Piaskowski could be free Tuesday His sister said volunteer contributions were responsible for raising the $300,000 bail money for his release By Christopher Clough News-Chronicle If everything goes according to plan, Mike Piaskowski will be a free man by the end of Tuesday. That was what Francine Gaie, Piaskowski's sister, said after she presented the Wisconsin clerk of courts department in Milwaukee with checks totaling $300,000 for his bail Thursday. The hitch is that some of them were personal checks instead of cashier's checks. The state accepted them but will wait until the personal checks clear their banks before doing the paperwork to release Piaskowski. Piaskowski, 51, was convicted in 1995 along with five other men in the Nov. 21 1992 murder of Thomas Monfils at the Fort James Inc. (now Georgia-Pacific) paper mill. Piaskowski, Monfils and the others all were workers at the plant. A federal judge ordered Piaskowski's release in January after ruling he should not have been convicted based on the evidence presented. But the state appealed that ruling, so the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago said Monday he could be released on $300,000 bail while awaiting the appeal. Gaie said the majority of the money raised came through volunteers. "It started when we first heard the news," she said. "Calls started to come in. They were volunteers pledging sums of money. "By Wednesday afternoon it became clear that if we put in a little work, we could (raise $300,000)." Gaie said she would talk to one of the finance directors in the state's clerk of courts office Monday, hopefully to clear the way for her brother's release. "It's just a matter of waiting for the (personal) checks to clear," she said. "Then after that happens, they said they'd expedite the paperwork right away." If that happens, a relieved and obviously happy Gaie will travel to Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun sometime Tuesday to bring Piaskowski back to Green Bay. She said she'll be ready to leave for Waupun as soon as she gets the call from the state. "I think it would be egregious if it went beyond Tuesday," Gaie said. "After all, we raised $300,000 in two days. I think they could get their paperwork done that fast."