Whitehall Wisconsin, or Scumtown as many call it, also Whitehell and Salems Lot by the locals. I grew up there, went to school there, returned home from the Marine Corps there and spent years fighting the police corruption there.
In my prior blogs I have told you about a cop named Daniel J. Wineski that spent over 20 years sexually assaulting teenage girls in Whitehall, how I was asked to help and some of what I did.
Now I want to jump ahead in time a bit and tell you about what happened after his arrest and no contest "Alfred" plea.
A victim called the courthouse on a non related matter and the woman in the courthouse told her people in Whitehall were putting yellow ribbons on trees in support on Wineski. This was not true. What really happened was someone vandalized several cars at a dealership by scratching "BAD DAN WINESKI" in the hoods, and the same was painted on some buildings. But the woman in the courthouse wanted to make the victim feel guilty.
The thing that so many did not understand was the support from the public. After the prosecutor announced that 8 other women were going to testify and even though the local media coverage was glossing this over there were still stories and 5 felonies plus there was a lot of small town talk, and so many in town knew about Wineski before the arrest.
The support was in the form of letters to the judge to take into consideration at the time of Wineski's sentencing. 35 people wrote letters for Wineski. These became public record, which really seemed to anger some of the authors!! But come on people you wrote them and mailed them to a judge to use in court. Of course they are public!!
These names are listed in the comments section of the youtube video, and they will be in my book. So why not write them here too? Since I got into this whole thing I have kind of lived on the question, "What are they going to do? Hate me more." I'm sure that it won't be long before someone on the other side reads this so I figured I better post this one so they know I'm not quite finished yet.
Some of these people I know so I will comment on them. These letters are public record and are kept on file at the Trempealeau County Courthouse in Whitehall Wisconsin.
Wineski's supporters were;
Curtis A. Johnson, president and CEO of the Tri-County memorial Hospital & Nursing Home in Whitehall
W. Bradford Martin M.D. Gunderson Lutheran Clinic in Whitehall
Jeanne Selkert M.D. also a doctor in Whitehall. She made the comment that Wineski had been involved in the girl scout program. (he was a predator, of course he like girl scouts)
Mark R. Franklin local attorney. the same attorney that told me not to go to the FBI and that Wineski had already been investigated twice for sexually assaulting underage girls while on duty.
Anthony J Brickner, this guy was my math teacher in high school. It should be noted that school officials even filed complaints about Wineski hanging around too much. But that was where young girls were so he was too. these complaints were filed years before his arrest.
Marion A. Brickner wife of Anthony
Deborah J. Brickner teacher in Alaska that used to babysit for Wineski's daughters. another of the sitters said Wineski had raped her at gunpoint this one must have been lucky or in the courthouse click that kept her off limits
Carmen M. Brickner, another sitter
Jim Hegge moved out of Whitehall to Rochester MN in 1981
Elizabeth A. Bulman
Olin Fimreite former courthouse employee
Jason John Molis, he owns Holtans Sporting Goods where the cops buy their bullets
Cris and Julie Demulling at one time neighbors to the Wineskis
Scott W. Brown
Jeanne Brown
Siera Brown
David and Dawn Hegge, he used to golf with Wineski
Eugene (Butch) Halama Jr.
Betty Halama
Stacy Sokup, she works in Trempealeau County Housing Authority
Lori Paulson, also works in the Trempealeau County Housing Authority
Ramon E. Kohnert a jailer in trempealeau County
Andrew C. Kohnert, Ramon's kid
Denice Staff, jailer in Trempealeau County
Dale Lyngen and Sonja O. Lyngen parents of former Whitehall cop Dale Lyngen who told investigators he was in the squad car with Wineski when Wineski used binoculars to spy on women and girls undressing through open windows at night. Young Dale was also questioned about his sexual conduct while on duty, and his reason for leaving the department has not been made public
David A. Lyngen deputy for trempealeau County, also the cop that falsely wrote reports and refused to investigate the 1999 burglary of my home outside Whitehall
Brett Semingson, another trempealeau County cop that violated my civil rights years before Wineski's arrest
Daniel E. Wieczorek, I know cops with this name but I'm not sure who this guy is
Bonnie Kindschy works with hospitals ambulance in Whitehall also a coroner. Also one of the 2 that would not allow me or my info pamphlets in the democratic booth when I ran for sheriff in Trempealeau County in 2006. She has a long history in that courthouse and it is not good
Terri Ganselow, another cop
Becky L. Johnson another jailer
Deb Hansen Trempealeau County's domestic violence liaison
I doubt that I will ever understand why some of these people wrote those letters. I know some were questioned by investigators. Wineski lost the support of his wife a few months after his arrest when 2 of her sisters came forward as victims of Wineski
Everything here is a matter of public record.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Parade fliers for serial rapist
I'm not writing this to brag, though I am proud of what I accomplished. This is here as a record, and to help others in similar situations. If you read my other blogs then you know a Whitehall WI cop spent over 20 years stalking the streets of a small Wisconsin searching for victims, and he did so while in uniform and on duty. I am not a cop and that is why I was asked to help stop the situation. It wasn't easy but I have to tell you about how this came about.
I will skip ahead in this story to the summer of 2004. I had spent the last 3 years wasting time talking to the local sheriff, (one Randy Niederkorn) the state of Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) several reporters, lawyers and the civil rights squad of the FBI. It seemed like no one wanted to hear this story let alone get involved. Some showed interest but there was no action taken and I was on my own.
Having sunk everything I had into this and getting nowhere I needed a low budget high impact plan. What I came up with,, got the ball rolling and in 6 months a cop was in jail for the sexual assault of a 14 year old.
This is how it came about;
Wisconsin is a 1 knowledge state. That is, anyone can record a conversation at any time as long as 1 person knows the conversation is being recorded and the recording will not be used for blackmail or extortion. Pretty simple, and this includes conversations with cops.
So in my last 3 years of talking to sheriff Niederkorn and the other cops I had quite the stack of little cassette tapes which were mine and mine to do with as I saw fit, including public airing and giving away copies.
Now I suppose you're wondering what was on these tapes? There was lots of interesting conversations between myself and Niederkorn!! here's some examples; I asked Niederkorn about the night of December 9, 1978 when my brother died and someone (a cop) stole the money from his wallet. His reply, "Back then we had a coroner that was a little evil, I can't remember her name" He then went on to tell me about a suicide in Galesville WI years later when $100 was stolen from the house after the money had been counted on the kitchen table and the only people in the house were 3 cops and a coroner. We talked about missing police reports, falsely written police reports, refusing to respond to burglary calls, refusing to investigate burglaries and of course we talked about a Whitehall cop named Dan Wineski and what we had heard about him forcing young girls to have sex with him. "Terry I've heard all the rumors" he told me. "Aww we can't do anything about that." "You're gonna have to take care of that on your own. I'm not gonna help ya." I had been told by a local lawyer Mark Franklin that Wineski had been investigated twice for sexually assaulting children so I asked Niederkorn. "Yeah, that sounds about right." These are just a few but you should get the point that Niederkorn then the sheriff of Trempealeau County with his office and department located in Whitehall was not going to help. He also told me to cut my losses and quit on more then one occasion.
Well I had these tapes, I had given copies to the FBI and several reporters but Dan Wineski was still a cop. So I picked up a pen and paper and wrote one page. On it I wrote the following;
HI, MY NAME IS TERRY MILES. I'M WORKING TO MAKE TREMPEALEAU COUNTY A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE! DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM OR COMPLAINT ABOUT LAW ENFORCEMENT OR THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN TREMPEALEAU COUNTY? DO YOU HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF MISCONDUCT OR ILLEGAL ACTIVITY BY LAW ENFORCEMENT OR COURTHOUSE PERSONNEL?
*ABUSING POWER OR AUTHORITY FOR PERSONAL GAIN (TO GET MONEY, DRUGS, SEX OR MATERIAL GAIN)
*MISAPPROPRIATION OR MISUSE OF MONEY OR PROPERTY
*EXCESSIVE OR UNNECESSARY USE OF FORCE
*LAW ENFORCEMENT NOT RESPONDING TO CALLS
*LAW ENFORCEMENT TAKING HOURS OR EVEN DAYS TO ARRIVE AT THE SCENE OF AN INCIDENT
*INTIMIDATION OR THREATENING VICTIMS OR WITNESSES
*REFUSAL TO INVESTIGATE OR TAKE STATEMENTS
*USING DRUGS OR ALCOHOL WHILE WORKING OR ON DUTY
I HAVE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND OR FIRST HAND INFORMATION OF ALL THE ABOVE. I WAS A RESIDENT OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY FOR 32 YEARS BEFORE WORK FORCED MY MOVE TO FOND DU LAC COUNTY. I DO PLAN ON RETURNING TO TREMPEALEAU COUNTY ONE DAY.I HAVE FRIENDS THAT HAVE BEEN HURT BY THE CORRUPTION THAT THRIVES IN THE AREA, THAT IS WHY THIS IS MY CONCERN.
CONTACT ME IF YOU HAVE ANY KNOWLEDGE OF ITEMS OR A COMPLAINT OR COMMENT OF ANY KIND ON THE LAW ENFORCEMENT/JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN TREMPEALEAU COUNTY ON ANY LEVEL. I CAN HELP YOU DIRECT YOUR COMPLAINT AND INFORMATION TO THE PROPER CHANNELS TO BETTER THIS COMMUNITY! YOU CAN REMAIN ANONYMOUS BUT WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON IN THIS COUNTY CAN NOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE. THIS SOCIETY DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. TOGETHER OUR VOICES WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE! THANK YOU!
I CLOSED THIS PAGE WITH MY NAME, ADDRESS, AND PHONE NUMBER
Next I need this printed and I needed lots of copies for what I had in mind. I gave a copy to a friend in Ripon WI. She typed it up for me. I went to a gas station and made 200 copies. one of those went to Whitehall where a friend made 200 more.
On the weekend when Whitehall has it annual celebration "BEEF AND DAIRY DAYS" I drove back home with about 230 copies. Near a dumpster at an apartment complex in Whitehall I picked up a plastic bag with 200 more in it. I was ready!!
The Sunday of Beef and Dairy Days Whitehall has a parade. I knew the city council most likely would not allow me in the parade for my purpose, but there was no law against handing out fliers on the sidewalk. :-) So at 12 noon I stood at the end of the parade route and looked at the 4 blocks I had to cover. I had told the WEAU TV 13 news director what I was up to in case something went bad. Now it was just to do it.
I gave one of those to every person or group of people I met on that sidewalk. After 2 blocks I gave one to Gale Gabriel an old courthouse hand who had been forced to resign in the 70's after he got caught swindling people out of their land. I kept moving but about a block later Gale caught up to me and tried to talk me into stopping which obviously wasn't going to happen. What he did next was so funny I almost stopped for uncontrollable laughter. By this time we were crossing the railroad tracks and ahead at the intersection between Kwik Trip and the Courthouse I could see the cop Dan Wineski directing traffic. Gale in his 70's and standing over 6 feet ran towards Wineski waving the paper over his head Screaming Dan!! Dan!! Look at what Terry Miles is doing!!!! He looked like a child coming home from school with a good report card. A tall grey haired child but the way he waved it and yelled I couldn't help but to laugh which was good because I couldn't talk so I moved faster just handing papers out. I heard Wineski yell back "I already know all about it!!)As I passed Wineski I asked how it was going but he didn't want to talk to me.
The courthouse lawn was covered in spectators, but I made sure every group of people got a flier. Then I cross the street and went back the way I had come passing out fliers. At the end I only had a couple left and the local public access TV cameraman was there filming the parade. He asked what I was doing and I decided to read a flier for him. That was funny too. As I read his face got this OH SHIT look and he started backing up I think so the microphone wouldn't pick up my voice, but I didn't care over 400 fliers were out in the public.
After the parade I walked the route again and look in every garbage can and alley. I found one flier that had been left in the street but I remember giving one to a daughter of a courthouse employee in that spot, so 1 wasted was no big deal.
In the next week I got a few phone calls including one from Sheriff Niederkorn (He was scared) Only one real crazy person called with a wild story about cops hospitals and the VA conspiring to keep him on anti psychotic medication. Everyone else was genuine with stories about Wineski and other local corruption. The mass of response came in person when I returned to Whitehall the next weekend.
As the information poured in I told everyone where to file a complaint, how to contact the agencies and who to ask to speak to. The 7 months following this were a nonstop flow of information, threats and talks. I'll tell you about that some other time. But it was those fliers that ended Wineski's career as a sexual predator
I will skip ahead in this story to the summer of 2004. I had spent the last 3 years wasting time talking to the local sheriff, (one Randy Niederkorn) the state of Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) several reporters, lawyers and the civil rights squad of the FBI. It seemed like no one wanted to hear this story let alone get involved. Some showed interest but there was no action taken and I was on my own.
Having sunk everything I had into this and getting nowhere I needed a low budget high impact plan. What I came up with,, got the ball rolling and in 6 months a cop was in jail for the sexual assault of a 14 year old.
This is how it came about;
Wisconsin is a 1 knowledge state. That is, anyone can record a conversation at any time as long as 1 person knows the conversation is being recorded and the recording will not be used for blackmail or extortion. Pretty simple, and this includes conversations with cops.
So in my last 3 years of talking to sheriff Niederkorn and the other cops I had quite the stack of little cassette tapes which were mine and mine to do with as I saw fit, including public airing and giving away copies.
Now I suppose you're wondering what was on these tapes? There was lots of interesting conversations between myself and Niederkorn!! here's some examples; I asked Niederkorn about the night of December 9, 1978 when my brother died and someone (a cop) stole the money from his wallet. His reply, "Back then we had a coroner that was a little evil, I can't remember her name" He then went on to tell me about a suicide in Galesville WI years later when $100 was stolen from the house after the money had been counted on the kitchen table and the only people in the house were 3 cops and a coroner. We talked about missing police reports, falsely written police reports, refusing to respond to burglary calls, refusing to investigate burglaries and of course we talked about a Whitehall cop named Dan Wineski and what we had heard about him forcing young girls to have sex with him. "Terry I've heard all the rumors" he told me. "Aww we can't do anything about that." "You're gonna have to take care of that on your own. I'm not gonna help ya." I had been told by a local lawyer Mark Franklin that Wineski had been investigated twice for sexually assaulting children so I asked Niederkorn. "Yeah, that sounds about right." These are just a few but you should get the point that Niederkorn then the sheriff of Trempealeau County with his office and department located in Whitehall was not going to help. He also told me to cut my losses and quit on more then one occasion.
Well I had these tapes, I had given copies to the FBI and several reporters but Dan Wineski was still a cop. So I picked up a pen and paper and wrote one page. On it I wrote the following;
HI, MY NAME IS TERRY MILES. I'M WORKING TO MAKE TREMPEALEAU COUNTY A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE! DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM OR COMPLAINT ABOUT LAW ENFORCEMENT OR THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN TREMPEALEAU COUNTY? DO YOU HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF MISCONDUCT OR ILLEGAL ACTIVITY BY LAW ENFORCEMENT OR COURTHOUSE PERSONNEL?
*ABUSING POWER OR AUTHORITY FOR PERSONAL GAIN (TO GET MONEY, DRUGS, SEX OR MATERIAL GAIN)
*MISAPPROPRIATION OR MISUSE OF MONEY OR PROPERTY
*EXCESSIVE OR UNNECESSARY USE OF FORCE
*LAW ENFORCEMENT NOT RESPONDING TO CALLS
*LAW ENFORCEMENT TAKING HOURS OR EVEN DAYS TO ARRIVE AT THE SCENE OF AN INCIDENT
*INTIMIDATION OR THREATENING VICTIMS OR WITNESSES
*REFUSAL TO INVESTIGATE OR TAKE STATEMENTS
*USING DRUGS OR ALCOHOL WHILE WORKING OR ON DUTY
I HAVE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND OR FIRST HAND INFORMATION OF ALL THE ABOVE. I WAS A RESIDENT OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY FOR 32 YEARS BEFORE WORK FORCED MY MOVE TO FOND DU LAC COUNTY. I DO PLAN ON RETURNING TO TREMPEALEAU COUNTY ONE DAY.I HAVE FRIENDS THAT HAVE BEEN HURT BY THE CORRUPTION THAT THRIVES IN THE AREA, THAT IS WHY THIS IS MY CONCERN.
CONTACT ME IF YOU HAVE ANY KNOWLEDGE OF ITEMS OR A COMPLAINT OR COMMENT OF ANY KIND ON THE LAW ENFORCEMENT/JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN TREMPEALEAU COUNTY ON ANY LEVEL. I CAN HELP YOU DIRECT YOUR COMPLAINT AND INFORMATION TO THE PROPER CHANNELS TO BETTER THIS COMMUNITY! YOU CAN REMAIN ANONYMOUS BUT WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON IN THIS COUNTY CAN NOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE. THIS SOCIETY DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. TOGETHER OUR VOICES WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE! THANK YOU!
I CLOSED THIS PAGE WITH MY NAME, ADDRESS, AND PHONE NUMBER
Next I need this printed and I needed lots of copies for what I had in mind. I gave a copy to a friend in Ripon WI. She typed it up for me. I went to a gas station and made 200 copies. one of those went to Whitehall where a friend made 200 more.
On the weekend when Whitehall has it annual celebration "BEEF AND DAIRY DAYS" I drove back home with about 230 copies. Near a dumpster at an apartment complex in Whitehall I picked up a plastic bag with 200 more in it. I was ready!!
The Sunday of Beef and Dairy Days Whitehall has a parade. I knew the city council most likely would not allow me in the parade for my purpose, but there was no law against handing out fliers on the sidewalk. :-) So at 12 noon I stood at the end of the parade route and looked at the 4 blocks I had to cover. I had told the WEAU TV 13 news director what I was up to in case something went bad. Now it was just to do it.
I gave one of those to every person or group of people I met on that sidewalk. After 2 blocks I gave one to Gale Gabriel an old courthouse hand who had been forced to resign in the 70's after he got caught swindling people out of their land. I kept moving but about a block later Gale caught up to me and tried to talk me into stopping which obviously wasn't going to happen. What he did next was so funny I almost stopped for uncontrollable laughter. By this time we were crossing the railroad tracks and ahead at the intersection between Kwik Trip and the Courthouse I could see the cop Dan Wineski directing traffic. Gale in his 70's and standing over 6 feet ran towards Wineski waving the paper over his head Screaming Dan!! Dan!! Look at what Terry Miles is doing!!!! He looked like a child coming home from school with a good report card. A tall grey haired child but the way he waved it and yelled I couldn't help but to laugh which was good because I couldn't talk so I moved faster just handing papers out. I heard Wineski yell back "I already know all about it!!)As I passed Wineski I asked how it was going but he didn't want to talk to me.
The courthouse lawn was covered in spectators, but I made sure every group of people got a flier. Then I cross the street and went back the way I had come passing out fliers. At the end I only had a couple left and the local public access TV cameraman was there filming the parade. He asked what I was doing and I decided to read a flier for him. That was funny too. As I read his face got this OH SHIT look and he started backing up I think so the microphone wouldn't pick up my voice, but I didn't care over 400 fliers were out in the public.
After the parade I walked the route again and look in every garbage can and alley. I found one flier that had been left in the street but I remember giving one to a daughter of a courthouse employee in that spot, so 1 wasted was no big deal.
In the next week I got a few phone calls including one from Sheriff Niederkorn (He was scared) Only one real crazy person called with a wild story about cops hospitals and the VA conspiring to keep him on anti psychotic medication. Everyone else was genuine with stories about Wineski and other local corruption. The mass of response came in person when I returned to Whitehall the next weekend.
As the information poured in I told everyone where to file a complaint, how to contact the agencies and who to ask to speak to. The 7 months following this were a nonstop flow of information, threats and talks. I'll tell you about that some other time. But it was those fliers that ended Wineski's career as a sexual predator
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