Local News Briefs Friday 8/15/14

Fond du Lac Police checked out a residence in the area of Merrill Avenue and Marquette Street Wednesday afternoon for a reported disturbance. Police Chief Bill Lamb says a caller reported hearing yelling, screaming and popping sounds similar to gunfire. Officers have been to the residence for disturbances before. Chief Lamb says a perimeter was quickly established and officers made contact with residents of the home. A man and woman voluntarily exited the residence and were taken into temporary custody while investigating officers gathered additional information and subsequently checked the residence. Police determined that the disturbance did not involve any violence or criminal activity. Both were released.

FDL Man Cited For OWI After Dodge County Crash

A 37-year-old Fond du Lac man was arrested for his first drunken driving offense after he went off a road in Dodge County and crashed late Wednesday night. Sheriff’s officials say James Huettner  was arrested for driving drunk and having open intoxicants in his vehicle following the accident on County Highway AY in the Town of Lomira. The incident happened about 11 p.m. 

Sheboygan County Injury Accident

Sheboygan County Sheriff’s officials say a 24-year-old Elkhart Lake man was hurt in a roll over accident in the Town of Rhine early Thursday morning. Adam Krause was flown to Theda Clark Regional Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. He was on County Highway FF when he lost control of his car on a curve. He was thrown from the car when it rolled over. He was the sole occupant and was cited for driving drunk.

FDL School Board Meeting Rescheduled

The Fond du Lac School Board has rescheduled the meeting that was cancelled Monday night. The meeting will be held at 5 p.m. next Monday at the District Administration Center Board Room. This week’s meeting had to be cancelled when the board was unable to get a quorum of members to attend. The notice of the meeting and agenda will be sent out today.

FDL County Wage Ranking A Concern

While Fond du Lac County has ranked among the top metropolitan statistical areas in the country in terms of manufacturing job growth, it’s not doing as well when it comes to wages. Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation President Steve Jenkins says the bottom ranking in terms of wages isn’t something the County will be sitting still for. The County ranked 179th out of as many small metros examined by area development. He says unfortunately it’s something that will take time to remedy, but attracting talent to fill the skills gap will drive up wages.

Unemployment Rate Up Slightly For State In June

(Wisconsin Radio Network)-Wisconsin’s unemployment rate went up slightly in July. State labor officials reported that the seasonally-adjusted jobless rate was 5.8 percent last month, one-tenth of a point higher than in June. Governor Scott Walker noting the state gained a preliminary total of 3,200 private sector jobs during July. He says the state still has the lowest unemployment rate it’s had in the past five years. That figure often gets revised later on, because it’s based on only three-and-a-half percent of employers’ activity. The national unemployment rate for the month also went up by a tenth, to 6.2 percent.

Summer Celebration At The Children’s Museum Saturday

The Children’s Museum of Fond du Lac celebrates a year in its new location on West Scott Street with celebration Saturday. Museum Executive Director Andrea Welsch says they expected attendance to jump with the change in location, but its surpassed expectations. She says their attendance doubled to over 46,000 visitors and they’ve come from 42 different states and 12 countries.  Michels Corporation is sponsoring their Summer Celebration Saturday, which is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will include a variety of summer-themed activities, face-painting, a bounce house, dunk tank, music and at 1 p.m. they will open their new Butterfly Museum with a butterfly release. The first 100 children to attend the Summer Celebration will receive a free t-shirt with help from Hopper’s Silk Screening and All Star Trophy.

Festival Foods Hosts Community Day For The United Way

Festival Foods in Fond du Lac will be holding a Community Day for the Fond du Lac Area United Way program Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Amber Kilawee of the United Way says it’s an opportunity to learn more about the United Way and some of the agencies that it helps to fund. She says four of their agencies will have information tables at Festival. That includes the Arc of Fond du Lac, Adult Literary, the Family Resource Center and the Volunteer Center. Each table will have something for the kids. The police department will have several of their vehicles on display the Festival’s Big Cart, which is 12 feet tall will also be on display in the parking lot. Kilawee says each year they help tens of thousand of people in the community. This year that impact is estimated to be over 33,000 people. There will also be the opportunity to give to the United Way as you go through the check out lanes. 

Dinner With Jim “Maggie” Megellas Tonight

Area residents are invited to have dinner with a WW II hero in Fond du Lac tonight. Fond du Lac native Jim Megellas will be at the American Legion Post for the Fish Fry that starts at 5 p.m. Megellas will be available to sign copies of a book about his life and DVDs about his experiences in the war. Copies of the book and DVDs will also be available for sale. Megellas this week was honored by the state, which named a building at the Veterans Home in King after him.