Story originally printed in the Tomah Journal or online at www.tomahjournal.com

Published - Sunday, May 18, 2008

Letter: Child-like behavior on town board

After attending the Ridgeville annual/monthly meeting on Monday, May 5, the caption from the back page of the County Line (May 1st edition) keeps coming back to me. The caption read, “Don’t Let Anyone Pull the Wool Over Your Eyes,” (real appropriate for this occasion). Chair Luethe was the main spokesman.

The annual report was very “vague,” not at all like the reports our previous clerk compiled herself and signed by her, an accomplishment to be proud of. By the way, we wonder who really prepared this report. The fact that the title read: “Town of Ridgeview” leads me to believe someone unfamiliar wrote it up. Or possibly the name of our township has been changed to disguise who we really are, or it just sounds better with the “view” and not the “ville.”

Under expenditures, nowhere do we see any wages listed. The first item listed states: Board expenses - $2,702. Amazing - so little spent. We do not see any wages for: the Town Board, phone bills, electric, gas, diesel, oil, the new computer, office expenses, snowplow/truck, machinery repairs, supplies, assessor, Dept. of Revenue, election expenses, and others. We don’t expect every little thing to be itemized, but we sure would like to have some idea as to where all our tax money is being spent or wasted. We did notice the big deficit for the year at ($87,717). What will it be next year? Also, if you take special notice you will see that there are two deposits in transit (taxes not yet in the bank), but listed as cash. We really don’t have a clue what was spent on necessities (the tax levy for 2008 is $117,484/only $29,767 left for budget).

As for our chairman - what will be his next “scheme”? What a disgrace to the town board that served us so well for many years. Mr. Luethe forgot, the legal expenses came with him and Krueger. There had not been a need for legal services until their lawsuit. On March 14, 2007, Case No. 06-cv-318 filed a stipulation and Order for Dismissal: which read as follows: That the petitioners (Luethe, Giraud and Krueger) and the respondents (Sletten, Luxton and Neumann), shall dismiss any and all claims they may have against each other and by signing this stipulation, they agree to release each other from any and all claims that they may have against each other with respect to matters involving the aforementioned special election and recount and all pleadings heretofore filed. This document was signed by Attorneys John Claypool, David Abt and Robert Mubarak and filed in Monroe County Court with Carol Thorsen, Clerk of Courts, ordered by Judge Michael Rosborough, Circuit Court Judge (lawsuit was brought on by anti-wind group after losing the recall election, Aug. 15, ’06, to old town board).

This proved interesting to the newcomers attending a town board meeting at Ridgeville for the first time. It brought out the “true colors” of Chairman Mike Luethe and Supervisor Steve Krueger.

Selfishness and child-like behavior best describes the situation.

Fernnell Becher,

Norwalk

All stories copyright 2006 Tomah Journal and other attributed sources.