Local News Briefs Tuesday 1/12/16

Traffic Stop Saves Fondy Man

A traffic stop in the Town of Addison late Sunday afternoon likely saved the life of a 41-year-old Fond du Lac man. Washington County authorities received several 911 cell calls at just after 5:30 p.m. about a vehicle northbound on I-41 near Holy Hill road driving erratically, tailgating, turning blinkers on and off and driving about 20 miles an hour under the speed limit. When the man was pulled over on I-41, the deputy suspected drug use as a factor in the driving. The man was taken into custody and then taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in West Bend for a blood draw. A deputy who is a drug recognition expert was dispatched to the hospital to evaluate the man and determined that he was in danger of a pending opiate overdose. The man was taken to the emergency room and treated with Narcan, which almost immediately resolved the overdose symptoms. Further tests showed that the man was also in liver failure. He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit for further care.

County Board District Will Require Write In Voting

No one filed nomination papers for the Fond du Lac County Board’s 16th supervisory district seat by last Friday’s deadline. County Clerk Lisa Freiberg says as a result the winner of the seat will be determined by write-in. She says anyone choosing to run as a write-in candidate for the seat needs to register their campaign with her. She says interested candidates have until Friday, April 1st to do that. The seat is up for election on Tuesday, April 5th. The seat is currently held by Martin Schroeder.

Grothman On Tighter Gun Control

Congressman Glenn Grothman says there will be some Republican opposition to President Barack Obama’s executive actions for tighter gun control. He says that could include a lawsuit and legislation. He says he usually signs friend of the court documents in such lawsuits and has filed a bill. Grothman says it’s not the first time the president has used his executive power to bypass Congress when he wants something. The president wants anyone “engaged in the business” of selling firearms-even sellers who operate over the internet or at guns shows-to have a license and conduct background checks. Grothman invites people to attend a gun show in Fond du Lac or Oshkosh to see what goes on. He says the shows are interesting; you can see some guns and meet some very nice people.

Second Round Of Acuity Fund Grant Winners Coming

The Fond du Lac School District’s Acuity Fund will fund more grant projects this year. District Superintendent Jim Sebert says the fund was established with money Acuity paid for naming rights for the High School fieldhouse and is used to fund educational projects in the district. Interest from the funds is used for grants to help teachers and educators with innovative projects. Last year the fund provided just over $21,000 to staff for innovative District projects. He says that included the purchase of white boards, money for the archery club at Sabish Middle School; there were some Lego robotics type of requests, and for a stained glass window project in the art department at the high school. He says there’s even a musical performance coming up this spring that an Acuity Grant helped fund. He says applications for the grants will be due by March 1st and the school board will start selecting winners in May.

Plowing An Issue During Recent Storm

Fond du Lac Public Works Director Jordan Skiff says the December 29th snowstorm did cause some snowplowing issues. Skiff says they teamed some of their new drivers with veteran drivers for the first hour of plowing. He says they had four new drivers on routes and ten or more inches of heavy wet snow was really a challenge to deal with. He says there was a delayed response to some neighborhoods. He says the main thoroughfares were plowed, but a lot of residential streets hadn’t been plowed. He says they got a lot of calls. He says the first day they got about 300 calls and received more in the following days from people who wanted their streets touched up. Skiff says the warmer weather last week and rain allowed them to get to some of the streets where the snow had been packed down.

Volunteer Firefighters Needed

The president of the Fond du Lac County Fie Chiefs Association says there are concerns about recruiting for volunteer fire departments. Ripon Fire Chief Tim Saul says not everyone can afford to man a full-time department. He says it’s a rewarding experience. He says the departments provide the training and there is a team atmosphere. He says they are seeing fewer people volunteering for those types of departments. Fond du Lac Fire Chief Peter O’Leary says both men and women can be firefighters. He says it makes no difference to the people being rescued whether you work for a full-time department or a volunteer fire department. He says they just want you to be competent, well-trained, and willing to help.

ATV Trail Open Snowmobile Trails Closed

Snowmobile trails remain closed in Fond du Lac County and Dodge Counties, but the cold temperatures are helping in one respect. The ATV trail along the Wild Goose State Trail has been reopened. The cold temperatures are expected to last throughout the week, which should continue to make the trail surface suitable for riding.

FDL County Board Meeting Canceled

The Fond du Lac County Board of Supervisors have canceled their, Tuesday, January 19th meeting. Thirteen supervisors, or a majority of the 25-member board, signed a petition to cancel the meeting. The next scheduled meeting of the board is Tuesday, February 9th.

Wieting Family Funeral Home In Kiel Closing

The Wieting Family Funeral Home in Kiel will be closing its building in the coming months to make way for a 90,000 square foot expansion of Amerequip. The 2016-17 Amerequip expansion is part of the company’s continued growth and will create more jobs for the area. Wieting has been serving Kiel and surrounding communities for 13 years. Wieting will continue to serve the Chilton area. Wieting has been in business since 1954.