Judge drops temporary restraining orders against Baraboo activities director

Three temporary restraining orders granted against Jim Langkamp, director of activity programs at Baraboo High School, were dismissed Wednesday as he remains on nondisciplinary leave from the school district.

“Baraboo School District is investigating the incident,” said Liz Crammond, director of communications for the school district. She declined to comment further.

Langkamp was put on leave after an altercation Oct. 5 with five students and two other adults in the 1100 block of Tandom Trail in Baraboo. The educator license granted to him by the state is also under investigation.

According to the police report compiled after the incident ended and the teenagers called authorities, the students were intending to throw toilet paper over the home of a friend, a common prank, during Homecoming week. When they drove down the street, they saw John Kolar, the homeowner, standing in the yard with a flashlight in one hand and an object they described to police as a flamethrower. The teens described Kolar’s clothing as camouflage and “military-like.”

One of the students, Teflon Lee, 18, said they turned the vehicle around and tried to leave the street, but when they were driving away, Langkamp and neighbor William Bowden, stood in front of the vehicle.

Video captured by a witness shows little due to the lack of light, but people can be heard yelling expletives and ordering the students in the vehicle to get “out of the car, on the ground now” on their knees because they were “being lawfully detained.” Lee and another student knelt down while two others fled, according to their statements to police.

While one of the neighbors claimed to have called police, which is captured in the video, interim Baraboo Police Chief Rob Sinden said no calls were placed to the department. He wishes they had because it would have made for a clearer investigation, Sinden said.

Two police officers went to Kolar’s home and asked him about what happened. During the interview, he admitted to yelling at “a Jeep full of kids” which he claimed was speeding and “told them to get out of the car,” telling them “they were not welcome in the neighborhood.”

According to the police report, when asked about a propane torch type of object, “Kolar hesitated and stated he did not know” who had one. An officer requested consent for a search of Kolar’s residence, which Kolar denied. Police still are not completely certain what type of device the “flamethrower” was, Sinden said.

Officers also interviewed Langkamp, who lives next to Kolar. Langkamp blamed Bowden as the sole person who stood in the road to stop the vehicle, but admitted to yelling at the students. Langkamp told them to get out of the area after he recognized them while they were kneeling. He claimed he was the reason the confrontation eventually ended.

In other interviews, the students have denied this and gave credit to Kolar’s child, their friend, for de-escalating the situation enough for them to leave.

Officers spoke to Bowden after that. Both he and Langkamp said they saw the “fireball” coming from a yard. The flame was “approximately two feet tall,” Bowden told police. Bowden admitted to being the person who told the teens they were being lawfully detained. During the interview, he told police his daughter arrived home and told him to stop what he was doing after he said “he was protecting his neighborhood.”

Students were reportedly more destructive during Homecoming festivities this year than in previous ones, Sinden said.

Bowden, Langkamp and Kolar were arrested and taken to the Sauk County Jail.

Police recommended charges of misdemeanor disorderly conduct and felony second-degree recklessly endangering safety for all three to the Sauk County District Attorney’s Office.

District Attorney Michael Albrecht declined to press charges against Bowden and Langkamp. Kolar was charged Oct. 10 in Sauk County Circuit Court with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, which carries a maximum jail sentence of 90 days and a fine up to $1,000.

Sinden said it is common for police officers to recommend charges based on a strict reading of the law that are never pursued by the district attorney’s office.

Kiana Beaudin, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, is the mother of one of the teenagers and one of the adults who filed a restraining order on students’ behalf against Langkamp. Representatives of the Ho-Chunk Nation have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the altercation separately from local law enforcement.

In other interviews, the students have expressed concern that the reactions of the adults were racially motivated. Only one of the five teenagers in the vehicle was white. Sinden said the men likely did not approach the vehicle out of racist motivations simply because of the time of the day. The darkness would have made it difficult, if not impossible, for the men to see what race the students were until they were close to them.

The Baraboo School District has encountered racially motivated incidents in the past which have made national news, as this altercation now has. In 2018, a photo was posted online of a group of students appearing to give a Nazi salute. Since then, efforts have been made to promote “unity” by educating on inclusion and equity.

The students, who are all athletes, have expressed concern over Langkamp continuing as director of athletics at their school. There have been no updates in the investigation since it began roughly two weeks ago. Baraboo School Board members meet Monday. No agenda was posted as of 5 p.m. Thursday.