MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The state Supreme Court says a concrete company can't dig up burial sites.
Wingra Redi-Mix wants to excavate burial mounds within its quarry near McFarland. The mounds are on the Wisconsin Historical Society's burial sites catalog, which means Wingra needs a permit. The state Division of Hearings and Appeals denied the company's request for one, prompting a legal battle with the state and the Ho-Chunk Nation.
The 4th District Court of Appeals last summer upheld the DHA decision. The state Supreme Court upheld the appellate court Tuesday. The court's ruling said Justice Daniel Kelly withdrew from the case but offered no analysis and didn't say how the remaining justices voted.
Justice Shirley Abrahamson wrote that the court was divided 3-3 and chastised the other justices for not being transparent.
