Local News Briefs Saturday 8-30-14

 

West Nile
Virus Has Arrived In FDL
County

 

Fond du Lac County has
had its first dead bird test positive for the West Nile
virus. County Public Health Officer Kim Mueller says
they’ve tested quite a few dead birds for the mosquito-bourn illness this
summer, but one sent to the state lab about two weeks ago tested positive for
the virus. 
She says
that means using mosquito repellant, long-sleeved shirts and longer pants. She
says 80 percent of people never display
West Nile
virus symptoms even though they have the disease. She says about 1 percent of
people who contract the virus can become seriously ill and it can become life
threatening for them. 

 

Gudex
Picking Up Recognition

 

State
Senator Rick Gudex has received some recognition recently for his efforts
during the past legislative session. The state lawmaker from Fond du Lac got an award from the Associated
Builders and Contractor of Wisconsin for helping lift some regulations. The
Tavern League gave him an award for the Brown Jug Bill, which did something
about fake IDs and serving underage drinkers. The Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce
and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce or WMC also gave him awards for his
pro-business voting. But one award meant more, which he says came from the
Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin. He says they named him legislator of the year
for helping out on a bill regarding pharmacist. The WMC award was given to him
at Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac.

 

Oshkosh
Schools Awarded Counseling Grant

 

The Oshkosh Area School District
has received a $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The
grant was awarded through the Elementary School Counseling Program. It will be
used to enhance school counseling services for all 14 elementary schools in the
Oshkosh Area School District.
The grant is for a three-year period. School officials say 566 grant
applications were reviewed and 41 projects were awarded including the project
in Oshkosh.

 

MPTC Ribbon
Cutting Scheduled For Eisenbahn Trail Connection

 

Moraine Park Technical College’s
West Bend
campus now has a connection to the Eisenbahn Trail. MPTC vice president of
academic affairs Jim Eden says the trail runs behind their West Bend campus. He says for years students
who ride their bikes have been suggested connecting the campus with the trail.
He says there campus dean worked with the student government group to make it
happen. The public is invited to the ribbon cutting on Wednesday, September 3rd
at 11:30 a.m. There will be free refreshments, cake and prize drawings. The
Eisenbahn Trail is a 25 mile trail that runs through West
Bend
, Kewaskum, Campbellsport and Eden.

 

Ripon
Police Officer Butters Honored

 

The Ripon
Common Council this past week honored Police Officer Randy Butters who retired
recently after 35 years of serving the public. City Administrator Lori Rich
says when Butters started there were no computers of cell phones and he’s seen
a number of changes since 1979. He was also the department’s school liaison
officer. Rich says although he’s retired he remains active. She says he’s a big
outdoorsman and helped the Ripon High School Outdoors Club. She says he’s
become more active with that and he doing more on a nationwide basis.

 

Office
Closings

 

City and
County offices in the area will be closed for business Monday due to the Labor
Day Holiday. In Fond du Lac the Public Library
and Senior Center will also be closed and transit
buses will not be running. For Fond du
Lac
that also means trash pickup will be the following
day on Tuesday along with Tuesday’s normal collection.