Superintendent volunteers for pay, benefits freeze

March 09, 2010 12:14 a.m. | New Berlin Superintendent Paul Kreutzer will take a voluntary pay and benefit freeze next year.

The School Board on Monday approved that his pay/benefit package be frozen at $201,000 for the 2010-11 school year. Kreutzer actually will take somewhat of a cut in pay next year because his state mandated retirement contributions will go up.

Kreutzer said he reported pay of $163,000 on his 2009 taxes.

Times are hard for taxpayers so he volunteered for the freeze, he said.

"This was voluntary on my part," Kreutzer said. "I understand these are hard economic times, and we need to lead from the front."

Aldermanic candidates forum set for March 27

March 08, 2010 5:50 p.m. | The New Berlin Rotary Club will hold a candidates forum in the New Berlin West High School library, 18695 W. Cleveland Ave., from 1 to 3 p.m. March 27.

All eight aldermanic candidates running in the April 6 general election have been invited. They are: District 1 candidates Alderman John Hopkins and Dennis Friedrich; District 3 Alderman Ronald Seidl and David Jeske; District 5, Jake Krueger and Deena Liska; and District 7, Alderman David Ament and Kevin Zokan.

A half hour will be allotted for each district, in numerical order.

Eisenhower boys' season is over

March 06, 2010 5:25 p.m. | New Berlin Eisenhower’s sensational season came to a disappointing end Saturday in a 71-55 loss to Wisconsin Lutheran in a WIAA Division 2 regional final at Marquette High School.

Eisenhower regional semifinal victory photos now online

March 05, 2010 10:28 a.m. | We've just posted a photo gallery featuring images from the New Berlin Eisenhower boys basketball team's 62-49 victory over visiting Milwaukee Lutheran last night in a WIAA regional semifinal game.

With the victory, the second-seeded Lions advance to take on first-seeded Wisconsin Lutheran at 1 p.m. Saturday.

See NOW photojournalist Peter Zuzga's photo gallery.

West's season ends in regional semifinal

March 04, 2010 8:37 p.m. | A disastrous second quarter gave the visiting New Berlin West Vikings no chance against the defending WIAA Division 2 champion Wisconsin Lutheran Vikings in a D2 regional semifinal boys basketball game Thursday.

Loyola University - Chicago recruit Flavien Davis was limited to 10 points, about half his season average, but Tim Rotruck had a game-high 16 and Terry Nash added 11 as Wisconsin Lutheran cruised to a 65-42 victory.

Wisconsin Lutheran (20-3) went on an 18-0 run from the end of the first quarter until late in the second to turn an 11-11 game into a 29-11 advantage. From there, the reigning champs never led by fewer than 14.

New Berlin West (17-7) struggled mightily in the second quarter. West missed its first five shots - four of which were 3-pointer attempts - and turned the ball over six times. They did not score in the period until Kyle Rampone made one of two free throws with 1 minute, 45 seconds remaining.

Some of those struggles were a result of Chad Mathwig's foul trouble. The junior post player picked up his second foul with 35 seconds left in the first. He went to the bench and did not return until 6:11 remained in the second; during that stretch Wisconsin Lutheran went on a 7-0 run and West turned the ball over twice.

Vote for the All-Suburban Basketball Team and you could win Bucks tickets

March 04, 2010 7:43 a.m. | Want to weigh in on who you think are the best boys basketball players in the suburban area?

Now's your chance, as we're asking high school hoops fans to help us select the annual NOW Newspapers All-Suburban Boys Basketball Team, and the Player of the Year.

We've nominated 14 players to fill 10 spots on the honors team and we're asking you to pick the player that you think is the top basketball player in the NOW Newspapers coverage area.

When the fan voting is over, your votes - along with the votes of our sport staff - will determine the makeup of our All-Suburban Team. And one lucky person will win a pair of lower-level tickets to a Milwaukee Bucks game just for voting!

Vote here.

Swing into the 2010 Golf Show with free tickets

March 01, 2010 1:50 p.m. | The 2010 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Golf Show starts Friday, and you could win a pair of free tickets by entering our Twitter and Facebook contests.

On Twitter, simply follow MyCommunityNOW and tweet "I want to win free tickets to the #MKE Golf Show from @MyCommunityNOW. RT to win. Details: http://bit.ly/cPficZ"

A random drawing will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday for the three sets of free tickets, with each winner receiving four tickets. Winners must pick tickets up at NOW's Waukesha offices. Winners will be contacted through Twitter before noon on Thursday.

On Facebook, become a fan of the MyCommunityNOW fan page and respond or write on the wall about a story, photo or some other staff work you saw in one of our papers or on one of our Web sites and tell us what you liked or didn't like about that work. Two winners will be picked during a random drawing at 10 a.m. Thursday with each receiving four free tickets. Winners will be contacted through Facebook and must pick tickets up at NOW's Waukesha offices. Winners will be contacted through Twitter before noon on Thursday.

For more information on the golf show, visit the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Golf Show Web site.

State wrestling photos now online

Feb. 26, 2010 10:15 a.m. | We've just posted a photo gallery featuring more than 20 images from yesterday's opening round of the WIAA Division 1 individual state wrestling tournament.

Competitors from Brookfield, Franklin, Germantown, New Berlin, Nicolet, Muskego, Oak Creek, West Allis, Whitnall and Whitefish Bay are featured.

See NOW photojournalist Peter Zuzga's photo gallery.

Stancl gets 15 years in prison in Facebook coercion case

Feb. 24, 2010 6:17 p.m. | Waukesha - Anthony Stancl, who used the social networking site Facebook to deceive and coerce fellow New Berlin Eisenhower High School students into sexual acts with him in 2008, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison and another 13 years of extended supervision.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis imposed the sentence because he said Stancl had proven he was manipulative, excessively self-centered and could still be dangerous.

"I am afraid of what he can and might do," Davis said.

In a case that attracted national media attention, Stancl, 19, of New Berlin, posed as a female on Facebook and persuaded at least 31 boys to send him naked pictures of themselves. He then used the pictures - and the threat of releasing them to the rest of the high school - to blackmail at least seven boys, ages 15 to 17, into performing sex acts.

Before the sentence was imposed, Stancl apologized to the victims and their families, the New Berlin School District and his own family, especially a brother and sister who continued to attend New Berlin schools and faced what Stancl called a hostile environment.

Snow grinds traffic to a halt on some roads

Feb. 24, 2010 5:48 p.m. | If you're thinking about avoiding the freeway this evening and taking some alternative routes to get to your destination, you're still likely find yourself struck in traffic.

We've just received a call from a motorist traveling near Greenfield Avenue and Moorland Road in New Berlin that the street packed with traffic in both directions.

There also is wall-to-wall traffic headed north and south on Moorland Road, we're told.

However, the side streets still may beat the freeway system, where some commutes take be up to an hour.

New Berlin fined for delay in ridding water of radium

Feb. 24, 2010 12:42 p.m. | New Berlin will pay a $45,000 fine for failing to provide radium-safe drinking water to all municipal customers by a December 2006 federal deadline, Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Wednesday.

Though the city provided radium-free Lake Michigan water to its customers on the eastern slope of the subcontinental divide by the deadline, it did not begin pumping lake water to customers in central New Berlin until July 2009.

New Berlin buys lake water from the City of Milwaukee. State approval to extend the service to central New Berlin, which is located outside of the Great Lakes drainage basin, allowed the city to stop using radium-tainted municipal wells.

Last year, the state Department of Natural Resources asked the Justice Department to sue the city for non-compliance. New Berlin's penalty could have amounted to several million dollars.

The city faced fines of up to $5,000 a day for the 2 1/2 years it did not comply with the deadline, officials said.

Sentencing delay denied in Facebook coercion case

Feb. 24, 2010 9:58 a.m. | Waukesha - Waukesha County Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis has denied a last-minute request to delay Wednesday's sentencing of Anthony Stancl, the New Berlin teen who coerced sex from schoolmates by blackmailing them with naked pictures they sent him after he posed as a girl on Facebook.

Stancl's attorney, Craig M. Kuhary, asked for a delay until at least next week, saying Stancl's paternal grandmother died unexpectedly Tuesday and his family would be making arrangements today for a Saturday funeral.

Davis noted that he had no good opening on the court schedule for weeks, and that there were so many people to notify if the sentencing hearing was adjourned.

In previous letters to the court, Kuhary had asked permission for Stancl to attend his grandfather's funeral in October and to visit a cousin with terminal brain cancer. Both requests were approved.

Stancl, 19, was initially charged with a dozen felonies but entered a plea of no contest to two - repeated sexual assault of the same child and third-degree sexual assault. In exchange, the 10 other felony counts were dismissed but can be considered in sentencing. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.

New Berlin woman faces embezzlement charges

Feb. 23, 2010 5:28 p.m. | A 38-year-old New Berlin woman charged with embezzling more than $46,000 from her employer over three years is scheduled to make her initial court appearance next month, according to online court records.

Barbara E. Olson was charged last week with stealing the money from Decker Properties Inc., the Brookfield-based company where she worked as a bookkeeper, according to a criminal complaint.

The thefts occurred between March 2005 and June 2008, the complaint says.

Olson told a Brookfield police detective she stole the money because she was in debt and living beyond her means, the complaint says.

She is charged with one count of theft of more than $10,000 from a business setting and three counts of identity theft - financial gain, according to the complaint. Her initial appearance in Waukesha County Circuit Court is scheduled for March 17.

Board hires assistant principal for Elmwood

Feb. 23, 2010 12:02 a.m. | With the retirement at the end of the school year of New Berlin Elmwood Elementary School Assistant Principal Robert Krecak, the New Berlin School Board on Monday hired Andrea Daniels as the new assistant principal.

Currently, Daniels is in her second year as assistant principal of Kettle Moraine Middle School.

"She is very child-centered, collaborative and a real team player," New Berlin Superintendent Paul Kreutzer said of Daniels.

Elmwood Principal Jo Boardman also said Daniels will be an asset.

"She has great knowledge in terms of curriculum and has a wealth of experience working with many kinds of children," Boardman said.

New Berlin district may make laptops available to all high school students

Feb. 22, 2010 11:58 p.m. | The New Berlin Schools are just finishing a three-year technology plan that might put laptop computers or similar devices into the hands of all New Berlin high school students. They would be able to take the computers or similar devices home.

This spring, the high schools will try out about half a dozen devices including laptops, netbooks (a small, less expensive form of laptop) and iPads (devices that are the size of a tall paperback book that have functionality similar to iPhones and afford Internet access, can hold e-books and do word processing), Superintendent Paul Kreutzer said. The equipment is available free to the district to try out, he said.

In addition, staff will visit Thomas More High School in Milwaukee which has had laptop computers for its students for two years. A visit to Stillwater, Minn., also is planned where the district has Apple laptops for its high school students, Kreutzer said.

Technology is expensive, he said, but there might be a larger expense for students if they do not have access to computers for enough hours in the day to excel.