Germantownnow.com Community Watch
Community Watch: A Weblog of The Latest Local News
- Accident reported at intersection
Germantown police were responding to a report of a motor vehicle accident at Donges Bay Road and Fond du Lac Ave. There were no injuries reported. Traffic in the area is likely to be slowed. A number of other accidents have been reported throughout Washington County. - School day 'uneventful' in Germantown
Germantown The school day thus far has been "very uneventful" at Germantown High School with about 71% of the students in attendance following a reported bomb threat discovered Friday. The threat was to be carried out today. "It's very uneventful, very peaceful," said Lt. Dave Huesemann of the Germantown police. An increased police presence as well as limiting the number of entrances to the high school this morning are among the measures taken as a result of the threat. On Monday afternoon, Police Chief Peter Hoell and school district officials held a news conference to report the discovery of the bomb threat. Students were allowed to enter the school today at only three of the eight usual entrances. No one has been arrested in connection with the threat, Huesemann said, but police have several "people of interest" whom they plan to interview. - Update: School attendance dips slightly
Classes were held as usual today at Germantown High School, but police officers and staff patrolled the hallways after rumors circulated about a bomb threat at the school. Police received a report Feb. 11 from a Germantown man who said his daughters heard about a possible bomb threat for Feb. 13. The man said the threat also appeared on MySpace.com. Principal Jim Blackburn noted a slightly higher number of absences. "I would say that attendance today is only experiencing a slight drop off from where we were at yesterday," he said. "There's a pretty bad case of the flu going around right now, and 150 students were absent yesterday on account of that. Today that number is only slightly higher." Police Chief Peter Hoell said the official attendance tally at 10 a.m. Feb. 13 was 71 percent attendance. He added that his daughter was in school that day. - School will open under increased security
Germantown - Police and school officials said Monday that they had discovered a bomb threat in a girls' restroom at Germantown High School. The information indicated that the threat would be carried out Tuesday. The high school will remain open Tuesday with an increased law enforcement presence, Chief Peter Hoell of the Germantown Police Department said during an afternoon press conference today. Students will be allowed to enter the school at only three of the building's eight entrances. Students will be allowed to bring in backpacks, but they could be subject to random searches, Hoell said. Principal James Blackburn said officials are confident the school will be safe, but parents can keep their children home from school for the day if they choose, he said. "If we didn't believe it was safe, we would be calling off school," Blackburn said. - Update: Police to hold press conference
In response to bomb threats made at Germantown High School, N11501 River Lane, the Germantown Police Department will be holding a press conference at 4 p.m. today at the Annex Building, W16877 Mequon Road. High school staff will be present at the conference. - Police concerned about bomb threat rumors
Police and school officials are taking extra precautions around Germantown High School as they investigate rumors of a bomb threat at the school. Police received a report Sunday night from a Germantown man who said his daughter had heard about a possible bomb threat for Tuesday. The man also said the threat appeared on MySpace.com. Police Lt. Dave Huesemann said the report indicated that some threatening writing was found in a girls' bathroom stall on Thursday. Huesemann said teachers and teacher aides are aware of the threat and are patrolling the halls. Officers also are patrolling the exterior of the building. "This could be a practical joke to disrupt the day," he said, "but we treat any threat as a credible threat and act accordingly." Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Germantown Police Department at (262) 253-7780. - 33 years later, GT celebrates title
The thought came to Germantown boys basketball coach Steve Showalter with a minute or two remaining in the Warhawks' 60-45 win over Whitefish Bay on Friday night. He knew the victory clinched at least a tie for the Warhawks' (10-2, 15-3) first elusive conference title in 33 years and he knew something had to be done to celebrate it. So that's why he asked the PA to have everyone stick around afterward for a special announcement by the coach. He wanted them to watch the Warhawks cut down the nets. Which they did with gusto. "For the longest time I was afraid to talk about it or think about it," he said of the championship, "but I thought, 'Hey, we're conference champs. We need to do something about this now' because you never know when you'll get a chance again. So we let the school, the fans, the town know we did something good. The kids are still yelling about it." For good reason, because this title obviously meant a lot of things to a lot of people. You had former basketball coach and long-time keeper of the scorebook Rich Anderson feel his eyes well up with tears as he said quietly "Well, we haven't seen that for quite awhile." Then there was another gleeful former coach, Dennis Kloth, whose teams struggled in the wilderness for years in the early 1990s, but who before his recent retirement was very grateful that Showalter had had him on his staff for a few years. Kloth just couldn't wipe the smile off his face. Then there was big Fred Neumann, standing at the top of the bleachers. He was center on the Scenic Moraine Conference champions of 1973-74, the last time the Warhawks earned a basketball title. His son Andy was sixth man until a shoulder injury forced him out earlier this season, but his nephew Zach is a starting forward. Big Fred (all 6-8 of him) just stood with his arms crossed and smiled too. "The kids laughed (Zach and Andy) and told me we weren't going to win it until another Neumann was on the team," he said. "It's great. I totally love it. It's been a long-time coming and I'm glad it's here." But Showalter, an eight-year veteran with Germantown, who has struggled to put hoops on equal footing in this football-mad town and who got the final cut of the net, much to the delight of a roaring team and fan base, said there were others who were not here, who would appreciate this title more than anyone else. "This is the result of every kid who ever played for me since 1999-2000," he said. "It was every kid's goal to get their number on the (conference title) banner on the wall. This is for them. So many people said we couldn't win here, but I've always felt we could do it. I believe in our system. I believe in our kids." Germantown took the lead for good with an 8-0 run at the end of the second quarter against the pesky Blue Dukes (7-10). The lead never dropped below six in the second half, as Marcus Wallace had 16 points and Rick Bowers 15. Germantown can clinch the North Shore Conference title outright with a win against Grafton on Feb. 16. - UPDATE: Electricity restored in Germantown
Electric service to 276 customers of We Energies in Germantown was out for about 35 minutes today when a crew had trouble repairing a bad switch for an electric line, a utility spokesman said. The power was restored at about 3:20 p.m. to customers living in an area bounded by County Line Road on the south, Edison Drive on the north, McCormick Drive on the west and Western Avenue on the east. This is the same section that lost electric power Monday between 6 and 8:30 a.m. - UPDATE: Outage confirmed in Germantown
A power outage has occurred in the southern portion of Germantown, We Energies says. The boundary for the outage roughly the same as an outage earlier this week. - Traffic signals reported out in Germantown
Germantown police are responding to the area of Lannon Road and Highway 41 on a report of traffic signals being out in the area, apparently the result of a power outage. Power is out at Germantown Village Hall, according to police radio traffic. Police officers are directing traffic at a number of intersections in the village along Mequon and Lannon roads. Motorists may experience longer travel times through that area. - Village Board OKs rezoning
Despite residents' objections and a protest petition, the Village Board last night approved the motion to rezone 23.2 acres at the northeast corner of Cedar Lane and Country Aire Drive from agricultural to single-family residential. The vote was 8 to 1, with Village Trustee Al Vanderheiden the lone vote against it. The board twice previously voted against