Local News Saturday 3/23/13

Suspicious Person Wasn’t After All

 

It turns out the suspicious person who said he was representing a security alarm company when he approached an Oshkosh woman at her home really was who he said he was. The woman, who lives in the 400 block of West New York Avenue, called police after the encounter Wednesday afternoon.  The man called police Thursday night to say he was in the area to check on previous customer accounts. The alarm company confirmed he was working for them and the woman was called and informed about it.

 

Oshkosh Bomb Threat

 

Oshkosh Police are continuing their investigation into a bomb threat that was called into a Shopko Store Thursday afternoon. A man called the store to say a bomb was going to go off in the store. Customers were evacuated from the store. Police and store employees searched the store, but found no bomb or anything suspicious.

 

Ashippun Man Gets Jail Time For Drunken Driving Rollover Accident

 

A 48-year-old Ashippun man has been sentenced to five months in jail for a drunken driving rollover accident that injured five passengers in his SUV. Jeffery Howie recently pled no contest in Dodge County Court to six felony counts and four others were dismissed. The accident happened last November when he lost control of his SUV and it ended up in a Town of Lebanon ditch. Howie told police an animal had jumped in front of his vehicle, but his wife said he was fighting with a woman in the backseat. His driver’s license was also revoked for two years.

 

FDL CO Public Health Officer Not Surprised At Binge Drinking Numbers

 

Fond du Lac County Public Health Officer Kim Mueller says she’s not surprised to hear the binge drinking rate in the County is 22 percent. That figure was one of the facts released in a study on the costs of excessive alcohol use, which puts the cost for Fond du Lac County at $118.2 million a year. Mueller says just being aware of the problem is a step in the right direction. Alcohol use is one of the health behaviors the County is working to improve on. The others are tobacco use, diet and exercise, and obesity.

 

Sales Tax Holiday Bill Being Fine Tuned

 

State Senator Rick Gudex is continuing to fine tune a bill that would give residents a holiday from the state sales tax. That would be during a specific weekend in August and would only be for the purchase of school related items. The state lawmaker from Fond du Lac says feedback he’s gotten from residents have been positive so far. Gudex says the Legislative Fiscal Bureau says the state would take a several million dollar loss with the sales tax holiday. He says on the other hand a similar sales tax holiday in Florida showed the state made more money. He says he’s working on a compromise.

 

A Sledding We Will Go

 

When it comes to making improvements to the UW-Fond du Lac campus nothing is too insignificant even a popular winter sports attraction. UW-Fond du Lac Dean John Short says their sledding hill has been getting a lot of use this winter with the abundant snowfall. He says they are working with the Optimist Club to improve the size of the sledding hill and its safety. He says anyone is welcome to use the hill during the winter season.

 

Youth Leadership Donation

 

The Youth Leadership Fond du Lac program recently received a $500 donation from Sigma of Fond du Lac.  Sigma is a non-profit, women’s charitable organization whose purpose is devoted to community service.  The donation will go directly towards the youth program, which provides information and experience to high school juniors who are interested in learning more about their community.