Laurel Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports on the upcoming spring election political battles.

Waukesha police received a call Wednesday morning that a 9-year-old’s tongue was stuck to a pole at Madison and Grandview.

The youngster was unstuck by the time police arrived, the daily blotter says.

I wonder if he was triple-dog dared to do it?

A Waukesha woman on Eales Ave. avoided falling victim to a common scam by quick thinking, according to police reports.

A man posing as her grandson called a Waukesha woman and asked
for a large amount of money. He gave her instructions to drop it off
near a large retail store.

The mom callled family members and discovered the call was
a scam and the grandson was not asking for money, the report says.

The suspect continued to call to see if the money was ready to be delivered.

The woman contacted police.

The suspect called again and wanted the money wired to a location in Boston, Mass. No money was transfered, the report says.

The two baseball diamonds in Grandview Park will remain and serve the secondary purpose of becoming detention ponds for storm water that sewers cannot handle during heavy rains.

The Parks, Recreation and Forestry Board Monday night approved letting the city’s Department of Public Works  use a practice field in the southwest corner of the park  as a detention pond that could temporarily hold up to eight-feet deep water about three to five times a year.

Public Works Director Fred Abadi told the park board that the collected storm water would quickly drain into city storm sewers, probably within a six-to-24 hour period.

Bill Oliver, a park neighbor, opposed the city’s original plan to relocate the two ball diamonds to another park on another side of town.

Oliver echoed a city-wide concern about the lack of baseball diamonds, especially for youth leagues.

Oliver called the new plan to keep the diamonds at Grandview and use the ball fields as a temporary detention pond a “compromise” that he could accept. The city also agreed to install an improved parking area.

“This will achieve what’s best for the kids and what’s best for the city,” Oliver said.

Ald. Carrol Waldenberger said he was concerned about the runoff remaining too long on the diamonds and that the soil would remain damp even after the water funneled into the storm sewer.

Abadi assured Waldenberger that the situation would be watched closely so storm water collection does not prevent the use of the diamonds. Select baseball teams use the diamond in the northeast section of the park. The southwest diamond, where most of the water will be collected, is basically for practice and pickup games.

The northeast diamond will remain level.  A 2% decline to the southwest diamond will allow it to collect mostly on the southern diamond.

The placement of safety fencing being placed around the temporary pond was mentioned but details were not discussed.

Commission Chairwoman Rebecca Roeker indicated she does not want to see parkland used to correct the problems of other city departments,  but the flooding issue needed to be resolved and the park will be improved with better parking.

The board’s approval does not have to be reviewed by Common Council, officials said.

The City of Waukesha has mailed 21,387 tax bills to residents.

The tax rate is $20.1130 per thousand of assessed valuation, which is an increase of 2.08% from 2008, according city clerk/treasuser Tom Neill.

This from Mike Johnson of Journal Sentinel

Waukesha - A 50-year-old Waukesha man charged in the June 16 stabbing death of his girlfriend was found incompetent to stand trial and was committed Thursday to the state Department of Health Services for mental health treatment.

Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge James R. Kieffer determined during a hearing that Daniel K. Christesen requires the involuntary administration of psychotropic medications and treatment, according to online court records.

Christesen’s attorney, Donna Kuchler, said that Christesen will be sent to a secure state mental health institution, either Mendota or Winnebago.

It is expected that with treatment, Christesen could be competent to stand trial within 12 months, Deputy District Attorney Stephen J. Centinario Jr. said.

Kieffer scheduled a June 11 hearing on the case to review then whether Christesen is fit to stand trial.

But Centinario said Christesen will be re-evaluated after three months and the hearing date could be moved up from June.

Christesen is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of Carol Fisher, 55. He is accused of repeatedly stabbing her with a 10-inch butcher knife in his Waukesha apartment.

Fisher, 55, and Christesen lived in separate flats in a duplex in the 900 block of Arcadian Ave. in Waukesha.

Police say Christesen contacted them the evening of June 16, saying he fatally stabbed Fisher in his flat.

Christesen peacefully surrendered to police, a Bible in one hand, a phone in the other, the complaint says. He asked emergency medical personnel: “Do you think I will go to hell for this?”

According to the criminal complaint, Christesen said he stabbed Fisher because he had grown tired of her constant arguing.

She had written him a note days earlier, saying she was leaving him, the document says. He admitted he had not taken all his psychiatric medications that day, the complaint says.