Newsmakers, April 2, 2015

Featured in this Show

• La Crosse County Judicial Forum

  Download

  The candidates for La Crosse County’s Branch 5 circuit court judge disagree on how the county’s law enforcement system deals with jail inmates who are placed on electronic monitoring.

  Both La Crosse County Family Court Commissioner Gloria Doyle and former La Crosse County assistant District Attorney Brian Barton say they will be a good fit with the county’s four other circuit judges and the La Crosse County Criminal Justice Management Council, which oversees the entire criminal justice system.

  And while Barton says he believes in electronic monitoring as a way to keep the jail population under control, he also says the way those inmates are dealt with right now is wrong. If he’s elected judge, he would propose making changes in the sentencing structure to give law enforcement more oversight of inmates on electronic monitoring.

  “Right now, when somebody’s sentenced to a jail sentence on electronic monitoring, (neither) the public, nor law enforcement really knows who’s serving those sentences. I think it’s important that the sheriff’s department become involved in that, so if there are violations, that those issues are dealt with immediately,” Barton said. “Right now, we don’t have that, and I think public safety should really dictate that something like that takes place.

  The county’s Justice Support Services oversees people who are under house arrest now, and law enforcement has access to that information.

  La Crosse County Sheriff Steve Helgeson, who has endorsed Barton in the judicial race, says public safety isn’t being threatened by having the Justice Support Services program responsible for inmates who are on electronic monitoring. He compares the county’s system to the state’s probation and parole system, which also monitors people on house arrest with bracelets.

  “I’m not looking for that system to be placed under the sheriff’s department,” Helgeson said. “I don’t support moving that whole group of persons under the sheriff’s department, we just don’t have the staffing available to do the work that Justice Support Services is currently doing.”

  Gloria Doyle says she’s satisfied with the status quo of how electronic monitoring is handled in La Crosse County.

  “That’s something that our current sheriff has no interest in doing,” Doyle said. “So before we start shaking up the system, I think it would be a good idea to make sure that those types of things stay with the people that are interested in doing them. Justice Support Services is doing a good job at those electronic monitoring cases and the sheriff has been doing a good job at what he’s doing. Those two individuals work well together and don’t need that interfered with.”

  
  Barton has seven years of experience as a prosecutor in the La Crosse County district attorney’s office and another five years of practicing criminal and civil law. He owns his own practice.

  Doyle has been an attorney for 27 years, and has spent the past nine years as La Crosse County family court commissioner.

  The judgeship is currently being filled by Circuit Judge Candice Tlustosch, who was appointed by Gov. Scott Walker to fill the position that was held by Circuit Court Judge Dale Pasell. He retired last fall after 15 years on the bench.

  The election is Tuesday, April 7.

• The Invasive Carp

  Download

  Asian carp have been slowly invading Midwestern waterways, threatening habitat that supports native fish and other aquatic life. While there have been major issues with silver carp along stretches of the Illinois River and the Mississippi River south of there, these invasives have sporadically shown up in the upper Mississippi between La Crosse and the Twin Cities. Biologists, anglers and others are concerned about what this might mean for our local rivers and streams, but there doesn’t appear to be a clear way to address the issue.

  Our guest, Reggie McLeod – publisher of Winona, MN-based Big River Magazine – has been covering the issue for a number of years and joins us to help sort out the good, the bad, and some of the ugly truths about invasive carp. He also introduces us to a Carp Poetry Contest designed to increase public awareness. [Links to the magazine, the poetry contest and an example of carp poetry, can be found below.]