Local News Briefs Friday 11/13/15

Berlin Man Sentenced In Green Lake County For High Speed Chase

The 30-year-old Berlin man who led police on a multi-county high speed chase in August of last year has been sentenced to prison. Maxwell Decker was sentenced this week in Green Lake County Court to three years in prison and three years of supervision. The 12-mile chase started when he stole a car in Berlin. The chase on Highway 175 wove through Fond du Lac County and ended in Dodge County where he abandoned the car in a cornfield. There was a second car chase the following day through the side streets in Beaver Dam.  Decker has a plea hearing in Dodge County next Tuesday and is scheduled to be arraigned in Fond du Lac County on December 3rd. 

FDL County DA Office Will Prosecution Polk County DA Drunken Driving Case

The Fond du Lac County District Attorney’s Office will be handling the prosecution of the Polk County DA who is suspected of driving drunk in the County this past Monday night. Daniel Steffen was stopped for doing 70 miles per hour on Highway 23, which has a 55-mile-per-hour speed limit. He consented to a breath test and it found him above the legal intoxication limit for driving. Fond du Lac County DA Eric Toney said in a statement that his office will handle the citations. He says his office handles all OWI cases based on facts, not who the recipient is. Steffen is in his third term as Polk County District Attorney. According to the Polk County website one of the programs he helped create and implement during his tenure as DA is an OWI Prevention Committee. It’s his first OWI offense.

Washington County High Speed Pursuit

Several Washington County law enforcement agencies were involved in the high speed pursuit and capture of a 19-year-old Milwaukee man suspected of stealing a car in Germantown. Sheriff’s officials say it began with a call about a suspicious man seen outside a store in the Village of Jackson. It was believed he was buying or selling drugs. That led to a high speed pursuit with police. The suspect later crashed the vehicle and fled on foot. A police dog was brought in and the man was found hiding on the roof of a residence. Vehicle theft and eluding an officer charges are being referred against the suspect. 

Prepping For Winter Plowing Operations

Fond du Lac County Highway Commissioner Tom Janke says his highway superintendents are ready for whatever the winter throws at us after an annual meeting this week. The winter operation meeting was also attended by City of Fond du Lac officials and members of the County Sheriff’s Department. Janke says the small army of snow plow drivers the County has keep County and State roads open for motorists. He says there are 33 drivers that do the snow removal. He says they keep up-to-date on the weather through a state system, but even their plow equipment have sensors that read road temperatures. He says that helps them determine when they need to put salt down. He says they have other ways of getting weather information including the sheriff’s department and local law enforcement agencies, the Internet and of course KFIZ.

Penny Campaign Helps United Way Reach Halfway Point In Fundraising Goal

The Fond du Lac Area United Way has reached the halfway point in its goal of raising $756,000 this fall. United Way Executive Director Amber Kilawee says they got off to a good start this year, but that still means they have a way to go. She says they had a great kickoff to the campaign with Society Insurance and Brenner Tank and they have had some company campaigns come in. She also says they have concluded their penny campaign with area schools and Lakeshore Elementary in Fond du Lac collected the most pennies for the United Way. She says overall over $4,200 was collected from the campaign and Lakeshore collected $1,115 of that. Schwann’s treated the kids at Lakeshore to Ice Cream for collecting the most pennies for the campaign. Lakeshore Elementary also got a traveling plaque for collecting the most in the penny campaign.

NFDL Optimist Pancake Day Saturday

For 45 years now the North Fond du Lac Optimist Club has been stacking pancakes and building up the community at the same time. Proceeds from the annual Pancake Day go right back into the community as Bill Binner of the club tells us. He says community service and youth projects benefit from the proceeds of the day. He says they’ve also done quite a bit to improve two parks in the village including North Fond du Lac Optimists Park. Pancake Day is Saturday at the Presentation Parish Center from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Carryouts are available. Two $50 prizes will be given away as door prizes. Advance tickets are available at Binner Pools for $5. They will also be available at the door for $6.

United Cooperative Purchases Four Grain And Agronomy Locations

The United Cooperative, based out of Beaver Dam, recently acquired four grain and agronomy locations from Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) in Auroraville (Berlin), Oshkosh, Ripon and Westfield, Wisconsin. The four facilities sold to United Cooperative have a combined grain storage capacity of over 13 million bushels of grain. United Cooperative also acquired the retail agronomy locations at Westfield and Auroraville. The Oshkosh location includes a liquid fertilizer terminal capable of receiving rail or truck with storage capacity of over 20,000 tons. United Cooperative president and chief executive officer David Cramer says, “We are also pleased to welcome many of the ADM employees into the United Cooperative family.”

Alice Tree Cutting Ceremony In Beaver Dam Today

A Beaver Dam Christmas tree farm will host Alice in Dairyland for a seasonal tradition today. Teyanna Loether will cut down a Christmas tree at the Propst Christmas tree farm in Beaver Dam. Prior to the tree cutting ceremony she will be talking to area 4th graders about state agriculture and the Christmas tree industry. Loether will make a speech at 10:45 a.m. and the tree cutting ceremony will be at 11 a.m. Wisconsin is the nation’s sixth-largest Christmas tree producer, with an annual harvest of more than 600,000 trees valued at more than $12.5 million. There are more than 850 Christmas tree farms in the state, covering more than 23,600 acres.