KFIZ News Tuesday 1/3/17

Trial Scheduled For Woman Charged In Heroin Death

A jury trial has been scheduled next month in Fond du Lac County Court for a 54-year-old Milwaukee woman on charges related to a heroin death. Andrea Griffin will be tried on 1st degree reckless homicide and heroin trafficking charges. Charges stem from the August 22nd, 2014 death of Carolyn Tries. According to the criminal complaint Tries died in the 200 block of Sheboygan Street in Fond du Lac from drugs she bought from Griffin. The five-day trial begins February 20th.

Oshkosh Sex Offender Moving

Oshkosh Police say a 27-year-old sex offender will be moving to 631 West 6th Avenue Apartment A tomorrow. John Bechle will be on GPS monitoring. He is on extended supervision until April 5th. He was convicted of 2nd degree sexual assault of a child in 2010. His victim was a 15-year-old girl. He was also convicted of a misdemeanor in 2008 for exposing himself to a child.

Schraa Updates NFDL Village Board

State Representative Michael Schraa recently gave the North Fond du Lac Village Board an update on what is going on in the state legislature. Village Administrator Chuck Hornung says some state legislators would like to do away with the 9 percent minimum markup grocery stores, gas stations, and pharmacies have to put on the products they sell. He says if they get rid of the law prices will be more competitive. Schraa also told them state officials are exploring their insurance options. He says the state would like to be self-insured, but there is some risk in that which is part of the discussion.  Schraa, who sits on the Joint Finance Committee, also told them lawmakers will spend the better part of the next six months putting together the state’s two-year budget.

Federal Dollars Will Be Needed To Replace Aging Bus Fleet

Fond du Lac Area Transit Manager Lynn Gilles says transit managers in the state had very little success in getting federal grants to try and replace portions of their fleets in the past year. She says the grant applications from Wisconsin came to about $410 million and only one grant was awarded to purchase a van for under $70,000. She says more distressing is that many transits systems have fleets that were funded by the economic stimulus program and they will all have to be replaced around the same time. She says Fond du Lac has some buses bought under that program too. She says they will be shuffling for capital money to renew those purchases. She says it was encouraging to hear both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton saying positive things about funding infrastructure during their campaigns.

Random Drug Testing Proposed For High School Students

North Fond du Lac Schools Superintendent Aaron Sadoff says he would like to see some form of bill that is being pushed that would require drug testing for high school students who participate in sports or drive to school and park on school grounds. State Representative Joel Kleefisch is the author of the legislation. Sadoff says he’s not sure if drugs are a real problem in the district. But he says it would be nice to have local control to make those choices. He says if random drug testing is implemented it could be useful in helping students who may have a problem. He says parents could be talked to confidentially. He says he hopes the testing is meant to be helpful and not to punish. He also feels different communities would be able to come up with different ideas to make the program stronger.

Hotels Doing Well

The president of the Fond du Lac Area Convention and Visitors Bureau says they have been fortunate that hotels have been doing well in Fond du Lac over the past few years. Craig Molitor says the CVB derives its funding from the room tax hotels are charged. He says new hotels have helped including the Hampton Inn and the Holiday Inn Express and existing hotels have always done a great job. He says they are also encouraged by the over $20 million that will be invested in the renovation of the Retlaw Hotel. Recently the CVB added a Director of Festivals and Events, which Molitor says they couldn’t have afforded to do if area hotels and motels weren’t doing well.

Arc Captial Campaign A Huge Success

The Executive Director of the Arc of Fond du Lac says the success of a capital campaign means they will need three phases to complete improvements to their facilities. David Boelter  says they were able to raise $500,000 more than their goal or $1.6 million thanks to the generosity of the community. He says they were able to make some improvements right away. He says they built four new group homes and established a respite facility for the families of their clients. He says Agnesian HealthCare and the Agnesian HealthCare Foundation made it possible for them to also add a courtyard, which he says when it is completed will be their crown jewel. The Arc provides services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They serve 750 families and are the largest Arc chapter in the state of Wisconsin.

MPTC Military Friendly

For the seventh consecutive year, Moraine Park Technical College is pleased to have made Victory Media’s list of Military Friendly Schools for its commitment in serving veterans as students. Institutions earning the 2017 Military Friendly School designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from Victory Media’s proprietary survey. More than 1,700 schools participated. This prestigious award recognizes the top colleges, universities and trade schools nationwide who embrace America’s veterans as students.