Local News Briefs Wednesday 9/2/15

A Jefferson County jury recently found a 33-year-old Waterloo man guilty of killing a Dodge County woman. Michael Henderson shot 28-year-old Heather Stewart of Clyman in the head. Her body was found in a vehicle in the parking lot of a former grocery store in Watertown in May of last year. Stewart was a mother of four, and she had a daughter with Henderson. A pre-sentence investigation was ordered. Henderson will be sentenced in late November.

Community Garden Concept Gets Green Thumbs Up

The Fond du Lac Advisory Park Board recently gave its blessing to the concept of community gardens in small neighborhood parks. Public Works Director Jordan Skiff says a representative of the Fond du Lac Living Well Coalition came to him and Park Superintendent John Redmond with the idea. He says there are a couple community gardens in Fond du Lac already, but this was an opportunity to diversify them a bit. He says they would be ideal for people who can’t drive or just want to participate at a park in their neighborhood. He says the Advisory Park Board liked the idea and even had a few suggestions for possible locations.The gardens would grow produce.

City Of FDL Looking At Expanding Online Reservation System

The City of Fond du Lac is hoping to expand its online reservation services early next year. Information Technology Manager Dave Zittlow says it would allow people to reserve park shelters, get parking permits, reserve boat slips, pick up pool passes and more. He says credit card payments are now fully functional throughout the City’s online systems. He says for example if you were trying to reserve a park shelter it would work like other online reservation systems such as Ticket Master, Marriot, etc.  He says ideally they would like to have the system in place early next year within the first two months of the year. Zittlow says an online reservation system would free up the City Clerk’s Office to do other tasks for the City.

Hospice Home Of Hope Expansion

The Director of Hospice and Palliative Care for Agnesian HealthCare says a planned expansion of Hospice Home of Hope should eliminate the waiting lists they’ve seen over the past couple of years. Andy Land says the $2.5 million project will add 10 beds and over 7,300 square feet to the facility on County Highway K next spring. He says the waiting list hasn’t been that long to get into the home. He says it’s usually two to three people and people do get in within a week or so, but it’s hard to tell people their loved ones are going to have to wait in that kind of situation. He says because of the generosity of the community through events like the Charity Open people don’t have to worry about having enough financial resources to pay for their loved one’s care. Land says they’ve been at their current location since the spring of 2000, but their Hospice Hope program has been around for 35 years. He says it’s one of the oldest hospice programs in the state. Currently Hospice Home of Hope is a 12 bed facility.

Supplies Needed For Solution Center Shelters

The executive director of the Solutions Center in Fond du Lac says they are currently in need of some items for their shelters. Nicole Johnson says they are items people need in their day-to-day lives such as toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo and conditioner, soap, tooth paste and tooth bushes, cleaning supplies and garbage bags. She says they are items people need, but people in their shelters might not have the money for. She says they’ve sheltered close to 300 people already this year. She says they’ve had 276 shelter clients and 199 outreach clients. Donation can be brought to the Solutions Center’s administrative office at 39 North Sophia Street, but due to road construction, they will also be accepted at the Men’s Shelter, at 114 East 2nd Street, and the Women’s Shelter at 75 West Division, during daylight hours.

School Resource Deputies Back On The Job

A school resource deputy with the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Department says things have changed a little since his role with the Campbellsport School District nearly 13 years ago. Dean Schelinske says each year there’s a school assembly to go over important reminders such as locking lockers to avoid theft and what you can and can’t bring to school. He says controlled access to the schools has changed over the years. He says now you have to come to a central location and give ID as you’re buzzed in. He says drugs have always been a concern, but now they also have to worry about kids sharing prescription medication too. He says the Campbellsport School District has done a nice job of ramping up protocol to guard against that happening. Schelinske is one of three school resource deputies for the Sheriff’s Department. The other two are Julie Flaherty who works in the Rosendale School District and Dave Tackett who works in the Oakfield School District. 

UW FDL Alumnus Giving Presentation At The Campus

A UW-Fond du Lac alumnus will be presenting the program “Making in a Digital World” as part of the Tuesday Talks lecture series. Book artist and maker Steve Miller will give his talk at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 15th in UC-114 at UW-Fond du Lac campus.  He will also be at the Fond du Lac Public Libraryat 6:30 p.m. that evening. Both events are free and open to the public. His presentation will explore making things by hand in a world that is turning increasing digital.  Miller was part of the very first group of students at the campus from 1968 to 1970 and was elected the first student government president. You can read more about his appearance at the UW-Fond du Lac on their website.