Local News Briefs Wednesday 9/30/15

Villas Become Part Of Agnesian

Villa Loretto and Villa Rosa in Mt. Calvary becomes part of Agnesian HealthCare this Thursday. In July, both organizations announced plans to enter into a Letter of Intent to become part of Agnesian HealthCare. “We know that Agnesian HealthCare will continue the ministry we have started with the same spirit of service,” says Sister Stephen Bloesl, general superior, Congregation of Sister Servants of Christ the King. “Villa Loretto and Villa Rosa have a strong reputation for providing exceptional care and we are anxious to continue supporting those efforts,” says Steve Little, Agnesian HealthCare president and chief executive officer.  On September 13th associates, leaders and supporters of Villa Loretto and Villa Rosa came together to celebrate 50 years of providing skilled nursing and assisted living services, as well as outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapy services.

SMSA Topping Off Ceremony

Officials at St. Mary’s Springs Academy will have a ceremony this afternoon commemorating the construction of their new facilities on the Ledge in Fond du Lac. Monday a beam signing ceremony was held at the construction site near the high school. This afternoon that beam will be put in place as the highest steel beam of the new construction. The first phase of construction is from the current high school south toward Highway 23. That new building will have their child care and pre-K through 5th grade classrooms. The second phase will be the remodeling of the high school, which will have grades 6 through 12 in it. It was built in the 1970s. The 12:30 p.m. ceremony will include a blessing and a display of the American Flag. 

Oshkosh Defense Contract Will Be Good For The Area

Congressman Glenn Grothman says a contract Oshkosh Defense got to replace the military humvee will be good for area employment. He says for every person hired by Oshkosh Truck there will be three or four people hired by their suppliers. He says there are companies all over the area that supply Oshkosh Truck. He says they pay well and it’s a good place to work. The $6.7 billion contract calls for 17,000 vehicles by 2018, but Grothman believes other work will spring from that. In fact the contract could grow to 55,000 vehicles over eight years.

Meningitis Threat

Fond du Lac County Public Health Officer Kim Mueller says viral meningitis that hit schools in Green Bay and Crivitz isn’t something that should be a threat in this area. She says schools in Green Bay took precautions by cleaning and sterilizing surfaces. She says viral meningitis isn’t something that is spread from person to person, but it was a good precautionary measure to take. Viral meningitis is rarely severe. Mueller says they do advise that students planning to live in a dorm setting in college to get the bacterial meningitis vaccine while they are still in high school.

Heating Hazards

With the heating season nearly upon us the Division Chief of Fire Prevention for Fond du Lac Fire and Rescue goes over a few safety tips. Troy Haase says furnaces, fireplaces and wood stoves should be checked. He recommends having someone check your furnace and making sure your fireplace chimneys and woodstove are clean. He says if you’re using a space heater make sure there is nothing flammable around it. He says you should always have a space heater plugged directly into the wall and never into an extension cord. He says when using a fireplace make sure you have a metal screen in place to catch the sparks. He also recommends putting the ashes from burnt wood in a metal container in case they aren’t thoroughly out.

Yard Ornament Hoax

The state’s Department of Natural Resources is dispelling a hoax. DNR officials say an official-looking letter supposedly from the DNR Secretary asks residents to remove concrete deer ornaments from their yards. The letter goes on to say the DNR will be conducting a state-wide deer count and over the past two years some yard ornaments may have been counted by mistake.

NAMI Benefits From United Way Funding

One of the new agencies the Fond du Lac Area United Way will help fund this year is the local chapter NAMI or the National Alliance on Mental Illness.  United Way Executive Director Amber Kilawee says NAMI provides some support services in the area for people suffering from mental illness. The United Way is allocating $10,000 for advocacy, education and outreach for families dealing with a loved one who has a mental illness. Kilawee says mental illness is something that her family has dealt with. She says it would have been a great help if they had known about NAMI at the time. She says with United Way funding NAMI will be able to serve a little over 140 families in the community.

Mary Kelly Subject Of Next UW FDL Monday Memory

During the next “Monday Memory” conversation at the UW-Fond du Lac residents can find out why the gymnasium is named after Mary Kelly.  That next program will be 12:45-1:15 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 12, in the UW-Fond du Lac Library with Tom Clausen, retired information technology director. Clausen will lead the conversation about Mary “Ma” Kelly and the special place she holds in campus history. Kelly was the athletic director and women’s basketball coach at UW-Fond du Lac from 1974 to 1994. She was also very involved in the UW-Fond du Lac Continuing Education gymnastics program, which now carries her name. The UW-Fond du Lac gymnasium was dedicated in her honor in 1997 following her death in 1994. Additional Monday Memory talks will be on Nov. 9 with Jack Heil, emeritus professor of physics, discussing overall campus history and on Dec. 14 with Judy Goldsmith, retired UW-Fond du Lac Dean and current Fond du Lac County Supervisor, discussing the campus renovation completed in 2000.