PORTAGE, Wis. (AP) - Two skiers killed in a large avalanche in Colorado were good friends from a small town in southern Wisconsin, relatives and colleagues said Monday.
Three other skiers were hospitalized following Saturday’s avalanche near Leadville, Colo. Rescue crews found the two skiers’ bodies Sunday afternoon near Independence Pass, about 80 miles southwest of Denver, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said.
Robert Lentz said his son, Justin Lentz of Portage, was one of those killed in the avalanche. The 32-year-old loved to ski and started when he was 5 or 6 years old, his father said. He said his son was “a good kid” who worked as an electrician and was engaged to be married.
Another Portage man, Jarrard Law, 34, was also killed. Law was an information-technology expert at the Necedah Area School District, where Superintendent Larry Gierach remembered him as an “incredible man.”
“Jarrard had great skills with people and was an integral part of our planning when it came to technology,” Gierach said. Many staff members thought of him as a friend first and as a professional second, the superintendent said.
The school district planned to make grief counselors available to faculty and students.
Lentz and Law were close buddies who frequently went skiing, snowboarding and mountain biking together, said Joey Kindred, 28, who knew them both well.
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MILWAUKEE (AP) - A snowstorm turned roads slippery across much of Wisconsin and led many schools to close for the day or send students home early.
A winter storm warning remained in effect until 9 p.m. Monday over much of eastern Wisconsin, where total accumulations of 4 to 7 inches were expected.
Flights kept taking off from Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee during heavy snowfall in the afternoon, though nearly half had either been delayed, rescheduled or canceled by about 3:30 p.m.
Six Hartford Union High School students were injured when their bus left a snow-covered road and crashed into a tree.
A Milwaukee County sheriff’s deputy who was already responding to a crash was hurt when a vehicle traveling too fast for the conditions slammed into the back of his squad car.
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MILWAUKEE (AP) - The Milwaukee man accused in last month’s theft of a $5 million violin has pleaded not guilty.
Online court records say Salah (suh-LAH’) Salahadyn (suh-LAH’-ha-deen) entered the plea Monday after waiving his preliminary hearing.
The 41-year-old is charged with being a party to robbery. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
Public defender Alejandro Lockwood declined to comment afterward.
Salahadyn and 36-year-old Universal K. Allah are both charged in the theft. A 300-year-old Stradivarius was stolen from a Milwaukee concertmaster in a stun-gun attack Jan. 27 but police recovered the instrument in good condition nine days later.
Salahadyn served five years for a previous conviction for art theft. Prosecutors say he’d been plotting for a while to steal a Stradivarius.
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AMERY, Wis. (AP) - The police chief of the western Wisconsin city of Amery has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports (https://bit.ly/N3Fz2Mhttps://bit.ly/N3Fz2M ) 55-year-old Thomas Marson allegedly had a blood-alcohol level at nearly twice the legal limit when he was arrested early Sunday.
The Polk County sheriff’s office says Marson’s personal vehicle went into a ditch around 11:45 p.m. Saturday, and he reportedly got a ride home.
A deputy who spoke with Marson at his home shortly after midnight smelled a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. Marson failed a preliminary breath test, and a second after his arrest showed his blood-alcohol level was 0.15 percent. Wisconsin’s legal limit is 0.08 percent.
Marson did not immediately return phone and email messages from The Associated Press on Monday.
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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, https://www.twincities.comhttps://www.twincities.com
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