Kenosha---A memorial service will be held Friday for a homeless man who was found dead last month in a used car lot. Friends of 49 year-old Darryl Peddicord are expected to gather at Grace Lutheran Church at 10 a.m. The cause of Peddicord's death has not been determined, although friends said he had suffered from alcoholism. Peddicord had hung out at the First Step refuge center until it was forced to close earlier this year because of neighbor complaints.
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Sugar Creek---A single-vehicle crash claimed a life early Thursday morning. 24 year-old Jeff Myers of Elkhorn was killed when he lost control of his car on Dam Road just before two a.m. The car rolled over a number of times and struck a grove of trees. The Walworth County Sheriff's Dept. said Myers wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was ejected. A passenger, 30 year-old Tim Plucinski, also of Elkhorn, was taken to the hospital.
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Mt. Pleasant---Gov. Walker is expected to be in the Racine area Friday morning. Walker is to sign eight bills relating to crime prevention at a Community Oriented Policing House on Mead Street in Mt. Pleasant.
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State Rep. Robin Vos is asking the transportation department to take a close look at an I-94 interchange where a 20 year-old woman recently died. The interchange of I-94 and Highway 11 is circular and not the safer diamond-shaped style. The driver who died had struck a semi that was in the process of crossing the east bound lanes of Highway 11 in order to gain access to the northbound lanes of the interstate. While the I-94 expansion project in Racine County is expected to be finished within the next few years, rebuilding the Highway 11 interchange is not part of the deal.
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Officials in Racine County are promising quicker returns on election night as a result of the purchase of new voting machines. The 71 terminals at polling places throughout the county will wirelessly transmit the numbers to the county clerk's office at the Racine County Courthouse starting with the Feb. 20th primary. Although they'll be in use for the Dec. 19th primary in the 66th State Assembly District, their new wireless capabilities won't be ready.
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Kenosha---Over a-dozen tax-delinquent properties--including a pair of vacant gas stations---will be transferred from Kenosha County to the city as the result of action taken by the Kenosha County Board this week. The county is owned over $800,000 on the properties--money that officials say they're unlikely to ever see. The 14 properties include a variety of commercial and residential buildings and a vacant warehouse. The old gas stations are located at 75th St. and 7th Avenue, and in the 37-hundred block of 52nd St. It's likely that the city will try to find new uses for the properties and raze some of the buildings.
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Wilmot---A 16 year-old student has reportedly confessed to writing a threatening message in a bathroom at Wilmot High School. The message--which read "shoot up the school"--was discovered Monday morning. According to the Kenosha County Sheriff's Dept., the school's resource officer viewed hours of video before questioning the male suspect, who later confessed.
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