Local News Briefs Saturday 3/16/15

The City of Fond du Lac will host a public information meeting to present the preliminary engineering plan for improvements to North Rolling Meadows Drive and specifically for a dedicated right turn lane near the southern driveway for Walmart. The meeting will be on Tuesday, March 24th in Room G on the first floor of the City-County Government Center. It will be conducted in an open house format from 5 to 6 p.m.  The proposed project consists of adding a dedicated, slotted right turn lane along North Rolling Meadows Drive at the southern Walmart driveway location.  The slotted right turn lane will be separated by curb and gutter and a concrete corrugated median.  The slotted right turn lane will separate the traffic turning into the Walmart driveway and will provide additional visibility for vehicles exiting the Walmart driveway onto Rolling Meadows Drive. Construction is currently scheduled for 2016.  The northbound outside lane and southern Walmart driveway will be closed to traffic during construction.

Sheboygan County Crime Of The Week

The Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department is investigating three separate incidents in which vehicles at West Shore Industries were vandalized. In all three incidents the vehicles owned by the company had punctured tires or fuel lines were cut. The first incident occurred on January 19th, the second on February 25th, and the latest this past Thursday, March 12th. Anyone with information is asked to call the Crime Stoppers program at 1-877-283-8436. You will remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.

Grothman Disappointed With Keystone Veto

Congressman Glenn Grothman says he’s disappointed with President Barack Obama’s recent veto of the Keystone XL Pipeline bill. The federal lawmaker from Campbellsport says in addition to reducing energy costs the building of the pipeline would have created jobs for Wisconsin companies. He believes a lot of jobs would have went to Michel’s Pipeline employees and says the jobs created along the pipeline would have been high paying jobs. State Senators including Rick Gudex of Fond du Lac at the beginning of the month joined Governor Scott Walker in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urging him to approve a permit for the pipeline project.

Miss FDL Scholarship Pageant Tonight

Winners of the Miss Fond du Lac, Miss Fond du Lac Outstanding Teen, and Miss Wisconsin Central titles will be crowned tonight at the Goodrich Little Theater in Fond du Lac. Altogether 19 young woman are vying for the three titles including Breanna Branson who is competing for the Miss Fond du Lac crown. She’s a Fond du Lac native and says her platform has to do with women and girls having a positive self image. The pageant begins at 7 p.m., but tickets go on sale at 6 p.m. at the theater’s box office. Miss Fond du Lac is a scholarship pageant and part of the Miss America program.

SAGES Students Among Top Five In National Video Competition

Videos submitted by a Waupun School District Charter School did well in a national video competition. Third through 5th grade students at SAGES charter school in Fox Lake came in fourth in the Scotties Tissue “Trees Rock” competition. Waupun Schools Superintendent Tonya Gubin says the second video submitted by students actually gained them more votes in online voting for the competition. She says the kids were excited and they earned $1,000, which will be applied towards their next project. In the videos students had to show or tell why trees are important. The top prize was $10,000 in funding.

Students From Thiesfeldt Alma Mater Fill Capitol Building With Song

State Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt last week at the State Capitol hosted a group of students from his alma mater Martin Luther College of New Ulm, Minnesota. In particular a choir from the college took the Capitol tour and afterward gathered in the rotunda to do a song. Thiefeldt says it was in stark contrast to recent protests in the rotunda. He says it was beautiful and something he will always remember. The director stayed on the ground floor and the students stayed on the second floor. He says the song echoed through the halls of the Capitol Building. A video of the performance is posted on Thiesfeldt’s Facebook page.

Jordy A Joy To Work With

State Tourism Secretary Stephanie Klett says they have had great success with sports personalities they use for their television spots. Their current spot features Wisconsin Badger Basketball Coach Bo Ryan, just in time for March Madness. She says a spot they did last fall with Green Bay Packer Wide Receiver Jordy Nelson was also a lot of fun. It was a satire on the “Wizard of Oz” and she says despite less than ideal weather conditions during filming Jordy was a joy to work with. She says they filmed with him for 11 hours and it rained the whole day, but Jordy laughed through the whole shoot and was a real champ. The current Bo Ryan spot is airing in Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee and Madison.