This Just In ...
Kevin Fischer is a veteran broadcaster, the recipient of over 150 major journalism awards from the Milwaukee Press Club, the Wisconsin Associated Press, the Northwest Broadcast News Association, the Wisconsin Bar Association, and others. He has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for over three decades. A longtime aide to state Senate Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature, Kevin can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, "InterCHANGE," on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10, and heard filling in on Newstalk 1130 WISN. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their lovely baby daughter, Kyla Audrey, in Franklin.
The Buckhorn irony
Tuesday night, the Franklin Common Council will take up the Buckhorn controversy. Specifically, aldermen will consider the License Committee’s vote that a special prosecutor’s recommendation that the Buckhorn have its license suspended for 75 days be rejected. On Christmas Day 2007, Eddie Lynn Keck was reportedly over-served at the Buckhorn, left the tavern and struck and killed two people that night in a drunk driving accident.
Almost a year ago, the Franklin Common Council retained Roger C. Pyzyk, a private practice attorney who also is the Greenfield city attorney, as a special prosecutor to see if Franklin officials could take action against the tavern.
Franklin aldermen regarded the Buckhorn controversy as a hot potato, refusing comment and deferring the entire matter to Pyzyk. The city has left itself wide open to criticism that it has bungled this entire affair. The slow wheels of the criminal justice system passed judgment on Keck months ago. Franklin City Hall continues to stumble.
While I’m on record supporting a much stronger action against Buckhorn, and still do, and that is a revocation of its license, I find it highly ironic that the Franklin Common Council, in the interest of due process, stepped aside to bring in an impartial prosecutor. The prosecutor after months and months of review, paid for with Franklin taxes, came up with a recommendation, and now the Council is poised to turn it down. So, we’ve made what progress at the city level in over a year?
Personally, I believe it’s time for the aldermen to take a stand and tell the public exactly what it is they want. They ultimately have to vote on something, and the time to keep hemming and hawing is over.
Franklin aldermen, if a 75 day suspension isn’t right, what is? You were elected to make tough decisions. This is one of them, one the public is running out of patience over.
For more details on this entire story, read my recap in TOP TEN FRANKLIN STORIES OF 2008: # 9.
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