Local News Briefs Tuesday 11/19/13

Three people were injured in a roll over accident on Rose-Eld Road in the Rosendale area this morning. Fond du Lac County Dispatch got a call about 5:20 this morning about the accident on Rose-Eld Road. Rosendale Fire Department and First Responders were dispatched to the scene. Three people suffered non-life threatening injuries. The road is very slippery in the area due to the accident.

Winds Tip Over Trailer On Lake Butte des Morts Bridge

Traffic was delayed on the Highway 41 southbound causeway over Lake Butte des Morts Monday morning when high winds caused a construction trailer to tip over on its side. Winnebago County Sheriff’s officials say it happened around 9:45 a.m. and shut down one lane of the southbound lanes for more than two hours.

Sheboygan Man Killed In Marathon County Accident

A 29-year-old Sheboygan man was killed in Abbotsford early Saturday morning when he was hit by a semi-truck while walking along Highway 29. Marathon County Sheriff’s officials say Brandon Sargent was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield where he died from his injuries. The crash is still being investigated. Authorities did not release the truck driver’s name.

Hartford Man Sentenced In Overdose Death

The 40-year-old Hartford man who supplied the heroin that led to an overdose death last year has been sentenced to seven years in prison and seven years of extended supervision. Kenneth Schmidt was sentenced on charges of heroin trafficking and narcotics possession. Charges stem from the death of a Town of Addison man on August 2nd of 2012.  A forensic pathologist determined that the victim died of opiate and ethanol intoxication.

Hartford Man Sentenced For Cheating Charities

A 46-year-old Hartford man was recently sentenced to three years in prison for bilking two charitable organizations out of $13,000. Anthony Langlois entered a “no contest” plea in Washington County Court in September to a pair of felony counts of identity theft. Five misdemeanor theft charges were read into the record and dismissed. Langlois deceived almost 650 donors into giving to what they thought was the Alzheimer’s Association and the Briggs-and-Stratton Run-and-Walk for Milwaukee Children’s Hospital. Authorities say he altered donation forms from the two groups and never gave them any money. He was also given three years of extended supervision to go along with his prison sentence.

BD Superintendent Concerned About WIAA Background Checks On Referees

Registered sex offender Aaron Schreiber refereed a Beaver Dam Middle School basketball game last Tuesday. Two of Beaver Dam’s bomb threats were called in before the game and the third was called in after the game. Beaver Dam Superintendent Steve Vessey says there were no issues with Schreiber’s refereeing, but it’s disturbing nonetheless. Vessey places blame squarely on the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association and its background check protocols. Beaver Dam was not one of the schools the WIAA contacted when Schreiber’s license was revoked. WIAA officials say they began doing criminal background checks with this year’s re-licensing process. Vessey says the district will implement its own system for background checks if the WIAA is unable to vouch for all the refs it licenses.

FDL County Board Preview

For the third Tuesday in a row the Fond du Lac County Board will be meeting. Unlike the previous two meetings the board’s agenda only has a few items on it the most important being a $6 million bond issue for the money the County will be lending Alliance Laundry Systems for a $46 million expansion project. That expansion could create up to 150 new jobs. The board will also consider an agreement with the union for the Sheriff’s office jail division and an increase in pay for the communications department dispatchers. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the City-County Government Center in Fond du Lac.

New FDL PD Vehicle Provides Protection During Violent Situations

As a member of the Fond du Lac Police SWAT Team, Officer Steve Olson says he truly appreciates the generous donation the Joe and Dawn Colwin Foundation made allowing the department to purchase the Lenco “Bearcat” armored tactical vehicle. Olson says it looks intimidating, but is designed to protect the police officers it’s carrying inside from gunfire and even explosions. He says it’s bigger than the vehicle the Sheriff’s Department has and can fit the Fond du Lac SWAT team inside. He says in the past they had to wait up to an hour for similar vehicles to respond when they needed help. He says that point couldn’t have been more tragically illustrated than during a standoff in March of 2011 when Officer Craig Birkholz was killed. In fact a similar type of vehicle was used to rescue a woman from the duplex where the shooter was located during that incident. 

FCEDC Return On Investment Outstanding

If numbers are any indication the money contributed to fund the Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation is providing a very outstanding return on investment. FCEDC President Steve Jenkins says they had a third party firm in Austin, Texas do an analysis on the economic impact the corporation has had with job creation and retention over the last seven years. He says in terms of jobs it’s close to 4,800 with 2,832 new primary jobs and retention of 1,950 existing jobs for a total of 4,782 jobs. He says that also has a huge impact on new capital investment of $464 million and $235 million in new direct payroll. Jenkins says in total economic output it amounts to more than $2 billion, $2.2 billion in new economic output that generated $179 million in new retail sales.

Letter Asks For Reconsideration Of Medal Of Honor For “Maggie”

An effort has been launched to ask the military to reconsider awarding Fond du Lac native and Army Lieuenant Colonel Retired Jim “Maggie” Megellas the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary acts of heroism and bravery at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. U.S. Representative Tom Petri of Wisconsin recently joined U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas and eight other House and Senate Members in sending a letter to Secretary of the Army John McHugh urging him to reconsider. For his actions during the battle, Megellas was recommended for the Medal of Honor by his executive officer Colonel Edward Sims (then a 1st Lieutenant), but his award was downgraded to the Silver Star.  “We seek the Medal of Honor for Megellas based on ‘compelling evidence of error’ made during the award process in 1945,” the letter states.  The Army has previously indicated that the ‘submission of new material and substantive information’ would warrant further reconsideration.  Megellas, who is now 96-years-old, was born and grew up in Fond du Lac and now lives in Colleyville, Texas.  He was commissioned in the Army after graduating from Ripon College in May 1942.  To see the letter click here.

Home Sales Down For First Time In Two Years

(Wisconsin Radio Network)-After more than two years of continued growth, Wisconsin’s housing market slowed down a little in October. Numbers released by the Wisconsin Realtors Association show home sales for October fell just five short of the total for the same month in 2012, with 5,647 homes sold by members. Association President Mike Theo says it’s the first time since July of 2011 that monthly sales have not topped the previous years’. While it’s too early to know why sales slowed down, Theo suspects rising interest rates might have played a role. They’ve gone up one-percent in the last nine months. Median sales prices did continue to climb in October, with the typical house selling for just under $143,000 a jump of 5.6-percent from last year. In Fond du Lac County for the month home sales were down 8.1 percent and the median price of a home was down 15 percent. For more information click here. 

FDL County Thanksgiving Hours Announced

Fond du Lac County Executive Al Buechel has announced the Thanksgiving holiday hours for the County on Thursday and Friday, November 28th and 29th. The County offices in the City-County Government Center, the Sheriff’s Office lobby window, the Portland Street Annex including the Veteran Services Office, the Highway Department, the Department of Social Services and the Department of Community Programs will be closed both days.