By KAREN PARKER
County Line Publisher Emeritus
After a closed meeting Monday, the Ontario Village Board agreed to return Police Chief Dave Rynes to his position.
Rynes had been on administrative leave since last fall, after an incident in which officer Grover Wooten went off the road in Cashton after returning from supplying mutual aid at Oktoberfest in La Crosse.
Wooten fled the scene, but later reported the incident to Monroe County officers, saying he had swerved to miss a dog. After an investigation revealed a different chain of events — allegedly Wooten had fallen asleep — he admitted he had given false information based on Rynes’ recommendation.
Later, Rynes told Monroe County officers that he had suggested that Wooten give an incorrect account of the accident.
Writing to Rynes’ and Wooten’s employers in October, the Monroe County District Attorney, Kevin Croninger, and his counterpart in Vernon County, Tim Gaskell, said their respective offices would no longer accept cases in which either officer had been involved unless they could be proven without the officer’s testimony.
Croninger told the County Line on Tuesday that his position on the matter has remained unchanged. The charges against Wooten and Rynes were referred to another district attorney’s office, Croninger noted in January. The status of the case is unknown.
“Once a law enforcement officer has knowingly lied, even one time, this forever taints their credibility,” Croninger stated in the October letter.
This week, County Line attempted to reach the Regional Centers Municipal Court, of which Ontario is a member, to determine its opinion on the matter, but did not receive a reply by press time.
Other business
• The board chose MSA Professional Services to do planning and engineering on the Merv Taylor property south of the village. The development project remains in limbo, as the village is dependent on a grant to purchase the property. A decision is expected in June.
• The heating for the village’s renovation project at the former Ontario Elementary School building will be rebid. Flock Heating originally bid the project at $11,000, but the state is now asking for larger furnaces and an air-exchange system, which would nearly double the price of the original bid.
The village intends to turn the building into a temporary community hall.
• The local AA group will be allowed to use the fire station meeting room on Friday evenings.
• Southwest Sanitation will take over garbage pickup on April 1. Village bags will no longer be needed, and residents will receive tubs for garbage later this month.
