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MARINETTE - An Oconto woman was sentenced Tuesday to a total of six years in prison for her role in two 2019 drug sales, one of which led to a fatal overdose.
Chasity Denny, 31, will then serve 10 years of extended supervision, Marinette County Circuit Court Judge James A. Morrison decided. He ordered the sentence not begin until after Denny completes the prison term she received for her role in selling drugs that led to a fatal overdose in Oconto County in 2018.
Morrison last week presided over the trial of Denny’s former boyfriend, Brian Blasing, 30, of Oconto, at which he was convicted of first-degree reckless homicide in the overdose death of Terry L. Westphal, 45, of Coleman on Feb. 17, 2019. He was also found guilty of manufacture/delivery of up to 1 gram of cocaine over the Jan. 28, 2019, drug sale to a confidential informant in the town of Peshtigo, where Blasing and Denny lived at the time.
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OCONTO – A Pulaski woman was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison for neglecting children at her unlicensed home day care who suffered serious injuries and emotional trauma.
After the prison time, Nicole M. Brewer, 37, will spend 18 years on extended supervision, Oconto County Judge James Morrison decided.
Morrison said a lengthy term of incarceration and oversight by the Department of Corrections was necessary to serve a deterrent to other people who might be tempted to provide child care without proper state certification.
“The biggest thing we have to do today at this sentencing is to say to every other person who’s running a day care facility in northeastern Wisconsin who’s not licensed, who’s overburdened, who doesn’t have the ability to do the job, who doesn’t report immediately the first time an injury occurs so that the problem can be fixed they need to know the price for that is horrific for the provider,” Morrison said.
Oconto man faces homicide charge in fatal overdose of Oconto Falls man
OCONTO - An Oconto man was charged Wednesday with first-degree reckless homicide for allegedly providing the drugs used in a fatal overdose.
Jason T. Lipp, 34, made his initial appearance in Oconto County Court, where Judge Michael T. Judge set a $75,000 cash bond.
Lipp is accused of the Aug. 2 death of an Oconto Falls man, who is only identified by his initials in the criminal complaint.
An autopsy found that the man died from mixed drug intoxication, including heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine, duloxetine (which is used to treat depression, anxiety and nerve pain) and zolpidem (which is used to treat insomnia).
MADISON - A network of farms in Oconto, Marinette and Shawano counties aiming to demonstrate environmentally sustainable farming practices has been launched through the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
NRCS formed the Green Bay West Shore Demonstration Farm Network in collaboration with the Oconto County Land & Water Conservation Department, in partnership with Marinette and Shawano counties.
The farms involved will demonstrate the best conservation practices to reduce phosphorus entering the Great Lakes basin and address the effectiveness of current conservation systems used to reduce nonpoint source pollution.
“This project will showcase the adoption of environmentally sustainable farming practices by demonstrating their successful use on these four demonstration farms and providing other producers the opportunities to learn and adopt these practices successfully on their farms,” said Ken Dolata, head of the Oconto County Land Conservation Department.
OCONTO – Less than a day after City Council members voted to discontinue maintaining Copper Culture State Park unless a new contract was in place with the state by the end of the year, the Department of Natural Resources is poised to come to the table.
The city and a DNR official confirmed Thursday that they are planning to negotiate a new deal to replace the one that expired at the end of 2010.
However, statements from both sides illustrate differences of opinion on how things reached this point and on the structure of the lapsed agreement.
City officials said it was frustration that led them to take the action at the April 13 Committee of the Whole meeting, saying they had tried periodically for years to get the DNR to update the contract.