A 31-year-old Colorado man was arrested Monday morning on an outstanding warrant from 2002. A deputy took the man from Commerce City, CO into custody at 9:30 a.m. at the Lincoln County Court House. A check of the court calendar showed the man was to appear on misdemeanor charges and that he was wanted by the Merrill Police Department for a case dating back to 2001. According to the warrant, the man was cited for being in a tavern underage but had never paid the fine resulting in a warrant being issued in 2002. The man was brought to the Lincoln County Jail where he was able to post the $550 cash bond and was released.
Residents are reporting the bear population is getting more active and as a reminder if you find damage around your house the best way to rid your property is to remove the food source. A Tomahawk man called the Sheriff’s Office on Monday to report a bear was going through his garage as two others sat in his yard. The DNR recommends if you have continuous visitors that you take down your bird feeders and keep your garbage locked up in your garage. Without a food source, the bears normally move on but if you still have issues or find repeated damage you can call the APHIS Nuisance Animal Hotline at 800-228-1368.
A 30-year-old Tomahawk man will face a citation after the Rec. Deputy used social media to track down a person who abandoned an ice shack. During late April, the Town of Harrison notified the DNR that an ice shack had been torn apart and left blocking the boat landing on Seven Island Lake. When the town went to dispose of the shack, they found a picture inside of a man holding onto a fish. The Rec. Deputy posted the picture on the Facebook page of the Sheriff’s Office and within hours the man in the picture phoned the Rec. Deputy and admitted it was he in the photo and he had left his ice shack behind after his truck had broken down and he never went back to retrieve the shack. After conferring with the town, the man will face a citation for littering and will get a bill for the cleanup. The Rec. Deputy wishes to thank all that shared the photo and caused this case to be closed so quickly.
A 39-year-old Appleton man was arrested Wednesday night on drug charges after a traffic stop in the Town of Merrill. A deputy stopped a vehicle traveling south on US Hwy. 51 near County Rd. K for speeding. When he made contact with the occupants, he immediately smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. During a check, the deputy found a container containing marijuana in the passenger’s pocket along with items of drug paraphernalia underneath his seat. The man was brought to the Lincoln County Jail where he was booked on charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Unable to post bond, the man was held for a court appearance on Thursday; there he was released by a Lincoln County Judge on a signature bond.
Deputies reported traffic was very heavy on Friday evening as holiday weekend traffic headed north. Deputies spent most of the day checking on broke down vehicles, searching for a handful of reckless drivers and investigated one crash with minor injuries. That crash took place in downtown Tripoli just after 4 p.m. Friday when a west bound vehicle turned in front of an east bound vehicle while trying to enter a business. Deputies and a Trooper directed traffic near the wayside on US Hwy. 8 and County Rd. A Friday before noon after a pontoon boat slid off the trailer it as being hauled on. It took about 45 minutes to clear that scene.
A Merrill man will be facing several citations after the Rec. Deputy investigated trucks stuck in the mud in the Town of Rock Falls. A neighbor phoned the Sheriff’s Office on Saturday and reported two trucks were stuck in the mud on a snowmobile trail off of Cottrell Ave. north of County Rd. J. At first, deputies were not sure who was involved in the incident as one of the vehicles was not registered, but some of the parties involved started posting pictures to their Facebook pages of the struck trucks. The landowner told the investigating deputy that one of the occupants of the truck told him they thought they could go on the land and burn garbage they had removed from their Merrill home due to junk ordinance enforcement by the Merrill Police Department. The owner of the one truck denied trying to dump garbage, saying he thought he was on county land as he was seeking a hunting spot. The trucks were removed from the area on Sunday and the owner of the vehicles will be facing citations related to operating unregistered vehicles and trespassing on private land. The land owner will also be seeking reimbursement for all of the damage that was done.
The Rec. Deputy reported a very busy start to the summer holiday this past weekend. He noted the county campgrounds were full, the ATV trails were full of traffic and the waterways were packed with both anglers and recreational boaters. Only a few minor problems were noted with enforcement action being taken against a man cutting a tree on county land for his own home, a man from Illinois was cited for having no personal flotation devices and being too close to shore after fisherman reported being harassed on Twin Lake, and a Milwaukee area man will be referred to the DNR after he was found fishing on Long Lake without a license.
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he number of car deer crashes are up, with seven being reported this past week. Two other animal strikes were also reported, on Friday around noon a Wautoma man struck a turkey just to the south of County Rd. Q in the Town of Scott, south of Merrill. His vehicle sustained damage but was able to continue. On Saturday about 11:30 a.m., a Beaver Dam woman struck a bear on US Hwy. 51 near County Rd. S in the Town of Bradley, south of Tomahawk. The bear ran off after the crash.