Local News Thursday 3/7/13

Five Fond du Lac Police Officers Honored For Promotions During Pinning Ceremony

 

The Fond du Lac Police Department held a pinning ceremony for the promotion of five of its officers Wednesday afternoon. Among those who made remarks during the ceremony at the police department was City Manager Joe Moore. He says the officers are deserving of the promotions. Josh Bullock is the President of the Police and Fire Commission he told the gathering that the officers met the highest standards and took the highest tests that the State of Wisconsin can give along their way to the promotions. Those pinned with new badges were Assistant Chief Steve Klein, Assistant Chief Steve Thirty, Captain Rob Duveneck, Lieutenant Ed Wenzel, and Detective Matt Bobo.

 

Five recently promoted Fond du Lac police officers were honored Wednesday afternoon during a pinning ceremony. Normally not so many officers receive new badges during such a ceremony, but Chief Bill Lamb says they’ve had 7 retirements during the last 18 months including Deputy Chief Kevin Lemke. Former Chief Tony Barthuly, now the state’s Director of Training Standards for law enforcement officers, was on hand for the ceremony. He worked with all five officers and he says it was a great day for the department.  Honored during the ceremony were Assistant Chief Steve Klein, Assistant Chief Steve Thirty, Captain Rob Duveneck, Lieutenant Ed Wenzel, and Detective Matt Bobo.

 

Sentencing Hearing Scheduled In Hit Man Conspiracy Case

 

The 62-year-old Ripon man who recently stood trial for trying to hire hit men will be sentenced in May. A Fond du Lac County jury late last month found Lee Stellmacher guilty of conspiracy to commit 1st degree murder and conspiracy to commit substantial battery. A sentencing date has been scheduled for May 10th. Stellmacher attempted to hire a motorcycle gang to kill a man in Indiana. He also tried to hire a hit man to injure a Ripon man. That hit man was an undercover officer. He was taken into custody following an investigation involving the state’s Justice Department’s Division of Criminal Investigation, Lake Winnebago Area MEG Unit and Ripon Police.

 

Pit Bull Attacks Boy Dies In Walworth County

 

A 14-month old boy died of injuries suffered after he and a 30-year-old woman were attacked by pit bulls in Walworth County. The boy died at a Milwaukee area hospital yesterday afternoon. Walworth County Sheriff’s officials say they received a 911 call from the woman yesterday. She lives in the Town of Walworth and owns the pit bulls that attacked them. The two dogs were euthanized. The woman and boy suffered multiple injuries. He suffered critical injuries and was flown to the Milwaukee area hospital where he later died.

 

Wrong Bathroom

 

Fond du Lac Police cited a 24-year-old woman with disorderly conduct after she walked into the wrong home late Sunday night to use the bathroom. Police found the woman sitting asleep in a chair in a sitting room just off the bathroom at a residence in the 100 block of East Division Street. The woman was highly intoxicated and when officers asked her where she was she asked “are we at the motel?” She later explained to them she worked at a bar on North Main Street and had a few beers before she locked up. She then borrowed a friend’s car, but told them a man had driven her there. Police weren’t able to locate the man or keys to car. The car was parked outside with its dome light on.  The woman actually lives on Sheboygan Street about a block south of the home she stopped at.

 

Sheboygan County Man Loses Appeal

 

(WHBL-Sheboygan)-An Adell man has lost the appeal of his conviction on a drug charge.  Thirty-four-year-old Nathan Huber had been placed on probation for one year in January of 2012 after his arrest in the fall of 2010.  He was also fined nearly $600. Huber was arrested after a passerby spotted a marijuana plant growing in the window of his Adell apartment and called the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department.  Officers executed a search warrant and determined Huber was growing pot in his bedroom.  Huber contended the search warrant was unconstitutional because it was overbroad.  He maintained the deputy should have had a warrant before entering the driveway where she spotted the plant.  The Appeals Court disagreed and upheld Huber’s conviction.

 

OSHA Charges Beaver Dam Pizza Maker With Dozens Of Violations

 

(WBEV-Beaver Dam)-A pizza making plant in Beaver Dam is facing more than two dozen health and safety violations and nearly $230,000 in fines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA. According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Labor, Richelieu Food Inc. has been placed in OSHA’s severe violator enforcement program following an inspection in August that revealed 24 serious safety and health violations. They included failing to guard machines, monitor noise exposure levels and not training employees on emergency response and hazardous materials. In total, there were 27 violations, including several that were also seen in 2009. Richelieu has more than 400 workers at its Beaver Dam plant.

 

Local Superintendents Comment On Proposal To Expand School Voucher Program

 

Two local schools superintendents believe it’s good to have school choice, but aren’t sure it’s appropriate to expand the school voucher program. The Fond du Lac School District is one of nine the governor has proposed expanding the program to. Fond du Lac Schools Superintendent Jim Sebert says using school reports cards as a measuring stick as one of the criteria isn’t fair because the district had three schools which didn’t mean expectations, but didn’t get “D” or “F” grades.

The North Fond du Lac School District isn’t targeted for the school voucher expansion, but Superintendent Aaron Sadoff says the same reasons aren’t being used as they were for the voucher programs in the Milwaukee and Racine School Districts. The voucher expansion is part of the Governor’s budget proposal and may not survive the budget process.

 

Fond du Lac and North Fond du Lac Schools Superintendents says it’s too early to use report cards on school performance to expand the school voucher program. Governor Walker proposed expanding the program as part of the state budget. The Fond du Lac School District would be one of nine the expansion is proposed for. Superintendent Jim Sebert says three of the district’s schools may not have reached expectations, but are in no means failing. North Fond du Lac Schools Superintendent Aaron Sadoff says the report cards for schools were issued for the first time last October and it’s too early to use them as a way to determine funding.

The proposal could be removed from the state budget before legislators pass it.

 

Senate Presidents Says Majority Doesn’t Support Budget Voucher Proposal

 

(Wisconsin Radio Network)-A Republican leader in the state Senate says Governor Walker’s voucher school expansion won’t likely survive the budget process.  Senate President Mike Ellis says a majority of Republican senators don’t support the budget proposal that would expand the voucher program to the Green Bay school district and eight others offer vouchers for special needs students and create a charter school oversight board.  The Neenah Republican says the G-O-P lawmakers are in two groups. Some don’t believe it should be in the budget. That is should be a separate bill. He says the others strongly oppose expanding the voucher program.  Republicans hold an 18-to-15 majority in the Senate.  Ellis says many of the senators who oppose the voucher expansion in the budget may support it as a standalone bill.

 

Taycheedah Open House And Public Hearing On Farmland Preservation Plan Tonight

 

Taycheedah farmland property owners are being urged to attend an open house and public hearing tonight at the Taycheedah Town Hall. The Town’s Farmland Preservation Plan will be the subject of an open house held by the Town’s Comprehensive Planning Committee at 6:30. Following that at 7 p.m. the Town’s Plan Commission will hold a public hearing to gather testimony on it. Immediately following that the Town Board will hold a special meeting to consider taking action on the Plan Commission’s recommendation and adopt the Town’s Farmland Preservation Plan.

 

MPTC Gourmet Dinner

 

Organizers of a Gourmet Dinner at Moraine Park Technical College in Fond du Lac are hoping to top last year’s fundraising effort for Moraine Park Foundation. Foundation Director Kelly Norton says Culinary Arts faculty and students at the school prepare the meal. This year’s dinner will be held on Friday, April 27th. Norton says they will be seating more people for the dinner, but tickets go fast. She says the evening will have a Wisconsin-based theme. The Foundation funds student scholarships. For more information about the dinner and tickets visit the MPTC website.

 

Kamke Promoted At DNR’s Oshkosh Office

 

 

Kendall Kamke of the DNR’s Oshkosh Field Office has been promoted to a team supervisor’s job. It’s a position Ron Bruch used to hold until he was promoted to section chief in Madison. Kamke has been with the Department of Natural Resources since 1986 and the Oshkosh office since June of 1990. He says his new role, which begins Sunday, gives him more administrative duties and means less time in the field. He jokes that geographically speaking the promotion means just changing desks in their building.

 

Panfish Management Plan To Be Discussed

 

Anglers and others are invited to share their expectations for fishing for panfish in Wisconsin during a meeting at the Fisherman’s Road Fishing Club Headquarters in Fond du Lac this evening. The meeting is part of the opening phase of a statewide outreach effort by the DNR fisheries management to better connect with anglers in the state. The club’s headquarters is at the end of Fisherman’s Road on Lake Winnebago. The meeting will start at 7 p.m.

 

State Resolution Declares Red Cross Month

 

The State Assembly recently passed a joint resolution authored by Representative Joan Ballweg of Markesan and Senator Luther Olsen of Ripon declaring this month as Red Cross Month. Ballweg says it’s fitting to recognize the Red Cross. She says, “Many of our communities have benefitted from the services of Wisconsin Red Cross chapters because of floods, tornadoes, and home fires.”