing and overtime. The issue came up because of staffing during a late December snowstorm, when city supervisors were allowed to send home employees early for the week in anticipation of a major winter storm to reduce overtime costs. City employees disagreed with the policy because they could lose pay if they were sent home early for a storm that didn’t materialize.

May 17: Melvin Allen “A.J.” Jerrett Jr., 8, is killed when he is run over by a skid-steer loader in the Town of Blanchard.

May 17: Potosi baseball coach Ron Kading records his 500th career victory in the Chieftains’ 11–1 win over Argyle.

May 19: The first severe storms of 2013 include 1.75-inch hail three miles east of Potosi, power outages north of Platteville and in Montfort, and wind damage in Lancaster, Lone Rock and South Wayne.

May 26: The Iowa–Grant High School commencement includes the unveiling of a new Iowa–Grant Panther mascot.

May 29: Nine months after Wisconsin’s last tornado of 2012, near Bloomington, the state’s first tornado of 2013 touches down near Bagley, destroying several campers at Jellystone Park. Two tornado warnings are issued during the Potosi baseball regional final game against Highland. The game was suspended in the fourth inning.

May 30: Tornado warnings are issued for suspected tornadoes in eastern Grant County, and 70-mph winds south of Lancaster caused damage at Orchard Manor. At one point, Grant County was simultaneously under a tornado watch, severe thunderstorm warning, flash flood warning and flood warning.

May 31: The suspended Potosi–Highland baseball regional final is finished two days after it began.

June 1: Viewing Party, a band made up of Platteville High School students, performs at the Wisconsin School Music Association Launchpad Festival in Madison.

June 5: Paul W. Cullen, 59, Cuba City, dies in a skid steer loader accident and fire in the Town of Belmont.

June 5: Two people are charged after a shooting incident on Rock Road in the Town of Smelser, in which a third person was shot in the stomach.

June 7: “Frankly, Scarlett, You’re Dead” begins the 2013 UW–Platteville Heartland Festival, which resumed a year after taking off 2012 for renovations at the Center for the Arts.

June 8: The first three memorial trees on the UW–Platteville campus are replaced 50 years after they died and were removed. The trees originally were planted in memory of three UW–Platteville students while died while serving, or training to serve, in World War I.

June 10: UW–Platteville student Josh Inglett is announced as the new UW System Board of Regents student regent.

June 12: Potosi loses to Lake Country Lutheran 12–0 in the WIAA spring baseball tournament.

June 12: Jeremy Wand pleads guilty to three counts of first-degree intentional homicide, one count of felony murder, one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and one count of arson in connection with the September 2012 Argyle house fire that killed Wand’s three nephews.

June 13: A plea deal with Alvin Stanley “Junebug” Briggs Jr., 50, Dubuque, is made in federal court. Briggs pleads guilty to one count of distribution of heroin resulting in death in connection with a death in Platteville in July 2012.

June 16: Platteville High School’s Arianna Day and Emma Wilson receive Tommy Awards from the Overture Center in Madison for outstanding achievement in high school musical theater.

June 16: Brittney Christman of Belmont is named Wisconsin High School Rodeo Queen at the Wisconsin High School Rodeo Association State Finals in Richland Center.

June 16: The City of Platteville is a finalist, but is not selected as one of the 10 All-America Cities in the 2013 All-America City Awards in Denver.

June 18: Benvenuto’s Italian Grill opens in Platteville.

June 19: Grant County Clerk of Courts Kim Kohn dies of leukemia.

June 23: Over three days, some parts of Southwest Wisconsin receive nearly 8 inches of rain, closing roads in Grant and Iowa counties and forcing home evacuations in Boscobel.

June 25: Rep. Travis Tranel (R–Cuba City) is hospitalized for four days after breathing in silo gas on his farm.

June 25: Former Iowa–Grant teacher Gary Neis, the administrator of the Pecatonica School District, dies in a crash on Wisconsin 11 in the Town of Benton.

June 30: Ken Kilian Live Musical Services celebrates its 30th anniversary with a performance at the Hotel Julien in Dubuque.

July 1: Tina McDonald is appointed Grant County Clerk of Courts to replace Kim Kohn, who died June 19.

July 2: The Grant River Recreation Area is closed because of high water on the Mississippi River, the result of nearly 13 inches of rain upriver.

July 5: Three people are arrested after the second shooting incident on Rock Road in the Town of Smelser, though Grant County Sheriff Nate Dreckman said they are “two totally unrelated incidents.”

July 9: The Platteville Common Council passes an ordinance that prohibits public intoxication. Platteville is the third community in the state to pass that ordinance.

July 9: The Platteville Common Council discusses having Southwest Health Center take over Platteville EMS.

July 11: The Wisconsin Army National Guard 229th Engineering Company returns to Volk Field in Camp Douglas, nearly a year after its deployment to Afghanistan. All 147 members who left the previous August returned. Gov. Scott Walker greets the returning soldiers.

July 15: Volunteers in one day construct assemble new playground equipment at Neal Wilkins Early Learning Center in Platteville.

July 16: Grant County nonunion employees get pay raises that include $207 lump-sum payments and salary increases of 20 cents per hour.

July 23: Platteville police issue their first public intoxication ticket under the city’s new ordinance. The arrest was made around 2:15 a.m. after a fight.

July 23: The Platteville Common Council approves a series of changes to the city’s Tax Incremental Financing districts, including moving revenue from two TIF districts with positive cash flow to two TIF districts with deficits.

July 23: The Museum Task Force releases its report on how to reduce annual city funding of the Rollo Jamison Museum and Platteville Mining Museum from $250,000 to $100,000. The task force was charged with, in the words of task force chair Dennis Cooley, “to get to a revenue-neutral position. We never got that far.”

July 25: The annual Party in Park recognizes returned members of the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 229th Engineering Company.

July 26: Jeremy Wand’s sentencing hearing on three counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count each of felony murder, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and arson is delayed after Wand files a motion to withdraw his guilty pleas. Wand was to be sentenced on his 19th birthday.

July 27: The Platteville Thrift Shop, originally a project of Church Women United, celebrates its 40th anniversary.

July 27: Students, friends and colleagues of Becky Lewis, who led Platteville Middle School and Platteville High School’s bands until her death in a 2003 car crash, hold a memorial concert at PHS.

July 28: A segment of CBS-TV’s “CBS Sunday Morning” features Mark Hirsch, author of That Tree.

Aug. 1: Tom Caccia, the first swimming coach at Platteville High School, becomes the director of competitive aquatics for the Indianola YMCA of Greater Des Moines and head swimming coach at Simpson College. Caccia was honored for his contributions to the Platteville Swim Team at its first Tom Caccia Invitational five days earlier.

Aug. 4: Derek Lendosky, 9, dies in a UTV accident in the Town of Fennimore.

Aug. 5: The Wisconsin State Journal and The Monroe Times print letters signed by Sharon Wand claiming her husband, Armin III, and brother-in-law, Jeremy, did not set the fire that killed the Wands’ three sons and unborn daughter. The prosecutors of Armin and Jeremy Wand claim the letters are hoaxes.

Aug. 8: The body of Michael R. Upman, 41, Dodgeville, who had been missing for six weeks, is found where his SUV had been found in a Town of Waterloo farm field five days earlier.

Aug. 8: Grant and Iowa counties are declared federal disaster areas as a result of late June flooding.

Aug. 9: Five days after the death of Derek Lendosky, 9, in a UTV accident, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista announces on Twitter that he’s dedicating that night’s game to Derek, for whom he had signed an autograph. Bautista hits two doubles and a home run.

Aug. 13: The Platteville Common Council votes to “accept,” not “adopt,” the Museum Task Force report on finding alternate sources of museum funding and reducing annual city funding of the museums.

Aug. 14: Eila Butterworth of Platteville celebrates her 100th birthday.

Aug. 15: The majority of speakers at a meeting held by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs in Shullsburg favors a proposed Lac du Flambeau tribal casino.*

Aug. 16: The name of Richard Brockman, publisher of The Platteville Journal from 1971 to 2003, is added to the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Memorial Pylon at the WNA’s Trees for Tomorrow in Eagle River.

Aug. 18: Loren and Benjamin Bahr of Platteville receive their Eagle Scout awards. The Bahrs’ brother, father and three uncles also are Eagle Scouts.

Aug. 21: UW–Platteville student Chad Landes is appointed as the UW System Board of Regents student regent. Landes replaces UWP student Josh Inglett, whose nomination was withdrawn days after it was announced after Inglett was discovered to have signed a petition for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker.

Aug. 23: After his motion to withdraw his guilty pleas is denied, Jeremy Wand is sentenced to life imprisonment on three counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count each of felony murder, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and arson. Unlike his brother, Armin, who was sentenced to life without parole, Jeremy Wand will be eligible for parole in 34 years.

Aug. 27: Grant County Sheriff’s Department management and the Platteville Common Council hold a work session to discuss combining city and county public safety dispatch services.

Aug. 28: David and Joan Edge, both 59, of Potosi are killed when their motorcycle crashes in the Town of Potosi.

Sept. 2: A UW–Platteville student reports he was stabbed by people in a pickup truck as he was walking on West Mound Road near the Platteville Mound.

Sept. 3: The first day of classes at UW–Platteville includes triplets Katie, Austin and Karrisa Kosmal of Pulaski, whose parents, Troy and Michelle, graduated from UWP.

Sept. 7: During the Platteville Dairy Days tractor pull, the tractor pull area at Legion Field is named the Dale Rupp Memorial Track.

Sept. 7: A UW–Platteville student reports she was assaulted by five white men while she was jogging around 11:15 p.m. The five were described as 5-foot-8, with three described as “wiry” and the other two as having “average build.”

Sept. 9: Dick Klinger and Ron Boldt are honored by the Platteville Fire Department for 50 years each of service.

Sept. 10: James M. Kruger, 36, Madison, is arrested near Blue Mounds after he allegedly beat his uncle in Cassville, stole money from him, carjacked a pickup truck hauling a cattle trailer, kept the driver hostage until he escaped near Dodgeville, and engaged in more than one high-speed chase with authorities. Kruger ultimately faces 37 charges in Grant and Iowa counties, plus a federal charge.

Sept. 11: Southwest Health Center announces plans for a $7 million expansion project to add 20,000 square feet of space. The project will add a women’s health center and a new orthopedic and sports medicine program, and add space to SHC’s rehabilitative services program and a specialty physicians’ clinic.

Sept. 13: UW–Platteville’s 10-day enrollment report reports record enrollment of 8,662 students, 38 more than in 2012.

Sept. 16: The Grant County Board of Supervisors Law Enforcement Committee unanimously passes a resolution that if the City of Platteville is interested in combining public safety dispatch services with Grant County, the city should pay for the study itself.

Sept. 16: The state Department of Public Instruction releases its second annual school report cards. The Platteville School District ranks third in the area and second highest in the Southwest Wisconsin Conference, while Platteville Middle School fanks fourth among schools in the area.

Sept. 24: The Platteville Common Council votes to rent 13 parking stalls on the east side of Rountree Avenue on one-year leases. The vote is less than city staff (all 27 Rountree stalls) and the Downtown Redevelopment Authority (17 total spaces) had recommended.

Sept. 26: Riemenapp–Averkamp–Stelpflug VFW Post 6455 of Dickeyville plans to build a new veterans memorial to replace the existing memorial, which in poor condition.

Sept. 28: Dr. Michael Tashner of Platteville is elected president of the Wisconsin Optometric Association.

Sept. 30: Alvin Stanley “Junebug” Briggs Jr., 51, Dubuque, gets a 30-year federal prison sentence on drug charges, including a charge of distribution of heroin resulting in death for a July 2012 Platteville death.

Oct. 1: With the end of the federal fiscal year and no appropriations deal in the works, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announces that Mississippi River locks and dams will stay open. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Grant River Recreation Area, McGregor District Office of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge, and Driftless Area Wildlife Refuge close.

Oct. 3: Spireon eliminates half of its 20 positions at its facility on East Business 151.

Oct. 5: Clay Shaffer, who coached Platteville to the 1984 WIAA girls basketball title, is inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association hall of fame.

Oct. 8: The Rewey Seniors United for Nutrition meal site closes.

Oct. 8: Sharon Wand, one of the victims of the Argyle house fire, appears in Iowa County Circuit Court on felony charges of misappropriating ID information to obtain money and a misdemeanor theft charge.

Oct. 9: The Platteville Police and Fire Commission dismisses a complaint against police Lt. Jeff Haas, who was accused of fabricating evidence in a 2003 drunk driving arrest.

Oct. 12: Eileen Einerson of Platteville celebrates her 100th birthday.

Oct. 16: Former UW–Platteville Chancellor William Chmurny dies in San Marcos, Calif. Chmurny was chancellor from 1982 to 1993. He was one of the people instrumental in getting the Chicago Bears to hold their training camp at UW–Platteville.

Oct. 26: To raise awareness of breast cancer, Southwest Health Center and UW–Platteville light the M pink.

Oct. 29: Ernie Wittwer of Hillpoint announces he’s running as a Democrat for the 17th Senate District seat held since 1991 by Sen. Dale Schultz (R–Richland Center). So far, Schultz has not announced whether he’s running for reelection.

Nov. 4: A Town of Harrison man is charged with vehicle operator fleeing or eluding an officer, hit and run, operating while suspended and speeding after he was arrested during an investigation into suspected deer poaching.

Nov. 5: The beginning of the second quarter of the 2013–14 school year includes changes in Platteville school leadership. Platteville Middle School principal Lisa Finnegan is named school district assessment and instructional technology coordinator. Finnegan is replaced as PMS principal by Platteville High School teacher Jason Julius. Neal Wilkins principal ReNah Reuter is named the district’s director of student achievement and intervention services, with Westview Elementary School principal Don Shaw becoming Neal Wilkins principal as well. The school board also voted to change the process of how the school district disciplines students and resolves harassment complaints to resolve a complaint filed by a school district parent with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights.

Nov. 17: Culver’s Restaurant closes after an early morning fire causes heavy damage to the building.

Nov. 21: For the first time, all three area high school athletic conferences are represented at the WIAA football championships in Madison. Six Rivers Conference champion Black Hawk defeats Glenwood City 44–22 to win the Division 7 title. Southwest Wisconsin Activities League champion Darlington loses the Division 6 title to Shiocton, 35–0. Southwest Wisconsin Conference champion Lancaster loses the Division 5 title to Stanley–Boyd, 21–16. Platteville loses the Division 4 championship game to Winneconne, 28–14, in a game between two Cinderella teams. Platteville needed to win four of its last five regular-season games to get to the playoffs, then won four playoff games to get to state for the first time since 1983.

Nov. 23: UW–Platteville defeats Concordia University 54–20 to win its first NCAA Division III football playoff game in school history.

Nov. 23: Larry D. Kallembach, 54, Platteville, is arrested on felony theft and forgery charges. He is accused of using fraudulent checks from “FRB Bank,” a Federal Reserve bank, to buy seven antique tractors and a laptop computer.

Nov. 24: A second deer shot outside the Grant County chronic wasting disease management zone tests positive for CWD.

Nov. 29: Town of Kendall residents Don and Colleen Schultz file a lawsuit against the town board alleging violations of the state Open Records Law.

Dec. 9: The low drops to –9, the coldest temperature of 2013.

Dec. 9: Three members of the Society of Jesus Christ the Priest are ordained as Catholic priests at St. Mary Catholic Church in Platteville.

Dec. 10: One week after James Kruger is judged to be not competent to stand trial on his 15 Grant County charges, Kruger is judged to be not competent to stand trial on his 22 Iowa County charges.

Dec. 12: UW–Platteville student Neel Patel, 21, is arrested and charged with faces felony charges of burglary and possession of burglarious tools, nine counts of computer crime — accessing data, and one misdemeanor count of theft of up to $2,500. UWP officials warn that Patel may have gained access to computer usernames and passwords, and recommend changing passwords from somewhere other than the UWP computer network.