Wisconsin Briefs

By The Associated Press

Mother wantsdrug law revisedOSHKOSH – The mother of man who died of a drug overdose in Winnebago County wants the state’s Len Bias law to include all drugs that take a person’s life.The Len Bias law allows prosecutors to file a reckless homicide charge against anyone who sells or distributes a schedule I or II drug to a person who later dies. Len Bias was a former Maryland basketball star who died of a cocaine overdose in 1986.Debra Hensch says the drug that killed her 35-year-old son a year ago was Suboxone, a schedule III drug.Court overturnstimber theft convictionWAUSAU – A law protecting forests doesn’t cover every area with trees and bushes.That’s according to a Wisconsin appeals court that has overturned a northern Wisconsin man’s convictions for timber theft and illegally harvesting trees.Wisconsin law makes it illegal to harvest raw forest products.Donald Gustafson, of Iron River, was fined $375 after a contractor he hired to grade some of his land also bulldozed a number of saplings on a neighbor’s property.But the Third District Court of Appeals said Thursday that not every area with trees or bushes qualifies as a forest.Air crash victim in serious conditionMINNEAPOLIS – A Minneapolis hospital spokeswoman says a northern Wisconsin woman who survived a plane crash in Guatemala that killed her husband, son and nine others is in serious condition.Hennepin County Medical Center spokeswoman Kathy Roberts says 41-year-old April Jensen, of rural Amery, is a patient in the burn center. No other details were released.She was flown there from Guatemala Monday.Jensen’s husband, Roger Jensen, and their teenage son Zachary were killed. A daughter, 19-year-old Sarah Jensen, suffered minor cuts and bruises.Prosecutor agreedto destroy recordsPORTAGE – Columbia County District Attorney Jane Kohlwey has been reprimanded for promising to destroy records of a secret deal she reached with a police officer facing hit-and-run charges.Former Sauk County Sheriff’s deputy David Riedel was accused of backing over his then-girlfriend, Sonya Flower, in 2005. Kohlwey was named special prosecutor in the case to avoid any conflict of interest.The Baraboo News-Republic newspaper reports Kohlwey signed a secret deal with Riedel’s attorney in February, saying the case would be dismissed if Riedel satisfied certain conditions.Woman sentencedfor false tax returnsMILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee woman will spend 60 days in jail for filing fraudulent state income tax returns while working at a tax services company.Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz also sentenced 31-year-old Tineka M. Brown Monday to two years of probation and banned her from ever preparing taxes for anyone again.According to the criminal complaint, Brown falsified returns of at least six people between 2004 and 2005 and claimed $31,909 in false refunds of state and federal tax money.Company auctioning lake propertiesST. GERMAIN – The parent company of Wisconsin Public Service says it will auction about 50 of the 340 acres of land it holds adjacent to Lake Content in northern Wisconsin.Chicago-based Integrys Energy Group says the lots will be divided into five parcels of about 10 acres each before being sold on October 15.

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