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Serving Trempealeau County
Surveillance
A motion filed this month would end the sheriff’s license-plate-reader contract before it renews itself this fall — the first time the full board will vote on the cameras at all.
The fine print
The Pioneer read the agreement so you don’t have to. Three clauses matter more than the rest.
The other side
Investigators say plate reads have figured in more than a dozen cases; critics ask how many would have been solved anyway.
The network
Every plate that passes is photographed, time-stamped and searchable for thirty days — by agencies far beyond the county line.
Budget season
Department requests land this month; the finance committee’s first pass comes in the last week of August.
Our view
From the publisher
Letters
Ordinance
Supervisors want town boards to weigh in before opening thirty more miles of road shoulder to off-highway traffic.
Broadband
Supervisors put $410,000 behind a build-out the state’s map says the coulees don’t need. Residents testified otherwise.
Public records
The Pioneer logs every request it files with county and village offices — and how long each takes. This month: the sheriff’s Flock search logs.
Follow the money
Most trace to two departments; the auditor calls the controls “informal.” The finance committee takes up the report July 21.