KFIZ News Tuesday 7/5/16

FDL School District Receiving More General Aid From State

The Fond du Lac School District will be receiving an increase of $1.9 million in general aid from the state for the new school year. The Department of Public Instruction released figures over the weekend for general aid for the 2016-17 School Year. The Fond du Lac School District will receive a nearly a 5 percent increase. Also receiving increases are Oakfield (.67 percent), North Fond du Lac (7.5), Ripon (4), Rosendale-Brandon (2.4), and Waupun (6 percent). The Campbellsport School District will get about one percent less in aid.

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Few Citations During Operation Dry Water In FDL County

An official with the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Department says they didn’t record too many violations during Operation Dry Water. Lt. Bill Tadych says the enforcement effort was held over the last weekend in June. He says there were surprisingly few boating violations. (He says it’s more of an education effort, but they only had three citations and they put one person through field sobriety testing and he was under the legal limit). He says like driving if you’re going to be drinking have someone else operate the boat. He says if you are cited for operating a boat while intoxicated the fine is less, but it is still not cheap. Operation Dry Water was part of a nationwide initiative to reduce alcohol and drug-related accidents and fatalities on the water.

High Tech Haase

A Fond du Lac man was aided by some high technology in his latest Race Across America. Dave Haase finished second overall and was the top American finisher. He says a buddy from high school, Doug Barton, now works for IBM. He says they were able to monitor his body to make sure he was getting the most out of it physically. He says a device he wore monitored power, speed, core body temperature, and breathing rate. They also created a program called “The Internet of Dave” so he could be monitored by his team while they were on the road with him during the 3,100 mile bicycling race. He says through that program they could tell him when would be the best time to rest. Haase says he also had to swallow a radio frequency tablet that monitored him on the inside of his body. It helped read his core body and skin temperatures. He says the tablets cost about $70 each.

Ripon Fire Training Facility A Practical Option

Ripon Area Fire District Chief Tim Saul says they are fortunate to have their own training facility on fire station grounds. He says the cost of building one was astronomical, so they looked at alternatives. He says it would have been too expensive for a concrete brick or block building. He says they opted for a cargo container-type of facility. He says the nice thing about the cargo container set up is they are easy to maintain, and if one becomes too damaged it can be replaced. He says the firefighters association paid for it. He says they also donated their time to put it together. He says Ripon Truck Repair also donated thousands of dollars worth of in-kind labor and equipment to help construct the facility. He says they made it real for the firefighters.

Grad Students Help Salvation Army Thrift Store

Three graduate students from Marian University helped the Fond du Lac Salvation Army evaluate their Thrift Store to see how to better market the store. Social Services Director Ron Jacobson says they already had a partnership with Marian in place. He says the group wanted to do something and the Salvation Army had a need. Marla Pearce is one of the graduate students in Marian’s Master of Science program. She says they needed to do a culmination project to graduate from the program.  She says they wanted to create Thrift Store awareness, generate and retain shoppers, and implement marketing tools. They created three surveys for the project. She says they also had to consider the tech-savvy younger shoppers who no longer go to Facebook as their social networking choice. She says for them its Snap Chat and Twitter. The three students will give their presentation on their findings at Marian on July 13th.