Local News Briefs Friday 9/19/14

Bond was set at $10,000 cash for a 26-year-old Oshkosh woman when she made her initial appearance in Winnebago County Court this week on sexual assault of a child, child enticement and child sexual exploitation charges. Lindsey Quednow is suspected of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student while she was employed as a teacher’s aide at the Merrill Middle School. She’s no longer working for the Oshkosh Area School District. The alleged relationship began in July and ended a month later. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next Thursday. 

Jury Finds Sheboygan Man Guilty Of Reckless Homicide

A Sheboygan County jury Thursday afternoon found a 32-year-old Sheboygan man guilty of reckless homicide in the heroin overdose death of Kathryn Jakimczyk. The 30-year-old Sheboygan woman died of a heroin overdose in July of 2013. Travis Tramte supplied her with the drug. The jury deliberated for just over two hours before finding him guilty of the reckless homicide charge. A sentencing hearing hasn’t been scheduled yet. 

State Unemployment Rate Declined Last Month

According to federal labor statistics the state’s unemployment rate fell to 5.6 percent in August. That’s an improvement from July when it was at 5.8 percent. The jobless rate is also down significantly since August of 2013 when the state’s unemployment rate was at 6.7 percent. Department of Workforce Development Secretary Reggie Newson says more people entered the workforce last month and found employment. When it came to jobs in the private sector the news was mixed. Private sector jobs have increased by 29,600 positions since August of 2013, but declined by 4,300 jobs from July to August.

Black Bear Interrupts Morning Routines In Green Bay

A 200 pound black bear interrupted morning routines in a Green Bay neighborhood Thursday morning. Police were notified of the situation on the City’s Westside. The drama unfolded over about a six hour period as the DNR was called and a bear trap was brought in to transport the bear to the Northwoods. DNR officials say it took four rounds of tranquilizer darts to immobilize the bear enough so it could be safely placed in the cage. They say a mother bear and her two cubs were seen in a west side neighborhood of the City earlier this summer.

FloorQuest Building New Facilities In Oshkosh

FloorQuest, a flooring and cabinetry business, will be building a new showroom and warehouse in Oshkosh. Company officials say they have purchased two and a half acres of land at 1705 South Washburn Street in Oshkosh and hope to have their new facilities open in the Spring of 2015. FloorQuest has been at its present location at 300 S. Koeller Street in Oshkosh since April of 2005. The new 10,000 square foot stand alone store will feature an expanded retail showroom, a warehouse that will include an outlet section for flooring remnants and will offer easier customer accessibility and shopping convenience. “Our business has been very successful over the last 10 years in the Oshkosh community and we are excited to be growing our retail store presence to an even greater degree,” said FloorQuest Vice-President, Tim Twohig. “We are pleased to be a part of the ongoing economic development of the Oshkosh area.” Along with the current Oshkosh location, FloorQuest operates three other retail locations in Fond du Lac, Delafield and Sturtevant, and two distribution warehouses in Fond du Lac and New Berlin, WI.

Walleye Weekend Giveback Over $211,000

Community non-profits, service organizations and schools continued to benefit from Walleye Weekend at Fond du Lac’s Lakeside Park this past June. Figures for that impact were released this week and came to $211,504.30. Fond du Lac Festivals Executive Director Leanne Doyle says that impact could have been even more for those 45 entities, but there was quite a bit of rain on the Saturday of Walleye Weekend. She says in addition to the money they make during Walleye Weekend at their booths those groups benefit from the public exposure as well. CitizensFirst Credit Union was given the Walleye Weekend MVP Award for their Grand GiveBack, which awarded $1,000 to non-profit group with the best Walleye Weekend story. The Fond du Lac Public Library won that distinction. Doyle says the program made CitizensFirst an easy choice for MVP.

Telephone Solicitation Calls Number One Seniors Complaint

Fond du Lac Police Officer Steve Olson was recently asked to speak to members of the SALT or Seniors and Law Enforcement Together group about telephone scams. SALT Chairperson Jamie Roth says according to their ongoing community action survey telephone solicitations are the number one complaint for seniors. Officer Olson says the best thing to do with unwanted calls is end them quickly.He says some of the more recent phone scams involve people posing as representatives of the IRS and Microsoft. He says often they are fishing for personal or financial information. He says it’s also important to avoid identity theft. He recommends having your credit checked through a free-credit report company at least once a year whether by calling them or doing it online. He says make sure you check to see that there aren’t any credit cards in your name that you’re not aware of.

Stove Fires Use Your Lid

The Division Chief of Fire Prevention for the Fond du Lac Fire Department says it’s something they can’t tell people enough, never leave cooking oil heating on a stove unattended. Troy Haase says they recently had another fire call where someone did exactly the opposite of what they tell people. He says normally they tell people to cover the pan with a lid, but never try and remove it or put water in it. He says in that fire the people broke about all of those rules. He says if you do have a fire extinguisher don’t put it in the kitchen where a fire might block access to it and render it useless. He says they recently also had a fire where a carelessly tossed cigarette started a fire on a second story balcony of a home. He says recently they’ve seen a pattern with fire calls involving the careless use of smoking materials. Most of them have been on the outside of a home.

Ripon Septemberfest Saturday

Ripon Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jason Mansmith says the City is ready to host another fantastic Septemberfest celebration on Watson Street Saturday. He says things will begin with a pancake breakfast at 7 a.m. and run until 4 p.m.. There will be car and motorcycle shows, a color run, mascot race, activities for the kids and plenty of music. Tuba Dan performs polka music from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Mecan River Ramblers will play bluegrass and acoustic music from 12 to 3 p.m. and the Beatle tributes band The Britins will perform from 1 to 4 p.m).There will also be an effort to set a new world record for the number of people doing the twist. Mansmith says until two weeks ago the record was a little over 1,700, but a city in Mississippi set a new mark with 3,040. For a complete list of events click here.