A ballot conundrum (no, not the one you're thinking of) | Weekly Wausonian

Wausau news for the week of March 27, 2025

The village clerk race in the town of Bergen wasn’t likely to get much attention. After all, there’s only one person running for the position and the town of Bergen hasn’t exactly been a hotbed of controversy or a central focus of news.

But all that changed this week after prosecutors filed charges against former town of Bergen Clerk Gloriann Doyle, who is currently behind bars.

Prosecutors alleged Doyle stole from the town almost immediately after becoming clerk in 2024. The town’s chairman told investigators it started with an unauthorized purchase of computer repair services. The chairman’s wife suggested he look at the town’s finances, according to the criminal complaint.

Worse, prosecutors say, Doyle stole the money in order to pay back funds she allegedly stole from the non-profit she worked at, the Wisconsin Valley Art Association.

Due to state laws around ballots, Doyle will remain on the ballot despite currently being held at the Marathon County Jail on a $50,000 bond. The town appointed another clerk, Amy Veenendaal, who will be registering as a write-in candidate, the Marathon County Clerk confirmed.

Kronenwetter will get new leadership next week - but who? The Wausonian interviewed both candidates ahead of the election (Weston’s is coming later this week):

Many people talk about homes becoming less affordable even in our neck of the woods. But The Wausonian found data to back up that claim, and it’s a focus in our 2024 Real Estate Report.

What else in Wausau?

Memorial Park to remain closed until entrance repaired: Memorial Park on Wausau’s Southeast Side usually closes during the winter since the road leading into the park is pretty steep and dangerous. But the park is going to be closed a little longer than usual this spring, parks officials say. That road received a lot of damage over the winter and the Parks Department needs to wait until the frost is fully cleared before they can start working on repairing it.

700 Grand Ave update: An affordable apartment complex proposed for the corner of Grand Avenue and Thomas Street can now move forward after the city council on Tuesday approved the project. Commonwealth plans to build a 50-unit apartment complex on the corner site that once housed community gardens and, before that, Vino Latte coffee shop and wine store. The site became controversial because of concerns over traffic and the challenge of building on the site with limited space for staging. The resolutions related to the project passed 8-2. (Correction: A previous version of this post included an incorrect number of apartments in the complex.)

Post-council incident: The Wausonian is learning of an incident between Mayor Doug Diny and a resident who spoke at the public comment section of the city council meeting, criticizing the mayor’s actions. According to witnesses at the meeting, Diny approached the resident after the meeting while she was speaking to City Council Member Lou Larson and the exchange became heated. Becky McElhaney told The Wausonian that the conversation got heated enough that she felt she needed to intervene as Diny followed the resident out of the chambers, telling the mayor to stop and calm down after she heard him yell “just go for it.” Larson said outside city hall the woman appeared to still be very upset by the incident. “This Mayor is out of control,” Larson told The Wausonian. “It’s one thing to ban an elected alder from the peoples house, but to attack a constituent because he didn’t like her public comment is totally unacceptable.” The Wausonian has requested security footage of the incident. Larson was referring to a report in the Wausau Pilot that the mayor had revoked Larson’s key card access recently over comments he made earlier. UPDATE: Mayor Diny responded to the Wausonian late on Wednesday, saying that no one had to intervene in his conversation with the resident. Larson in a more recent email says his key card has now been restored.

Around the metro

New field at Kennedy Park gets funding, issues naming rights: A new field at Kennedy Park as part of the overall renovation project will be named Rajek Field. Weston’s Parks Committee approved naming field No. 4 Rajek Field after the family of Karen and Gary Rajek donated $500,000 toward the field’s construction. The full name will be Karen and Gary Rajek Memorial Field after the couple who were heavily involved in softball in the Wausau area. The committee also approved a marketing contract with Go Full Nelson Marketing. The field is part of a planned $14 million renovation of the Weston park, which includes a number of improvements to baseball/softball, hockey and other amenities of the park.

Sponsored by

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Business

Great Dane closing?: Long after it replaced the restaurant built on the site before it, Hereford and Hopps, The Great Dane Brewing Company announced its Wausau location will be closing. Financial challenges made it too hard to run the business, the company’s owner posted on Facebook. The business will officially close on April 19.

Malarkey’s Pub will have new owners: Long-time music hotspot and downtown staple Malarkey’s Pub will undergo new ownership. Owner Tyler Vogt on a post on Facebook said he had been planning this but a personal tragedy moved his timeline up. The new owners will take over on April 1. Townies closed and will undergo roughly two months of renovations, becoming a new restaurant.

The Lounge closed: In another business surprise recently, the owners of The Lounge announced they have closed the business. The Lounge’s owners posted on Facebook that recent health challenges made it difficult to run all their businesses, so they are closing the Lounge because it’s the newest one. The building will go up for sale in a few weeks, though they are willing to consider new owners.

Entertainment

They’re not the 90s band with Flea as their bass player - but the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, along with the lost architecture of Wausau, Rob Brackenridge comedy and so much more round out this weekend’s entertainment options. And you can read all about it in our Wausome Weekend guide:

Looking for kids/family events? Check out the family-oriented listing from The Wausonian’s partner Wausau Mama, who puts together a weekly listing of children/family activities.

Sports

Boys basketball: The Wausau East Lumberjacks started out their state semi-final matchup with a lot of momentum on their side as Wauwatosa West struggled to find their footing. But they ultimately fell short in a 75-63 loss to Tosa West. The Lumberjacks kicked off scoring with an alley-oop and led most of the first half before sacrificing the lead with about six minutes to go in the first half. The Jacks never regained the lead again in the semi-final loss.

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