INDEPENDENCE, Wis — The Independence School Board president has posted bail on a charge that threatened a pharmacy clerk for declining to fill a prescription. The clerk told a Trempealeau County investigator that Joe Bragger was upset over the phone that there was no doctor order for the drug: “Do I need to come up there with a gun and hold you hostage until I get my meds?” Bragger went on to call the pharmacy “cocksuckers,” then hung up. The call was January 22 to Colby Pharmacy in nearby Whitehall. Checking into the clerk’s complaint, the county investigator found that Bragger had messaged a Mayo clinic two days earlier:
“Okay I called Colby Pharmacy and they will not fill the prescription without YOU or THE DOCTOR providing the PA number. I tried to give it to them they won’t take it. So please call them or I will go there and bust someone’s head open. I will not be involved in this complete month after month circle jerk!”
The subsequent criminal complaint listed one felony and two misdemeanors. The complaint quoted Bragger denying that he wanted to hurt anyone. He was trying only to “elevate the conversation.” Bail was set at $200.
Bragger. Multiple-term president of Independence School Board. Age 58.
Indeoendence profile
Independence, in central Trempealeau County, has a population of 1,500.The Independence School District has 420 students in three schools. The district’s minority enrollment: 60%. Economically disadvantaged students: 48%.