Local News Briefs Thursday 3/2714

Fond du Lac wasn’t without a City Clerk for very long. A day after the resignation of City Clerk Sue Strands, City Manager Joe Moore Wednesday offered the job to Deputy City Clerk Maggie Hefter and she accepted it. City Council President Sam Meyer says Hefter will do a fine job. Moore is pleased Hefter accepted the position. Hefter has worked for the City since 2003. Strands had been the City Clerk since 2006 and had worked in the Clerk’s office for 17 years.

FDL City Council Notes

Also at the Fond du Lac City Council meeting last night the Council approved a special use permit for the Lighthouse Christian Church. It will allow the church to build a 6-unit apartment building for senior housing on 4th Street east of National Avenue. The Council also denied claims for pothole damage to a car and a sewer backup. Council President Sam Meyer also presented Lutheran Homes and Health Services with a proclamation recognizing their 75th anniversary. City Manager Joe Moore also informed the Council that the reassessment of properties in the City is complete.

Unattended Cooking Oil Started Marytown Apartment Fire

Town of Calumet Fire Chief Keith Lefeber says a fire at a four-unit apartment complex in Marytown Tuesday afternoon originally was called in as a house fire. He says his firefighters found out differently when they arrived on the scene. He says a downstairs apartment had a heavy fire going and the flames had worked their way up into the second floor and was going pretty good. Eventually 23 fire departments were involved in putting out the blaze. He says because they weren’t near a good water source many of them were needed to haul water. He says a tenant on first floor was cooking and got distracted, which led to the fire. The 21-year-old woman was taken to the Chilton Medical Center to be treated for small burns on the hand and arm area and was released after that.

FDL Schools Superintendent On Compensation Plan

Fond du Lac Schools Superintendent Jim Sebert says the school board is trying to develop a teacher/professional educator compensation plan that is fairer to teachers. He says in 2011 faced with a $4.4 million deficit they had to do away with the so-called Lane and Step movement of compensation that gave increases based on years of service and for continuing education credits that teachers achieved. He says in the meantime they still have to recruit new teachers and those teachers are also hired based on their teaching experience and educational achievements. He says they have been giving out 1 percent wage increases since 2011 and the new compensation plan will raise teachers to a higher level of pay. The school board held its second workshop on the plan this week. 

Uselmann Runs For FDL School Board

Linda Uselmann of Fond du Lac says she’s running for he Fond du Lac School Board because she has time to spare, has an interest in education and would like to contribute to it. She is challenging incumbents Mark Strand and Julie Nett for one of the two seats available on the board. She favors the Common Core educational standards, because she was working on something similar when the standards came about. She was on a committee rewriting the model academic standards in the late-2000s and the standards were in line with what they were trying to accomplish. Uselmann doesn’t agree with school vouchers in their current form, but says she likes the school accountability bill recently passed in the state legislature, which she says is a great step forward if you’re going to be offering parents a choice. She also applauds students involved with the recent Rape Jokes article in the Cardinal Columns magazine. She says she doesn’t think we need to shy away from bringing up difficult issues.

FDL Youth Baseball Launches Fundraiser For Lakeside Park Diamonds Effort

Fond du Lac Youth Baseball has launched its efforts to build a baseball complex at Lakeside Park that will include two lighted fields. Dr. Ryan Haus of Youth Baseball says the site in Lakeside Park was offered to them by the City who they will lease the land from. He says the fields will be bigger than your typical youth baseball fields and will be lighted, something other fields in the City don’t have. Youth Baseball is teaming with the Fond du Lac School District, Fond du Lac Recreation Department and City of Fond du Lac on the effort, but Youth Baseball will raise all the funds for the fields. He says they will need individual to donate, corporate sponsors, there will be naming rights and other opportunities to contribute to the $400,000 plus project. Those who would like to contribute can call Haus at (920) 517-3017 or can look up his information on the Youth Baseball website.

Reeseville Sentenced For Fatal Accident

The 63-year-old Reeseville man that was under the influence of drugs when he hit and killed an elderly Reeseville man with his jeep has been sentenced to seven months in jail. Harry Schoephoerster was recently sentenced in Dodge County Court to the jail term and five years of probation after pleading guilty to a homicide by negligent use of a vehicle charge. Seventy-nine-year-old Edward Hahn of Reeseville was crossing County Highway G to get his mail in May of 2010. Hahn was in an electric utility cart when he was struck by the jeep driven by Schoephoerster. He died at the scene. Schoephoerster later told investigators he had smoked marijuana the night before the accident. Shoephoerster also had his driver’s license taken away for a year, will have an ignition interlock device on his car for 18 months and had to pay $13,000 in restitution.

Mercury Plant 12 Gets Safety Award

Mercury Marine’s parent company, the Brunswick Corporation, has announced the recipients of its safety award program for 2013 and several local Mercury plants have made the list. Mercury Marine Engineering Plant 12 in Fond du Lac was one of 24 Brunswick facilities to earn Distinguished Safety Awards. Mercury Marine Plant 33 in Oshkosh also made list. For the complete list click here.

Saputo Cheese Closing New London Plant

Saputo Cheese has announced the closing of four of its plants, including one in New London. Company officials cited economic concerns. The other three plants are one in Hancock, Maryland and two in Canada. The closings will be this May and in December of 2015. It wasn’t announced when the New London plant was being closed, but 180 employees will be affected by the four closings. Saputo also has a plant on East Scott Street in Fond du Lac. 

Dine Out For Disaster Today

You can eat out today and benefit the American Red Cross. A number of participating restaurants will be giving a portion of their food sales to the Red Cross. Participating restaurants in Fond du Lac County include the Backyard Grill and Bar, Boda’s, Friar Tucks, Gilles Frozen Custard, Salty’s, and Sebastian’s in Fond du Lac, Helen’s Kitchen in Waupun and the Culver’s in Ripon. March is Red Cross Month.