POLICE GIVE UP EFFORT TO GET RESTRAINING ORDER

Weyauwega - Police have given up on putting a restraining order against a
local man who has accused officers of promoting gang activity at an
elementary school and questioned the police chief's competence.

Kenneth Groskreutz, who says he is just speaking his mind, said he was
shocked when the police put a temporary restraining order on him in December
that required that he stay a half-mile away from any officer's home or squad
car.

In letters to Waupaca County Circuit Court, police said Groskreutz's remarks
- - particularly some he made at a 1998 city council meeting - are untrue and
defame them.

Among other allegations, Groskreutz says a head officer's daughters get
preferential treatment from the police and says he has seen on-duty
Weyauwega officers smoking marijuana at a Waupaca restaurant.

Circuit Judge Philip Kirk dismissed the civil case Thursday after City
Attorney David Werth withdrew the petition for a restraining order.