Local News Briefs Monday 9/16/13

Fire in the Village of Richfield last Saturday morning caused an estimated $200,000 to a home and its contents. Washington County Sheriff’s officials say one of the homeowners suffered minor burns to both arms trying to extinguish the fire. No one else was injured. Five fire departments battled the blaze on Friess Lake Road. The cause of the fire is being determined. The fire was reported just before 8:30 a.m.

 

More Details About Oshkosh Chemical Spill

 

A few more details have been released about a chemical spill at Hydrite Chemical last Friday afternoon in Oshkosh that led to an evacuation order for the south side of the City. Fire Department officials say a 7,000 gallon tank cracked and about 1,000 gallons of muriatic acid spilled from the tank. The spill was confined to the containment area built around the tanks. The evacuation was a precautionary measure because muriatic acid can cause burning of the respiratory tract if it is inhaled. There were no injuries reported.

 

Truck Overturns Near Sheboygan Falls

 

(WHBL-Sheboygan)-Crews spent around four hours at the scene of an overturned tanker truck on an I-43 on-ramp near Sheboygan Friday afternoon. Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Sergeant Doug Tuttle says the incident occurred just before 12:20 p.m. on the Highway 28 on-ramp to I-43 southbound.  The tanker truck was trying to turn left from the highway to the interstate when it overturned and ended up on its side on the right side of the ramp.  The driver suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene. The truck was carrying around 6,000 gallons of non-toxic waste treatment water, and about 100 gallons spilled from a fill cap into the nearby ditch. The on-ramp was closed until the truck and waste water was removed.  Highway 28 and Interstate 43 did remain open to traffic.

 

Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Dog Retired

 

A K-9 who gave nearly seven years of service to the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department retired Saturday. Orbit joined the Sheriff’s Office in Oct 2006. The 9-year-old German Shepard worked with Deputy Tyler Wuestenhagen. He and his wife Jessica will keep Orbit who will enjoy his retirement with two other family dogs. Orbit assisted in hundreds of drug sniffs and searches for wanted / missing persons.  He also participated in numerous educational demonstrations for the public. The K-9 program is funded by the Sheboygan County Constables Association.  Orbit is the third of six dogs that were funded by the Constable Association.

 

Leads In NFDL Community Center Roof Damage

 

North Fond du Lac Village Administrator Chuck Hornung says police have a few leads on the roofing crew that inadvertently damaged the roof of the Community Center by starting to replace the roof. He says the crew found out they were working on the wrong roof Labor Day and left. He says unfortunately they didn’t finish what they started and when it rained a few days later moisture got in and that’s when the real damage occurred. Hornung says the work was done on the back side of the building so no one noticed anything until Saturday, September 7th when heavy rains came. He says they are hoping to work something out with the crew because they didn’t intend to damage the building, but repairs could run into the thousands of dollars.  

 

Student Housing At UW-FDL Getting Closer To Reality

 

The Fond du Lac County Board tomorrow night will hear a presentation on a campus housing study for the U-W Fond du Lac and be asked to lease 10 acres of County-owned land to construct that housing. County Executive Al Buechel says the housing would give options to both local students and those who commute. He says a private developer would put up the housing. Supervisors will be asked to lease the land for $1 an acre, per year. The board meets at 7 p.m. at the City-County Government Center in Fond du Lac Tuesday evening.

 

Windy Award Renamed

 

Among the many changes spotlighted during the Grand Opening Week for the Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts is one to the annual Windy Award. Thelma Executive Director Kevin Miller says the first recipient in the new and improved Center was James Hubbard who did so much for the Center and the community. He says the award will now be named after Hubbard. Hubbard was the Board of Directors President for many years and Miller says he brought a sense of credibility to their efforts. A statute of Hubbard’s likeness will be put up in the Garden next summer and winners of the award will receive a smaller replica. (He says the statute will be placed where the old flashing sign used to be. 

 

United Way Campaign Off To A Good Start

 

The Fond du Lac Area United Way’s fall fundraising campaign is off to a good start. Executive Director Tina Potter says that’s thanks to money already raised by their two pacesetters; Holiday Automotive and Fives Giddings & Lewis. She says Holiday Automotive always comes through for them and has raised over $30,000. She says Giddings & Lewis has also shown them tremendous support by raising over $40,000, so about $75,000 has been donated by the two pacesetters. Potter says they are happy to see that manufacturing has been rebounding from the downturn in the economy. Potter says the campaign has collected a little over $140,000 so far, but they have a long way to go to reach their $740,000 goal.

 

Fire Station Three Open House During Fire Prevention Week

 

Area residents will be able to see improvements to Fire Station #3 in Fond du Lac during next month’s Fire Prevention Week. Division Chief of Fire Prevention Troy Haase says the station on Western Avenue wasn’t big enough to accommodate the firefighters and equipment they use these days. He says they will also be able to accommodate an additional ambulance. An open-house will be held at the station during Fire Prevention Week, which runs October 6th through the 12th. There will be tours and much more.